Kaia had shown up at the Grace home at precisely one o'clock on Sunday afternoon, a bouquet of wildflowers for Skyler's mom in hand. She wore a dress, not exactly a rarity for Kaia during her adult life, but it would be the first one that Skyler had ever seen her in.
Kaia wore her hair down and had used a straightener on it, though she'd made sure to leave some of the body, giving it a wavy look. The overall effect combined with her makeup was to soften her appearance. Kaia knew her lean body and athletic frame came across as a bit butch to some people, and that wasn't her. She was as feminine as the next girl in her way, and she wanted Skyler's father to see that.
She'd barely knocked at the door when Kaia heard heavy footsteps approaching it from the other side.
"Kaia!" Skyler's father said with a smile as he stepped back to wave her inside. "Come on inside. Your timing is perfect. I think Bree Ann was just getting ready to set the food on the table."
"Is that Kaia?" came a voice from the kitchen, quickly followed by its owner's appearance as Skyler's mother's smiling face made her way down the hall towards Kaia. "Look at you. You look gorgeous!"
Kaia fought the urge to blush but found it a challenge as Bree Ann's arms went around her in a sudden rush. She hugged the more mature version of Skyler back as she watched the woman's husband retreat back into their front room. When Bree Ann broke their hug, she reached up and cupped Kaia's cheeks.
"Don't be nervous, Kaia. He's ready to learn his daughter's news, and he's going to be just fine with it. Pretty soon, he'll love you every bit as much as I do because he'll be able to see how happy you make Skyler," Bree Ann said in a low voice.
Kaia smiled back at the older woman, thankful for her reassurances. She still felt nervous, but the jangles in her nerves were more for Skyler than for herself. Regardless of how today went, the couple would no longer have to hide their relationship, and Kaia was eager for that, come what may.
"These are for you," Kaia said, holding out the flowers. "Kind of my way of thanking you for the invitation and just being so great and all."
That got a little squeal from the older woman as she excitedly reached for the bouquet, taking the flowers and then raising on her tiptoes to kiss Kaia's cheek.
"You're so sweet!
"It's all an act, Mom. She's quite bossy and is mean when you aren't around," came Skyler's voice from the top of the stairs.
Kaia looked up at the top of the landing and felt her heart begin to ache at the very sight she took in.
Skyler was wearing a pale green summer dress that accented her skin tone, hair, and eyes with perfection. And while it wasn't form-fitting, she looked absolutely stunning in it. The top was almost like a chemise or a shift. It hung loosely off one shoulder, looking almost bohemian, and with her hair pulled back, it exposed her neck, highlighting the large silver hoops she wore in her ears.
"Now you'd better be nice, Skyler. You know that isn't true." Bree Ann Grace said, playfully chastising her daughter as she and Kaia watched Skyler descend the stairs. Kaia kept having to remind herself not to take the vision in a pale green into her arms once she reached the bottom of the steps, no matter how bad she wanted to.
"Hey, you," Skyler said as she reached the bottom, her eyes giving Kaia a complete once over as her mother watched with an amused gaze. "I didn't even know that you owned a dress."
"Skyler!" her mother said with a sound of exasperation that drew a laugh from Kaia.
"Relax, Mom. She knows that I'm teasing her," Skyler said, looking at her mother. She then turned her attention back towards her girlfriend. "You look so amazing, but then again, you always do."
"Thanks," Kaia replied, a fluttering in her stomach now that she was so close to Skyler. It hit her at that moment how much in love she was with the young auburn-haired beauty. She needed to tell her, and soon. "And you look stunning. I think this might be my most favorite thing I've ever seen you in."
"You know, if you two would like to steal a kiss, now would be the time. Your father is utterly distracted by the baseball game," Bree Ann said, her voice low and conspiratorial. The spectacle of her suggesting such subterfuge drawing a giggle from the lovers.
"Well, go on then. Get it over with and then we can go eat."
The two women quickly looked at each other, and then Skyler took a peek in at her dad. Seeing the back of his head, she turned back to Kaia and wiggled her eyebrows before leaning in and giving her the kiss they both craved so badly. It was hardly a chaste kiss, but neither did it satisfy the yearnings bubbling inside either of them.
