J.D.

This week had flown by faster than I would have liked. My heart hurt as I sat on a bench a few streets outside of LAX, waiting for my sister to pick me up. The airport was busy because of the holiday, so I walked with my suitcase in hand down a few blocks away from the traffic and sent her my location.

I texted Zamora as soon as her car arrived, and I was in the front seat. "Hey!" I smiled at my sister, who was already getting back on the road. You had to be quick around these streets.

Justine, the oldest, gave me a small side hug when she stopped at a red light. "How was your flight?" she merged onto the freeway. We still had an hour until we reached her house. The weather here in California was vastly different, and I could feel the much warmer temperature.

"Good, yeah, flew first class, so I am slightly buzzed." I chuckled, looking down at my phone.

Baby love: Okay, have a good trip! Call me before bed. I love you.

I pouted but responded, telling her I would call her and that I loved her more.

"Talking to your new girlfriend. Mom tells me it's dads old boss's daughter? isn't she a little young?"

"She's almost twenty-seven. You might be thinking of someone else. But yeah, we reconnected and now she's my whole fucking world." I show her a photo and my big sister looks impressed.

"Well, I'm happy for you, it's about time you get your shit together." She shrugs. "Speaking of getting shit together, did you get dad to sign the forms I needed?" I nodded. "Good, once this is done, the house will be sold, and I can start looking for a place out there."

My parents had left their house in California to my sister, who now as my niece and nephew grew up, wanted to move somewhere a little nicer than where she currently lived. She also wanted to be around our parents and away from her in laws.

"Is Craig okay with this?"

"He's the one that came up with the idea." She admitted. "His parents are just too much."

"I get it. Does Jamie plan on following too or is bitch- I mean Mitch not into the idea." Justine laughs and shakes her head.

"I don't know I'm not talking to Jamie right now. The plan was for you to stay with me and Jessica to stay with her and now she's saying she can't because Mitch's mom is staying at her house, and they have no room. So, you're bunking with Dean."

"Oh nice, I miss the little guy." I smile at the thought of my nephew who I haven't seen in over a year. "he's tall now, going to be like his uncle J.D."

"Yeah, well, don't get too excited he's twelve now and a little shit." I laugh at her comment. If he's anything like me at that age, he was going to be a real handful.

We arrived at the familiar house that I grew up in. A small suburban home that my parents extended to fit all six of us growing up. It was almost four in the afternoon, and it took us almost two hours to arrive, but I was excited to see the kids.

Craig, my brother-in-law, walks out of the house and waves at me, holding my niece, Sarah. I jump out of the car and gasp. "Holy shit you grew!" I run up to them. "You grew too, Sarah!"

I liked my brother-in-law, but I may have picked on him a little too much. He was more of the brother I never had, so it was funny picking on him. I hug them both and lift them up, Craig shaking his head at me.

"Hi, Uncle J.D.!" my six-year-old niece smiles, throwing herself onto me to hug me tightly.

"Hi princess, oh my god, I missed you so much!" I hug her close, walking in with the family.

The house is decorated for Christmas, gifts under the tree and garland heading up the stairs. My twelve-year-old nephew comes downstairs and waves at me. "Hi, Uncle J.D."

"What's up, little dude? Give me a hug." He comes up to me and gives me a side hug. I roll my eyes at his preteen behavior.

Upstairs in my sister's room, I lay on her bed while she read through the paperwork she needed to sell the house. We caught up on life events and talked about work. Justine was the oldest and acted as my second mom. She sits down and at the edge of the bed and smiles at me.

"Well, I'm happy for you, total opposite from a few years ago." She reminded me.

"Yeah, well, I was doing great, and then it got better with Zamora." I smiled at her photo on my lock screen. "I know it's fast, but mom and dad got married after like three months."

"Yeah, because mom was knocked up." She rolls her eyes.

"Yeah, but they still love each other. Not that I'm going to ask her to marry me right now, but she feels like the one." My sister looks surprised at my confession.

"Must be a great lay?" She teases me.

