Page 72 of The Significance of Moving On

“Kels? You still there?” And then I hear the crying. “Please, don’t. I wasn’t trying to be insensitive. She’ll never know.Shit. Kels?”

“Don’t you dare cancel, you hear me? Casey Davenport, she is lucky to have met you. I just… I just can’t believe you did that for her. She and Tom, every summer. You brought him in to celebrate with her in just the sweetest damn way possible. God, I could kiss you right now.”

“Pretty sure D would kick my ass for that which would make for one awkward family reunion.”

She laughs and the laugh stops her from crying. I can’t take it when a girl cries.

“Hey, Kels?”

“Hmm?”

“This is a surprise, okay?”

With the “sort of” new promotion at work, CJ has kept me quite busy. Once the ice melted, the wealthy people of the tri-county area have wanted our services in high demand. Seems every doctor or lawyer or Dow executive wants the golf-pro chic look applied to their humble abodes as well. But this weekend is mine, and I take the rest of the day off to properly prepare my subterfuge without being caught by the birthday girl.

A hearty laugh comes from the sales girl who tries to help me pick out a new little something for Tal to sleep in. I can’t pack her normal tank and tiny boy shorts because then she’ll wonder why she can’t find them. But the sales girl keeps wanting me to buy lingerie, of which some pieces,wow,Tally would look hot in. But lingerie suggests I think something will happen between us this weekend and I carry absolutely no expectations on that front. Plus, she’s so damn sexy in that tank top and tiny shorts that the other stuff really isn’t necessary.

The way I constantly feel the urge to jackoff from picturing my Tally in some—and very quickly out of—any clothing proves just how much I want her. After one night of kissing and groping her breasts, I backslide into fourteen-year-old boy mode.

In the end I settle for a white tank top with a yellow heart and Tweety on the front and a pair of pale-yellow boy shorts with darker yellow Tweety birds all over the same color as the guy on the tank. There. Tweety isn’t sexy. This is the decision I unwittingly voice out loud to which the sales girl throws her head back and laughs at.FML.

By the time I get home there is just enough time to pack the rest of our bags and get them loaded up into the bed of my truck before she gets home from school. Literally just as the hood of the cargo bin latches shut, she pulls into the drive behind me looking five kinds of confused because normally I’d still be at work this time of day. I walk over to greet her. When those warm arms go around my waist and that beautiful cheek hits my chest, she completely owns me in this moment.

“What are you doing home this early?” Her warm breath tickles a trail along my shirt.

“Just finished up early today is all. Maybe you’d like to go out tonight?”

“Why Casey, are you asking me out on a date?”

God yes, I’ll play her games all night if she wants. “If the lady so desires, I’d love to escort her out on the town.”

She picked dinner and a movie. We hadn’t been out to a movie in a while. There was a new ghost/devil/possession something or other that she wanted to see, and I’d been totally game. Again, even if she’d asked to see the new chicks’ only heart-wrencher she’d have gotten no complaints out of me. What Tally wants, Tally gets.

Our night couldn’t have gone more perfect. Tal looked amazing wearing that same little sundress she’d blown me away in at Steve’s party. The sky showed clear. Even in the heart of the city we could see the stars shining brightly above us after the show ended. It wasn’t cold at all, actually a light balmy breeze made walking quite comfortable. But just like every time a night goes amazing for us, something has to come along to crush the mood, in this case the something sits on our front porch waiting for us as we pull back into our driveway.

His hands cover his face as the defeated posture overtakes his normally cocky attitude. But I have no patience for him, not today, not ever again. “What are you doing here?” I ask Daniel.

“Some people are after me, brother. I got nowhere else to go.”

I shift Tally to stand behind me. She digs her fingernails into my shoulders. “Leave. Now” I order.

“But…”

“Get the fuck off my porch and don’t ever come back.”

He flinches but my face stays resolute and my voice stays as deadly calm as I’ve ever been toward Daniel.

Tally digs those nails in deeper I swear she’s drawing blood. It only takes one quick glance to see how upset she is by him being here.

“Go,” I tell him again yet he’s either too stupid or stubborn to move.

He stands, agitated. Pacing along the step. Shit, I don’t think it’s only guys after him, I think he’s using again. “You and D are all screwed up. He won’t even see me.”

“Kelsey almostdied—you’re lucky to still be standing.”

“Man, fuck this. What happened to bros before hoes?”

“You want to talk bros withme, Daniel?”

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