7.
I was extremely grateful that things at work had slowed down so that I was able to arrange a few days' leave to move finally into an old but new house. Mother dear was beside herself with excitement. The retirement home had a swinging (meant literally – those old people loved to dance) party for us on our last evening as residents there.
Kai had arranged to bring the furniture from the storage unit to the house with Mitch. On one of the wettest days of the year, with rain pouring down amidst threatening hail I signed the final piece of paper. I was now the proud owner of a freshly renovated house. When the rain had subsided Kai, Mitch and I took a slow walk from the house to the cars, discussing when the Bible study was to start at my house.
'I have an idea,' I said excitedly, 'how about we start this Tuesday and at the same time we have a braai as a housewarming? We can invite the whole group if you like.'
They seemed to like the idea, and so we all had a date for Tuesday. Mitch left, and it was only Kai standing hesitantly by the door to his van.
'So besides the braai, we still have the matter of dinner at a restaurant remember?'
'Oh, I wasn't sure if you still interested, so I kept quiet.'
'You don't want to go?'
'No…Yes…I mean yes, I do still want to go.'
He looked away. It was one of those days when the sound of the ocean was excessively loud, and it looked like he was listening intently.
'Okay, I will speak to you soon. Congratulations on your house again and remember to phone me if anything is wrong or for anything…'
He did not finish and instead climbed into his van, waved at me and left. Dinner, alone with Kai, I liked the idea a lot.
When Rylee showed up after work, we shared a pizza, and she and Mother helped me unpack a few rather soggy boxes. Not much longer mother was exhausted, excused herself and eagerly went to sleep in her new home. Rylee and I gave up with the boxes and instead sat in the comfort of the lounge with a glass of red wine each. I felt it was the right time to speak to her about Kai before I went to dinner with him.
'So what is happening between you and Kai?'
'Oh, he is the hunkiest man on earth.'
'That isn't what I asked. Are you guys going out, had a date? What?'
'Yep, we see a lot of each other, it's only a matter of time before we make it public.'
I felt my heart sink. Could this be true? Was Kai the smooth operating kind? I had a hard time believing it, but I also had no reason to doubt Rylee.
'Oh okay, wow I never knew.'
'Well you have been so busy lately I have hardly seen you to catch up on any news.'
That was also true. I invited her to the Tuesday evening braai and study and with a heavy heart decided to abandon the idea of Kai and me. I would never stand in the way of my best friend. But a niggle refused to budge, nagging at me that it was not true. My brain had an ongoing fight with itself over the pros and cons of Rylee's revelation. Even my daily jogs along the beach got preoccupied with it, so much so that I never even looked to see if Kai was on the beach or surfing.
Tuesday evening arrived, and while the fire was going, we all sat to begin the study in the lounge (Mother got treated like a queen by the young men). I tried to keep my distance from Kai as much as possible, and Rylee made it easy by forever attaching herself to his hip. It fuelled my ideas that she was, in fact, telling the truth, but then he was at my side every chance he got which made me think otherwise. I did not know what to think, and it was beginning to infuriate me.
Mitch opened with a prayer and blessed our house. We started the study by examining who Jesus was, his birth, background and childhood. These things I remembered from school but it was still good to have my memory refreshed. We ended the study when Jesus was teaching in the temples and had gathered his disciples. It was all relatively simple, and yet I still did not find the reason for the commitment these Christian people had. I was eager for the next study to seek this understanding.
As the men stood by the fire, and Rylee stood glued to Kai, Mother and I made salads in the kitchen.
'I thought you had a thing for Kai?' she asked softly so if anyone was entering the kitchen they would not hear her.
'Yeah well, apparently Rylee and Kai are something of an item.' My reply was so half-hearted it was barely audible.
'Well, I don't see it at all. Yes, she is all over him, but he is not interested in her in the least.'
'And you can tell that how?'
'Call it old age, intuition, experience or maybe it's just obvious.'
I sighed not wanting to discuss this any further as I was already exhausted from over-thinking it.
'Well Rylee says it is so, so I have to respect her as my friend.'
Mother shook her head. 'You are wrong.'
Then she left the subject there taking the salad bowls to the dinner table. I followed her with my hands full, and while we set them on the table, Kai walked into the house with Rylee right on his heels. I gave Mother a knowing look, confirming my side of the story.
She shook her head and very quickly muttered, 'We will continue the conversation later.'
By then we were no longer alone as Kai was asking for oven gloves and an oven tray for Mitch. Rylee just hung on him like a flea.
***
It was such a pleasure to be in my home with my things and to be able to do as I pleased and Mother felt the same. A few of her friends had come to visit her and had already planned a tea party every Thursday morning in her flat and after a week, she was so happy there was a pink glow to her complexion.
I had to skip the study for the next week due to the schedule of my shifts at work and when the following Tuesday evening came along I was ready and waiting to fill my mind with the fellow named Jesus. Other than the Rylee/Kai affair all I was able to concentrate on was this man they called Jesus. What did He do that calls everyone to His name? I had to find out. Mitch arrived excusing Kai as he had to take his sister to the airport; she was on her way back to Hawaii. Rylee also did not pitch up for the study and automatically I presumed she was with Kai. Another notch for my argument with Mother.
As Mitch continued from where we had left off the last time, I was fascinated by what I was learning. It had to be so because the Bible got written by those that had walked and lived with Jesus. Even Mother was intrigued, and she delved into the facts and asked a lot of questions. Mitch went to the Bible and the scriptures for all his answers satisfying us both every time. Mitch ended the study when Jesus got arrested. I was sickened. Another week before I found out what the deal was. We had homework to do, and I already had a mountain of studying to do but this was too important, and I was too curious not to make time for it.
I phoned Rylee the next morning.
'Hi. You weren't at study last night. Everything okay?'
I had no intention of letting on that all I wanted to know was if she had been with Kai.
'Yeah, one of the kittens was vomiting so much, so I took her to the vet, shame poor little thing was so sick.'
'You have kittens now? When did you get kittens? How many do you have?'
'Only two. I could not resist their little faces in the window of the pet shop.'
She giggled and swooned. It was obvious that she was holding them in her arms as we spoke.
'Rylee, how many do you have now?'
She hesitated, perhaps quickly doing a head count.
'Nine,' she said.
'Nine cats in that tiny house?'
'So?' she replied indignantly.