My heart swells in my chest thinking that maybe she was.
At five o’clock, I’m picking her up and walking with her to the truck. “Anything out of the ordinary happen today?”
She shakes her head. “No, see, I told you we were making a bigger deal of this than we should.”
I help her in and when I get in, she exclaims. “What is that smell?”
“I picked up pizza from Giovanni’s. And a movie.”
She folds her hands in her lap. “Are you inviting yourself to my house for dinner and a movie?”
I put the truck into gear and drive toward her house. “Well, if I can’t get you to go out with me, then I guess I’m going to stay in with you.”
She laughs, and I relax a little. She could’ve point blank told me no, but she didn’t. Maybe I’m at least moving in the right direction and making her feel like she can start to trust me.
“I hate to ask, but do you care if we stop at the grocery store real quick? I’m out of coffee.”
I gasp. “Out of coffee? Oh no.”
She slaps me playfully as she laughs out loud. “You laugh now, but you haven’t seen me without coffee.”
I shiver like I’m scared, and she laughs again. I love seeing this relaxed side of her. I stop at the market that’s on the way to her house, and she jumps out before I can get her door. “You don’t have to go in if you don’t want. I promise I’ll be quick.”
But I shake my head and grab on to her hand. “Take all the time you need.”
She stumbles a little but catches herself. I wait for her to pull her hand away, but she doesn’t. We walk straight to the coffee aisle, and she picks it out and starts to walk toward the front. “Wow, you weren’t kidding. I figured you’d find something else you needed while you were in here.”
“Nope. Just the coffee. I told you I’d be quick.”
We’re standing in line when I feel her tense next to me. I look around, trying to find a threat or what has her upset when I lean down in front of her. “What’s wrong?”
But before she can answer, I hear it. A sing-song voice from behind me. Sierra pulls her hand from mine. “Evan McCarthy, is that you? I heard you were back in town.”
I roll my eyes at Sierra and turn around to face the woman from my past. And when I do, I put my arm around Sierra. “Hey, Jessica. How you doing?” That’s right. The woman from my past, my prom date. What are the chances of running into her here?
She stands closer to me than I like, and I pull Sierra tighter under my arm. But Jessica doesn’t seem to notice because she reaches out and touches my shoulder. “I’m doing good. Well, I’m getting divorced, but I’m sure you’ve heard. Maybe we can get together and catch up.”
But I’m already shaking my head. “I’m sorry to hear about your divorce, but actually, I’m spending all my time with Sierra.”
And it’s then Jessica looks at Sierra as if noticing her for the first time. She then gives us a quick goodbye and walks toward the back of the store.
All the progress I thought I made with Sierra is now gone, because as soon as Jessica walks away, she pulls out from my arm. She’s tense all the way to the truck, and she doesn’t say a word until we pull into her driveway. “You know, you could have gone with her.”
I blow out a breath. “Is that what this is about? I have no interest in Jessica. I didn’t even want to go out with her in high school. I did because it was expected of me. Now I do what I want. And I want to be with you.”
She beams over at me, and for once I know I said the right thing.
Hours later I find that I wasn’t prepared to sit next to her on the couch for hours and not touch her. We started off with a cushion between us, and slowly we moved and eventually met in the middle. We’ve long ago eaten the pizza and finished the first movie. Now, there’s some reality TV show on, but neither of us is watching it. I’ve asked her twenty questions it seems like and with every answer she gives me, I find that we have way more in common than I initially thought. She loves to watch the History Channel, enjoys any action movie, and is hooked on Jeopardy.
We’re laughing, and she’s more relaxed now than she’s ever been. I don’t want to ruin it, but I don’t think I can resist any longer. I put my hand on her shoulder. “I’m going to kiss you now.”
Her eyes widen and dilate. Her tongue pokes out to wet her lips, and I hold in my groan as I lean in and kiss her. As soon as our lips touch, I hold her in my embrace. But that’s not close enough. I pull her onto my lap and show her how I feel about her. If she’s not going to listen to me, maybe she’ll believe it if I show her. And there’s no way she can not see how I feel about her by the way we mesh together. It’s a perfect union, and when I
