Part Two: Chapter Six

And that is how the rest of the summer went: Nick would come to Kaylin’s house daily, sometimes early enough to sit and play cards with Seanathair before the old man went to watch his nightly shows. Before leaving her at her door, Nick always told her that he loved her. He never said it too often, or at odd times, but nightly before he kissed her goodbye. Kaylin had given up arguing with him about it, instead she would smile and kiss him again, or just smile and walk away. He had told her he didn’t expect her to say it back yet, but she would in time; his self-confidence never wavering.

One night, a week before the first day of school, Nick sat with Kaylin on the stoop of her house talking about school, classes, and nothing in particular when a car veered to a stop in front of the house and her father staggered out. Nick had never met Aaron, and had only heard about him in snippets from either Kaylin or Stephen. The way the man walked and carried himself up the drive Nick knew immediately who it was.

“You,” Aaron began halfway up the asphalt driveway. It came as more of a growl than a word, “so you’re the boy Kaylin’s been…what do the kids call it these days?...”

“Dating,” Nick finished for him rising to his feet, “I’m the boy that is dating Kaylin.” Nick stood up, not sure what to do next, this was a tense situation, her father was obviously drunk.

“Really? In my day we just called it fucking,” Aaron retorted and continued his walk to the house.

“No, I wouldn’t call it that, sir,” Nick answered angrily.

“Hrmph,” was all Aaron said back. He was close now, and shoved Kaylin out of his way to get to the front door.

“Nice to meet you,” Nick tried pulling Kaylin up. “If it’s all right with you, we’ll be going.”

Aaron slowly turned around, his hand on the latch of the screen door. “Actually, it’s not all right with me. I don’t take lightly my daughter running all over hell’s half acre in the middle of the night with some kid. Is this what you do now, Kaylin? Is this what you do while I work? Who’s taking care of seanathair?” He grabbed her elbow and began to pull her inside.

Kaylin jerked her arm away. “Certainly not you,” she snapped. Aaron stared at her in disbelief for a fleeting moment before his eyes turned to stone. He dropped his hand to his side and in a quick motion threw it back up and backhanded her. She went reeling down the two steps and sat on the concrete, holding her face. Through eyes hazy with tears, Kaylin saw Nick grab her father’s arm and shove him against the aluminum screen door. Aaron pushed Nick back, turned to open the door and disappeared inside the house.

Without another word, Nick turned to help Kaylin to her feet. She pulled away from him when he went to hug her, but nodded at his suggestion to go to his house. They walked the few blocks to the only apartment building in Riversedge: a utilitarian style square of brick that faced a small courtyard that had seen better days. The apartments inside were pleasant, but the occupants were either single parents or retirees. Nick’s home life was the former: Nick’s father worked for the union and relocated to Ohio after he and Nick’s mother divorced.

Not a word was spoken as Nick silently escorted Kaylin into the darkened apartment and over to his room. He led her in and shut the door quietly behind him. Nick stood in front of her, and for the first time since yelling at her father, spoke quietly, “Let me see your face.” He reached behind her to a lamp on his bedside table and snapped it on. Before he was even standing back fully, he could see the damage to her face. The hit had not landed evenly on her cheekbone as it was probably intended, but had caught her on her neck, under her ear leaving a bruise that stretched from her jaw line up to the ridge of her eye. There was a gash on the swath of skin behind her ear where a ring must have torn the soft skin like paper; the bleeding had stopped, but its maroon streaks had dried along her neck and matted a lock of her hair.

Nick put both hands behind Kaylin’s neck and cradled her head in his palms, gently brushing away the tears from her cheeks with his thumbs. His azure eyes burned looking down at her, angry at the mutilation of her beautiful features, and his own inability to have stopped it. There were hundreds of questions he wanted to ask her, but this wasn’t the time. Instead he moved to lay on his bed and without saying a word she lay beside him. Nick pressed his back against the wall and tucked Kaylin in beside him, her back to his chest, her head resting on his arm. He pulled her as close to him as possible and they wove their legs together. He loved her, more sure of it now than ever before.

It was then, when Kaylin felt finally safe wrapped in Nick’s arms, the heat from his body washing over her, that she allowed herself to process the events of that night. Everything happened so quickly that most of it didn’t have time to register. Her father who barely knew how old she was, whose affection she had tried her entire life to earn, had all but called her a whore. Her father’s words and actions tonight confirmed what she had for years been trying to suppress: he didn’t see her as a daughter; she was the caretaker of his father and a constant reminder of the woman who had become his wife.

Nick’s pull on her made her leave her thoughts and take in what was happening now. He was hugging her to him, and she was crying, her body shaking with sobs and her breath held from years of practice in knowing how to cry silently. Maybe she did love Nick, she was at her happiest with him near and his touch no matter how insignificant made her knees weak. It was a feeling she had never known before and didn’t easily recognize. They hadn't even been dating two months, and he had defended her against the brick wall that was her father. Maybe it was love. The exhaustion of the night's events, coupled with this new swirl of emotions was made Kaylin drift into sleep between catching her breaths and adjusting to the idea that she was loved.