“We’re closed!” I yelled from the back as I quickly dried my hands on a towel. When I turned the corner I saw him, leaning against the inside of the doorway. He was wearing dark jeans, Converse, and a plain white T-shirt. He looked healthy and put together; he could have been wearing a paper bag for all I cared, but I was happy to see him looking so well. His head was down, his hands shoved deep in his pockets as he waited. I stood there silently, burning his image into my mind. When he finally looked up, he took a long cleansing breath while he slowly ran his hand through his hair. When he saw me smile, he grinned from ear to ear with that listening-to-God look. His eyes kissed mine; I sucked in a sharp breath at how his gaze made me feel. God, how I missed his handsome face, those soulful, deep eyes that could say everything with just a glance. He mesmerized me, the way he stared at me, the way his face changed when he saw that I was happy.
“Hey,” he said, his voice low but playful.
“Hey,” I breathed. Our eyes remained locked on each other as he walked toward me. I took a step back but opened my arms and leaned against the counter. He buried his face in my neck and pulled me into a hug. I threw my arms around him and whispered, “Never let me go.”
He tightened his grip as his mouth moved to my ear. “Never.”
“Where have you been?”
“Waiting for you.”
“I’ve been here. Why did you go away?”
“You needed to figure things out on your own. I was just waiting for you to come around.”
“God, I’ve missed you,” I said, my voice cracked and pained.
He leaned back, narrowed his eyes, and studied my face as he ran his thumb across my bottom lip. “Baby… I’ve missed you… I’ve missed these lips.” He kissed me sweetly without hesitation.
I literally went weak in the knees, but it didn’t matter because he was practically holding me off the ground. I tried to deepen the kiss; leaning back I hitched my leg up, pulling him toward me. His mouth stopped; he lifted me onto the counter and rested his hands on my thighs. Looking down, he took a long, deep breath and then looked up with a cocky grin. “Whoa kitten, slow down.” I looked at him with mock disappointment. He chuckled. “I have plans for you, little Mia.”
“What are you gonna do to me, Wilbur?” I whispered, touching my index finger to his lips. He wrapped his hand around my wrist and pulled it away.
“One-track mind you have,” he said, laughing.
“You started it.”
There was a long pause and his expression turned serious. “I have to know that you’re all in.”
“I am,” I said instantly.
“It’s just me, nothing else, no fame, no record deal. Maybe I’ll be a bartender forever, maybe I’ll rent a room from you for four hundred dollars.”
“Just you and your guitar?”
“Yep.”
“I don’t care, that’s all I want. I love you.”
“What did you say?” He smirked and cupped his hand behind his ear.
“I love you.”
“One more ti—”
“I love you,” I said and then socked him in the chest. “Can we go home now?”
“I’ll walk you home. I have somewhere to be.”
I scrunched my eyebrows. “Where?”
“I can’t tell you. You just have to trust me,” he said as he motioned toward the door.
“I trust you.”
“Good, let’s go.”
When we got to my apartment, he stood on the landing. I motioned for him to come in, but he just shook his head and smiled.
“Come on, Will. Come to bed?” I said, arching my eyebrows.
“You have no idea how bad I want to.”
“Then why won’t you?”
He smiled. “I told you, I have somewhere to be. If I get into bed with you now, I’ll never get out.”
“I’m okay with that.”
He leaned in and kissed me, but pulled away too soon. “I’ll come and get you tomorrow morning.” He pecked my lips again and then kissed my nose. “Dream about me, okay, sweet thing?” he said as he turned and headed down the stairs.
“Always,” I whispered, too low for him to hear.
Lying in my bed that night, I wondered if Will was an apparition. He was just too good to be true: too forgiving, too sweet, too beautiful. I remembered someone saying crazy people don’t know they’re crazy. Surely I had imagined Will that night. I was truly losing my mind, there was just no way that man would want me back after what I had done. I didn’t deserve him. My own fear of not being worthy started to cloud my mind again, but I stopped it. I remembered what I learned from Gibran on love, to return home at eventide with gratitude; And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips. So that’s what I decided to do as I dozed off, perfectly tranquil, thinking about how grateful I was to have Will in my life again. I also made a tiny request to the universe regarding the subject of my impending dream…
I woke up the next morning to the sound of my own voice as I squirmed under the glorious sensation of my dream. After thanking the universe, I opened my eyes and smiled at the sunshine coming through the window. In the shower I took my time shaving my legs and afterward I patiently dried my hair and clipped one side back. I put on a blue and white striped sundress and a brass cuff bracelet and some lip gloss. I stood at the counter and flipped through a magazine, paying little attention to what I was actually looking at. Instead my mind was on the kiss Will and I had shared in the café and in the doorway the night before. I touched my fingers to my lips and closed my eyes. What if it were all part of the dream? I went to the door and replayed what had happened. I looked at the space where I’d stood while we kissed and wondered when reality stopped and the dream started.