Vacancy

3. Lunch

"Hi love, how're you?" Gina greeted me as I knocked on the door, ten minutes late. She invited me in and we sat in the kitchen whilst she calmed down Lala.

"Have you heard from the boys much?" I asked, wondering if Jai had mentioned anything about the extended tour to her.

"Everyday, mainly from Beau though, you'd never be able to tell he was 21!" She laughed, making me laugh gently with her. It was true though, Beau was the biggest mummy's boy out of all of them. Part of it was because he had always had his mum to depend on, but then there was the fact he'd seen the way his father was around her and he had that role of protecting her now.

"What's up Jessy? I can tell there's something on your mind." She asked, a hint of sorrow in her voice, was I really making it that obvious?

"We'll talk about it over lunch, I'm still trying to get things straight in my head." I sighed back. Gina looked concerned, but didn't ask anymore questions as we left the house.

"I take it Ainsley decided to not come?" I shook my head and opened up the passenger side door to allow Gina to climb in. "Aliyah has the day off school so she's staying home with her and Jordan." I smiled back as I climbed in the drivers side.

After ten minutes of discussing my outfit and deciding we should get out nails done after lunch, we arrived outside the cafe. "If you get out here, and save us a table, I'll park up and meet you?" I suggested, Gina accepted and closed the door behind her.

I drove behind the cafe, to a small car park, which was full, and groaned. Most children were off school today, which meant everywhere seemed ten times busier than usual. Just my luck. Finally I found a small spot, a two minute walk from the cafe and paid $3 for parking.

"Jessy!" Carlos greeted me and took me over to the window seat Gina had picked, the view was quite nice, trees blossoming and the sun light shining down onto the busy street, with a small park opposite.

I took a seat opposite Gina and made small talk with Carlos until we both ordered an ice cold, glass of Pepsi. "Honey, tell me what's bothering you?"

"Just Jai." I mumbled back, Gina was a third mum to me, I told her everything, It annoyed Jai at times, but it was good to have someone who understood him enough, for advice and comfort. "Why? What's happened?"

"I've spoken to him five, maybe 6 times since he's been gone. And he never tells me anything that's going on, he just makes some excuse to go or in the middle of a conversation says 'i love you' and hangs up."

"That doesn't sound like Jai at all." Gina mumbled back, "I'm so sorry Jess, I'm sure he's just busy. I've barely spoke to Jai, or Luke actually." She finished, as if she knew exactly how I felt.

We ate our pasta almost in silence, it was a comfortable silence though, it was nice to just enjoy someone, other than my families, company. Gina's phone began ringing and she excused herself to stand outside.

I watched her through the window, it didn't look like a casual conversation, she looked mad, and I could tell she was annoyed with whoever was on the other line. It would be 7am in L.A, I doubted the boys would even be awake, I just wanted to hear Jai's voice. I took out my phone and dialled his number, straight to voicemail, engaged.

Was Jai on the phone to Gina? I doubted that highly, but it was possible. I decided to text him instead, not that I frequently got a reply.

To: Jai x

Jai, I miss you. Talk to me sometime, please? I'm going out of my mind. I love you baby. x

Now I just had to wait.