Living in Surreality - 23. Chapter 23

chapter 23:
: edited by viv :

Stifling an inward grimace, Jacob threw his shoulders back, striding with naked purpose towards Carlos.

"Well?" Carlos asked, his cocky grin not faltering as Jacob stood before him.

"Well, what?" Jacob asked, placing his hands on his hips.

Carlos took a moment to study Jacob, biting back the chuckle he felt growing as Jacob stood there trying too hard at being proud. "So, Cupcake, who locked the keys in the car, you or la novia?" Carlos asked with a smirk, glancing at Matt.

"Novio," Jacob corrected Carlos' gender swap while playfully taunting Matt with the disguised word.

Jacob's response caught Carlos unaware, and as he realized the correction Jacob had made, he cocked his head to one side and began laughing at Jacob's joke. His laughter nervously died out after Jacob failed to join him, looking victorious instead, as he stood there, legs spread slightly and wearing nothing but a smirk on his face.

"Right..." Carlos smiled, scrutinizing Jacob's face for a hint of deception. "You almost had me there, Cupcake,"

"No, really," Jacob admitted, finding Carlos' disbelief a fun game.

Carlos squinted, scrutinizing Jacob's features for the slightest hint of the game. Finding none there, he looked to Matt who was too busy trying to contain himself behind his hands to appear to be paying much attention.

In truth, Matt had been paying keen attention, and he was busy wracking his brain trying to remember just what 'novio' meant, but the only Spanish his mind was conjuring up at the moment were colors, numbers, and the simple phrases; 'Me llamo Mateo,' and 'Donde estas el bano?' Somehow, Matt figured whatever the word meant; it had little to do with his name or the location of a restroom.

Jacob's smile grew wider watching Carlos try and figure out if he was telling the truth or not. Carlos perceived the small smile with ease and took it as a hint of the joke.

"I knew you were fucking with me," Carlos hooted, slugging Jacob's shoulder.

Jacob rolled his eyes and spun around looking at Matt. "Will you please tell the grease-monkey I wasn't fucking with him?"

Matt's head spun in the direction of Jacob's voice, looking dumbfounded. "What's a novio?" he asked, not chancing a real answer until he knew what he was answering.

"You," Jacob said delivering a quick wink, complete with lopsided smile, in Matt's direction.

Matt gave Jacob a quizzical look, still not understanding the word and wishing for some sort of visual aide.

"I asked him if his girlfriend locked the keys in the car," Carlos said, catching the sly wink Jacob had delivered, and hoping to use it to his advantage in one-upping Jacob.

"I'm not his..." Matt began, offended at being called Jacob's girlfriend.

"He said boyfriend," Carlos finished, ignoring Matt's rebuff.

Matt's argument ceased mid sentence as Carlos finished talking. His mouth snapped shut, finding himself at a loss of how to respond, or even what to do now that two sets of eyes were aimed at him. One set daring him to confirm it, the other... Matt really couldn't tell what Carlos was thinking at that moment.

"Yeah," Matt agreed, with a measure of reluctance and an unsure smile. He felt better for saying the word, a rush of pride swelling his chest and coloring his cheeks at once. He couldn't decide whether it was the admission, or the proud smile his simple answer provoked from Jacob which made him feel comfortable.

Carlos' gaze switched between Matt and Jacob evaluating the idea before settling again on Matt, a slow smile producing a dimple in his left cheek. "Seriously?" he asked, sure he was being messed around with.

"Seriously," Matt affirmed.

"Yup," Jacob grinned.

The small smile that had bloomed on Carlos' face just as slowly melted away as he gave into Matt and Jacob's assertions. Having nothing to say he turned on his heel and headed for the driver's side door, wanting nothing more than to get the door open and get out of the uncomfortable situation in which he now found himself.

Flustered, the task of opening the Explorer took him longer than it should have. Try as Carlos might, he couldn't get the slim metal file to latch onto the door lock mechanism. His frustration was growing with each failed attempt.

"Everything okay?" Jacob asked, looking weary as he approached Carlos after twenty minutes.

Carlos gave Jacob a sideways glance. "No," he snapped. "I can't get a grab on this damn thing."

Jacob recoiled, not used to the callousness of Carlos' words. He gave Matt an uncertain look, thinking that perhaps he shouldn't have told Carlos what he just did. In Matt, he found the same measure of reluctance he felt in the moment.

