AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’ve noticed that,” Will said. “Did you have a bad experience, like Charli?”
Though Janessa wasn’t about to have a conversation about why she didn’t date, she could at least answer his question honestly. “No. Just a preference.”
“I’ll try my best not to make you regret giving me a chance.”
If her reluctance to date had come from her fear that a guy would hurt her, the earnestness of his words would have offered her a lot of comfort. “I’m sure we both need to do the work.”
Will nodded. “I just don’t want you to think that because my last relationship failed, that I’m unwilling or unable to do what’s needed to make things work.”
“I know that,” Janessa said. “I never doubted that if Daphne had wanted to work things out that you would have done what was necessary.”
“That’s true. Though now that we’ve been apart for several months, I’m glad we didn’t drag it out. It had already continued far longer than it should have, to be honest.”
Janessa agreed with that, but she didn’t voice that thought. It felt wrong to trash his previous relationship when they’d just agreed to go on a date.
“Where do you want to go?” Will asked.
“I don’t know.” Since she’d been leaning toward saying no, Janessa hadn’t really thought about what they could do.
“How about a movie?” he suggested. “Is there something that’s released recently that you might like to see?”
“I’ll have to check. I haven’t gone to a movie in ages, so I’m not even sure what’s come out lately.”
“We can both look and see if we can agree on something.” Will hesitated, then said, “I’m going to leave it up to you for when we tell our family and friends. I’m fine with everyone knowing that we’re dating, but if you’d prefer to wait to share the news, I understand, and I’m fine with that, too.”
Janessa hadn’t thought about when to tell those closest to them, but since their families were so intertwined, it was something they needed to discuss. “Uh… We can talk a bit more about that too. I mean, I usually sit beside you when we’re together anyway, so we can still do that without getting a grilling from everyone.”
“And we will get a grilling, won’t we?” Will said with a laugh.
“Oh, I’m pretty sure we will.”
“Is your brother going to kill me?”
Janessa grinned. “Which one?”
“I better learn how to run.”
“If I thought you were serious, I’d try to assure you that you didn’t have to worry,” Janessa said. “But I think you already know that. I’m pretty sure thatnoneof my brothers would care if we dated. Though you might get a lecture or two about hurting me, I don’t think any of them would warn you off.”
“Honestly, the only person’s opinion I care about when it comes to things between us is yours, even though I’m sure Jay will feel like he needs to give me advice.”
“Just ignore him,” Janessa said.
“Your brother can be hard to ignore, but I’ll certainly try.”
Janessa felt a drop of moisture on her hand and tipped her head back. It was just a light misting, but it was cold enough that she didn’t really feel like hanging out in it. Plus, she hated getting her hair wet that late at night.
“Guess we’d better go before the rain gets any heavier,” Will said.
“I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Janessa wasn’t sure if Will would try to hug her, and she was glad but also disappointed when he didn’t. Instead, he nodded and said, “I look forward to it.”
Turning, she opened her car door, then slid behind the wheel. She waved goodbye, then closed her door and started up the engine. Already the rain was coming down a bit more steadily, streaking the glass of her windshield, so she was glad that Will didn’t linger, but jogged toward his car.
As she drove home, Janessa reflected on her decision, and she prayed it wasn’t the wrong one. For her sake, but also for Will’s. He deserved a happy relationship, and she hoped that would be the end result of her accepting the invitation to be more than just a friend to Will.
The one big question, though, was when they should tell their families that they were dating. She didn’t want to tell them too soon. After all, they hadn’t even gone on one date yet. It could be that they’d go out once and decide that they were better off as friends.
