AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I don’t mind that at all,” Will assured her. In fact, he preferred it because that meant more time to talk.
Given how long they’d known each other, some might assume they didn’t have much to talk about, but they’d be wrong. Sure, not everything they discussed was deep or intense, but he loved their lighthearted conversations as much as their more serious ones.
He’d known Janessa pretty well when they’d started dating, but now he felt like he knew her even better. And she certainly knew him better than she had before. He’d opened up to her in ways he never had before with anyone, including Daphne.
The difference, he supposed, was that he never feared Janessa judging him harshly for who he was the way Daphne had at the end of their relationship. He’d never felt truly accepted by Daphne, though he hadn’t realized that until their relationship had ended.
Once they finished eating, the server enticed them with dessert options, and they ended up deciding to stay there for their after-dinner treat. Since the restaurant had emptied out after the dinner hour, they didn’t feel like they needed to rush off.
“Is Wilder due home soon?” Will asked as they began to eat their dessert. “He usually comes back in time for Thanksgiving, right?”
“Yep. I think he’ll be home sometime next week.”
“Are you happy about that?” Will knew she loved all her siblings, but he didn’t know how close she was to Wilder.
“I always breathe a sigh of relief when he’s back home. I just don’t know how my folks deal with his love of taking risks.”
“I would imagine it’s given them a few gray hairs.”
“Of course, they both seem to have no problem taking risks themselves, so maybe they understand him well enough that they don’t worry as much as I do.”
Will had recently come to understand that Janessa worried about losing someone she loved. She masked her concern well with her usually upbeat attitude, but he had seen that beneath that lurked a fear of experiencing further loss in her life. It actually surprised him that with that fear, she’d still developed the tight connections she had with her family and friends. Even forging something more than just a friendship with him.
“Maybe one of these days he’ll come home to stay,” Will said.
“That would be great, but somehow, I doubt that will happen.”
“You don’t think he would want to settle down and have a family someday?”
Janessa shrugged. “It’s possible. I could see him married, especially to someone who loves adventure as much as he does. Having kids, though? I’m not sure how conducive his lifestyle would be to that.”
Will was glad that he and Janessa had similar lifestyles which were easily adaptable to having a family. And yes, he was definitely thinking along those lines. He could see a future with her much more clearly than he ever had with Daphne.
He could even imagine the kids they’d have together. Beautiful children with an abundance of curls and big smiles like Janessa. And hopefully, they’d have his love of math and her spunky personality.
Just the fact that he was even thinking about that already told him how serious this relationship was for him. Was it the same for Janessa? He obviously hoped so, but he didn’t want to rush her.
As he considered his feelings for her, Will was reminded of what he’d told Jackson about not rushing into things. But for some reason, it didn’t feel like he was rushing things with Janessa. After all, they’d been friends for so long.
“What do you want for Christmas?”
Will let out a huff of laughter. “What?”
“Christmas is around the corner,” Janessa said, leaning forward a bit as she gazed at him. “I need to know what I should get you.”
Will realized that he needed to think about a gift for her, too. “I’ll have to think about that. I don’t really need anything.”
“Christmas isn’t about what youneed, it’s about what youwant.”
“Not to be sappy, but the one thing I wanted most was you to agree to go on a date with me, and I got that. Everything else is gravy.”
Janessa’s smile softened. “I never imagined you’d ever ask me for a date. Teenage Janessa would be amazed at that, and also that I said yes.”
“Really? Teenage Janessa thought about us dating?”
“Uh… Well, she had a bit of a crush on you,” Janessa said. “But I never imagined anything like this would ever happen.”
“I never knew you had a crush on me. Did you try to let me know?”
