Sophomore Year || Parenthood Series, Book One || WATTYS 2018

Chapter Forty-One

SOUNDTRACK:
"Shoop" - Salt n Pepa

ONE WEEK LATER

"Buy her the best diamond this Valentine's Day and make her wish come true," the TV glowed across the living room and Kate rolled her eyes.

"I can't believe women actually fall for that type of shit," she remarked.

"I'd go for a pair of nice diamond earrings," Olivia remarked.

Kate looked at her. "You realize those diamonds aren't ethically mined, right?"

Olivia glared. "Yes, but that doesn't mean they aren't still pretty to look at."

"So are you and Luke doing anything fun for Valentine's Day?" Kate asked.

The older girl shrugged. "I don't know. I'm starting to think he likes someone else, to be honest."

"What makes you say that?"

Olivia sighed. "He's been really quiet lately. I don't really know why."

"Maybe he's planning a surprise for you?" Kate suggested.

Olivia didn't respond. The two had grown considerably closer since Jared had invited the older girl over. They talked almost every day and were pleasantly surprised to learn that they had far more in common than they thought.

"Kate, Tomo's on his way from the airport. He said he wanted to see how far along you were before doing anything else," Jared said as he walked into the room. "Oh, hey Olivia," he added. He looked back to Kate. "I'd get yourself warmed up and all that, if I was you. He's like fifteen minutes out."

Kate sighed. "Fine. I guess that means you've gotta go," she told Olivia.

Jared hovered off to the side of the room as Kate bid her friend goodbye. He followed her down to the sound stage.

"Are you going to hover during the lesson, too?" she asked as she took her violin from it's case.

"Hey, you told me that I don't spend enough time with you," he answered. "This is me spending time with you."

"Its a little creepy, if I'm honest," she said.

Therapy had worked wonders for the two of them. Initially, Nick had them in daily, but they had dropped back to once a week now that Jared was sure Kate wasn't going to hurt herself. He had even given her door back. Their trip to the cemetery had been an eye-opening one for Jared and he realized he had to include Kate in his life, one way or another. His solution was to force himself to work with her around. He decided that when he traveled, she'd come with him when possible. Yes, he'd still be working. But at least they could be together.

He had decided to hold off on a new album. It was the best choice for Kate. He couldn't risk her safety again. The album woud take up a consiserable amount of his time and Jared had a bad habit of cutting the outside world away while recording. If Kate thought he had been ignoring her before, she would have been in for a world of surprise. She probably would have seen and heard more from him if he was filming on location across the globe.

"You know, you're lucky Tomo was on his way out here anyways," Jared said. "I don't know why you couldn't have chosen something I could have helped you on."