Last First Kiss (4 page)

Chapter Three

Wade spilled some
of
the coffee Julie had just handed
him after Sophie had called him back.
  She’d be arriving at
Cas
per
airport at 10:
10 that night
. After
all this time
of trying desperately to avoid her
,
some bizarre
misunderstanding with Emily would be
reuniting them. The thought of seeing her had
made his hand shake and hence the spilled java.

He reached for a sheet of paper, hoping that would clean up the mess
,
but it j
ust spread it ar
ound more. Some
coffee
began to run
down the side of the desk with a few sprinkles hitting the floor.

“Who’s been clumsy?” asked Julie.

“Sorry about the
mess.”

“No problem as long as you didn’t
burn yourself. I’ll go
get some paper towels to mop that up.”

Julie walked away
,
and Wade took a s
ip from the now half empty mug
. He looked at the clock on the wall. He’d have to leave
Greenville
in a couple of hours
to get to
the airport in time to meet Sophie’s
flight.
His stomach acid churned again. This time not from shock but excitement. He couldn’t deny how great
it would be seeing h
is childhood buddy, his teenage sweetheart. His…

Julie suddenly returning
with a wad of paper towels stopped his mind from continuing along that train of thought. She pressed them down on the spill
,
and they ate up the brown liquid immediately.

“Do you think the judge will set bail for Emily?” she asked as she cleaned up the last of the coffee.

“I hope
so. I think he will
,
knowing
that
she’s
not been in any trouble before
. He’ll also take
her age into consideration.”

“I’m sure she’ll be so happy knowing
Sophie is coming home. She was planning on taking a trip to
Seattle
thi
s fall so she could see her
new townhouse.”

“Which reminds me I should
go
because I want to get
a haircut before I head to
Casper
.”

“It looks fine to me.”

“Nope
,
feels a little on the shaggy side.”

Julie smiled. “I think it’s just an excuse so you can go see your girlfriend.”

Wade
swallowed the last of the coffee and put the mug back down. He’d like to t
hink that was true
,
but it wasn’t. Sadly for Cathy
,
that hadn’t entered
his mind. Looking good for Sophie had.

***
*

“Spread those legs
,
big boy.”

Ca
thy placed her hands on both Wade’s
k
nees and pulled his thighs
apart so she could get closer
in
order to
cut the front of his h
air. She wiggled her body nearer
to his crotch
,
and now he couldn’t
see a thing other than her breasts spilling over the top of her tight and low cut t-shirt.

The beau
ty salon was packed.
Cathy had squeezed him in between a perm and going to pick up her four year old son
, Max,
from the daycare center. The topic of the day
in the beauty parlor
was Emily’s arrest. The questions had been coming hard and fast the minute
they’d found out Wade had
been at Mountainview
shor
tly after the police had arrived
.

“I’m
in total shock. Can’t they do a
DNA test or something?” asked
a lady getting her nails painted
fire engine
red.

“They will. I know it’s all a mistake,” said Wade.

“Emily Richardson wouldn’t hurt anyone
,
and I’ll testify to that
,” said a lady
reading a magazine while her color processed.

“So Sophie is coming home. I can’t wait to see her,” said another wo
man soaking her feet in the pedicure spa.

“Me
,
too,” said Wade, looking up at Cathy and
watching her smile turn to a frown
.

“It’s nice of you to volunteer to pick her up. I mean driving to
Casper
,” said Cathy clipping the front section of his hair. “In fact, I can’t wait to meet her.”

“You’ll like her
.
I know you will,” he said.

“Hold still because I’m almost done with you.”

Cathy gave one last snip and then ran her hand
down his stomach and
over his crotch.

Wade grabbed it before she
reached his cock.

“Hey, stop that,” Wade whispered.

“You didn’t say
that at the hotel
.”

“That was
different. This is a public place.”

She leaned over and put her arms around him before giving him a quick kiss. “I’ve arranged for someone to babysit Max the night of the police fun
draising dance
,
so we can have a whole
night without any disturbances just like we did in the hotel room.” She rubb
ed her nose across
his forehead.

Weeks ago that
news
would have thrilled him, but
with Sophie
back
on his mind, he couldn’t
quite feel the same level of excitement.

“I have to be on my way just in case I run
into
traffic,” said Wade
,
taking off the robe from his shoulders. “What do I owe you?”

