The Season of Falling

10. Chapter 10

Chapter ten

Kasey

I’d told Dean that Grandpa wouldn’t let us bring anything to dinner, and that was true. If I asked, Grandpa would say no. But I didn’t intend to ask. On my way home from work, I stopped by the grocery store to pick up a green salad, a watermelon, and brownies. Grandpa would make lasagna or burgers, and my offerings would go well with either.

I smiled fondly as I imagined Grandpa’s face when he saw my armful of food. He always insisted that he didn’t need any help, but I knew better. Whether I wanted it or not, he was getting older and wouldn’t always be around. And I was determined to help him out and spend lots of time with him while I still could.

Sometimes I wondered how my dad could be related to someone as wonderful as Grandpa Whiting. He was the best man I knew while my dad was currently married to Charlotte and traipsing around Europe while his daughters fended for themselves.

I took a deep breath, not wanting to rile myself up. I did love my dad. I was just having a hard time agreeing with some of his actions and the way it appeared that he didn’t care about the outcomes. Kendra and I were adults and could take care of ourselves, but everything with Charlotte and their honeymoon and his early retirement had all happened so fast. He hadn’t given us the time to come to terms with it and really be okay. And maybe I just needed to accept it and move on. But it was hard. So instead, I pushed the anger and hurt away and turned my mind to more pleasant things. Like seeing Dean and spending an evening with him and Grandpa.

As I pulled up to the house, I saw that Dean’s car was already there. I smiled but it quickly vanished from my face when I realized that he didn’t know that Dean and I were pretending but not pretending to date. I prayed that Grandpa hadn’t said anything incriminating and hurried to gather my stuff.

I had just slammed the car door closed when Dean jogged down the porch steps and over to me.

“Here, let me grab those for you.” Dean reached for the grocery bags I was carrying, but I twisted to keep them away from him.

“No way, you’re the one who was recently injured.” I held the bags behind my back to try and keep them from him.

“The elbow sprain is all good, and the bruised ribs are feeling better every day. No need to worry about me.”

He reached around me, and I was temporarily distracted by how close he was. I don’t know if it was his plan, but he used my lack of focus to thread one arm through the bags and snaked the other around my waist. I was speechless as he gave me a quick squeeze before dropping his arms and turning toward the house. It wasn’t exactly cold out, but I instantly missed his warmth.

“Oh, thank you,” I finally replied, following him through the picket fence and back up the steps into the house. While I would always miss the beautiful white Colonial house that I grew up visiting, I loved Grandpa’s house here in Burlington. It was light green with cream trim and a dark red door, and it was lovely. But my favorite part was the wraparound porch and porch swing that were surrounded by hydrangeas, lilac bushes, and other plants I didn’t know the names of.

When I walked through the front door, Dean was already in the kitchen unloading the grocery bags and talking with Grandpa.

“Hey, Kasey.” Grandpa exclaimed as I entered. I smiled and gave him a quick peck on the cheek before turning to Dean.

“You told me that I didn’t need to bring anything.” Dean pointed an accusatory finger at me, and I held my hands up in defense.

“Because you didn’t need to. I was already planning to pick these things up, and now we have everything we need.” I smiled cheekily and slid around him in the narrow kitchen to grab a cutting board and knife. I got started on chopping up the watermelon and sliding the pieces into a large bowl that Grandpa got out for me.

The chopping sounds and companionable silence lulled me into a false sense of security, and when Grandpa spoke next, I wasn’t prepared. “Dean here says that you two are dating. When did that happen? I didn’t offer you my congratulations.”

My mouth hung open in shock, and for a moment I was quiet, trying to form a coherent thought.

“Well, it definitely happened within the last year or so,” Dean joked, and I managed a weak smile. When I looked at Grandpa, his eyes shone mischievously, and I was instantly put on guard.

“It…well, it happened…” I trailed off. I had decided to go along with the Dating Debacle, but I still didn’t want to outright lie. “It happened right before Dean’s accident,” I finally said.

“And how did it happen?” Both men looked to me with smiles on their faces. Dean’s looked kind and reassuring while Grandpa’s looked like he was enjoying this way too much. What was he playing at?