"It's not just that, although she is... amazing. It's like this chemistry I can't explain. We can talk for hours about anything but also share the most beautiful silence and just enjoy each others company. I didn't even have to think about it, I just knew I loved her."

I turn to find my sisters jaw dropped. "Oh my god, you're smitten. It just goes to show that you find things when you're least expecting it. A year ago, you swore off women and said they're Satan's spawn sent to earth to hurt men, and now you're kicking your feet and giggling like a schoolgirl." She laughs.

"That's because of Samantha, I don't know who gave her my number, but that's why I changed it randomly in June. Can you believe she was still trying to get back with me? She is crazy, and so is her fucking brother."

"So that's why you deleted your social media? Makes sense."

"I had to, she sent me a message on Facebook telling me that her brother would get me back for snitching on him to the cops. Which I never did, I did my time too." I scratched the back of my head in frustration.

"You hooked up with her loser. That sounds like your first mistake." She reminded me. "Do you think her brother would do anything?"

"I don't think so, but I haven't exactly known of his ware bouts so... I would think his time in jail would straighten him out like it did to me. I'll look into it." I tried not to think about it too much, but I knew what Bryan was like, and I knew if he wanted, he could really hurt me.

"Well, just be safe. Hey, by the way that address you sent me, what's it for. It's a half hour away from here? it looks like a storage place."

I nod, "Yeah, I'm going to pick something up. It's a gift."

After dinner, I sat with my nephew and played video games, talking about his school and life. He was my twin, which made me nervous because of how much trouble I was at that age. Around nine, it was bedtime, and after I said good night to the kids, I went to the back yard to call Zamora.

"Hello?" Her voice was soft and sleepy. I had forgotten about the two-hour difference. Which made sense. I was sleepy, too, since my bedtime was at nine usually.

"Hi gorgeous. Are you sleeping?"

"Yeah, but I miss your voice." I can hear a smile on her voice. "Do you miss me yet?"

"More than you can imagine. How was your day?" The morning I left, I went over to her house and said my goodbyes before driving myself to the airport. She wanted to take me, but I told her I would be okay, and I would park my car at the airport.

She talked for a while, telling me about what she did up until bedtime. "Anyways, the kids are good?"

"Yeah, they're great, Dean is like my exact replica he just has his dad's nose. He's like a little teenager now. You know they're moving over there pretty soon, well, St. Louis, probably." She hums. "California is so expensive and crowded."

"Agreed, that's nice that you'll have more family here." Her voice was sleepy, and I could tell she had a long day.

"Do you want to go to bed?"

"No, I want to hear you talk." She mumbles. "Miss you."

"I miss you too, but we can talk for a bit in the morning or at lunchtime, okay."

She agreed, "Okay baby, goodnight." She kisses the phone, and my heart aches that I can't kiss her back. My sister was right. Who was I now? A man or a teenage girl?

I made a kiss noise too and hung up, the back patio door opening, and my brother-in-law walked out, shaking his head.

"I remember the kissing on the phone days. When your sister was going to college up state, and I lived in San Diego that one year." He pulls out two glasses and a bottle of whiskey. "Care for a little drink?"

I nod, sitting up as he poured me a glass. "Thanks. When did the love die?" I teased him.

"It never does, a relationship is like... cooking on the stove. You have the flame, it's hot and your mixing things up and then you decide to add some more stuff on the other burners, and sort of put the main dish on the back burner on a low heat. It's still on and simmerin, but your focus is on other stuff."

I take a sip of the alcohol and seem to understand. My sister met Craig when she was seventeen. They have been together for so long I could see why they needed some change.

"So, you still love my sister?"

"More than the kids, and I'll say that to their face." He laughs. "I know she misses her parents and to be honest the move is good for us, the main problem we have here is financial stuff, it's expensive here." I nod. "Do you still watch football?"

Our conversation stayed on sports until the alcohol hit my system, and I went to bed.

That night, I slept well, and I hoped Zamora did too.

*

Thanks for reading. Xx