Midnight Rose (completed)

Chapter 10

Wes gently pulled me beside him, squeezing my hand softly, the warmth welcomed and long missed. We walked through the many acres of his property, winding around trees and crossing over small creeks. Sometimes the creeks were too wide, so Wes would wrap his hands around my waist and lift me over, sparking tingly sensations on my bare skin. We explored for a while, silently, letting the energy swirl around us wildly, reconnecting us without words. Every so often our hands would fall away and then intertwine again, magnetically drawn to each other. When our eyes would meet, my heart would flutter.

We made it to a familiar creek bed where we had spent hours skipping rocks and dipping our feet into the water. This was where our deepest of conversations took place.

Wes kicked off his shoes and peeled off his socks, dipping his feet into the crisp water. "It's not that cold," he promised, reading the trepidation in my eyes.

I sat next to him, making my feet bare. I tested the water with the tip of my toe, recoiling quickly. "It's freezing! How are you even able to sit there like that?" I screeched.

His laugh was infectious, luring me into joining him. "Come on." The glimmer in his eyes begged for me to play along.

"Fine, but if I lose a toe or two, it's your fault." I dipped my feet in, the frosty chill cramping my toes, but after several brave moments and deep breaths, my feet warmed to the water. He was holding back laughter while my face contorted painfully during the process. "You're mean, you know?" I hit him playfully on the arm.

"I know." His words were somber as he dipped his head, busily looking for a pebble in the dirt.

I was well aware he wasn't talking about the frosty water. "What happened, Wes? Why did you leave?" Me. My heart ached remembering the loss I felt without him.

"It's complicated." He threw the pebble into the creek.

"I assumed, but you promised me answers." I couldn't take my eyes off him. His profile was captivating with the moon glowing aside him.

He threw another pebble, this time skipping it across the creek, finally sinking after five leaps. His tortured expression told me this wasn't an easy conversation for him, and that worried me. Maybe I was looking at this all wrong. Maybe he found someone and he was in love with her and he was just waiting for the right time to confess. My body tensed and my mouth dried up as I braced for the blow.

"I'm...I'm not normal, Abby. I've changed." He took his eyes off the creek and met mine. He looked terrified, and that made my stomach knot even tighter.

"As opposed to abnormal?"

He turned away and searched for another stone, tossing it as far as he could. It made it out of sight down the creek. His forehead creased as he struggled for words. He sighed loudly. "I'm not right for you."

He was breaking my heart all over again, if it had ever mended at all. I ran my fingers over the ground, brushing through the sand, back and forth, trying to keep myself together. "Please, don't say that," I whispered, my words broken as I choked back despair. Being without him when he was miles and miles away was hard, but being in the same town without him was inconceivable.

He picked up another stone and held it out for me. I scooped it out of his hand, sparks flying as our skin touched.

"Ouch." I yanked my hand back.

"Static electricity." His eyes peeked out from under the lock of auburn hair that had fallen.

I shook out my hand and rubbed it lightly. "That was some static. It felt like I got electrocuted." The mood lightened slightly, but the intensity between us remained. There was another long pause. "I...I don't know what to say, Wes." I made circle designs in the dirt and listened to the water trickling over the rocks in the creek bed.