Love & Serenity

Chapter 16

Jax and Lillian sat at the small square dining table as they had dinner. Lillian kept glancing at him, he was very quiet as he ate his food. Lillian put her fork down and picked up her glass, taking a sip of water while looking at him. She placed the glass back on the table, the sound snapped Jax's gaze up and directly at her.

She smiled at her so innocently, Jax almost smiled but didn't.
"What?" He asked.

"Where are you from?" Lillian asked, giving him all her attention and none to her food.

Jax was quiet for a moment before he got back to eating.
"All over."

"No hometown?" She asked.

Lillian panicked a little when he didn't reply. She wasn't usually this way, talkative. She kept to herself and never did anything that wasn't necessary, like small talk. But this was kind of necessary.

For the book.
She told herself.

Lillian figured she was irritating him and didn't want to push just like she wouldn't like if someone pushed in regards to her. So, she quietly went back to her food.

Jax snuck a glance at her and kept it on her when he realized she wasn't looking. He put his fork down and relaxed into the back of the chair.
"I don't like talking about my life before Burlington."

Lillian looked up at him with big coffee brown eyes that drew him in ever so gently.
"I can understand that." She said with a small smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "Somethings are just hard to remember."

Jax suddenly felt the urge to ask her questions about her past. All he knew was she was from New York and she worked from home, that was pretty much it.

"It helps to talk about it though," Lillian said with bright eyes.

"Has it worked for you?"

Lillian looked away.
"I..." She looked up at him. "I haven't exactly talked about it but Deidre knows about it."

"Deidre?"

"Deidre's my..." Agent? Sister? "She's the only family I have."

Jax wanted to ask more, know more but he didn't push.

"Do you have family outside Burlington?" Lillian asked.

Jax took a moment before he nodded.
"My folks."

"Do they come to visit?"

"No," Jax said. "They don't exactly know where I am. I'd like to keep it that way."

"You have a family but you're keeping away from them," Lillian said more to herself than she was to him. "Lord knows I'd do anything to have a family."

"Deidre..."

"Deidre has her own family," Lillian said. "She is the only person I consider family, but she's not blood. You have one and you're staying away from them?"

"I don't want to talk about it, Lily," Jax said.

"I'm sorry. It's none of my business." Lillian said. "I'm just trying to understand."

"You don't have to." Jax drank from his glass and got up.

"Jax..."

"Thanks for dinner," Jax said as he walked away from the table. "C'mon buddy."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to." Lillian got up and went after him as fast as she could with her sprained ankle.

She got to her door when Jax picked up Otto from the porch. He turned to her.
"I don't know what you went through Lily, but our situations are not the same."