"I wasn't talking about that," Jacob admitted, looking back at Carlos before looking away feeling more exposed than he had when Carlos first arrived. Carlos let out a huff of air before biting on the corner of his bottom lip.

"Jacob," he started.

Jacob's heart sank with the sound of his name coming from Carlos' lips and not the usual 'cupcake' that had annoyed him at first, but since, had grown on him like any other playful nickname he had ever been begrudgingly labeled with.

"You know when I whistle and all that in the shop, it's... I'm just playing right?" Carlos asked, giving Jacob a serious look.

"What?" Jacob asked, pulling his head back. "Yeah," he answered.

"Good," Carlos said releasing a sigh of relief as he got back to the task of getting the Explorer door open.

"Good?" Jacob repeated, unsure of Carlos' meaning with the word. Good that Jacob knew all the horseplay at the shop was just good natured ribbing, or did Carlos mean that they were good?

Carlos smiled to himself, feeling the satisfying pop of the door lock before hearing the mechanism give way. Ignoring Jacob's question for the moment, he whipped the slim jim out of the window jamb while simultaneously pulling up on the handle, opening the door.

"You know, Cupcake," he said with a devious smile, "you keep hanging out over here, someone is going to think you have a crush on me," Carlos joked, hitting the door lock button on the driver's door, unlocking the remaining doors.

"Gracias, Papi," Jacob said smiling, not only at Carlos' victory over locked doors but for not being weirded out by the truth about Matt and him. Thankful, he stepped into Carlos to give him a hug.

"Aye, Cupcake," Carlos screamed, jumping back and holding his hands up, stopping Jacob in place. "You need to put your chorizo away first, kay?"

Laughing, Jacob backed away, relenting to Carlos' wishes as he let his coworker move out of the way before gathering both his and Matt's clothes. Articles in hand, Jacob made his way over to where Matt was sitting quietly, not watching much of anything, or saying much of anything either.

"Hey, Kid," Jacob said, pulling Matt from his absent revelry, grabbing Matt's attention as he handed him a ball of clothing. "Whatcha thinking about?" Jacob asked, pulling on his jeans, forgoing the pair of boxers he tossed aside.

Matt grinned slightly as he accepted his clothes. "Nothing," he promised, biting back the urge to tell Jacob exactly what he had been thinking about.

Jacob regarded Matt curiously for a second with an even grin. "Okay," he relented, ruffling Matt's hair playfully. Jacob could tell Matt's mind had been chewing on something, he could read it in the distant, pensive glare that washed Matt's face. However, he surrendered to Matt's assertions, figuring Matt would tell him eventually. "I'm gonna go say bye to Carlos and thank him," Jacob said throwing a thumb over his shoulder pointing in the general direction of Carlos.

"Okay," Matt answered, sounding preoccupied but smiling at Jacob anyhow.

Jacob issued Matt a smile before jogging the few paces to where Carlos was standing. Before Carlos had a chance to fend him off, Jacob clasped him in a loose hug that grew tighter as he issued a whispered 'thanks' to Carlos' ear.

Carlos stiffened in the onslaught, his muscles becoming rigid until the quiet thanks melted the sudden tension. It was so much more than a simple pleasantry for getting the Explorer doors open and rescuing them. There was far more meaning in the word than that.

"That had better be a cell phone in your pocket," Carlos kidded, urging a smile from Jacob that he couldn't see.

"Mmmhmm," Jacob cooed, feeling devious. "And your jim isn't so slim."

"Gerrrofff!" Carlos hollered, pushing Jacob away, his dark eyes sparkling with mischief. "Sucio," he commented with a slight chuckle.

"What's going on?" Matt asked eyeing both Carlos and Jacob with mock suspicion as he rounded the front of the explorer.

"Your boy here is feelin' me up," Carlos grinned, and Jacob laughed

"And you weren't whispering sweet nothings in a foreign language?" Matt countered with an even smile.

"No," Carlos responded with an incredulous chuckle, while giving Jacob a shove in the arm to further distance himself.

"Just antagonizing the wildlife then?" Matt countered beginning to chuckle.

"Hey," Jacob howled, advancing on Matt as Carlos laughed. "Who you calling an animal?" he asked with an impish grin as he backed Matt into the fender of the Explorer.

Matt answered Jacob's question with a puckish smile of his own.

"That's it," Carlos interrupted. "I'm outta here, I really don't want to stick around for this show."

