Best Served Fake

fifty-five // the best thing

I handed him the bag of chips, unsure what else to do with my hands. He thanked me, but he didn't open it. He didn't even look at it, just placed it on the sun lounger, looking at me instead

"I heard Zac was here today," I said. I wanted to know what had happened; if I had helped, or if it was a mark against me in Kai's ledger. 

Kai nodded. "You heard correctly. I heard you had something to do with that."

"I guess we both have reliable sources," I said.

Kai looked down. "I can't believe you did that for me, Valerie. I can't believe, after everything..." He trailed off, not willing to put into words what exactly that everything entailed. We both knew.

"I would do anything for you. You know that." I fiddled with the button on my blazer. "I didn't know if you'd be mad at me for telling him."

"No," said Kai, immediately, the word bursting from him without hesitation. "Not at all. I was... I would never have asked, because it wasn't Zac's responsibility. But he—Valerie, everything is better already. You've changed our lives; Isabelle's, mine. I can never repay you for that."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," said Kai, and then a smile like the sun coming out from behind the clouds passed across his face. "Mum started rehab today, Valerie. Zac told her she could either go to rehab, or he would file for permanent custody of Isabelle and move us all to Casserine with a restraining order. She left this morning for a two-month programme."

"Kai, that's amazing," I breathed. Maria would never be a good parent. Zac was a testament to that; even sobriety didn't conquer her emotional abuse to her oldest and youngest child. But it was a step in the right direction. "And you're going to live here? Or with Zac?"

It was a possibility I'd considered, since seeing Zac. That he would move the family to Casserine; that Kai would be pulled far away from me, where I could only see him on weekends; if he wanted to see me. 

Kai laughed, and it was almost incredulous, as if he couldn't believe his good luck. It was the most melodic sound I'd ever heard. "We're moving out. Out of this house completely. I never had enough money to do it myself, and I could never leave Isabelle, but Maria had agreed as long as Zac doesn't file for anything. Jameson is bankrolling a place and we'll rent from him. Zac's offered to cover Isabelle's, and I can use the money from the garage to pay my share." Kai shook his head, disbelieving. "I'm going to be living in fucking Toorak. In a shitty apartment I can afford, but still. I'm going to be living in the same suburb as Lena Montez."

I snorted, but the noise didn't encapsulate how I really felt. Kai was escaping this house, escaping Maria, living his dream life with Isabelle and Jameson, in an apartment near me and Will and even Lena Montez. I wanted to hug him, to let him spin me around, to jump and dance for joy, because the burden that he'd borne for his whole life was suddenly lessened. But I didn't, because he hadn't taken another step toward me.

So, I waited.

"You're the best thing that ever happened to us, Valerie Williams," Kai said. "You're the best thing that ever happened to me."

Thump. Thump. My heart threatened to beat out of my chest. "Kai."

"I needed you to know that. It's all I've been able to think about. I can never, will never, be able to thank you enough for what you did. But, Little Valerie, you're not supposed to be here, you know. I can't tell you, but—"

I almost laughed. That he'd had his entire laugh upturned, and something as ridiculous as Tommy Aster's weak attempt at blackmail was stopping me from being in Kai's arms right now. How was that even on his mind, amidst something as world-changing as Zac's intervention?