Page 53 of Six Wishes

“I should go home.” I lift my head off the couch and feel my hair falling from the cute updo I had going on for the wedding. “Can you take me, momma?” I play dirty and make my voice go young and innocent, like when I was little. She used to love me calling her that.

“You know I will, baby,” Mom’s face breaks into a goofy smile. She then stands off the couch, and I put my hand out for her to pull me up.

“I think I’m just going to go barefoot,” I look down at my feet. The high heeled sandals I had on earlier are where I dropped them by the door when I first walked in. “I feel weird wearing high heels without Van around.”

“Chloe Montgomery,” Mom’s got her serious voice now. “You are beautiful, even more so when you are confident in how amazing you are. Your height does not define you. Do you hear me?”

“Yes, momma,” I laugh and head toward the door.

I pull on the knob but jump back when I notice the person darkening the doorstep.

“Brian,” I press my head to my chest. “You scared me,” I chuckle nervously. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m sorry, I was just about to knock,” he points toward the door, then smiles at my mom. “Hi there, Mrs. Montgomery, how are you?”

“Brian, honey, how are you? How’s your mom?” Mom went to school with Brian’s mom, and they are still on friendly terms when they run into each other around town.

“She’s good, Mrs. M, I’ll tell her you asked.” Brian is always the politest, just all around nicest guy I have ever met. And now that I have no shoes on, he is a little taller than me. Why I am so stuck on that lately, I have no idea.

Actually, I do have a bit of an idea. Van. That’s why I am so stuck on that. Also, the more I think about it, the more I am starting to realize that I wouldn’t care how tall Van was. I just want him. Tall, short, I don’t care.

“I was hoping to talk to you for a minute,” Brian snaps me out of my thoughts. “If you don’t mind.”

I have a hard time not comparing everything about Brian with Van. Van wouldn’t ask for permission to do anything. He’d give me a bad pickup line and swoop me off my feet. Nothing else required.

“Of course,” I smile, and he steps back in an obvious signal that he’d like to talk out on the front porch as opposed to inside the house. “Give me a minute, Mom,” I call back to her, then close the door behind me. “What’s going on, Brian?”

“I saw the pictures online. I wanted to make sure you were okay,” he shrugs and looks at me bashfully. “I wasn’t sure if your mom knows, so I didn’t want to say anything in there… But I could tell someone photoshopped their face over yours.”

For an inexplicable reason, I feel like crying. How am I the only one who thought the worst of Van? Why? What is wrong with me? Maybe I don’t love him like I think I do?

“I… Are you okay?” Brian opens his arms up, and I don’t even think. I step into him and let him hug me while I cry. It feels cathartic, like this is what I needed. I feel him kissing me on the head and whispering that it is all going to be okay. I just want Van back. That’s when it will all be okay.

I hear a couple of car doors slamming shut somewhere in the near distance, but I don’t have the energy to look and make sure nobody crazy is watching us.

“I don’t know how you knew I’d be here,” I cry into Brian’s shirt. “But I’m glad you stopped by. I’ve been so stupid,” I confess, and feel a little guilty about it. It’s like I am betraying Van in a weird way, even though I know in my heart that I am not doing anything wrong.

“Why were you stupid?” he rubs up and down my back in a soothing motion.

“I saw the pictures,” I sniffle. “And I thought of the worst. I felt betrayed, you know?”

“I know, babe, I get it,” Brian continues in his soothing voice.

Someone clearing their voice in my mom’s driveway makes me lift my head from Brian’s shoulder. My eyes go big, and I see Van standing at the bottom of the steps leading up to the porch.

“Babe?” One eyebrow goes up, and the sarcasm dripping from his voice cannot be mistaken.

“Van, don’t be like that,” a feminine voice calls from behind him, then steps around him. I instantly recognize Mary Boyd.

I push myself away from Brian, and he lets me go without a fight.

“Thank you so much, Brian,” I squeeze his hand. “You are such a great guy, and I appreciate your friendship.”

He takes the hint, thankfully. With a small wink, he walks around me, then starts down the short steps to the driveway where Van is blocking the way.

“I’m a huge fan,” he puts a hand out, and Van has no choice but to take it and shake it. “But if you break her heart,” he jerks his chin at me, “all bets are off.” Another wink my way, then he is out of the way and driving off.

There’s a bit of an awkward silence lingering behind once we can’t hear the revving of his motorcycle engine.

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