"Thanks again, Carlos," Jacob said, throwing a smile over his shoulder.

"De nada, Cupcake," Carlos answered with a wink before climbing into the shop truck and driving away.

"Ready to head back?" Matt asked, curling his fingers around Jacob's chin and directing his attention to himself.

"No," Jacob grinned, raising his eyebrows suggestively.

Matt chuckled, "You told your mom you'd be waiting for her when she got off."

Jacob issued Matt a disgruntled look before backing away and freeing him from the prison of his arms. "It wouldn't be the first time I failed to follow through," Jacob suggested.

Matt shook off the idea as he walked around the front of the Explorer. "Let's just hope the last time really was the last time," Matt smiled, climbing into the passenger seat.

What in the hell has that bitch forced me to do, Richard asked himself as he maneuvered his Mercedes onto Lily Court. Richard traversed the road by instinct, having driven this same path countless times in the past; however, this was the first time in several weeks. The street was still familiar, yet also seemed completely foreign to him. Perhaps it was the cloud-diffused light and the way it filtered through the majestic Oak trees that lined the street. It could have been the long, weak shadows cast by those trees and soft light, but in reality, it was the destination, not that far off now, as he drove down the street running headlong into a conversation he'd rather not ever take place.

His house looked the same, not that he expected it to look any different, as he whipped the Mercedes around and pulled alongside the curb in front of the house. The grass was a little long, and maybe the flower beds could use a weeding, but other than that, it looked like the life he had walked away from so easily.

Heaving a sigh of resignation, Richard gathered up the few pieces of paper he had tossed on the passenger seat, folding them in half lengthwise before stuffing them into the inner pocket of his sport coat. A few minutes later, Richard found himself debating on whether to walk into the house or not, assuming Matt was inside, more than likely burrowing in his room.

It was his house, he reasoned, as he pulled his keys out of his pocket, sliding the key into the deadbolt. Richard's face twisted into an angry grimace as he attempted to turn the key only to meet a hard resistance.

"Are you mad?" Jacob asked, worried over the lack of conversation he and Matt were having since leaving the quarry fifteen minutes ago.

Matt tilted his head to the side as he turned from the window, looking at Jacob curiously.

"About Carlos," Jacob rambled on fumbling over his words. "About telling him about us, I should have asked first and not just done it."

Matt issued Jacob a soft smile. "Someday," he began. "Someday, maybe I'll be more like you."

Jacob issued Matt a sideways look in between watching the road.

Matt's cheeks flushed without hesitation. "More confident; able to tell anyone who will listen what you mean to me. I already want to, I... I just can't, not yet," Matt said, looking away from the person he loved more than himself, feeling shame for his truth.

Jacob slowed the Explorer, pulling to the shoulder of the road and setting the parking brake. "Hey," Jacob said in a tender whisper. "Hey," Jacob repeated, getting no response, his hand tugging at the back of Matt's neck gingerly.

"Yeah?" Matt mumbled, looking into Jacob's eyes, finding a delicate smile.

"Don't worry about being like me," Jacob answered, his fingers soothing the nape of Matt's neck. "I've had more time to be okay with it. In time, you will too, in your own way. If that means you're reserved about those you love, then so be it. You don't need to climb to the top of the world and shout your love; I know, and will be here either way."

"I do," Matt exhaled feeling the relief it brought.

"I know, Kid," Jacob smirked, leaning forward to rest his forehead against Matt's.

"Do..." Matt began to ask; being silenced instead with a kiss from Jacob.

"It's Five-o'clock," Jacob said breaking the kiss. "I'd rather stay with you and face the wrath of my mom," Jacob said while straightening himself in the driver's seat and re-buckling his seat belt.

Matt smiled, as he was unable to suppress the shaking in his chest, which broke free in a good chuckle, "Nothing says I love you like being grounded."

Jacob rebuffed with a goofy smile.

"I know you do," Matt said, gaining some amount of composure. "I dunno, I just like hearing it, make sure nothing has changed."

"I love you, Kid, that won't ever change," Jacob said without hesitation.

Matt beamed.

"Did you give any more thought to school?" Jacob asked, wanting to ease the small nagging worry he had been dealing with.

"Yeah, and no," Matt admitted. In truth, Matt had been thinking about the future often, whenever he found an idle moment. While he coveted the idea of attending the Institute of Art, he didn't relish the idea of being that far from Jacob. While he could rationalize that he was still in the same state, the distance was still intimidating.

