“Sure.” Wes pushed away from the table and followed his dad into the hall.
I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but at one point it looked like Randy was trying to feel Wes’s pulse. Weird. They seemed to be arguing, and then Randy swore and pinched the bridge of his nose and walked off. Wes’s shoulders slumped as he slammed his fist against the wall, not hard, but hard enough to show that he was upset.
“Everything okay?” I asked in a small voice, coming up behind him.
His eyes scanned the house, as if memorizing it one last time. “Yeah, just father-son stuff. Football stuff really.” Wes shrugged. “No biggie. Hey—” He flashed me another killer smile. “Let’s go watch a movie.”
“Cool.”
When he said movie I thought he meant in the living room.
Not a theater room.
With popcorn and reclining seats.
From here on out when I think of heaven this is the picture I’m going to have in my head. Sitting with Wes in our own private movie theater, at his house, holding his hand.
“Any movie, but it has to be a Christmas movie.” He clicked through the Apple TV. “You pick.”
“Why Christmas?”
“I love Christmas.” He shrugged. “And I may not be around for Christmas this year, at least not in this house, so I thought it’d be nice to watch.”
“Where are you going to be?”
“Oh, we have other houses around the area, just depends on my dad’s mood which one we stay at.”
“How awful for you,” I teased.
“My cross, my burden. Now pick.” He flipped me the remote and put his hands behind his head.
“I choose…” I clicked through. “This one.”
He squinted at the screen. “You’re kidding.”
“You said any Christmas movie and I believe you said lady’s choice.”
“It’s Mickey Mouse.”
“My favorite Christmas movie. You gonna go back on your word?”
“You really are my little lamb aren’t you? All innocent, wanting to watch Mickey Mouse Christmas.” He reached out and stroked my face. “Tell me it’s wrong to want to
blot out all that purity… right here, right now.”
“It’s wrong,” I said simply, ignoring the buzzing in my head as his fingers ran down the side of my cheek.
He sighed and pulled back. “Fine, the lamb speaks, Big Bad Wolf listens.”
“As it should be.” I leaned into him and then moved the armrest so I could truly lay across him.
“And then Lamb tempts Wolf,” Wes said in a low voice.
“And Wolf rises above temptation,” I sang.
“Wolf likes temptation.”
“Wolf needs to watch the movie.”