Chapter 3
Hey. What happened to you?” Juliet asks. “You weren’t in World Lit earlier. Professor Jenks said we’re going to have to write an essay in class on Monday. I’ll email you the topics he said to study.”
“Ugh. Thanks. Those essays are almost as bad as pop quizzes.” I shake my head, looking forward to having all my required classes out of the way to focus on the classes I need for my major. “I was trying to make it to class on time, but my car broke down.”
“That’s going to be expensive,” Juliet grimaces. “What happened?”
I shrug. “You know I don’t know much about cars. It made a sound, and then smoke poured out from under the hood. The good news is that Wes is going to look at it and fix it up for me.”
Juliet’s eyes widen, and she smiles at me. “I’m glad you finally talked to him. How was that?”
“Well, I feel bad that the first time I called him was to ask a favor. But,” I pause, my mind returning to how hot he looked in jeans and a gray t-shirt that stretched across his chest, highlighting his muscles and making me weak with desire. “He’s going to cover the cost of the repairs. He promised my dad he’d look out for me.”
“That’s cool.” Juliet looks at me closely like she knows I’m holding back. “What aren’t you telling me?”
“He’s offered to chauffeur me around. He drove me here after coming to look at my car. He said to text him when I need a ride home, and he’d come pick me up.”
Juliet grins and shakes her head. “That’s really nice of him. What was it like to see him?”
“It was…” I pause, sorting through all the emotions that the memory of him brings up. “Good, but also surprising. It’s weird to say, but the man is hot, Juliet.”
“Ew. Isn’t he your dad’s age?” Juliet wrinkles her nose.
“Sure. But he has this…presence about him. I had a crush on him when I was younger because he was a soldier. Now? He’s not just hot, he’s also kind and protective. Like when he hugged me, it was a good thing he had me in a bear hug because my knees went weak.” I shudder as I remember the desire that crashed over me when I was in Wes’s arms. Red. Hot. Desire. Seeing Wes reminded me that I’m not a kid anymore but a grown woman.
“Girl, it sounds like that crush of yours never went away,” Juliet winks at me.
“Maybe not,” I admit. “It felt like there was something there, Juliet. I don’t know how to explain it or if I’m projecting feelings because he knew my dad so well. Still, why would he be interested in me? He knew me when I had pigtails. Plus, as you said,” I nod at Juliet, “he’s older. Not sure what a man with so much life experience would want with me, but I do know this: he made me feel safe, and that’s more than any man has made me feel, possibly ever.”
Juliet and I pause under the shade of a tree before we say goodbye. We’re headed to different buildings, and there are only a few more minutes before our next classes start.
“Do you think something could happen?”
I meet Juliet’s eyes as I shrug. “I don’t know? I do know that I’d like to find out. It scares me, but…I wouldn’t say no.”
Juliet nods, and we say goodbye. I walk to my next class, wondering just how far in the clouds my head is. For the first time since my dad died, I want to smile and be happy.
* * *
It feelsweird waiting for Wes to come pick me up, but anticipation zings through me, and I keep looking up from my phone to see if he’s here. When I finally hear the thunder of his motorcycle, a long-lost feeling of hope returns to me.
“Thanks, Wes,” I say, taking the helmet he offers me and getting on the back of his bike.
When my arms are wrapped around him, he revs the bike and roars out of the parking lot and toward the freeway. As we ride, I let a fantasy unroll in my head, where we’re a couple hitting the road for an adventure. In my mind, it doesn’t matter where we’re going so long as we’re together.
All too soon, he’s dropping me off at home.
“What’s your schedule tomorrow?” Wes’s voice is gruff, but the softness in his eyes warms me to my core.
“I have a lab in the morning, but I can ride with Juliet. It’s the only class we have on Fridays.” The answer is out of my mouth before I can change it so that I can have Wes give me a ride. “I guess I’ll see you on Monday?”
Wes is silent for a moment, and I can’t read his expression. “Well, Kira, there’s something going on at the VA Center, and I think it would be good for you to go.”
“What’s going on at the VA Center?” The only things I know about the VA Center are that my dad”s friends went there, and the tacos they serve at Taco Tuesday are the best north of Mexico.
“They’re putting in a memorial for people from the Heartland region who didn’t come home. I go to the Center occasionally and know the guy putting it all together. He asked me for a picture of your dad.”
No matter how much time goes past and how many times I see the folded flag the Army presented to me at my dad’s funeral, along comes something new to drive home my dad is never coming back. The logical part of my brain knows Dad is gone, but another part keeps waiting to wake up from the nightmare of losing him.
“I… I’m not sure.” I pause. “Will you be there?”
“Of course,” Wes says quickly, his voice softening. “I’d be honored to escort you.”
I pull at the straps of my backpack, then nod. “I think that sounds okay. I’m not sure how long I’ll want to stay, but—”
“Understood,” Wes says. “We’ll play it by ear. Seeing the exhibition is something I think might show you another side of who your dad was and what he meant to other people. How about I pick you up tomorrow at six?”
Despite mixed feelings about going to the VA Center and facing other people’s memories of my dad, a thread of excitement runs through me. Knowing that Wes will be there for me if I need support makes me realize I can manage this. “That sounds good. I’ll see you then.”
Still, having Wes suddenly back in my life reignites my teenage crush on him. He was always big and mysterious, with an air of danger. He was everything I wanted in a man.
He’s in front of me now, and instead of being scared about a future without my dad, I’m scared about the possibility of a future with Wes. He’s everything I remember him as – and more.