Page 27 of Full Circle

My head was spinning at her words. Wesley and I had done this over 100 times in the two years we had been best friends. Ms. Shirley never once protested giving me a ride, nor had Daddy ever refused to come get me. He knew it wasn’t my fault that our family’s land was too far out of town to walk.

And as for people talking about us, the idea was laughable in my mind. No one had ever said anything about that, even when Wes spent the night at our house. We spent every day together from sun up to sun down from the day he moved to River’s Run to the beginning of this summer. Even on days we were sick, we spent hours on the phone until we badgered one of the adults in our lives to have pity on us and let the other one go take care of the sick one. It was just how things were between Wesley and me.

There were tears in my eyes as I waited for Daddy to say as much to Desiree, to remind her that I was his daughter, not hers. Daddy held my gaze for a moment before averting his eyes to his desk. He let out a long sigh.

“Perhaps you’re right, honey,” he finally agreed. “I don’t know nearly as much about raising a teenage daughter as you do.”

“But Daddy!” I protested.

Desiree held up a hand. “Your father is sick, Celeste! How can you be so selfish?”

A lone tear escaped, something I didn’t want Desiree to see, but Wesley grabbed my hand again and started pulling me out of Daddy’s office. “We’ll just step outside to say our goodbyes,” he told them.

Daddy nodded. “Meet me at the truck in five minutes, sugar bee.”

Wesley wound his way through the dining tables in the front of the restaurant, ignoring Hillary’s tittering call for him, and dragged me outside around the corner to the extra parking spaces on the side of The Comfy Cushion. Once we were safely outside of anyone’s earshot, he dropped my hand and began furiously kicking the side of the restaurant.

“That stupid fucking bitch!” he seethed with each kick.

“Wes!” There was no telling if she could hear us or not, and we certainly didn’t need more trouble.

“I’ve been waiting all summer to see you and she’s taking that away!” he yelled. “Don’t you see what’s happening?”

His anger left me speechless, opening and closing my mouth like a goldfish as I tried to find the right words to calm him down. Instead he slammed his palm into the wall between us.

“She’s trying to keep me away from you so that I focus more on her ugly ass daughter! Like I’d ever look twice at Hillary!”

I shook my head. As much as I loved hearing that he didn’t care about my new stepsister, I didn’t think Desiree would sink that low. Daddy certainly wouldn’t be attracted to her if she was that mean of a person. “That’s not what she’s trying to do, Wes,” I insisted. “You heard her—people will talk. I don’t want to start high school already having a reputation.”

Wesley’s blue eyes seared right through me. “I’d beat the shit out of anyone who tried to say something about you. Don’t drink her poison!”

Instead, I pulled him in tightly, my hand tucking his head in above my shoulder. His arms instantly wound around my waist and I stroked his shaggy hair soothingly for a few moments before I finally heard Wes’ loud sigh of relief. The fight had gone out in him.

As I leaned back to look at his face, Wesley’s soft lips pressed against my own. This kiss was sweet—tender, even—and didn’t last nearly long enough. He stood straighter to place a gentle kiss on my forehead. “For my whole life,” Wesley whispered, making me smile against his throat.

The sounds of Daddy and Desiree’s voice drifted around the corner, breaking the spell of the moment. Begrudgingly, I pulled away from Wesley and walked sadly towards their truck. Wesley followed closely behind.

“You have a good night, Wes,” Daddy said. “It’s good to have you home.”

Wesley smiled tightly and nodded at him.

Daddy had already shut the car door behind him when Desiree turned to us with another cold smile. “Since you’re such an upstanding gentleman, Wesley, why don’t you join Hillary and her friends inside. I’m sure they would all appreciate a fine young man walking them home.”

“Hillary doesn’t have to come home now?” I tried to ask casually, but my voice shook a bit. Was Wesley right? Did Desiree want to keep us apart?

Desiree’s face tightened. “Some of her friends are already licensed drivers. She’ll be along after a while.”

My best friend shrugged one shoulder, leaning back and fixing my soon-to-be-stepmother with a glare that should have incinerated her on the spot. “I’ve got better things to do.”

He didn’t wait for her to respond before pulling me into a one-armed hug and whispering, “I’ll come get you first thing in the morning.” Wesley flashed me a wink that sent a bolt of lust right through me, and sauntered off down the street.

I couldn’t help the flush that heated my face and it was apparent that Desiree saw. “Your father and I are going to have a little chat about this,” she hissed at me. She climbed into Daddy’s waiting truck and slammed the door.

My heart felt torn as I wistfully watched Wesley head down towards the alleyway that would serve as a shortcut to Ms. Shirley’s. Yearning for what was just out of reach was hardly a new concept, but it wasn’t a struggle I was familiar with. Daddy and I had been a team for so long now, with Wesley always caught up in the mix, that it made my entire body tremble to see him walking away from us. I doubted Desiree would let this go; she wasn’t the type of person to allow Wesley’s rude behavior go unnoticed.

Sighing heavily at the barren night that awaited me, I climbed into the tailgate of the pickup and knocked on the window to let Daddy know I was ready to go home.

CHAPTER 11

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