"Still no word from the school in San Francisco?" Jacob asked.

"Nope, unless it's in the mailbox when I get home," Matt answered, finding a modicum of dread in the letter, no matter what it said.

"Whatever you choose," Jacob resolved sounding confidant, "we'll make it work."

Could they? Matt reasoned as Jacob maneuvered the Explorer onto Lilly Court., not liking the line of thought, fighting off the reality of long distance relationships. The worst case scenario was too painful to ponder, so Matt didn't, turning blindly towards optimism to fill the void of an uncertain fall.

Somewhere in the rush of thoughts about school and life, a familiar dark sedan caught Matt's attention from the corner of his eye as Jacob pulled into the Porter family driveway. Just as Matt had resolved to think positive, he was greeted with the all too familiar Mercedes whose sudden appearance was both familiar and foreboding.

"Isn't that your..." Jacob began to ask, his question answered midway by Richard's sudden appearance from beyond the corner of the garage.

Richard crossed his arms over his chest, appearing displeased and dominant as Matt gave Jacob a tight nod in answer to the unfinished question.

"Do you wanna just go get my mom?" Jacob asked, wanting to get Matt out of the impending situation.

Matt shook his head before answering. "No," he said, not breaking the eye contact he had made with his father.

"I can go with you," Jacob said, knowing his mother would not be as upset if there was a good reason for his tardiness, and as far as Jacob was concerned, there could possibly be no damned better excuse than this.

"No," Matt said again, resigning himself to the fact that facing his father was something he had to do, even if he preferred it to be later rather than sooner, but now was as good a time as any.

"You sure?" Jacob asked, unconvinced.

Matt broke his father's stare only to lean over and give Jacob a kiss on the cheek. "Yeah," he said, un-fastening his seatbelt and reaching for the door handle only to be stopped by Jacob's hand resting on his shoulder.

"My mom won't mind," Jacob assured. "In fact, she'll probably be pissed if I drive away."

"I've got this," Matt said with a reassuring smile before giving Jacob a grateful hug and another kiss. "He doesn't scare me anymore, and there isn't much more he can do to me."

Jacob scrutinized Matt, even more carefully than the man who was just beyond sight, looking for any sign of reluctance on Matt's part. Finding none, he relented, allowing his arm to fall from its protective perch on Matt's shoulder as he watched Matt climb out of the Explorer and square his shoulders as he closed the door, turning to face his father.

With more than a reasonable amount of trepidation, Jacob slid the shifter into reverse, barely checking behind him as he reversed, preferring to keep his eyes on Richard. Ready, if the opportunity aroused, to jump from the Explorer and just go off if the man did anything he didn't like.

"Matthew," Richard issued, his tone even, professional, as he appraised his son through slit eyes, after Jacob and the Explorer were out of sight.

"Richard," Matt challenged, matching the tone he had received from his father, even if he felt less confident in his abilities without Jacob close by.

"Your mother changed the locks," Richard said, pointing out the obvious, if only to ignore the disrespectful tone and manner in which his son was addressing him.

"You do that to keep out people you don't want in," Matt countered, his eyes narrowing.

Richard struggled against the urge to reach out, snatch his son by the neck, and teach him some respect. "I wanted to talk with you anyhow," he said, dropping his arms to reach into his coat pocket, "about how you continually wish to embarrass yourself with that boy."

Matt held his hand up, seeing red, and hoping that wouldn't cloud his judgment. "Save it," Matt said stepping back, feeling a familiar sting in the corners of his eyes. "We both know it's your embarrassment that matters to you, not mine."

Matt hated that the man before him could still have such an effect on him. No matter how many times he told himself that the opinion of his father didn't matter, never mattered, it did, and always had. Now, alone and afraid, he found himself once again staring at Richard's studied and callous rejection in the face.

"Matthew," Richard said, his tone softening as he stepped towards his son's retreat. "It's not that..."

"Yes it was, still is," Matt retorted stepping away again, unwilling to yield his comfort zone for his father. "It's always been about you, about how the world sees you."

The slump in Richard's shoulders was barely perceivable. Where moments earlier he wanted to reach out and throttle his son, now a foreign yearning was biting at his conscience. "I'm sorry if it seemed that way," he muttered looking away. "That was never my intention; I just wanted the best for you. I... I still do, if you believe that."