"There now, you two go and find your way to the table while I corral your father."
The meal went well. It had been a long time since Kaia had eaten some genuine southern home cooking, and Bree Ann's was on par with the best she'd ever been served. Jonathan Grace didn't say a lot during the meal, mainly listening and observing how the three women interacted. Kaia could feel whenever his eyes landed on her, though she only snuck a few surreptitious looks his way during the meal. She couldn't shake the feeling that the Pastor had already worked out exactly what her relationship was to his daughter. The only question left inside Kaia's mind was exactly how he felt about it.
The four of them were enjoying their dessert, a scrumptious peach cobbler, when Skyler's father decided to make his first significant contribution to the conversation.
"I got an exciting call the night before last, Skyler. I think you will find this very interesting," Jonathan said, his eyes focused solely on his daughter.
"Oh yeah?" Skyler said, her eyes furrowing at the way her father made his statement. He didn't often make such pronouncements to her, and typically when he did, she didn't enjoy what followed.
"Yes, indeed," he replied. "I heard from Frances Dailey, Becka's mother. She said that she and Becka's dad had divorced last year."
"Well, that's not good," Skyler replied, perplexed as to how her father had chosen to frame his opening gambit to the topic. While it was news, for sure, what was so exciting about Becka's parents splitting up?
"No, I guess that part of it wasn't so good, but it does get better, though there was other bad news as well."
Kaia watched the exchange between father and daughter, feeling a bit bemused. She had no clue exactly where Skyler's father was trying to go with this.
"What other bad news. Is Becka okay?"
Jonathan Grace reached over and patted Skyler's hand and said, "She's okay, Skyler, though her mother did say she'd gone down a rather bad path after her father abandoned them for another woman."
"Bad path?" Skyler said, thinking of her friend, who had always been so shy and reserved. What could sweet and beautiful Becka have possibly gotten up to that could be considered so wrong?
Jonathan Grace waved a hand and said, "Frances didn't go too far into detail, but she did mention some drug usage and the fact that she strongly suspected Becka was having sex."
Skyler rolled her eyes, stealing a glance across at Kaia before turning her attention back to her father.
"Dad, Becka is older than I am. So it doesn't surprise me that she's had sex. It's not a rare occurrence among eighteen-year-olds in this town, much less in big cities like Los Angeles."
Kaia watched as Skyler blushed, the implication of her words hanging over the dinner table like a pall of acrid smoke that threatened to poison the atmosphere in the room. Her concern grew when she watched as her girlfriend's back stiffened, her eyes taking on a defiant look.
"Of course, it's not, sweetie. It wasn't that uncommon when I was eighteen. I'm not sure that your father is doing an outstanding job of relaying Frances's concern. However, I can't be sure considering this is the first I've heard of this topic," Skyler's mother said to her daughter, her voice softly disarming at first before hardening at the end as her eyes cut towards her husband. Kaia had met drill instructors in the Corp who, though they were far less subtle, would have intimidated her less than a determined Bree Ann Grace.
Kaia watched as Jonathan Grace's eyes fluttered between his wife and daughter. It was as if his emotional barometer was suddenly throwing up warnings of an impending storm that held destructive potential. Kaia could almost see him mentally trying to calculate a safe path to backtrack through the potential minefield he suddenly found himself trapped inside. As comical as the sight was, Kaia found herself pitying the man.
"Well, um...I guess maybe not. But I was generalizing because I didn't want to relay too much of what Frances shared. After all, I'm not entirely sure of what she meant for me to hold in confidence."
His words did little to soften the mood in the room. Skyler stared back at her father, her arms crossed in a petulant and challenging manner. The pastor's wife was sitting back in her chair, her glass of tea in hand as she raised a single eyebrow at her husband. It was a look that seemed to ask how he planned to get out of this one.
"Um...you mentioned some good news, Mr. Grace? What was it?" Kaia said, trying to throw the drowning man an emotional lifeline.
"Huh?" Jonathan Grace replied, his gaze suddenly finding Kaia as if he'd forgotten she was even in the room. His eyes focused on her in concentration, his mouth in a thin line. But as her question sunk in, his lips softened into a thankful smile as the sudden awareness of what she'd done seemed to hit him.
