Wyatt knew what he had to do. For the first time in months, he had a clear direction. There wasn't a gray area. It was black and white.
I need to call Lily, he thought.
He grabbed some more tissue and wiped the remaining tears from his face. He drew in a long breath and exhaled slowly.
“It's time I make a move,” he whispered.
A real move, though, he thought. Not this half-assed shit I've been doing lately. I'm going to call Lily and ask her on a date. An honest to god, legitimate date. Something she deserves, like a nice restaurant and the chance to get fixed up and go out.
With newfound energy, Wyatt pushed away from the bathroom counter and headed back to his bedroom. He immediately grabbed his cell phone from the night stand and unlocked the screen. His confidence waned a little bit as he scrolled through the contact list to find Lily's
name, but he refused to succumb to it. This was something he wanted to do and Wyatt wasn't the type to back down from what he wanted.
He pressed on her name and the call connected. As the phone rang, he paced his room, hoping that she'd answer. By the fourth ring, he'd almost lost hope. Then, the most beautiful voice in the world came on the line.
“Hello?” Lily said.
Her voice was a bit hoarse. It sounded like she had been crying or something. Wyatt wasn't sure, but he knew that she didn't sound peppy like usual.
“Hey, Lily,” he said. “It's me, Wyatt.”
“I know,” she replied, with a chuckle. “I have your number.”
“Oh, yeah. Sorry, that was a dumb thing to say.” Wyatt suddenly felt a little more nervous, almost like he was in high school and about to ask out the hottest girl on the cheer leading squad.
“Everything okay?” she asked, clearing her throat.
“Yeah, um, everything's fine,” he said. “Everything okay with you? You sound hoarse.”
“Must be allergies,” Lily said. “I just have the sniffles.”
Wyatt knew she was telling a white lie. She didn't have allergies, or at least she hadn't shown any signs of it while living in his house. He assumption was that she had been crying, and had to assume it was related to returning to her old life.
“I wanted to talk to you about something,” Wyatt said.
“Sure.” Lily cleared her throat again, still trying to hide her sniffles. “What's going on? Did Mildred get home okay?”
“Yeah, she got home a few minutes ago,” he said.
“Did you have a chance to ask her about the weekend thing?” Lily asked.
“I did,” he said. “She said that she'd be up for having weekends off. In fact, she was pretty excited about the idea.”
“That's great!” Lily said. “When will that start?”
“Whenever you're ready for it to start,” Wyatt said.
“How about this weekend?” The sadness in Lily's voice had faded and was now replaced with the sound of excitement.
“This weekend works for me,” Wyatt replied with he smile.
He couldn't deny the fact that he was also a little excited with the knowledge that he'd get to see Lily on a regular basis.
“I'm so glad Mildred agreed to it,” Lily said. “I was a little worried, to be honest. I know close she is to you guys.”
“Yeah, but she's getting older and admitted that having a couple of days off a week would do her a lot of good,” Wyatt said. “She said something about how it might help keep her few remaining black hairs from turning gray.”
Lily laughed. “Well I'm glad I can assist with that.”