Whispering Wishes (14 page)

“That’s a good soldier,” I tell him.

“Sir, yes sir,” he adds
, making me laugh. He stops at a stand still at the door to my closet. “Holy hell. How many pairs of shoes do you have, woman?”

“Not enough.
Quit critiquing and get packing.”

He does just that and before long
, we are finished with the last few tasks I needed to accomplish. Returning to the living room, we each grab a box from the pile. As I packed each box, I started stacking them there to make things a little easier. When I step out my front door, it’s my turn to come to a complete stop. He didn’t just borrow a truck from one of his friends. He rented a freaking U-Haul. “Wow. You rented a truck?”

He shrugs and looks down almost bashfully, “I figured this would save us time.
We can load up only once and head over.”

“I don’t know what to say… thank you.
But, it might take more than one trip because I have some things that need to go to storage too.”

“Oh, I know.
I actually hired some movers that will be here to take your things for you.”

“You did what?”
I’m so shocked by his thoughtfulness – not because I don’t think he’s considerate, but because it’s completely unexpected.

“It’s not a big deal.
I have a friend that works at the company and gave me a really good rate. He and a couple of my other buddies are going to come over and take the stuff you need to go to storage unit for us. Then, they are going to help us take apart your bedroom furniture, load it up, and put it back together at my place. I figured we would likely need help with that. They’ll also help with any remaining boxes going to my house, but there really aren’t many, so we will probably be able to get most of it done before they even get here.”

“Wow, you’ve thought of everything.
Saying thank you doesn’t seem like enough.”

“No worries, you can just thank me with a kiss.”

I laugh, but he’s not laughing and I look at him for a moment. Could there be something there? Deciding to be brave, I set the box down, walk to him, and notice he’s definitely not smiling now. He almost looks nervous. I place a soft kiss on his cheek and when I pull away his eyes are closed. He opens them and smiles at me. “Thank you,” I whisper.

He is full on grinning now
. “You are very welcome.”

I smile, grab my box from the ground, and take it to the truck waiting at the curb.

W
hile we’re packing
up, we laugh, and make small talk in between huffs and puffs from the strain of lifting and walking back and forth. Anything I pick up that looks remotely heavy, he plucks it from my hands like it weighs nothing with a quick, “I’ve got it.” I try arguing with him the first couple times but get nowhere, so I just let him do it, shaking my head with a smile each time.

His shirt is saturated in sweat and more than once I’ve wished he would just take it off.
I mean, it’s just in his way anyway, no doubt the air would feel nice on his skin. Or my hands. Or lips.

Shaking my head, I try to push away the traitorous thoughts.
In the middle of loading up the truck, his friend’s show up in two pickup trucks ready to take my earmarked belongings to storage. Matt and Ian are really nice, funny, and good looking. I instantly wonder if one of them would be a good match for Mischa. They both greet me with smiles and give Wes looks I can’t decipher. He merely grins and looks at the ground. I assume it’s some sort of man speak that only other men can decode and blow it off. Once he shows them what I need taken to storage, they waste no time loading it up, and when they finish, they pitch in and help with the U-Haul packing. Before long, we have all my boxes piled in organized stacks and we’re ready to take the truck to his house.

“Okay, it looks like we’re ready to take the trucks to the storage unit.
You guys good to go to the house, then?” Matt asks.

“Yep.
Thanks guys,” Wes says, handing Matt my keys along with the storage unit number I had given him. They take off with a wave and a “See you later.”

I return their wave and turn to Wes
. “When we’re done, I’m going to run to the grocery store. I’d like to treat them to a six-pack or something afterwards. Maybe make dinner too, what do you think?”

“You don’t have to do that,” he smiles.

“I know I don’t have to, but I’d like to anyway.”

“Okay sure, but just a six
-pack is fine. They will love that actually.”

“Great.
A six-pack it is,” I agree, already intending on making dinner as well. Besides, I’ll be moving out of Wes’s place eventually, so I need to keep these guys in my good graces. They say the way to a man’s heart is through their stomach, so I may as well get started. I’m a smart woman after all.

