AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She smiled. “And your heart is all your own. Even when you were little, you’d say or do things, and I’d wonder, where did this tiny human come from?”
I laughed. “Probably grabbed the wrong one at the hospital.”
She put her arm around me and drew me close to kiss me on the cheek. “Are you excited?”
Biting my bottom lip, I thought it over. “I think I’m just nervous. I’ve never really dated before.”
Mom nodded. “I’m glad you are now, though.”
“You are?” I asked.
With a laugh, she shook her head. “Dating is a good thing. It’s when you discover what you like in a relationship, what you don’t like. You learn how to draw boundaries and get along and sometimes even forgive. That’s an important skill in life.”
She was right. And forgiveness was something I wasn’t very good at... something I hadn’t really considered doing when it came to Diego. But maybe it was time to forgive him his lousy first impression and look into the person he really was.
Mom glanced at her watch. “You should probably get outside. They should be here soon.”And we don’t want a repeat of what happened last time a friend picked you up,she didn’t say.
Walking to my dresser, I picked up my drawstring bag I’d gotten at a Dollar General in western Kansas while visiting Mt. Sunflower. It wasn’t a real mountain, but the tallest place in Kansas, out in the middle of nowhere. Mom and I had taken the trip while Dad was deployed... our last vacation, really. The bag was like my reminder that there were good times, and hopefully there would be more again someday.
“Good luck,” Mom said with a smile.
I nodded, leading the way down the stairs and pausing at the front door, just to wave.
Then I heard Dad say, “Where are you going?”
I jerked, surprised to see him sitting on the couch in the living room. “Oh, um, some friends and I are going tubing today.”
He smiled. “That sounds fun. Be good, kid.”
Relief swept through me. “I will, Dad. I love you.” I put all I had into those three words.
“I love you too,” he said.
Feeling like I was on top of the world, I walked outside just in time to see a pickup pull up along the road. The back window rolled down as I walked toward the car, and I saw Diego, grinning just for me.
Twenty-Nine
Diego
I gotout of the car so I could open the door for her, but the view I had of April made me forget what I was doing. She had on this blue swimsuit that hugged her curves and a wrap around her waist that covered my favorite asset of hers. My hormones begged me to pull it off her, but I will-powered through it and said, “Looking good, April.”
She smiled, biting her lip again. God, that drove me crazy. “Thanks.”
I loved that she didn’t argue about compliments like some girls did. She just accepted it like she knew I was right. Because I was.
I tore my eyes off her and stepped aside so she could climb into the back seat of the pickup.
As she got in, Xander said, “Hey, April,” Like it was the most natural thing in the world that she was here.
“Hey,” she said.
Then Kenzie turned in her seat, giving April a big smile. “Good to see you.”
April seemed to falter, but said, “You too.”
“Let’s hit the road!” Xander said, gunning the engine and cranking the music.
April’s laugh cut through the music, and the sound made me smile. She was only sitting a foot away from me, but with the music blaring and two people right in front of us, we might as well have been a million miles away from each other.