I shifted uncomfortably. “Uh…it sorta just happened? We definitely weren’t expecting it, that’s for sure.” I winced at my sorry excuse for an explanation, but Grandpa chuckled, drawing the attention away from me.

“Ah, young love. What do you like about him, Kasey? Why did you want to date him?”

At least this was an easy question, one I didn’t even have to think about. “He’s the kind of person that walks in a room, and everyone gravitates toward him. The kids in his classes love him because he really connects with them and cares about them. His love of art and creating is apparent in everything he does. He knows me better than probably anyone else, and he can always make me laugh or feel better when I’ve had a bad day. He’s one of the best people I know.” My eyes widened and darted to Dean, unsure what his reaction would be. We complimented and hyped each other up, but it wasn’t usually quite so pointed.

Dean had a soft smile on his face, and his cheeks had a light tinge of pink. I made a mental note to praise him more often. Even if he didn’t fall in love with me, my best friend should know how incredible he was. He looked up, and our eyes locked. I returned his smile and felt myself lean forward, as if I were drawn to him and his beautiful mouth. Wait, no. Not his mouth. His smile. Which did happen to be part of his mouth, but thinking about his mouth was not a safe subject for my imagination.

“And what about you, young man?” Grandpa asked, breaking the spell between us. I held my breath, unsure what he was going to say. I knew that Dean had good things to say about me; we were best friends. But I had no idea if he’d ever thought about me in a romantic way. I kept my eyes and hands on the watermelon and salad in front of me, not wanting them to see the mixture of hope and fear I was sure was there.

“Kasey is everything I’ve always wanted to be. She’s like a ray of sunshine. She reaches out to people around her and genuinely helps and cares about them. She builds people up and does so much good. She smiles, and it’s like nothing else in the world matters.”

My heart felt ready to burst. I was a Jane Austen heroine receiving her declaration of love. I was the maiden at the end of the movie about to get her happily ever after.

I was staring at Dean with my mouth hanging open.

Grandpa smiled approvingly and patted Dean on the back, giving me enough time to snap my mouth closed and finish throwing the salad together. We each grabbed a dish and headed to the table. Grandpa sat across from me, in his usual spot, and Dean took the seat to my left. I blushed a little when he pulled out my chair for me but whispered a thank you as we sat.

I was more than content to listen to Dean and Grandpa talk about baseball and the weather and whatever else men talked about. It was so good to see Dean laughing and making jokes. It was like he was back to his normal self. I was so zoned out that I almost missed the question Dean aimed at me.

“How’s work going?”

I sighed and told them about my conversation with Linda. Dean wouldn’t remember anything about my presentation so I explained all about Stubbs Dental and how I had hoped to be made lead on the project. I didn’t talk much about how discouraged I felt, but Dean must have sensed it.

“I’m sorry, Kasey. That’s so hard. Especially when it’s something big like that that you’ve been working towards for so long.”

Tears pricked at my eyes, and I blinked rapidly to clear them away. Dean’s words made all my feelings rush to the surface. I had been working hard for so long on that contract. And in one day, it had all been ripped away.

“And I’m sorry that it was because of me,” Dean said, his voice lowered. Without thinking I reached over and rested my hand on top of his. I felt a spark of warmth but ignored it.

“Don’t even say that. Yes, losing that client was unfortunate, but it’s definitely not more important than you. I wouldn’t change what happened, Dean,” I finished, hoping to reassure him.

“Well, except maybe to stop it all from happening,” Grandpa said with a laugh.

“Yes, except that.” I gave Dean’s hand a squeeze and then pulled my arm back. Dean smiled, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. I could tell that I had more work to do to convince him that I didn’t blame him for what had happened. But that was a task better undertaken without my grandpa sitting across the table from us.

The rest of the meal passed with friendly conversation and no other forays into the history of Dean and me dating, which I was grateful for. Dean and Grandpa had always gotten along, but for whatever reason, I hadn’t often brought Dean over. Maybe it was because I didn’t want to get Grandpa’s hopes up when all he really wanted was to see me happy.

I guess I had forgotten all about that, though, since there was Dean sitting and chatting with him like they were old pals. And at least for the moment, I didn’t regret it in the least. They were both talking and laughing and filling my little heart right up.