“Okay well, I’ll drive the truck to my place, and you can just follow me in your car.
Sound good?”

“Yep.”

He walks me to my car, holds the door open for me with a smile, and closes it with a flourish before running off to the truck.

Once he’s inside, he waits for me to back out before pulling away.
I am feeling so nervous. Part of me wants to tell him that I changed my mind and to forget it, but I can’t. I have nowhere else to go because I quit looking for a place once he made his offer. There is nothing else I can do other than move in.
It’s just temporary
, I remind myself. This is really nice of him, asking me to move in, offering a really low price for rent, and giving me the time I need to find a new place. Hopefully, another cute little house like the one I’m leaving now will become available really soon.

Emotions come out of nowhere and I suddenly feel a horrible sadness about leaving my house.
I choke back the tears as history replays like a melancholy DVD. As Wes drives down the road, I idle for a few moments, staring at the quaint place I have called home. It was my first place. Moving into it felt like I had discovered a lost treasure. It’s where I obtained my first true sense of independence as an adult. After living with Mischa all through college, I was so excited about this great little find and was thrilled at the extremely reasonable rent I was able to negotiate. I had just gotten my job when I moved in, and it seemed like everything was falling into place and life was off to a great start. Now, I’m sad to leave it and in some ways feel like I’m taking steps backwards, leaving empty handed and moving in with someone again. And not having accomplished all I had set my mind to do here. With a deep sigh, I try to remember that life is full of changes and the unexpected and it’s likely that this is one of many along my journey, so I just need to buck up and get going.

As we make our way to Wes’s house
, I get more and more nervous and convince myself I am absolutely freaking crazy. I mean, I’ve barely seen the outside of the house and have never even seen the inside. And what about Wes? What the hell am I thinking? I mean how well do I know him really? Actually, not well at all. Oh God. What am I doing? In my moment of panic, I grab my phone to call Mischa, but realize we’ve arrived; it’s too late. I take deep breaths and force myself to calm down.

Wes gestures for me to park at the curb so that he can back the truck up in the driveway to make unloading easier.
My stomach feels like tennis balls are bouncing wildly around within it. He approaches my car with an inquisitive look on his face, likely wondering why I’m still sitting behind the wheel.

Taking another deep breath and forcing a smile on my face, I slowly climb out of the car
. “Are you having second thoughts?” he jokes with me.

“I’m not going to lie, I’m a little nervous.”
I close my car door and face him. “Look, I’ve never lived with a guy before. Other than sharing a dorm room with Mishca, I’ve never lived with anyone before. I may completely suck as a roommate - I have no idea. What if you end up getting sick of me, what if-”

I break off when he starts laughing
. “It’s okay, I get that you’re nervous, but don’t be. We’ll have fun! The house is big and there’s plenty of room for both of us. I respect your right to privacy and will give you plenty of space. Depending on our work schedules, there may be days we don’t see each other.”

“I doubt that since I’m working at D’Vine
, too, now. That’s another thing. You are going to get sick of me. We live together, work together – I’d get sick of me.”

He just gives me a look that says I’m acting crazy, but I notice he doesn’t deny the getting sick of me stuff. “We will make it work, okay?”

“Okay,” I nod. Everything he says makes complete sense. There’s nothing I can do about it now.

“Okay.
It will be great! You’ll see.” I smile at him, and he cups my chin, making goose bumps spread all over my body. His touch is kind and innocent, but my body instantly responds, wishing for more. Stupid body. “Besides, I don’t think I could ever get tired of you.” Holy hell, the temperature just raised a million degrees. Here I thought he ignored my comment, but no. I lift my lips at the corner in a genuine smile, which he returns. “Okay, come on, let me give you a tour before we unload. Sound good?”

“Yes, thank you.
I can’t believe I said I would move in here without even seeing the place,” I admit, voicing my earlier concern.

“Hey, it’s okay.
It’s just a normal house and like I said, there is plenty of room. Nothing to be nervous about.”

We approach the door and suddenly he turns to me and picks me up in his arms
. I let out
a screech because it’s so unexpected. “What the hell are you doing?”

