Page 44 of Catch Yourself a Snowmance
Alyssa:You do?
Carson:Very mush.
Alyssa:Very mush here too.
Carson:Mush. I meant much.
Alyssa:I know. It made me laugh.
Carson:So you very mush want to see me too?
Alyssa:Yep. I do.
I look up. The whole car is silent. Everyone’s staring at me.
Alyssa:I thought you might be having second thoughts.
May as well lay it all out there, like Noelle said.
My phone rings. It’sCarson. I answer it.
“Why would you think that? Did I do something to make you think I wasn’t all in?”
The sound of his voice sets all my fears to rest. He’s honestly concerned.
“I overheard a smidge of your conversation with Liam last night and I thought you were telling him how committed you were to your permanent bachelor status. It sounded like you were reconsidering giving that up. I was going to ask you about everything today.”
“Oh, man. Not at all.” His voice is warm and assuring. “I’m trying to picture what part of the conversation you could have heard that would have led you to think I wasn’t totally into you. But it doesn’t matter. That’s the opposite of what I was saying. I was telling Liam how dedicated I had been to my bachelor status before I met you, but now I’m totally not.”
I feel the smile break across my face, stretching my cheeks. I don’t dare look up at my friends right now.
“I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop,” I tell Carson. “I was just coming in to get water before bed.”
“I’m sorry you had to question anything. It’s at least partly my fault for being so vague on our walk. I was just blown away and sort of blissed out after our kiss. I was just taking in the moment and enjoying the time with you out in the silence of the woods. When we hit the porch, it struck me that we hadn’t really talked about what to say to our friends. I should have been more clear.”
“Blissed out, huh?” The rest of what he said matters—a lot. But mostly I got hooked on those two words:blissed out.
“Mm hmm.” His voice is low and intimate, even through the phone.
We sit there, still on the call, both of us silent.
“I really like you, Alyssa. I didn’t expect you, like I said. And I’d like to see you when we’re back in Waterford. Not justonce. I’d like to start seeing you—to give this a chance to explore where things might lead between us. That is, if you want that too.”
I don’t know why I feel suddenly shy.
“I would like that—a lot.”
“Good. That’s the best news I’ve had in a while.”
I smile and finally look around the car. Everyone’s smiling. I look down again, grateful for my friends, but also wishing I could find somewhere alone to finish this conversation. Instead, I’m in the second row of an SUV with all eyes on me.
“Okay, well, I’ll see you in a bit,” I say.
“Looking forward to it,” Carson says.
“Me too,” I admit.
My stomach feels fluttery, like I’m in high school all over again and the boy I had a crush on asked me to prom. I’m nearing thirty. I didn’t know I could feel this way again, ever. And at my age, it’s so much more. I know what I like and don’t. If a man isn’t worth my time, I eliminate him as an option pretty quickly. The fact that Carson and I spent so many hours together and I want to see him more—a whole lot more—speaks volumes.
