AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Unknown: … think you have a unique eye.
Ugh… That’s the art world equivalent to ‘she has a great personality.’ You might be right for someone else but not for me.
Unknown: I’m worried the photos aren’t doing your work justice. Parker tells me she has several of your pieces hanging in her shop. I’ve been meaning to visit that sweet baby niece of mine anyway. Why don’t you meet me at Parker’s Place around noon tomorrow? We can chat and I can take a look at your work in person. <3 Mina.
My heart stops. I swear. It actually stops. I can’t feel it anymore. Or my fingers. Or any part of my body. Staring at Mina’s message is like an out-of-body experience.
“Did you get it?” Maya asks. Penny echoes her.
“She wants to come here. To meet me and look at my work in person.”
Maya squeals and Penny dances in her seat.
I look again at Parker, smile, and mouth “Thank you.” She winks back at me.
Not wanting to leave Mina onreadanother second, I thank her and tell her I’ll see her tomorrow.
After Mina replies that she’s looking forward to it and I save her number in my phone, all my muscles go slack.
This is happening. Mina wouldn’t take the time, and a nearly six-hour drive, to meet with me if she wasn’t at least playing with the idea of showing my art.
“Let’s go,” Maya says and takes one of mine and one of Penny’s hands to drag us out the door. “It’s time to celebrate. We can sneak a few beers out of Ash’s cooler.”
My heart lurches to a stop again. How am I going to tell Theron about this? Should I? It’s not a done deal yet. I’m not ready for the ticking clock to start. When all we’re able to talk or think about is how much time we have left before I have to leave. That’s not what I want our time to consist of. Not before it’s a sure thing. Right now, Theron’s the only thing I can be certain of. I’m going to enjoy him as long as I possibly can.
The sun sets the sky on fire with the brightest pinks and oranges as Penny drives down the winding gravel roads toward the bonfire field. The closer we get the harder my heart pounds against my ribs. Not just from all the caffeine and sugar but from the excitement of seeing Theron again.
We’ve seen each other every day this week but I still get butterflies in my stomach. Wondering if I just dreamed it all. He’s just a figment of my imagination. I’ll be alone again. Like always.
I start to believe it after a couple of hours of sitting on the tailgate of Boone’s truck and Theron still hasn’t shown up.
Theron never misses bonfire nights. He keeps his promises.
I repeat these things over and over in my head as I watch the party go on without me.
Boone and Ash have already had so much to drink that their conversation has turned into incoherent babbling about hair-brained philosophical ideals I can’t begin to follow. Maya’s trying to decide if she wants to make the first move on a boy who hit on her at the party the other night. Penny keeps talking her out of it trying to convince her to wait for him to come to her. I refuse to take a side every time one of them tries to drag me into it.
I’m about two seconds from calling it a night when Boone shouts, “You made it.”
I whip my head in the direction he raises his beer.
“Damn right I did,” Theron says eying me as he crosses the field. “I promised I would,” he says to me before wrapping his arms around me, pulling me off the tailgate to dip me back as he kisses the breath out of me.
My body turns to jelly sinking toward the ground but at the same time, I feel like I could fly.
He’s kissing me.
In front of the whole world.
All at once, the secret’s out and I couldn’t be happier. No matter what happens next, I’m the happiest I’ve ever been, right now, in this moment with him.
“Sorry I’m late,” he whispers against my lips letting me catch my breath before kissing me again.
“I’m sorry… What?!” Maya shrieks in my ear as Theron is ripped away from me with Boone shouting at him, “The fuck do you think you’re doing?”
“Stop it, Boone. Let him go.” I try to follow them but Maya has a monster grip on my wrist. “Let go, Maya.”
“Not until you tell me what the fuck just happened.”