“Just a night of non-
stop sex,” said Cathy. She blew a few stray hairs from his collar before taking the robe from him.

Normally he would have
fired
a sexy one lin
er
back at her, but today for some reason nothing spr
a
ng into his head.

Wade stood and checked his appearance in the mirror.

“Drive carefully,” said Cathy walking him to the door.

“Wade, say hello to Sophie for me. Tell her to be sure to visit with me while she’s home,” shouted a lady.

“And me
,
too,” shouted another.

“I will.” Wade wa
ved to everyone before making a
swift
exit just i
n case he got delayed by anyone else.

He walked to
the parking lot out back and hop
ped into
his SUV. He’d filled it with gas right before h
e’d gone to get his hair cut. O
nce he pulled on his sun
glasses he was ready to hit the road.

Wade waved to a few folks
as he drove along the main street
.
He then spotted
his fat
her heading out of the bakery carrying a box
,
no
doubt
housing
his dad’s favorite cupcakes. H
e pulled over and pressed the button to lower the
SUV’s
window.

“Dad, I left a message on your machine. Have you been home yet?”

His father was old school and didn’t believe in cell phones
,
so Wade wondered if he’d heard the news
about Emily
yet.

“I sure did. Howe
ver, I heard the news about Em
long b
efore I played your message
.
What the shit’s going on, Wade?”

“I don’t know. There’s obviously been so
me
horrible mistake
,
or someone’s framing her.”

“Who would do that to
that sweet old lady?”

“No one in
Greenville
, that’s for sure.”

“You going on a date with Cathy?
I mean I notice
d you’re dressed up
,
and you’
ve gotten yourself a
haircut by the look of it.”

“Nope, going to pick up Sophie
from
Casper
airport.”

“Sophie?”

“Yes, Emily wanted her to
come home and lo
ok a
fter Mountainview while this misunderstanding gets
sorted out.
”

His dad pushed
his cowboy hat to the back of his head and looked Wade
in the eye.

“And you’re going to be okay with that?
”

“With what?”

“Seeing Sophie and being around
her
again?”

“It’s water under the
bridge.
I’ve
moved on after
all this time.
”

“If you say so. Oh,
be sure to have Sophie come over and see me whi
le she’s home. You know how I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for her.”

“Yeah, I know. I’ve got to be on my way
,
or I won’t make it the airport
in time.”

Wade
waved to his dad,
hit the gas
,
and headed back onto the road before turning onto the main highway.

He turned up the volume on the radio and heard Faith Hill signing. By coincidence she’d always reminded him of
Sophie. Wade eased back in the car s
eat and tried to relax as he set
the cruise control and sang along to the music.

***
*

One
plus to not being allowed to
greet
passengers at the gate
was you had time to head to the nearest bathroom and check your
appearance before they saw you.

Sophie dug in her
makeup
bag
, searching frantically
for her blusher and lip gloss
. The flight from
Seattle
to
Casper
had taken longer than she’d remembered. Maybe it
was because it had been crowded a
n
d
she’d been squeezed into a middle seat between two oversized ladies
who had struck up a conversation early in the flight.  The plane had also been
an hour late
arriving in
Wyoming
.

She glan
ced at her watch. She needed to get
a move on
because the
delay had probably been a pain in the butt for poor Wade.
She hoped he’d found some way to entertain himself at the airport.

Sophie leaned closer
to the mirror and
swirled some lip
gloss over her lips before smacking them together. She stepped
back,
taking a comb
and running it through her hair. It looked a mess from sitting in that cramped seat for so long. Sh
e rummaged through her bag and found an elastic band. She quickly pulled her hair back and secured it into a ponytail
. Sophie picked up
her bag
from the countertop, made a mad
dash for the door
,
and headed for the baggage claim where
she hoped
Wade would be waiting to drive her to
Greenville
.

Her heart beat faster with each step she took
anticipating what
he’d look like. What they’d say
and
also
what they’d talk ab
out on the journey home. A group
of older women obscured her view of the baggage claim area
,
but as they parted ways she c
ould a glimpse of a man holding his cowboy hat
in both hands while
leaning against a wall
in the car rental area
. He was standing in profile
,
but she knew it was Wade. She
’d
recognize that fine looking bone structure anywhere. Time had
n’t
changed or taken it away.
She stopped walking, wondering i
f she could actually do this. Face him again. However,
she had to for her grandmother. And
after all, he’d driven al
l this way
to collect her
.