Chapter Twenty-One
"You still want to do this, right?" Jared looked away from the road briefly to glance at Kim, sitting next to him in his truck.
She had been looking out the window at the quickly passing scenery, but at his question she turned to face him.
"We're almost there; don't you think it's a little late to be asking that?" She responded, slightly amused. "Besides, I thought you want me to meet Emily?"
"I do," Jared's response was quick. "But I don't want you to feel pressured into anything."
Now Kim's eyebrows rose as her amusement deepened. "Jared," She said slowly, "This was my idea."
"I just wanted to make sure that you're still sure about this," Jared defended, though the weakness with which he did so caused Kim to furrow her brow at him thoughtfully.
"Jared," She began, "Is there something you're not telling me?"
Jared winced visibly but kept his eyes on the road. Kim simply stared at him, biting her lip in worry now. Finally, Jared sighed.
"When I told you Emily was released from the hospital," Jared began, his tone careful, "I didn't tell you everything."
Well now Kim was confused.
"What more is there to tell me?" She questioned. "She's going to be okay, right? That's why they released her: because she recovered…right?"
"Yes…" Jared hesitated. "And no. She is fine, but she's going to have permanent scars. I'm not sure how Emily feels about it, because I haven't talked to her yet, but Sam was pretty upset. And I can tell it's going to be a sensitive issue for him, probably forever. Plus, I guess Emily's parents are pretty upset about Sam hanging around and she's feeling really stifled by them, not to mention annoyed over their treatment of Sam. There's just a lot of pent-up emotion in that house."
Kim could only imagine; even without her injury apparently causing problems, Jared had explained briefly about the situation with Sam, Emily, and Emily's cousin, Leah, who was also Sam's ex-girlfriend. This whole imprinting business had really caused a mess for Sam and Emily, and since it was supposed to be kept a secret they couldn't even explain things fully to everyone in their lives. The tension in that house was probably overwhelming.
"I want you to meet her—I think it would be great if you guys ended up friends—but I'm just worried that we're walking into a time bomb that could go off at any moment," Jared concluded. "I could be worrying over nothing, like usual, but in this case I'm just not sure."
Kim reached across the bench seat and grabbed Jared's hand from where it was nervously tapping on his leg.
"It's a good thing we're going to visit, then," She informed him. "Hopefully we'll be a welcome distraction."
And at her words, Jared finally cracked a small smile.
"Hopefully," He agreed.
Within ten minutes they were entering Neah Bay, Emily's hometown on the Makah reservation, and from there they quickly arrived at Emily's parents' house.
"Are you ready?" Kim asked, hopping out of the truck. Walking around to car to stand next to Jared, she found him looking at the house with an expression on his face that she couldn't quite interpret. "What is it?"
"I think we're about to walk into chaos," Jared stated, slipping his hand into hers before approaching the house.
"Chaos?" Kim questioned.
"You'll see," was Jared's cryptic reply.
"Well you're incredibly helpful," Kim muttered under her breath as Jared rang the doorbell, even though she knew full well he'd be able to hear her. But if he wasn't going to share (potentially important information if they really were about to enter into chaos) what he heard with his super-sonic wolf senses, then she was going to passive aggressively complain about him to her heart's content, thank you very much.
Jared merely shot her a grin before the front door was suddenly yanked open. Kim's brow furrowed in confusion once again when she realized there was no one on the other side of the screen door.
"Grandma!"
Correction: there was a small girl peeking around from behind the door, Kim noted when the loud shout drew her gaze downwards.
"GRANDMA!" The girl shouted again, louder this time. To be completely honest, Kim wasn't sure if her eardrums were going to recover. "There are people here!"
"Tiffany!" A middle-aged woman holding a red-faced, crying toddler appeared at the other end of the hallway that the front door opened into just then. "What have I told you about opening the door when you aren't with an adult?"
"I thought you couldn't hear the doorbell," The little girl said innocently, though she continued speaking loudly to be heard over the crying, "'Cause Claire is always so loud."
The woman shook her head wearily. "No more opening the front door, Tiffany. Now go to the kitchen and have your lunch."
As the little girl—Tiffany, Kim internally corrected herself—ran off into the house, the woman turned her attention to Kim and Jared, seemingly oblivious to the child still wailing right next to her ear.
"I'm sorry about that," She told them politely. "Can I help you?"
"We're here to see Emily," Jared responded. "I told her we'd be stopping by today; I'm not sure if she mentioned it."
"Oh! Silly me, I didn't recognize you at first, Jared," Mrs. Young replied, pushing the screen door open for them immediately. "Come in, come in."
Kim followed Jared into the house, and both were ushered into the living room by Emily's mother. Well, it was probably a good sign that she wasn't being openly rude to them since they were friends of Sam. But, then again, she was likely familiar with Jared because of the time he'd spent by Emily's side in the hospital, Kim reasoned.
"Make yourselves comfortable," She told them. "I'll just go let Emily know you're here."
Once she left the room, Kim turned to Jared with one eyebrow raised.
