It was an amazing day.
And then there was today.
They finally managed to sit down and talk.
“I can’t believe the weekend is over already,” Serena had said as she put the plate of pancakes down on the table.
Will reached for her hand and gently tugged her down onto his lap. “It did go fast.” Nuzzling her neck, he simply breathed her in.
“Since you had off this weekend, I’m guessing you’ll have to work next week, huh?”
“Probably.”
At that point, he had a feeling she was going to say that she wasn’t going to come and see him and he’d had enough. Carefully, he shifted her to the chair beside him, but didn’t let go of her hand.
“Here’s the thing,” he began, “we’ve been sort of flying blind since the beginning and at first, that worked for us. Then it got to the point where we were scheduling each other in, and that was okay for a little while.” He paused and looked for any reaction, but her expression was fairly neutral. “Serena, I’m in love with you. I want to be with you. Not just on the weekends or when one of us has time off, but all the time.”
She gasped and this time when he looked at her, she was smiling. “Will…I…you never said…I mean…”
He chuckled because he knew exactly what she meant. They hadn’t talked about feelings like this before. It hadn’t seemed important – not when they were able to communicate without words. But now he realized just how important those words were.
“Maybe it’s crazy and maybe it’s too soon but…”
“I love you too,” she blurted out, effectively interrupting him.
In the blink of an eye she was back in his lap and wrapped around him and…well…breakfast had gotten cold.
Just the thought made him smile.
Over the second batch of pancakes they talked about what this meant to their relationship and where they wanted to be.
“I would love for you to move to Sapphire Falls, Serena. Move in with me. Be with me and…when we’re ready…marry me.”
Her green eyes went wide as she nodded. “I like the sound of that, Will. All of it!”
“Really?” Could it have seriously been this easy all along? Had they just wasted even more time in their already untraditional relationship by not talking about this? “I figured you’d want to think about it a little more.”
She gave him a serious look. “Are you trying to back out already?”
“Hell no! I’m just surprised that I didn’t have to do more to persuade you.”
“You’ve been persuading me since that first kiss three years ago. We just didn’t realize it.”
He shook his head and laughed. “It still seems so crazy. I know I have a hard time believing that we have what we have because of the town’s festivals and a kissing booth.”
“Well I – for one – am extremely grateful for the festivals and the kissing booth.” Pausing for a moment, she studied him and then grinned. “Are you working the kissing booth for the Halloween festival?”
He couldn’t help but chuckle again. “Honestly, I hadn’t thought about it, but I think my kissing booth days are over. There’s only one girl I want to kiss and I’ve got her.”
There was a very satisfied grin on her face as she took a forkful of her breakfast.
The festival was less than a month away and just the thought of being able to share it with her – in its entirety this time – was kind of exciting. “So…how much do you know about our festivals – other than the kissing booth? Did you do any of the other things that went on?”
“Not really. That first one I went to, Peyton sort of dragged me there with the sole intention of making me kiss someone.”
That was kind of funny to him. “Well let me tell you, you are in for a treat.”
“So you love these festivals. Is that what you’re saying?”
“The whole town does!” he replied, grinning. “From the memo that’s going around, the festival is gonna run Friday through Sunday – which is what most of them do. Businesses shut down and it is a town-wide party. People are encouraged to spend much of the weekend in costume.”
“Costumes, huh? I haven’t dressed up in years!”
“Any chance I can convince you to do the sexy nurse thing?” he asked with a lecherous grin.
Serena laughed at him, playfully shoving his shoulder. “Not even a little one. We’ll have to think on this one. So what exactly happens for this to take an entire weekend?”
“If I remember correctly, Friday will be the Haunted Hay Ride out at Travis Bennett’s farm where there is a hay bale maze. A great time to have to huddle close together.”
“So far I’m seeing the appeal of it. Go on…”
“Saturday night is going to be awesome – town-wide paintball fight between Zombies and Zombie Slayers out at Tucker Bennett’s farm. That one’s gonna get messy.”
“I’ll probably just be a spectator for that one – no offense.”
“None taken. I have a feeling a lot of people are going to enjoy being spectators.”
“And then what? What’s the plan for Sunday?”
“Sunday is the Monster Mash Party at the town square with a DJ in the gazebo. Hot cider and candied apples. People are bobbing for apples. There are contests for the best costume and the best Jack-O-Lantern. And, of course, a haunted house!”
“Ooh…sounds creepy,” she teased.
“You’ll love it, trust me.”
“Isn’t this their first-ever Halloween festival?”
He nodded. “But we know how to throw an awesome festival no matter what the occasion so I have no doubt that this will be any different. It will be better, though, because you’ll be there with me this year!”
And he couldn’t wait.
****
As much as she hated waking up before she absolutely had to, Serena got up and made Will a travel mug of coffee for him to take on the drive home and then sleepily kissed him goodbye. She knew they’d talk later that day and she’d be seeing him next weekend, but she had to agree with him – saying goodbye sucked.