"I don't," Matt said, coldly and simply standing his ground.

"It's just that boy..." Richard continued, ignoring Matt's adamant stance.

"Jacob," Matt screamed unable to control his anger over his father's flippancy where Jacob was concerned. "His name is Jacob," he continued in lower growl through clenched teeth.

"He's bad news," Richard shouted at his son, his tone every bit as menacing and forceful as Matt's.

"Just him, or any guy!" Matt countered, perfectly at ease with the screaming match that was brewing in his driveway. "Would Jacob have been okay if he was a girl? Would there be all this bad news crap then?" Matt asked letting his anger get the best of him.

"Just look," Richard shouted as he pulled the folded pieces of paper from his pocket and shoving them in Matt's direction.

Matt snatched the papers from his father's grasp, tired of the games, conveying just as much with the scornful look he issued as he unfolded them and began to read Coach Brenner's recount of catching Jacob in the locker room on his knees 'servicing' Cody.

"What's this?" Matt asked as his face screwed into a knot, he knew exactly what it was. Feeling his stomach fall out from below him, he looked up at his father. "You looked into his life?" Matt asked feeling more hurt than angry at that point.

"I had to," Richard rationalized thinking Matt's pain would be temporary, but in the end, all would be for the best.

"You couldn't trust me?" Matt almost cried, the words coming in an odd mix of a scream and a pathetic whine.

"Matthew," Richard protested, "I just needed to know what you were getting yourself into."

Matt's vision blurred as he blinked rapidly. "You think I didn't know about this?" he continued, through a pain-furrowed brow and puffed lips. "You thought he'd hide this from me?" Matt further asked, throwing the papers back at Richard.

"Matthew," Richard again protested scrambling for the papers as they scattered through the air and filtered down onto the cement driveway. The fact of Matt claiming knowledge of this wasn't lost on him and for a fleeting moment, he found himself rethinking his approach. In the end, he fought against the paternal instinct of protection, opting instead, for the killer instincts of a lion, spotting vulnerability and going for the jugular. "He's still talking to him, Matthew," Richard fired off without the slightest hint of remorse.

Matt sobered with the words, gathering his composure, he wiped away the tears that had betrayed him. It was true that no small part of him longed for his father's approval, even when he had faced its antithesis so often.

"Just go," Matt muttered, feeling the strength to fight the man who brought him into this world dissolve. While he longed for the man's acceptance, he knew he would find no such glory this day.

"Matthew," Richard protested, shocked that his son wouldn't listen to reason. "Find someone else, anyone, just not..."

"You know, I graduate in two weeks," Matt said, changing the subject abruptly, no longer wanting to hear his father's insistences that Jacob wasn't a good person, when Matt knew in his heart that Jacob was.

"I know," Richard, said puffing his chest in some perverted measure of accomplishment. "Your school has asked me to speak at the ceremony."

Matt frowned with the revelation. The last thing he wanted on his day was some politically charged tirade issued by his father in front of the people he had attended school with since kindergarten.

"Do me a favor," Matt resolved, flipping the conversation once again in his favor as he looked at his father. "Tell them you can't make it," Matt demanded, "If, in some small way this is about me like you say it is, don't go."

"Be careful what you ask for," Richard said, sobering to Matt's request. "One day, you'll regret those words."

"And that will be on me," Matt countered as he backed away, abandoning any hope of making his father proud.

The lion within again simmering to the surface of Richard's temper as he advanced, matching his son's retreating steps. "Matthew," he began, mistaking Matt's drawback for frailty, striking for a weakness that did not exist.

"Don't you get it," Matt croaked, again on the verge of tears as his face screwed into a grimace. "I don't want you there, I don't want you here. I just..." Matt paused choking on the words, "I just don't want you."

Richard recoiled at his son's words and the weight they wielded in that one defining moment. He took a shallow breath with the clarity that had smacked him in the face. Defeated, he backed away before turning and heading to his car, wondering where he had gone so wrong as to end up in the moment where he became his father, the man he swore he would never be.

"Dad," Matt yelled just as Richard opened the driver's door of his Mercedes, catching Richard's attention through the muddled fog his mind was struggling through.

Richard looked up; issuing his son a hopeful smile, thinking just maybe Matt would have something conciliatory to say.