"'Chaos' huh?"
Jared shrugged. "I've heard they're always a bit of a handful."
"Claire's not a huge fan of being left behind by her mom," A soft voice spoke from behind Kim and Jared.
Turning in surprise, Kim saw that Sam Uley was now standing in the doorway with one arm wrapped loosely around the waist of a young woman who must be Emily Young, Sam's imprint. Either Emily and Sam had been a lot closer to the living room than Kim thought when Emily's mother said she'd go tell her of their arrival, or Sam had heard them at the door and they hadn't waited for Mrs. Young to come get them. Kim was guessing it was probably the latter.
"My mom is convinced the best way to deal with it is to just let Claire scream until she wears herself out," Emily continued. "Tiffany, on the other hand, is just a never ending ball of energy. Sorry about them, though. I didn't know they would be here today until my sister dropped them off so she could go grocery shopping in peace."
"It's alright," Jared said with a good-natured shrug. "Just never ask me to babysit."
While they were speaking, Kim took the opportunity to observe Emily. The other girl had a kind face, she decided. Or, at least, what she could see of it looked kind. A majority of the right side of Emily's face was covered in a thin layer of gauze and medical tape; Kim could just make out the stitches underneath. Emily's right arm was also wrapped in a layer of bandages and resting in a sling. But even with all of that Emily was still smiling at Jared's response.
"For some reason, everyone always says that about Claire," Emily said wryly.
"So, Em," Jared said now, tugging Kim closer to him and releasing her hand so he could drape his arm around her shoulder. "I want you to meet my girlfriend, Kim."
Kim surprised even herself by suppressing the butterflies that fluttered in her stomach when Jared referred to her as his girlfriend, instead narrowing her eyes playfully at Jared in response and saying, "I thought we already covered this? Coming here was my idea because I want to meet her." Then she turned to Emily with a smile and held out her left hand, "It's nice to meet you, Emily."
Emily smiled back immediately and shook Kim's hand.
"I like you," Emily declared. "Of course, I've wanted to meet you, too. I have to thank you for letting me borrow Jared for a few days; Sam told me that might have caused problems for you while it helped him."
Reminded of her brief anger with Jared the previous week, Kim felt a faint blush rise on her cheeks.
"It's no problem, we sorted everything out," She replied.
"Good," Emily smiled again. "Now, why don't we sit down, and maybe we can have a snack, too. I've learned how these boys can get."
"You sit," Sam spoke for the first time, leading Emily to the couch across from the one Jared and Kim settled on. "I'll get everything. The lemonade and cookies we made this morning, right?"
Emily nodded. "And don't forget napkins."
It was interesting seeing the pair interact with each other, Kim thought to herself as she watched Sam help Emily sit—Emily didn't seem to be walking very steadily and Kim thought it was probably due to a combination of her injuries and whatever medications the doctors had her on—and then he kissed the top of her head before swiftly exiting the room. It was interesting, Kim mused, because Sam looked at Emily with just as much love and adoration as Jared did when he looked at her.
Kim was surprised that she found that almost comforting. Rationally, she figured it should probably make her think this was just the imprint forcing feelings on people. But she knew how much she cared for Jared and how much he cared for her. Their feelings were real. Seeing the same thing in Sam and Emily merely served to reaffirm that what she and Jared had was real and not just some twisted supernatural thing.
"Sam helped you bake cookies?" Jared questioned incredulously once Sam was gone.
Emily nodded.
"You got Sam to cook? I'm sorry I missed that."
Emily smiled briefly. "I'm pretty much half-useless at the moment, so he was rather helpful to have around." Then she rolled her eyes. "Then again, he did keep trying to eat everything."
"You should see the two of them and Paul all together," Kim told her. "I never knew three people could eat so much in such a short span of time—" At this point, she chose to ignore Jared's mumbling that they were growing boys who needed their food "—I'm just glad I've never had to cook for all of them; it'd probably be a nightmare."
Emily seemed to sit up straighter at Kim's words. "Do you cook?" She questioned eagerly.
Kim shrugged. "I'm in charge of making sure my sister and I don't starve, so yeah, I guess you could say I do."
"I love to cook," Emily stated emphatically. "Well, really I love to bake. Cooking is fun, but baking is my favorite."
Just then, Sam re-entered the room, carrying a tray that held a plate of cookies, a pitcher of lemonade, and a stack of cups.
"I think your mom thinks I'm trying to poison everyone or something," He informed Emily as he set the tray down. "Either that, or that woman really likes to hover."
Recalling what Jared had said earlier on the car ride over, Kim looked to Emily as Sam spoke, only to see that her expression had become strained.
"She does like to hover…" Emily murmured, then her expression turned teasing. "But for all we know you could be trying to poison us. Jared doesn't seem too confident in your baking abilities."
"Never," Sam stated firmly. Then he rolled his eyes, "And I'm pretty sure Jared doesn't even know how to boil water."
"Um, yes, I do," Jared contradicted immediately. "You just put it in the microwave. Duh."