There was a mild debate going on in her head as to whether or not she should go back to bed for a little while or simply start her day. The smell of coffee was still in the air so she opted to make herself a cup and get moving.
Grabbing a notebook from her desk, she walked over to the kitchen table and sat down and began making a list of all the things she was going to need to do so she could be to Sapphire Falls and living with Will by Halloween.
Tell her parents she was moving. She’d wait on that one for a day or two.
Call the landlord about breaking her lease. That call could be made at nine o’clock sharp.
Boxes for packing. She’d start hitting up the local supermarkets and her friends for those.
Quit her job.
Staring at the words on the page, Serena tapped her pen. Quit. Her. Job. Saying the words before had given her great anxiety, but now? Now it seemed freeing. But she didn’t want to be foolish. There was a healthy balance in her savings account and she knew that the cost to move would be minimal because she’d do it mostly herself with the help of family and friends. The biggest question was did she quit now so she could focus on the move or did she give her two week notice and deal with the misery her boss was going to dish out?
Decisions, decisions, decisions…
After a long sip of coffee, she felt herself finally starting to wake up and her brain was starting to engage too. Quit her job. Well, her parents didn’t raise her to be irresponsible, so she’d give her notice.
And if her jerk of a boss gave her any grief, she’d leave earlier. But for now, she would do the right thing.
“Okay then,” she murmured and relaxed a bit. It may only be four items on the page, but having some direction to go in and feeling good about them left her feeling like a little bit of weight had been lifted. And with that, she stood, stretched and lazily got on with her day.
&nb
sp; ****
Two days later, the weight was back.
Her landlord was fine with her breaking her lease and because she had been a good tenant, there were no fees to be paid. Her parents were a little taken aback by her announcement and were sort of getting a little dramatic over the whole thing, but when they realized she’d be living near Peyton, they calmed down a bit. Looking around her apartment, she already collected her fair share of boxes so she could easily start packing.
But she was going to have to quit her job.
Serena was not a quitter and it bothered her more than it should that she was going to have to leave this way. Why couldn’t people just be decent? Why did her boss have to be such a tool all the damn time? Honestly, she had thought she could make it through the two weeks. After she’d spoken to him on Monday, he thanked her for giving her notice and wished her well.
Then he’d taken all of her graphic work away and simply had her doing grunt work.
Including cleaning the office bathrooms.
So yeah, tomorrow was going to be her last day.
Actually, today should have been her last day but she didn’t pack up her stuff and that was her fault for not planning better. But either way, tomorrow was it for her. And maybe once she closed that door, she’d feel better about it.
Later, when she was sharing this with Will, he seemed puzzled by her reaction. “Why are you even upset? This guy has been a jackass since forever. You can’t possibly be surprised, Serena. And besides, think of how much less stress you're going to have after tomorrow.”
“I know you’re right, but…”
“Hell, if it were me, I would go in, grab my shit and leave. Don’t give him the full day. Just…be done.”
“Will…I don’t know if I can do that. It’s just not who I am. I don’t believe in burning any bridges.”
He sounded like he was about to say something but changed his mind. “So you’ll be here this weekend?”
“That’s the plan. I’m going to get some packing done and maybe bring some things with me if that’s okay with you.”
“Absolutely! You know, with work out of the equation, you don’t have to wait until Friday,” he said hopefully.
“Will?”
“Hmm?”
“I have a lot to do to pack up all my things. You’re going to be working so let’s just let it be, okay?”
He huffed dramatically. “Fine.”
She chuckled and she could almost picture him pouting like a child. “In a few weeks, we won’t have to worry about this at all. Won’t that be worth it?”
“Maybe.”
“Okay, Mr. Grouch, I’m going to go do some packing. Tonight’s task is going through my clothes. Moving is a great excuse to clean out my closet.”
“If you find something you could use for a naughty nurse costume…”
“I thought we let that idea go,” she said with a laugh.
“Never,” he said firmly. “Just thinking of you dressed like that…”
“I’m hanging up now!”
“Okay, okay…go pack. I love you.”
“Love you too.”
After she hung up, Serena started thinking about the move and Sapphire Falls and how much she couldn’t wait to get there and be part of the community. More than anything she wanted to experience the Halloween festival with Will.
Or experience any Sapphire Falls festival with Will that didn’t include kissing and running.
Okay, maybe the kissing, but her running days were over.
Thank God!
She had some questions about the festival – she wanted to get involved and help out or volunteer where she could. Looking at the clock she saw it was only a little after seven. So she did decided to step back from her packing for a few more minutes and see what she could do to start becoming an active citizen of Sapphire Falls.
She called Hailey.
Fourteen
WILL WAS BEGINNING to believe there was some sort of black cloud over them.
Serena hadn’t come to Sapphire Falls that weekend because her car broke down. The irony wasn’t lost on him. It wasn’t practical for him to go there and try to fix it, so he had no option but to trust her choice in a Lincoln mechanic. The transmission had gone on it and it took a little over a week for her to get it back.
