Page 122 of Absolution

“I really do love you, you know.”

His expression softens. “I love you too.”

They kiss, warm and slow, until the car horn blares outside.

Jackie jumps. “Bathroom,” she mumbles, heading off to fix her hair. Kyle heads off in search of his shoes.

In the car, Iris sighs, “I can’t believe they’re back together.”

Jemma goes, “Right?”

Levi shrugs. “They might not be.”

Jemma frowns. “What?”

“Eric Hawkins said his parents are divorced but they still have sex.”

“Ew, Levi!” Jemma groans. Iris grimaces.

“What? We’re not kids anymore,” Levi mutters.

Before either sister can tell him how gross he is, the car door opens and Jackie slides behind the wheel. Kyle climbs into the passenger seat a second later.

He buckles in, frowning slightly. ‘How did the kids even know he was here?’ He’d parked around the block, on purpose, just to avoid the neighbours talking.

Jackie clears her throat. “So… what are we thinking of getting Uncle Cory for his birthday?”

The question works like magic. The kids light up with ideas, Levi says a cool pen, Iris says a record, Jemma says a mug that swears.

The tension melts. Jackie focuses on the road.

Her relationship with Cory is back on track, finally. Not without a warning, though. She’d told him, deadpan, that if he ever lied to her again, no one would find his body.

She’d said something similar to Kyle, too.

She glances sideways at him. He’s watching her with mild suspicion. She gives him a sweet smile.

At the diner, the kids order milkshakes before the menus even settle.

Jemma, in her usual blunt fashion, looks up and says, “So… are you guys back together? Or just having sex?”

A lady in the next booth shoots Jackie and Kyle a disapproving side-eye.

Kyle chokes on his water, coughing as he sets his glass down. “Wow. Uh. Okay.”

Jackie raises her brows at him. “You gonna take that one, or should I?”

He holds up a hand, still catching his breath. “Nope. I got it. I think.”

He turns to Jemma, who sips her milkshake like nothing happened. “Where did you even learn to ask questions like that?”

“School,” she shrugs.

“Of course,” Jackie mutters.

Kyle shifts in his seat. “Your mom and I… we’re dating.”

“Dating?” Levi repeats.

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