Page 26 of Right in Front of You

“I’m really, really sorry, Molly. This was not the way I envisioned today.”

“Carter, sit down for a moment.” She swiveled a bar stool, and I plopped down. The apologetic tone of her voice stole my hope of any future dates.

“All right.”

“What did you envision for today, exactly?”

“Honest?”

“I think we’ve been friends long enough to do honest.”

“I wanted to take you out to dinner, for an official date.”

“That’s what I thought. You see, I don’t date.”

“Anyone?”

“Not right now, and not in the foreseeable future.”

“Is it me?”

“No, it’s not.”

Somehow I believed her.

“I’m not ready to date. I’m not sure I ever will be, but I want your friendship. In fact, I need it more than anything.”

I could do friendship during the day and dream about peeling those scrubs off her body at night.

“Does that friendship include benefits?”

“What do you think?”

“Yeah, I guess not.”

“And it doesn’t have an expiration date. I mean that.”

I could deal with that. I could definitely wait until Molly was ready, even if it meant years. I drove her home that afternoon, feeling a twitch in my chest I hadn’t felt in a long time. Even though I’d been dealt the friend card, it was the best card I could have chosen from the entire deck.

---