When we finished eating, I stood to take the dishes back to the kitchen, but Grandpa waved me off.

“Oh no, let me handle that. Why don’t you two go and sit out on the porch for a spell? Soon enough, this pleasant evening weather will be gone.”

I hesitated but Grandpa waved again and walked around the table to grab the plate out of my hands.

“Go on now, and have some fun.” He winked at Dean, and I could feel the blush heating my cheeks. But Dean just laughed and placed a hand on the small of my back to steer me toward the porch.

Once we were both settled, Dean reached over and took my hand, threading his fingers through mine. A spark went straight from our joined hands all the way up to my heart. I shot a glance at him, wondering if he’d felt it as well, but he had leaned his head back against the swing and closed his eyes.

I leaned back as well and tried to get comfortable. Just as I settled in Dean started rubbing his thumb in slow circles across the back of my hand. A pleasant shudder ran through me, and I resisted the urge to scoot to the edge of my seat as though waiting for whatever came next. But he kept his eyes closed and settled us into a smooth rhythm of rocking back and forth.

As we sat and talked about life and work and adventures from our college days, I felt more settled in my decision to date Dean. It even started to feel more real, like I wasn’t even pretending at all.

Through the open screen door, we heard Grandpa call, “That’s a lot of talking I’m hearing which means not a lot of kissing.”

“Grandpa!” I gasped in horror and embarrassment.

Dean laughed and twisted his body to call through the door. “You’re right, but this thing is pretty new, and I don’t know if we’ve even made it that far yet.”

“No time like the present, I always say.”

“Oh, Grandpa,” I muttered, shaking my head in disbelief. What is it that made old people feel the need to say anything and everything that came to their minds? My cheeks were on fire, but Dean laughed, and we settled again into our steady back and forth. He continued to trace his thumb across my skin, and I did my best to continue to breathe normally.

“We haven’t yet, have we?” Dean asked under his breath a few moments later.

I’m sure my cheeks were red as a tomato, but I shook my head. “No, we haven’t kissed. It’s all been a pretty recent development.” Technically, that was true. The Dating Debacle was very recent.

Dean nodded thoughtfully, and I squeezed his hand softly, letting him know that this was good for us right now.

“This is my favorite part of summer,” Dean mused after a few minutes of electrically charged, yet somehow perfectly comfortable, silence.

What was? Holding my hand?

I turned my head to look over at him. The feel of Dean’s skin against mine was decidedly distracting, but I forced myself to focus. He probably wasn’t talking about anything to do with me so I chose a safer option. “What is? Porch swings?”

He rolled his head to the side so he was looking directly at me. Our faces were so close, and I held my breath, not wanting to ruin the moment.

“All of this,” he murmured softly, not taking his eyes off mine.

A soft breeze tossed the hair around my face, and I shivered. It was as much from Dean’s words and piercing gaze as from the cooler air, but I had effectively broken the spell that had settled around us. Dean stood and helped me to my feet before we slowly walked back inside to say our goodbyes.

We left Grandpa with promises to come again soon and made our way out to our cars.

“Next time we should drive together,” Dean said, opening my door for me.

I laughed. “It would certainly make things simpler.” I climbed in but Dean stepped forward instead of closing the door. He braced an arm against the top of the car and leaned in toward me.

“I had a great time tonight, Kasey.” He smiled my favorite smile, the one that put his dimples on full display, and my heart skipped a beat. “I’ll see you soon.” And with that he pushed the door shut and waved as he got into his own car and drove away.

I sat there for a moment, unable to do anything but stare after him. For someone who had never tried to date me in the four years we’d known each other, he sure knew how to get my heart racing. With the simplest touch, my heart had soared and fire had raced across my skin. And all he’d done was hold my hand.

As I drove home, I thought back to my conversation with Ro and Hazel. We’d come up with mostly funny and ridiculous ideas for making Dean fall in love with me, but maybe they’d had the right idea. If I did more to encourage Dean and act like we were actually dating, it would be much more likely to happen.

When I got back to my room, I went straight to my desk and grabbed a paper and pen. I couldn’t make a list quite like Hazel, but this situation definitely called for one.