Page 19 of Not My Finest Hour

I’m at work the following Wednesday when I receive the best news I’ve had in quite some time: Alexis isn’t coming in today. She’s sick with some cold that’s going around, and when I spoke to her on the phone, she sounded terrible. I hope that means she’ll be out the rest of the week. But since Alexis is a witch, she’ll probably cook up some spell that will magically cure her, so I’m sure she’ll be back tomorrow. For now, though, I’m going to enjoy this Alexis-free day.

Kim’s schedule is pretty light today too, so I’ve been spending my spare time catching up on a mystery book I started reading three months ago and only got to page fifty. It’s not that the book is boring—it’s actually been quite good so far. But sometimes when I get a spare moment, I’d rather watch something with Fern because I’m always trying to improve our relationship.

It’s ten in the morning and Kim has a half-hour gap between appointments, so I’m surprised when the office door opens. We don’t do walk-in appointments, so maybe this is someone trying to sell Kim something else she doesn’t need for her office. But I’m even more surprised when I see who enters.

“Wesley, what are you doing here?” It’s Wesley from the seminar, and he looks very good this morning. He’s sporting his square-framed glasses, and his hair is a bit unkempt, which is very sexy instead of looking disheveled like it might on someone else. For today’s outfit, he’s chosen a butter-yellow polo shirt with some dark gray dress slacks. He smiles when he sees me.

“I made an appointment with Kim last night for a spinal adjustment,” he says, leaning up against the front counter, allowing me to get a whiff of his cologne. Whatever the scent is, it smells expensive. Not like that cheap body spray that all the college kids used to wear. This is refined and shows that he’s got good taste.

“But I handle all of Kim’s appointments, and I don’t remember you calling the office.”

“Are you saying if I had called, you’d remember me?” There’s a twinkle in those brown eyes of his.

He’s fishing for a compliment, but I’m not taking the bait. “That’s not what I’m saying at all. I’m saying I would’ve remembered someone calling at the last minute to schedule an appointment.”

He flashes me a grin. “I called last night, not realizing the office was closed for the day. You must’ve already gone home because Kim answered the phone. She said she had this slot open.”

Right at that moment, Kim comes walking up to the front counter and greets Wesley with a smile. “Dahlia, thanks for checking Wesley in. If you’d like to follow me back, we can get started.” She motions for him to follow, and the two of them walk down the hall.

During Wesley’s adjustment, I overhear some of their conversation and catch that Wesley is a general practitioner at a doctor’s office about a half mile away. He also rents an apartment in Wallingford and hopes to one day buy his own home.

I don’t mean to eavesdrop, and usually don’t, it’s just that there’s not much else going on in the office at the moment. And if I’m being honest, I kind of want to know more about Wesley. And maybe what I’m really listening for is any mention of Justin’s name because I still can’t get him out of my head. But he never mentions him, and soon, Wesley is standing at my desk, ready to book his next appointment.

“When would you like to come back? She has an opening in three weeks if that works for you,” I say, keeping my eyes on the scheduler.

Wesley doesn’t say anything. In fact, he’s weirdly quiet and I glance up to see what’s going on. He’s fidgeting with the business cards we keep on the counter, straightening the corners of the stack even though I know they’re already straight. I straightened them this morning when I was looking for something to do.

“Dahlia, I’ve got to be honest with you.” I wait for him to continue. “I didn’t come here for an adjustment. I mean, I got one, yes, but I don’t think I needed one.”

Where is he going with this?

He pushes his glasses up on his nose and tucks a lock of hair behind his ear. “I really came here because I haven’t stopped thinking about you since the seminar, and I’d like to know if you’d go out to dinner with me.” He waits, probably looking for some sort of reaction out of me.

When Wesley walked in here this morning, I certainly didn’t expect this to happen. The two of us barely talked at the seminar. Sure, he flirted with me a little bit, but I didn’t think I’d made an impression on him.

I guess moving on from Justin is going to be easier than I thought. I flash him a smile in return and say, “I’d love to go out to dinner with you.”

We exchange numbers, and he promises to contact me soon to schedule our date. Before walking out of the office, he throws me a wink. “See you soon.”

That night,as I pull up to the house, I see Brett’s car parked down the street from where I usually park mine. Instead of being slightly irritated that we have company tonight, I don’t mind because I’m still floating on the same cloud I’ve been on ever since Wesley asked me out.

But do I say anything to Fern? Wesley asked me out, yes, but we don’t have anything lined up yet. Does that still technically count as having a date? What if I tell everyone I have a date and he never calls? Maybe it’s best if I keep quiet. But can I go that long without saying anything?

I walk in and am greeted by Fern and Brett sitting on the couch. They’re eating from takeout containers and watching an action movie that, so far, has been nothing but two people shooting at each other.

Fern picks up the remote and pauses the movie. “Hey, Dahlia. I hope you don’t mind that Brett stopped by.”

“I brought dinner with me,” he says quickly, as though that would sway me. Am I really that easy to please? A free dinner is enough to get in my good graces?

I plant a hand firmly on my hip. “Smart. Bringing dinner is a good start. But what about dessert? Please tell me you brought something with you.”

He narrows his eyes and turns toward Fern. “I told you we should’ve gotten dessert! I asked you multiple times, and you kept insisting that we didn’t need it.”

I chuckle and wave him off. “Relax. We don’t need it. We have plenty of ice cream in the freezer. And thanks for bringing dinner. What are we having tonight?”

“Your sister picked Chinese. I’ve got some Kung Pao chicken, your sister wanted chicken fried rice, and she said you’d like the chow mein. I hope that’s okay,” Brett says.

“I think that’s perfect. I’m going to go change and join you two on the couch if you don’t mind.” I don’t know what the two of them were planning this evening, so I hope I’m not imposing. If so, I can always eat and then go run an errand or something that’ll take me away from the house to give the two of them some space.

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