“We’re getting ready to cross over the threshold.
Aren’t I supposed to do this when we enter the house for the first time?”

I give him a soft punch in the shoulder
. “That’s for people that are married, crazy!”

“Oh, well whatever
. Besides, why don’t we take all the luck we can get?” Without another word, he pushes the door open and carries us over the threshold with a “Ta-da!” Then he places me on the ground and smacks a kiss on my lips, leaving me open mouthed and staring while he cracks up laughing. “Welcome home!”

Holy. Hell.
He’s lucky I don’t throw myself in his arms and attack his face with my lips.

“Come on, let me show you around!”

I laugh nervously, touching my fingers to my lips, still feeling the tingle of his lips on mine even for the half of second they were there.

“To the right
, we have the living room,” he points to a very nice, not overly formal, room. It has a black couch, love seat, and a chair with ottoman. There are matching black coffee tables and end tables, a large picture window facing outside and even a fireplace. There’s a huge flat screen tv hanging on the wall and a large bookshelf holding several books and DVD’s. It’s really nice. Decorations are sparse, but it’s classy in a bachelor pad kind of way.

“Down the hall here, we have a half bathroom to the left and the kitchen is to the right.”
The kitchen is large with a big island in the middle that extends to allow for a table that seats six people. There’s a sliding glass door that leads outside and even a big hutch that holds some china. The hutch and dining room furniture is black, too, and all the appliances in the kitchen are stainless steel.

“Very nice.
I can see myself cooking in here,” I say offhand.

“Oh yeah?
You’re a good cook?”

“I’m not bad, I have a few good dishes that I’ll make for you some time.”

He smiles and his eyes shine. He has his arms crossed over his chest and is standing there watching me take it all in, as if my opinion is important to him. The muscles in his arms flex as he moves to show me the rest of the house, his face relaxed and seeming relived at my complimentary comments.

“I pretty much had the whole house redone after I moved in.
My buddies helped me with a lot of the construction. There wasn’t an island in here before,” he explains, “and there was very outdated wallpaper my mother loved on those walls,” he says, pointing to the dining room. “We tore it all down and elected to paint the walls instead.”

I heard everything he said, but cannot get past the one thing he said.
“We?”

“My buddies helped me.”

Relief moves through my body. “Oh, cool.”

“And an old girlfriend.”

I stiffen. “Um, what?”

He hesitates
, but then explains, “I used to live here with a girlfriend I had for a little while.”

My stomach twists at his confession and I have no clue how to feel about this.
I mean, it isn’t like we are in a relationship or that he owes me some kind of explanation. It also isn’t as if I expected he never had a relationship before. I suppose it just never occurred to me that he may have lived here with someone. I’m not sure how to feel about it, but what can I do? Why does it matter?

“Oh
.” What else am I supposed to say?

It feels tense between us with his words hanging out there and for a moment
, we are stuck in an awkward silence. I elect to break it. “What’s that door over there?”

“That door leads to a basement.
That’s where the washer and dryer are located and there’s also…”

His hesitation prompts me to ask
, “What?”

“Well I have to confess, it’s basically a man’s wonderland down there.
Yep, it’s like I’m batman and that is my bat cave.”

I laugh
. “Well, I wouldn’t expect anything less! Show me.”

He opens the door and heads down the stairs with me on his heels.
When we reach the bottom, I take in the room. There are all kinds of sports posters and memorabilia on the walls. There’s another large TV and all kinds of game consoles with piles and piles of games and DVDs. There’s a docking station, which must be for his iPod, and a huge couch that curves. The couch has what looks like recliners on each end with built in cup holders. He also has two game chairs sitting in front of the Wii and Xbox game stations.

Aside from that room, there’s a bathroom with a full shower.
On one end of the large bat cave room, there is a mini bar and refrigerator. A couple of dark leather covered barstools sit up to the bar. I laugh softly to myself because a person could just live down here if they wanted to. The ping pong table catches my eye. It looks like fun.

“I like it
.” Once again he’s standing to the side watching me take it all in.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. I would like to challenge you to ping pong some time.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa
. You don’t want to do that.”