Chapter 4
WESLEY
“Hey, babe, where do you keep your paper towels?” Caitlin’s arms wrapped around me from the back, and I sighed into her.
I had been on edge since we ran into Rosie that morning.
I just couldn’t believe she had all but blown us off.
It irritated me that she so easily seemed to dismiss Caitlin after we had all talked about everyone meeting her.
I was serious about this girl. It bothered me that my best friend didn’t seem to care much at all.
In fact, she had barely said two words about it the day before.
“Babe?” Caitlin asked again as she nuzzled into my back, and I tried my best to shake off my annoyance and lean into the moment with her.
“Under the sink. I’ll grab some.” I pulled her left wrist up and to my mouth and placed a soft kiss on it.
“Making a mess?” I asked before I started walking to where they were kept and pulled them out, handing her the roll.
Her light eyes always seemed to catch me off guard, and when they caught the light, they made me breathless.
“Just spilling some coffee from your fancy machine.” She pointed at my espresso machine.
“Ted,” I said absent-mindedly, not even realizing I had said it.
“Ted?” She tilted her head in question.
“My espresso machine. That’s its name. Rosie named him. She said if she had to press that many buttons to get something going, it deserved a name.”
“Ah, so, Rosie gave him to you?”
“No, but she loves coffee. She’s an addict. And she has a terrible one, but she’s had it for years. Says she can’t throw it away—they’ve been through too much together—so I got Ted.”
“You got an espresso machine for your best friend? Do you even use it?”
I didn’t, and I had a feeling we were about to tread into dangerous territory. I didn’t like the way her eyebrows had raised in suspicion as she asked the question.
“Cait…” I said softly, “it’s just Rosie. I told you about her. She’s just Rosie. Just a friend.”
“I’ve read this book one too many times, Wesley.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “Despite her running off this morning, once you meet her properly, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about.
” I moved so I could lift her onto the kitchen counter, and I stood in between her legs and put two fingers under her chin so she could look at me.
“You have nothing to worry about, I promise. Okay? You’ll see. ”
“Okay. I trust you, and she did seem nice.”
“Rosie’s the best.” I felt the way my lips tilted up in a genuine smile because it was true; she was the best. Always had been. There was an instant connection the second I saw her sitting at that table in the library.
Sure, she was at the only open table I had seen.
The second I saw her sitting there, completely unaware that she was occupying prime real estate, totally absorbed in a business statistics textbook, I was intrigued, only to be totally taken aback by her humor.
I knew that I wanted her in my life, so that meant she stayed a friend.
That was all Rosie was, and that was all she would be.
“She’s just a friend. I promise.”
“Okay, okay. I believe you, and I look forward to getting to know her.” She gave me a quick peck on the lips before she pushed me back and hopped off the counter.
“Well, it’s Saturday. What do you want to do today?”
Normally, when it’s not tax season, you’d find Rosie and me parked on my sofa, watching movies, or playing video games.
But something stopped me from telling Caitlin those were my normal plans, and I didn’t think she’d be super interested in playing Mario Party or Super Smash Bros on my outdated GameCube, even though it was the far superior gaming system.
“Whatever you want, babe, we can do.”
“Why don’t we go into town, do a little shopping, then grab some lunch? Unless you’d rather go out for dinner?”
“Which one of those options gets you naked in my bed sooner?” I started to advance on her as she ran out of the kitchen and into my room, taking off her T-shirt as she went. And I followed her, all thoughts of Rosie and the GameCube disappearing as fast as my girlfriend’s shirt.