Page 23 of Family Bonds- Kelsey & Van

“Didn’t mean to depress you,” he said.

“It’s fine,” she said.

She let out a big huff as if she flopped back on her bed. Thoughts of what she might be wearing under the sheets were crowding space in his brain.

“You told me not to make you wait too long. Guess this is one of those times I was too fast.”

“Nah,” she said. “I should get up anyway. As I said, I was planning on it, but you didn’t reply. I don’t have any plans today. Nothing more than playing with Frankie.”

“It’s Frankie when he’s being good?” he asked.

“Maybe I’ll tell you the story behind his name today if I’m feeling it.”

“What do I need to do to get you to feel it?” he asked.

He wasn’t used to flirting like this but found there was so much in his life that wasn’t the same that he might as well just roll with the punches and call it a day.

“So far it seems you don’t need to do much. Do you want to make plans?”

“I wouldn’t have woken you up if I didn’t want to see you again.”

“Awww,” she said. “That sounded almost sweet.”

“That’s me,” he said drily. “Sweet.”

“There is some sarcasm. I think I might like that better. Does that make me a bad person?”

“No,” he said. “It only makes you honest.”

“To a fault,” she said. “Not always a good thing either.”

He needed some honesty in his life when he felt so much could have been lies.

Trying to weed them out was proving troublesome.

“I’m not sure it’s so horrible either,” he said. “Since I’m new to the area, I don’t know what there is to do.”

“There are all sorts of things to do. My father owns a ton of tourist attractions things. Bowling, movies, ax throwing. On a summer Saturday though, it will be mobbed. There are tons of places to eat. We can get a ferry ride to Plymouth or Boston and sightsee. The same with Cape Cod. Have you seen a lighthouse yet? We have a few on the island, but those on Cape Cod are nicer.”

“No, I haven’t,” he said.

“Do you mind getting on the ferry?”

“I’m fine with it,” he said. “What about Frankie? Do you just leave him home or can he go with us if we are only sightseeing?”

“Really?” she asked excitedly. “You don’t mind bringing Frankie?”

“Seems he likes me,” he said. “And we know I can catch him if I need to.”

“Sweet,” she said. “It’s only eight now. I can be ready in thirty minutes if you want to pick me up. We can catch the ferry at nine. Otherwise we’ve got to wait until ten.”

“You can get ready in thirty minutes?” he asked.

“Hey,” she said. “I’m not getting ready for work. Just the weekend. Don’t expect miracles or a lot of makeup. I’ll text you my address, bye.”

She hung up on him and he found himself laughing.

He went to his room and changed out of his gym shorts into a pair of tan cotton ones and a navy T-shirt with a logo on the front corner. Maybe he could have found one that wasn’t as fitted to his body, but he was feeling the urge to find a bit of himself again.

---