“No, I get it,” I said.
“I’ll take you back to your car, and we can hang out soon? Like this weekend?”
I smiled and squeezed.
“That would be perfect.”
With that, LeCharles took me back to my car. It was a short but very sweet date, and I felt as comfortable with the idea of reuniting with him as I ever had. This wasn’t a desperate thought or a naively hopeful thought—it was a truthful thought.One step at a time, though.
Like if you’ll kiss him tonight.
But is that really a question?
As soon as LeCharles parked the bike by my car, I hopped off. I turned to hug him.
And before I could even consider the option of kissing him, he had his helmet off, his hand on the back of my neck, and his lips pressed forward. He pulled me in, and for the first time in a decade, in a sober, stoic, happy state of mind, I kissed him.
I kissed him softly, resting my hands on his cheeks. It was a tender kiss, the kind of kiss that said, “I’ve missed you.” And that much was true. I had missed having him around. I hadn’t missed the asshole version that our relationship ended with or that my return to Springsville had started with, but I missed this part of him.
And then he tried to ramp it up just a little too much, and I had to reign him in as his hand cupped my ass.
“Easy, killer,” I said. “There’ll be plenty of time for that.”
“Sorry,” he said with a guilty smile. “Guess I just got a little excited.”
“That, I have no doubt of,” I said. “But in time.”
I went in for one more kiss.
“Have a great night, LeCharles.”
I made it all the way to my car door when he called my name one last time. Wondering if this was some sort of cute game that he was trying to play, I decided to humor him and looked his way.
“Yes?”
“One question before you go,” I said. “That note you wrote for me. Who did you give it to?”
I shrugged.
“Some client of mine named Brian.”
“Brian?”
He looked like he had never heard the name. Given that Brian had had a club jacket on, much like the one LeCharles had on now, I figured maybe it was a brand-new member he hadn’t met yet.
“Huge guy, looks like Gandalf if Gandalf lifted weights and was eight feet tall.”
“Oh.”
LeCharles did not look pleased. Maybe he was thinking of the wrong guy?
“Nice guy, talked a lot, made conversation with me. I thought he was going to go back to your club’s place, but he said he was going to get food east side of town or something. But he was a good guy, so I trusted him.”
LeCharles’ face twitched. He corrected it to a pleasant smile and pushed away, but that disturbed look was one I definitely noticed.
“Thanks, Rose,” he said. “I’ll see you soon enough.”
With that, he finally sped off, leaving me feeling as happy as I had in a long time.