She begged off the following weekend because she was – in her words – “in the packing zone.” He wasn’t sure what the hell that meant but it kept her from coming to see him. It would have been great if he could have gone to her, but two of the mechanics were out with the stomach flu and Dylan begged him to put in the extra hours.
And how was he supposed to say no to that?
Unfortunately, it didn’t take long for him to come down with the stomach flu and that knocked him out for about four days and he was too afraid to let Serena come near him and risk getting her sick.
So now, with the Halloween festival three days away, he wasn’t sure what was going on. Everyone in town was going to be occupied with the festival and there was no way for her to easily get a moving truck here with all of the extra traffic in town.
That meant her move was put off for another week.
Which, oddly enough, she wasn’t overly upset about. When he’d asked her about it, she simply said her landlord hadn’t rented her place yet so staying an extra week wasn’t a big deal.
He cursed.
Maybe not to her, but it damn well was to him!
“You’re making that face again,” Dylan said as he walked into the garage. “What’s wrong now?”
“Nothing.”
“Oh for crying out loud,” Dylan huffed. “If this is about Serena’s move again…”
“Hey! So I’m pissed! I have a right to be! I just want her here with me, man. I can’t help it.”
“It’s only one more week. You’ll live.”
He flipped him the finger and turned back to the truck he was working on.
“And she’ll be here for the festival, right?” Dylan asked.
“That’s the plan, but…”
“Don’t jinx it or look for issues,” Dylan quickly interrupted. “I know the last couple of weeks have been rough but…”
“You have no idea.”
“Actually, I do,” Dylan said, clapping a hand on Will’s shoulder. “I’ve had a front row seat to it all.”
“Yeah…well…sorry.”
“Just…relax. It will all work out.” Then he turned and walked away and Will wished he had his friend’s confidence. It wasn’t easy to think positively at this point. For so long he had enjoyed being single and dating casually, but now he was ready for the next phase of life and that phase was with Serena.
If she’d ever get here!
****
“Don’t be mad…”
“I knew it!” Will muttered. “It’s bad news, isn’t it?”
“Unfortunately…yes,” she said sadly. “I guess that stomach bug wasn’t only a Sapphire Falls thing. It’s hit here and – more specifically – me. It’s awful.”
“Oh, baby, I’m sorry,” he said softly. “Are you okay? Do you need anything?”
“It’s got to run its course like it did with you. So I think it would be best if I didn’t come by you this weekend.”
“Home,” he said. “You mean home.”
Serena couldn’t help but smile at his belligerent tone. “Yes. Home.”
He sighed. “Damn. I was just really looking forward to you finally being here and going to the festival with me. Now I’m going to look silly dressed up in a costume all by myself.”
“You’re not exactly by yourself. The entire town is going to be dressed up,” she reminded him.
“Yeah, well…it’s still not the same. Maybe I’ll just skip it…”
“No!” she cried. “I mean… you can’t!”
“Why not? It’s going to suck without you there.”
“Will,” she began patiently. “You’ve gone to the festivals without me for you
r entire life.”
“That’s not completely true,” he argued. “You’ve been with me for the last three years and this one was our chance to officially go together and have it be the very first festival of its kind for the town. I know you’re sick and you can’t help it but…I’m disappointed.” He paused. “I’m sorry. I’m being a big baby, aren’t I?”
“No,” she assured him. “I’m disappointed too. I was looking forward to seeing you dressed up as a cowboy.”
“I’m a really sexy cowboy, too,” he teased.
“I know you are,” she cooed. “And when I finally get there, I promise we’ll let you dress up like that again.”
He chuckled. “Now you’re just being ridiculous. But I love you for it.”
“And I love you too.”
“And now I’ll have to wait another year to see you walk around town as a sexy nurse.”
She rolled her eyes. “That was never going to happen!” But she couldn’t help but laugh as she said it.
“In my mind, you are.”
“I was going to be a cowgirl and we would have been adorable.”
“Ugh…I really hate that word. It sounds like a compliment but it’s really not.”
“That’s not completely true…”
He told her about his conversation with Hailey from the month before when they were all at the Come Again. “It was a little condescending.”
“But it was sweet,” she argued lightly. “I was really excited to wear my cowboy hat. I don’t have any place else to wear it until next Halloween.”
“We’ll have to pick different costumes next year. I can’t go as the same thing twice.”
That sounded completely adorable – but she kept that observation to herself. “Well, we’ll have to think about it when the time comes around.” She yawned loudly. “Listen, I really need to get some sleep. I’m so sorry to be missing out this weekend.”
“Me too, baby. I wish I were there with you.”
“That’s how I felt when you were sick. And just think, the next time either of us gets sick, we’ll be there for each other. Won’t that be fun?”
“I know you’re trying to make light of this…”
Sapphire FallsGoing To Be Yours Page 9