Chapter Seventeen

When Kim woke up the next morning, she was momentarily confused to see Kylie sleeping in her bed just a few feet away. Wasn't she supposed to be at Gram's?

But then she also caught sight of the crutches propped against the wall on the other side of Kylie's bed, and the events of the previous day came rushing back to her.

Well, at least now she would have something to do besides watch Spanish soap operas all day.

Kim stood up from her bed with a stretch. She still felt exhausted from everything that went on the day before, but now that she was awake there was no way she would be able to fall back to sleep. A quick glance at the clock told Kim it was still early enough that Kylie wouldn't be waking up any time soon. In fact, Kylie was definitely more worn out from the hospital visit than Kim, so she would probably sleep even later than usual. And that meant Kim had plenty of time to shower.

Less than an hour later, Kim was in the middle of drying her hair when she heard someone knocking at the front door.

The knock made her pause.

It was very rare that someone would come to the Connweller house period. Really, their most frequent visitor was the mailman, and he certainly never needed to knock on the door. In fact, recently there was only one person…

No.

Kim frowned as the knocking continued. Putting down the towel she'd been using to dry her hair and making sure her bathrobe was secured shut, Kim exited the bathroom and made her way to the front door, ignoring the feeling of déjà vu that overcame her as she did so.

Upon reaching the door, Kim paused briefly before turning the knob and pulling it open, only to slam it shut immediately once her suspicions were confirmed.

Jared was standing on the front porch.

"Kim?" She heard him call through the front door. "I know you're mad."

Kim couldn't help the snort that escaped at his words. Well that was an understatement. After five days she was firmly at incredibly pissed off.

"And I definitely deserve it," Jared continued.

How did he even know she was still standing on the other side of the door? For all he knew, she could have walked away after slamming the door in his face. Actually, why hadn't she walked away? Why was she still standing here?

"I can explain, Kim," He said now. "I'll explain everything, I promise."

Kim's frown deepened at the familiar words. His promise to do just that was what got them into this mess in the first place. With a sigh of disgust—both with Jared for his broken promises and herself for believing him—Kim turned away from the door to go back to her room. She knew she was over-reacting, she really did. But she also knew that there was a small part of her that had always doubted Jared. Sure, she'd suppressed it, because spending time with him was wonderful. He was wonderful. But she could tell that there was a part of himself he was holding back; a part that kept him from being completely genuine.

And so, even though she'd been worried and hurt ever since Jared stood her up, she was also coming to the realization that she could be in control of whether or not she was hurt again. And so she decided to walk away. It was better this way.

And maybe if she repeated that to herself enough times she would actually believe it.

Twenty minutes later, Kim was dressed and ready for the day. Kylie on the other hand was still dead to the world. However…the little girl did tend to be attracted by the smell of food.

Kim smiled to herself. This was as good an excuse as any to cook that bacon her mom bought the last time they went grocery shopping. The smile was wiped from her face, though, when she happened to glance out of the kitchen window several minutes later.

Jared's truck was still in the driveway.

Kim bit her lip. There were two choices here: she could ignore him or she could confront him. Okay, that was a lie. There was only one choice for her right now.

Nodding resolutely to herself, Kim placed the package of bacon on the counter and made her way to the front door for the second time that morning. This time when she pulled it open, however, rather than being face-to-face with Jared, he quite literally fell backwards at her feet. He must have been sitting against the door.

"What are you doing, Jared?" Kim asked as evenly as she could.

"Well I was sitting here waiting for you," Jared replied as he scrambled to his feet. "But I didn't hear you come to the door."

"What are you doing here, Jared?" Kim said pointedly. "Why are you at my house?"

"I told you," Jared said, "I want to explain what's going on…what I was supposed to tell you days ago, where I've been since then, everything."

"Did you not understand that I don't want to talk?"

"Well you didn't tell me to go away," Jared shrugged.

Kim's frown deepened and clearly Jared saw it because he hastened to continue, "Look Kim, please can you just let me explain? Let me explain and then if you still want me t-to go away then I…then I will."

Kim was fully prepared to shut the door in his face again; she already made up her mind and she was going to stick to it. And yet…it really wasn't fair to just write him off so quickly. He at least deserved to have her listen to him.

Okay, and maybe there was also the fact that, despite all of her doubts, Jared had never given her a real reason to doubt him until his abrupt disappearance the other day. It was her hurt feelings and petty anger that made her shut the door in his face earlier.

He really deserved the chance to explain. And if she didn't like his explanation...well, he'd just given her permission to kick him out again, hadn't he.

Kim sighed and took a step back, pulling the door open wider.

"You can come in," She told him, and the look of utter relief that appeared on his face when she spoke only made her feel worse.

"Thank you, Kim!" Jared said earnestly as he walked into the house. "I promise there's an explanation for everything."

"I was, uh, just about to make breakfast for Kylie and I," Kim cursed herself for her slight stammer. She thought she was over her nerves where Jared was concerned! Then again, it was probably being in his presence again that was bringing it all back. She hated that his mere presence could do this to her! (and yet…she secretly loved it, too.) "We can talk in the, er, kitchen."

"Sounds good," Jared replied simply as Kim led the way. "So…er, Kylie's home, then?"

Kim nodded as she resumed her breakfast preparations, opening the fridge and pulling out the carton of eggs.

"She broke her leg yesterday and Gram just can't take care of her by herself; Mom thought it was best if Kylie came home until she's all healed."

"Oh," Jared said shortly, before the pair fell into an awkward silence.

For her part, even though Kim felt bad about her earlier actions she also refused to speak first now. The fact of the matter was she was completely confused about how to handle this situation.

There was no denying that she'd missed Jared since she last saw him. But then she was angry at herself for missing him and angry at him for being gone. And yet she was glad he was back but angry at herself again for being glad.

Being in her own head sometimes was pure torture.

"I—" Jared began suddenly, then stopped abruptly. He appeared to think things over for a moment before beginning again, "Kim, I owe you an apology for the other day. We made plans and I completely stood you up and that's just a completely shitty thing to have to deal with, and so I'm sorry. And I want you to know that the only reason that it happened was because there was a family emergency that I had to deal with."

Jared looked so earnest and apologetic that Kim could feel her heart going out to him. He seemed genuinely remorseful. There was one problem with his story, though…

"Your parents told me you were camping," Kim said flatly.

Immediately, Jared's brow furrowed. "When did you talk to my parents?"

"When I called your house looking for you," Kim replied, fighting through the blush that threatened to rise on her cheeks. When she said it like that it made her seem like a complete stalker. "Because I was worried about you," She clarified quickly.

"You were worried about me?" Jared questioned, and in Kim's opinion he looked entirely too pleased about that considering their current circumstances.

"I was," Kim said shortly, focusing on the eggs she was now beating. "Until I found out you stood me up to go camping with your friends. You could have just told me you wanted to go with Sam and Paul, I would have understood."

Kim glanced at Jared now to see that he was running his hand through his hair in apparent frustration.

"This is so messed up," Jared moaned. "Everything would be so much easier if—" He stopped abruptly then shook his head slightly. "But there's really no use worrying about it now; I can't change what already happened. Look, Kim, I'm not lying to you right now, no matter how much it might sound like it. This has everything to do with what I wanted to tell you the other day, and my parents don't know about any of it. It's a secret. That's why they thought I was camping, they don't know the truth; they aren't allowed to know the truth."

"And I am?" Kim asked skeptically.

Jared nodded rapidly.

"Alright then," Kim said firmly, pushing her bowl aside and shifting to face him fully. "What's this big secret?"

"I'm a werewolf."