"I'm going to USC in the fall," Matt said, his voice tinged with emotion. "I'm not going there because of you. I'm going because I want to stay close to Jacob." Matt said, wiping the angry tears from his cheeks.

Richard swallowed, feeling the words for what they were, a painful knife to his gut telling him that if he had overlooked his pride for just one or two moments, he would have seen that Jacob wanted for Matt what he, himself, claimed to want.

Swallowing what little pride he felt in the moment, Richard gave his son a curt nod before climbing into his luxury sedan and giving Matt what he so desperately wanted, his absence.

Jacob sat, glancing in turn from the digital clock on the radio, to the front doors of his mother's office building, constantly drumming his fingers on the steering wheel, waiting. He hadn't been waiting all that long, five minutes or so, but he still sighed with relief as Joanne came strolling out of the building looking genuinely surprised to see him sitting there waiting.

"You're here," Joanne smiled as she approached the driver's side window.

"Yup," Jacob replied with a wan smile, wishing she'd hurry and get in.

"You want me to drive?" she asked, the smile fading from her face as her brow furrowed.

"No," Jacob answered too quickly for Joanne's liking, but she acquiesced, biting her tongue as she moved around the rear of the Explorer and climbed in the passenger side. Joanne had barely gotten her seat belt buckled when the screech of the Explorer's rear tires as Jacob depressed the accelerator, pressing the two of them into their seats.

"Crap!" Joanne screamed, grabbing for both the dashboard and passenger assist handle at once, holding on as the Explorer's tires cried through a sharp turn. "What the hell is wrong with you?" she asked excitedly, her neck craning towards the back of the vehicle to see her work wilting into the background. "Where the hell is Matt?" she demanded noticing his absence for the first time.

"His house," Jacob barked, swerving into the street, causing the Explorer to teeter on its center of gravity. "With his dad," he continued after fighting with the wheel.

"And this is a good reason to drive like a freaking lunatic, you moron?" Joanne snapped back.

"Yes," Jacob issued receiving a withering look from his mother, "No... maybe?" he stumbled as the look continued.

"No," Joanne answered her question for Jacob. "Now slow down, or pull over and I'll drive."

"I don't trust him," Jacob said in reference to Richard as he gripped the steering wheel tightly while easing off the accelerator.

"Uh huh, and dying in the process does no one any good," Joanne observed.

Jacob was still rattling on about Richard being some sort of a prat as he pulled into their driveway fifteen minutes later, killing the engine with a quick flick of his wrist. Just as quickly, Jacob was out of the SUV and rushing across the street to Matt's house, rushing to make sure Matt was okay.

Joanne watched her son flee for a moment, shaking her head to herself, trying to remember if she had ever been that crazed when she was younger. Blaming the reaction on testosterone, Joanne made her way up her short drive and walkway as she dug around in her discarded coat pocket for her house keys.

Startled, she inhaled sharply as noticed a figure in her peripheral vision. Heaving a sigh of relief she palmed her heart recognizing Matt sitting on her front porch rocker.

"Matt?" she questioned with hesitation, not knowing if he was agitated or not, and how he would react if he was. Taking a tentative step toward the youth who sat on her front porch, she continued, "Are you okay?"

Matt looked up at Joanne, offering her a light, semi-bemused smile, he appeared to think about her simple question for a few moments before finally making eye contact.

"I think I'm going to be," he offered with a small nod of acceptance.

It could have been the determined look of resolve Matt wore, or the fact that said look was issued through red, puffy eyes, but whatever it was, Joanne found herself rushing forward and gathering Matt's head into her chest and rocking him gently, protectively, in her arms after issuing a soft kiss to the top of his head. Knowing that whatever he had just faced, she would never, not in this life or the next, wish to.

"He's not answering!" Jacob said rushing up on the front porch sounding almost frantic before noticing the pair of arms curled around his mother's waist. Hearing her son, Joanne released Matt, allowing his arms to slip from their grasp on her as she pulled away. "Matt," Jacob said rushing forward, sounding concerned and relieved at once. "Are you okay?" Jacob asked grabbing Matt's hand.

"Yeah," Matt offered sounding more sure of his own words now, than he previously had. Jacob's smile was faint as he heard Matt's answer, entwining his fingers with Matt's, he brought the back of Matt's hand up to his lips and gave it a gentle reassuring kiss.

"C'mon," Joanne said stepping away, her eyes threatening to water. "Let's all go have some lemonade," she offered opening the front door.