Page 31 of Wesley

I sighed happily as I set my phone down, and it wasn’t two minutes later that it began to ring. My gaze cut to my phone, instantly wondering if it was Wes, but it was Jersey.

“Yes,” I answered.

“Did you really kiss him standing in the street in front of my house?” she asked excitedly

I laughed, “How did you hear that?”

“It’s true?” She squealed.

“I didn’t say that. I said how did you hear that?”

“It is true! Adam saw you guys and came back to tell us that Doctor Young was kissing on Charlotte like he sees in the movies.”

I laughed.

“Well, tell me every detail, and if you dare to tell me that you don’t kiss and tell, I’m going to come over there and hold you down until you tell me!”

I laughed, feeling lighter than I had in months, maybe years. Life was finally coming together. I had a new job that was going to pay me enough that I wouldn’t be quite so strapped, and I could always take a couple of extra shifts at the deli if something came up. Marisol was doing better, and I had met someone.

“Yes.” I breathed excitedly over the phone line.

“Yes? Yes, he kissed you, or yes, I have to come over there and drag it out of you?”

“Yes, he kissed me.”

She squealed so loudly that I had to pull the phone away from my ear. “Oh, my god, Charlotte! Was it good, tell it was good—no wait, tell me he is a terrible kisser so I can stop fantasizing about it.”

“I’m telling Bruce.” I quipped back playfully.

She chuckled, “he’s standing right here, thank you very much, and he rolled his eyes when I said that.”

I could just picture him doing that, too. The relationship that Bruce and Jersey shared was a wonderful one, and something that I had wished I could find for myself. Had I finally found it, or the chance to have it? Maybe, but it was too soon to think like that.

“So we are going out to dinner on Thursday,” I told her, avoiding questions of the kisses that had given me.

“That’s great, where are you going?” She asked.

“No place special, just out for pizza. We are taking Marisol with us.”

“Aw, I love it. Seriously, Char, Wes is an amazing guy. He really is, and super dedicated to family. I told you he comes from a big family, right?”

“Yeah, you mentioned it, and I agree, he is pretty awesome.”

For a little while, we talked more about Wes, and she said she had to run, but she’d talk to me later in the week.

I straightened a few things up and then climbed in bed. While I lie there, I touched my lips. How could one kiss make me feel so good, and make me willing to take a chance? It had been so long since I had trusted anyone.

When I was seven, and I’d been taken by someone I had kind of known, and it had been years before I could trust any men, and then in college when I was finally getting comfortable again, I’d been raped. Now, over six years later, I think I was finally ready to take another chance. As long as that chance was with Wes.

* * *

The week went by quickly, and before I knew it, it was Thursday, and I was dressing in jeans and a blouse after a quick shower. Over the last few days, Wes had sent me a couple of text messages. We never talked long, or about anything important, but he’d say hi and that he was thinking of me. I’d respond with the same.

Now, as I pulled on my boots, the butterflies were going nuts in my stomach, and I was second-guessing my decision. Marisol, on the other hand, had no reservations as she stood at the front window of the apartment and watched for him to arrive.

I was giving my hair a final brush when she yelled, “He’s here, Mom! Doctor Young is here!”

“He is? That’s great.” I tried to keep my voice from shaking as I spoke and wondered if he was the slightest bit nervous.

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