Page 86 of As Long As You'll Have Me
Hey fireman. I’d love to see you later. I’m walking in to have coffee with Rae now. Come over to my place once you’re done for the day?
I’d love nothing more. Have a good coffee date. Tell Rae I say hi.
I lock my phone and toss it into my purse. He’s been on duty the last two days so I haven’t heard from him much unless he’s eating a meal or taking a nap. Ever since my time at Fresh Start last week, Miles and I have grown even closer than before. I talk to him almost daily and on the days he’soff from the firehouse, he and I try to get together. George could tell I had someone in my life last week at Christmas when I was on my phone more than usual. I caught him looking at me out of the corner of his eye more than once and when Mom and Dad were out of the room, he bumped me on the shoulder and told me he was happy for me. I’ll tell my parents eventually but for now, I want to keep what Miles and I have between us.
Looking around the crowded coffee shop, I can tell most of the city of Charleston is off for the holiday. It isn’t even eight in the morning and the place is packed with bodies. Twinkle lights hang from the ceiling as holiday music streams out of the speakers hanging in the corners of the room.
“Hanna, hey!” The familiar voice of my best friend comes from a table along the wall of windows. Peeking around a stranger, I find her smiling at me and waving. She looks truly radiant with her hair freshly teased and wearing a new suit jacket I’m sure she got for Christmas from her family. When I get closer, I notice she’s wearing a new bracelet I haven’t seen before. It’s gold with a few charms dangling from it.
“Merry Christmas and happy almost new year,” I say, pulling her into a hug.
“Yeah you too. Can’t believe we’re here already,” she says back, pulling me in. “I got your coffee for you already. The line was getting long so I ordered for you. Hope that’s okay.”
“And this is why you’re my best friend,” I comment, giving her a grateful smile. When we take our seats I reach over and pull her wrist towards me to inspect the bracelet closer. “Uhm, where did this come from?”
She shakes it at me proudly and smirks. Looking at itcloser, I notice that one of the charms is the letter L. I flick my eyes up at her inquisitively and I swear I can see a faint shade of pink in her cheeks.
“And why do I feel like this wasn’t a gift Santa brought you?”
“Please, Santa would never. It was a gift from a fine ass man who treats me like a queen,” she hums, pulling her hand back towards her. I’ve never seen Rae this happy with a man before. The way she’s smiling at her wrist makes my heart happy.
“As he should,” I gush. “It’s beautiful, Rae. I’m so happy for you.”
“Thank you, beauty.” She brings her chin to her shoulder in an almost shy shrug. “How about you? How’s the fireman?”
I told her about how I stayed at his place after ‘helping’ wrap gifts for Fresh Start. I don’t think I’ve ever heard her squeal so loud over the phone in my life when I shared that we finally slept together.
I release a content sigh and take a sip of my coffee. “He’s so good.”
“Yeah? How good isgood?” She leans into the word and smirks from across the table.
“Would you stop it?” I say, waving my arm at her and laughing.
“Okay, okay, I’ll stop. I’m happy for you, Han, you deserve a good man.”
“So do you. I’m glad things are working out with Leon.”
“Can you believe it? The two of us going into the new year in stable, happy relationships?” She perks up in her chair causing her freshly fluffed curls to bounce. “I just got a fabulous idea.”
“Oh boy, here we go,” I lament with an eye roll.Whenever she has ‘fabulous ideas’ it usually ends up with us stumbling home at two in the morning.
“We should go out tomorrow, the four of us! New Year’s Eve double date,” she cries. I sit on the idea for a moment. Miles and I are still in the early phases of being a “couple” and haven’t had a ton of time to go on a real date yet. With his schedule at the firehouse and mine with my patients, plus the holidays, it hasn’t really been something we’ve done yet. It might be fun, though, especially with Rae and Leon there.
“That sounds like fun. I can ask him what he thinks. He’s finishing two days on duty at the firehouse so he’s off the next few days. I’ll text him and let you know?”
“Yes, please,” she gushes. “You, me, and the men who are smitten simply by looking at us.”
I laugh with her and take another sip of my coffee. We sit and gab at our table for the next half an hour, filling the other in on our holidays with our families. When we decide it’s time to call it a day, I give her a hug outside on the sidewalk and walk towards home. Reaching for my phone, I open my texts and send one off to which he quickly replies.
How would you feel about kissing me at midnight tomorrow?
I’d feel pretty damn good about it, doc.
Then it’s a date
The next day,I’m sitting in my bedroom finishing up getting ready for my night out with Miles, Rae, and Leon. She and I coordinated the details between us and agreed tomeet up at our favorite bar around nine to ring in the new year together. Miles told me he would be by to pick me up around eight-thirty and looking at the clock, he’ll be here any minute. I’m wearing a vintage dress I found in the back of my mother’s closet that has gold sequins and little tassels that dance when I move. Rae and I talked about what we wanted to wear and decided that since we are going out for New Year’s Eve with dates for the first time in years, we need to dress the part. I let Miles in on how we planned to dress but honestly, the man already looks effortlessly good looking in the jeans and T-shirt he normally wears that I don’t care if he dresses up or not. I’m about to slip on my shoes when my phone rings on top of my vanity. Peering down at the phone, I see that it’s a FaceTime call from Rae.
“Hello?” When the video connects, I see she’s also in her bathroom still getting ready. At least I’m not the only one.
