FATE

46. Velvet Blanket

BROOKE

"You should eat", Jonah says, glancing at my unfinished food.

I frown, "are you going to talk or ignore my question?"

He doesn't look at my face, "I'll talk as long as you're eating", he says, "so eat"

I take a bite out of the sandwich, remembering how hungry i am. He smiles at me before turning to stare at the river.

"Hailee and I are best friends, I care about her a lot. She's been in my life for as long as I can remember"

I swallow, "and you have secrets"

"Every friendship has secrets"

I nod, "fair enough"

With a pause and a sigh, he continues, "the woman in the parking lot was Hailee's mom- her real mom. She's adopted"

"Oh"

I should have thought about that.

"Why was that a secret?", I ask.

"It wasn't. Nobody ever asked so we never spoke on it"

I take a couple more bites out of my sandwich.

"And you knew her real mother?"

"Yeah but that's a long story"

"Meaning it's not yours to tell"

He stares at me briefly, his lips curve into a small smile and then he looks at my plate.

"Your dad", I say quickly before taking another bite out of the sandwich.

He seems satisfied so he looks away. "My dad and I just don't have a stable relationship. I was closer to my mom, she died and we were never able to create something good together"

"Jonah", I say softly, "you act like he's the devil when he's around, like he's going to hurt me"

He shrugs, "I don't know, I just- feel very protective of you"

"Around your own father", I say, "there's a difference between hating someone and not being close to them"

He stares coldly at his feet, like he's thinking of what to say.

"I don't know. He moved on a little bit too quickly after my mom died. I guess I'm still mad about that because it's like he never loved her in the first place, you know"

"But you can't blame him for that"

He shakes his head, "none of this should even matter. This is our night and I want to make it special for you but I know you're not going to let this go until...", his eyes soften when he stares at me, "until I give you the answers you need to know"

He trails at the last three words, saying them a bit slower than necessary but then he blinks fast and smiles.

"No more talking for now", he says, "we have all night. Eat"

***

The food is left unfinished, which Jonah says is understandable considering the fact that he cooked for more than three people but I ate so much, I'm famished and too tired to move. As he neatly arranges the rest of the food in containers he brought out of Hailee's car, I lay on the blanket and stare at the night sky through the shade of the tree.

"I'm going to drop these in the car", he says and i nod. He leaves and I continue to stare at the sky.

A sense of warmth fills me despite the cold as I gaze upon the glistening stars. They look like tiny magical snowflakes spread across a large velvet blanket. After a couple of minutes, a small breeze starts to blow and I shiver slightly as the cold wind blows my body, tousling my hair and threatening to pull up my dress.