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Chapter Thirty– February 14 – Kevin

“I’m in trouble.”

“What do you mean you’re in trouble? And anyhow, whatever happened to hello?”

I sighed.

“Brian, c’mon.”

“No, I’m waiting.”

I rolled my eyes.

“Hello.”

“That’s better. Now, what do you mean you’re in trouble?”

The microwave timer went off. I pulled out a bag of microwave popcorn and pulled it open slowly. It wasn’t the best breakfast in the world, but it made me happy. If Nick could see me now, I could just hear him complaining about all the times I lectured him on good nutrition.

“I’m in love.”

I poured the buttery popcorn in a bowl; the other end of the line was silent.

“Brian?”

“I’m sorry. I thought I heard you just tell me you were in love.”

“That’s right.”

“When did this happen?”

I chewed on a kernel of popcorn thoughtfully.

“I don’t know. Probably about six weeks ago. No, probably longer. No…I don’t know.”

“Are we talking about love as in ‘I’m in love with a human being?’” Brian asked.

I sighed. “Never mind. This conversation is over.”

I hung up on him and made my way into the living room feeling like a stupid thirteen year old girl. I had just turned on the television to the morning news when the phone rang again.

It was Brian.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I’ll listen. I promise. Now who is she?”

I closed my eyes and sighed.

“Her name’s Addy…”

I launched into an extremely abbreviated story. I completely skipped over her past with Toby and the little fact that he had shot me.

“So you met this girl in the middle of nowhere?” Brian asked incredulously.

“Pretty much.”

“Is she pretty?”

“Extremely.”

I heard what I thought sounded like a garage door opening.

“Where are you?”

“I just got back from the Chinese place. Leighanne has daily cravings for General Tsao’s chicken. You know how hard it is to find Chinese at nine o’clock in the morning?”

I laughed. “Lucky you.”’

“Yeah you’re telling me. Soooo,” he said in a sing-song voice. “How far have you gone?”

“What?”

“Oh c’mon. You’ve played baseball. What base are you on?”

I rolled my eyes. “Brian, how old are you?”

He laughed. “Listen, I’ve got to live vicariously through you. I used to rely on Nick but now that he’s a one-woman man there’s only so much I want to hear about him and Liv.”

“You’re ridiculous.”

“I go to confession. I’m good. Now about this girl…”

“First base.”

Brian snorted. “Oh man, what are you in seventh grade?”

“I’m telling your mom,” I said. He laughed.

“Well, if you love her, what are you waiting for?”

I knew I didn’t want to go into that. There was a different reason I had spilled my guts as much as I had.

“Do you think it’s bad that I feel like this? I mean, I just got divorced two weeks ago.”

“Kev, you’ve always been the type where it’s all or nothing. You either love completely or not at all.” There was no teasing in his voice; he was dead serious.

“I know, but…”

“But what?”

“I think I should feel guilty.”

“You think you should feel guilty? Well, do you?”

“No.”

“Good. As of two weeks ago, you’re a single man. Now go move to a different base before you strike out. And remember, you didn't hear this from me. I have an angelic reputation to uphold.”

I laughed and rolled my eyes. “Thanks Dr. Phil.”

“Anytime.”

I hung up feeling slightly better. Even though all we had done for the past six weeks was kiss, it was the best six weeks of kissing I could remember. I had taken her to her meetings and they seemed to be helping. Even when she was hesitant she didn’t go back into an impenetrable shell. Many days had been spent in the freezing cold barn on the haystacks, kissing until our lips were raw. In the past few weeks I had wanted to push things a little farther, but each time I refrained.

That brought us up to today: Valentine’s Day. I had been playing Aladdin at Disney World the last time I was single on February 14th.

And let me tell you, that was a long time ago.

At least I wasn’t going into the day without a plan. Sure, I was lounging around in Wildcats pajama bottoms with buttery popcorn for breakfast.

But really, I did have a plan. And if my plan worked out, I just might get to second base.

I really hoped so.

--------------------------------------

I arrived at Dr. Selinski’s office at two o’clock. Tina Wilcox and her two girls were waiting in the office. Her eyes lit up when she saw me.

“Well if it isn’t Kevin,” she said. I saw her glance over at Addy. We had done damage control on the whole ‘marriage’ thing. Tina had seemed a little too happy that Addy and I weren’t ‘hitched.’ I’m not sure Mr. Wilcox felt the same way.

“Hello Tina,” I said with a quick smile. My eyes went right to Addy.

“Hey, what are you doing here?” she said softly.

From behind my back I produced a large bouquet of red roses.

“I just wanted to drop these off.”

Her eyes widened. She took them from me and buried her nose in the velvet petals.

“Oh, they’re beautiful,” she said.

“Where’d you get roses like those?” Tina asked. I propped my elbows on the counter and leaned towards Addy. I loved the way she blushed when she got flustered.

“A true gentlemen never reveals his sources,” I said. “Now, did you read that card?”

“There’s a card?”

Addy rooted into the bouquet and took out a small white card. I saw her eyes go from left to right as she read my handwriting.

“Really?” she said meeting my eyes. I nodded.

“Of course. I mean, if it’s okay with you.”

“I’d love to.”

“What? What?”

Addy and I both looked over at Tina. She was perched on the edge of her seat. Her daughters could be strangling one another and she would be oblivious.

Before I could tell her to mind her own business, Dr. Selinski walked out with his last patient and smiled at Tina.

“Tina, I’ll take the girls now.”

She stood up reluctantly. With a toss of her perfectly hair sprayed bouffant, she smiled over at us.

“Have a good evening, you two.”

I stepped aside while Addy settled up with the other patient. After the old man slowly headed out, I leaned over the counter and kissed Addy softly. When I pulled away, I noticed a sparkle in her eyes.

“So tonight at 7?” she asked. I nodded.

“I’ll pick you up.”

“I’ll be waiting.”

I left the office with a little bounce in my step.

This dating thing wasn’t working out too bad after all.