That First Special Kiss

“There you go, then. Now, move down. You’re in my way.”

Obediently shifting a few feet farther away, Shane thought about his father’s words as they continued to work side by side. Charm and persistence, he thought. He didn’t know about the former, but he’d always had his share of the latter. Looked like it was time to see if that particular trait paid off when it came to exasperatingly stubborn Kelly Morrison.

Kelly spent Monday at the mall, feverishly shopping for Christmas presents. She was having a hard time getting into the holiday spirit, despite all the decorations and blaring seasonal music, but the outing gave her something to think about other than Shane or her father. She needed that distraction very badly.

When she returned home late that afternoon, she made herself a cup of spiced cider and stacked the gifts she’d purchased on the dining table. She might as well wrap them, she thought, thinking how pretty they would look beneath her tree. Determined to get into the spirit of the holiday, she loaded her CD changer with her three very favorite Christmas CDs—Vince Gill, John Berry and Sawyer Brown—set it on random play and lit a couple of cinnamon-scented candles. And then she pulled out paper and ribbon and tape and bows, humming along with the familiar music as she set to work.

She wished she had her kitten, she mused, thinking how much fun it would be to watch the little white-and-gray fur ball playing with the ribbons and paper. Shane had said it would be ready to leave its mother just after the first of the year. Kelly would enjoy the company.

She had just set the first wrapped gift under the tree when her doorbell rang. Her heart promptly missed a beat. Would she and Shane have another of those painful nonfights? Or would he be ready to talk now, to listen to her reasons for the requests she’d made of him?

But it wasn’t Shane at her door. Instead, she found a young woman in a bright red uniform, bearing an enormous arrangement of red-and-white roses mixed with greenery and delicate baby’s breath. Kelly gasped. “Oh, how lovely.”

“Kelly Morrison?” the young woman asked with a perky smile.

“Yes.”

The woman handed her the flowers. “Enjoy”

She was gone before Kelly could even say, “Thank you.”

The sweet scent of roses mingled deliciously with the cinnamon candles as Kelly carried the arrangement to the table. She pulled out the card that had been tucked among the blooms, though she already knew whose name she would find there. But the card didn’t bear a name at all. “From your secret admirer,” it said instead. “With love.”

Of course she knew who had sent the flowers. What she didn’t know was exactly what the gesture meant. Was this Shane’s way of apologizing for the way they’d parted the evening before? Was the cryptic message a signal that he was willing to continue going along with her request to keep their affair a secret? And he’d signed it “With love.” Had he used those words only in the generic sense—or should she read more into them than that?

Even when he did something as traditional as sending flowers, Shane could still confuse and unsettle her. Was this the way love was supposed to feel? So uncertain? So complicated? So terrifying?

She would have liked to talk to someone who’d been there. Her fingers almost itched to dial Brynn’s number. But what would she say? She couldn’t even talk indirectly about her feelings without Brynn wheedling the truth from her. And even though she knew she was being a coward and unfair to Shane, she still couldn’t make herself say the words. Entirely too much was at risk, she thought again.

If only she could be more confident ab

out Shane’s feelings for her. It had all happened so quickly—almost impulsively. What if he was mistaking affection for something more? What if he’d confused passing infatuation for deeper emotions? Physical attraction for lasting commitment?

She could still remember the startled look in his eyes after their first kiss. In the more than a year that had passed since their first meeting, had he never once until that kiss considered there could be more between them than friendship? Shouldn’t that tell them something—that maybe they should think twice about this? That maybe they, like Cameron and Amber, had never been meant to be more than friends?

She closed her eyes and was instantly transported back to that night in his arms. She could feel his lips moving against hers, his hands on her skin, his legs entwined with hers. Just friends? She might have laughed, had she been able to find any humor in the situation. But it seemed to her that she was much more likely to find only heartache.

Joe Walker set up the meeting between Kelly and her father for Thursday at noon. It was Kelly who had insisted on a public meeting place. She didn’t know this man, she reminded Joe. She didn’t want to try to make conversation with him alone in her apartment.

They selected a popular Southwestern restaurant in west Dallas. They would meet for lunch and conversation, just the two of them. Joe assured Kelly that her father expected nothing from her after that. Just lunch. Kelly thought she could handle that.

“You’re sure you’re okay doing this alone?” Shane asked her over the telephone Wednesday evening. “You don’t need anyone there with you?”

“No. I can handle this. It will be easier since it’s to be held in a public place. All I have to do is have lunch with him, ask my questions and then we can part politely at the restaurant door.”

“You make it sound as if you aren’t expecting to see him again after tomorrow.”

“It’s been sixteen years since our last meeting. I won’t hold my breath until the next one.”

“Kelly, do you want to do this?” he asked quietly.

She held the telephone close to her mouth and spoke softly in return. “No. But I think I have to.”

“Are you driving yourself?”

“Yes. I know the area.”

“Is your car running okay?”