Thirteen
THIRTEEN
RHETT
Everything with Dana is easy. Natural.
The last couple of days have flown by as Dana and I have fallen into a comfortable rhythm. We’ve spent every evening together since our “not date,” and I’ve found myself looking forward to seeing her more and more every day.
We now share dinner together every night sometimes at my place and the others at hers. After dinner, we listen to music, at least two songs from my favorite album The Raven’s Song by Phantom Echoes. Each night, either Rosa or Crew has joined us, and it feels as though I’m courting a girl like they did in the early 1900s. Which, in some ways, I am.
She softens toward me after each of our days spent together. The idea of us feels like more of a possibility every day. There’s one big problem: she doesn’t know who I truly am and I haven’t been able to work up the courage to tell her.
Tonight. I’ll tell her tonight. I’ll bite the bullet while ripping off the bandage. We can’t move forward into anything deeper or more without her knowing everything. It may already be too late. I just hope I don’t lose all of the progress we’ve made once I lay everything out on the table.
“Lord, give me the strength and courage I need to tell Dana the truth tonight. To lay it all out there and tell her who I am—who I was. I pray that despite my deception she’ll fully accept the possibility of us. Amen.”
There’s a soft rapping at the door. It’s go time.
But when I swing the door open, finding Dana on my porch wearing a sundress and a bright smile, all conviction goes out my open windows. I can’t lose this. I can’t lose our progress. I can’t lose her.
“Hey,” she greets then steps through the door.
I look behind her, expecting to find Crew or Rosa ready to come in too. “Where’s our chaperone?”
Her smile widens before she releases a girly laugh. “We don’t need a chaperone.”
I close the door behind her. “Then why have we had one up until now?”
She bites her lip and shrugs. “I wanted to make sure you knew where we stood, and I figured having Crew or Rosa with us would help make that clear.”
“And you think it’s all clear to me now?”
Her gaze flits to the floor and she’s silent for a beat. Finally, she meets my eyes, looking at me from beneath those long lashes. “Maybe…” She bites her lip, looking shy with a blush covering her cheeks. “Maybe I’ve changed my mind.”
Her words shift the air between us. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying? Are you ready to give me a second chance?”
All traces of shyness are gone. “I still want to take things slow, and we still need to get to know each other more. But I can’t deny our connection.”
My brain needs a few moments to catch up with her words and my heart needs to slow its race with the anticipation building inside.
Dana’s face falls. “Or maybe this pull I feel is just one-sided.”
“No.” Without thinking, I wrap my arms around her waist and pull her against me. “Definitely not one-sided. Not before and certainly not now.” I brush a strand of hair behind her ear, allowing my finger to trace down her jawline until it’s at her chin. Tilting her head up, I meet her eye to eye, hoping to convey the sincerity of what I’m about to tell her. “The pull I have toward you is so strong I can taste it. The feel of you in my arms right now is like taking the strongest hit of epinephrine. My heart feels like it can finally beat again. Like I’ve been brought back to life.”
She inhales a sharp breath. “Wow.” She rests her hands on my biceps and slowly runs them up over my shoulders until her arms are wrapped around my neck. I bend forward a little so she doesn’t need to stand on her tiptoes.
“That’s how I’ve felt about you since the moment you set foot on my tennis court: wow.”
The world around me stops as she moves her face toward mine. I don’t dare speak. I don’t breathe. Then her lips are on the corner of my mouth. It’s a tease of what could be, but I don’t want to push her, even if it takes every ounce of restraint in my body not to pull her against me and claim her lips in a kiss that would seal her as mine. Her hands lazily run down my chest before sliding around my waist. She rests her head on my chest. She hugs me and squeezes hard. We stand like that for a few seconds before she pulls back and looks up at me.
“I’m hungry,” she says.
Laughter pours out of me, helping release the tension in the room. “Well then, let’s get you fed.”
After praying over our food and relationship, we enjoy our meal of lasagna, salad, and garlic bread.
She taps the corners of her mouth with a napkin once she’s done eating. “That was delicious. Thank you.”
“I’m glad you enjoyed it. Would you want to go down to the beach and try to walk off some of it?”
“Sure,” she says excitedly.
“Then we can come back and enjoy some dessert.” My eyes drop to her lips, and her cheeks pinken. I smirk, loving this new dynamic between us. “I meant the cheesecake.”
Her mouth pops open, and she says, “Oh. Right. That’s what I assumed.”
We walk down to the beach, like we’ve done many times before. This time, though, I boldly take her hand.
“This is nice,” I say, looking over at her.
“It is,” she agrees. “The beach at sunset is absolutely beautiful.”
“So are you.” I lift her hand and kiss the back.
“Thank you.” Dana looks down at the sand, a shy smile on her lips.
We continue our walk in companionable silence until we decide it’s time to head back to my hut.
I plate both our slices of cheesecake, setting Dana’s piece down in front of her as she sits at my dining room table. I watch her take her first bite.
She makes a show of it, throwing her head back and sighing. “This is amazing. Cheesecake is my favorite.”
“It’s why I got it.”
Her focus snaps to me. “How did you know?”
“I remember how you eyed the other couple’s cheesecake when we were on our first date.”
She narrows her eyes. “You’re more observant than I thought.”
“There’s still a lot about me you don’t know.” As the words leave my mouth the conviction I've been ignoring hits me full-force.
“Well, I am very much looking forward to learning more,” she says.
This is the perfect opening to come clean. Over the course of the night, I almost told her a dozen times, but I didn’t. I can’t ruin this night and what has already developed. Forcing down the conviction lacing my insides, I spend the rest of the night basking in Dana’s presence and enjoying our second chance.
Before bed, I call Ashley to check in on Oscar. She answers on the second ring.
“There’s nothing new,” Ashley says without a greeting. “I tried talking to him again today, but he escaped to his room without a word.”
“You don’t need to push him.”
She sighs. “I should have tried harder to tell you about him.”
“I wasn’t exactly father-material back then. Besides, we can’t turn back time. Don’t beat yourself up.”
Ashley’s silent for a moment before answering. “You’re right. I shouldn’t keep bringing up the past. We can’t change it.”
“No. We can’t. But I’m hoping he has a change of heart. No matter how long it takes, I know it will be worth it.”
“He is worth it,” Ashley says, her voice full of emotion. “I pray he comes around.”
“Me too,” I say before changing the subject and asking Ashley about her day.
“Well, I did go out with someone last night.”
“Yeah? Is this the same guy you told me about a couple of weeks ago?” I ask.
“He is.”
“Things are good, I take it?”
“So good,” she answers, and I can hear the smile in her voice.
“I’m glad. You deserve someone great.”
“As do you,” Ashley says.
“I already have her.”
Ashley clears her throat. “Hold onto her.”
“I plan on it.”
My subconscious taunts, But will she hold on to you when the secret you’ve kept comes back to bite you?
After a few more minutes of small talk, I end the call and head to bed, praying that God gives me the confidence and words I need to finally tell Dana everything.