One Little Kiss (Christian Romance)

by Kaylee Baldwin

  "I've seen it before, but I like how it ends." His dad pressed the mute button and sat up in his recliner, leaning his weight onto his legs and clasping his hands. "I was going to stop by your apartment this weekend to talk to you, but since you're here I'll go ahead and tell you now Clarissa and I are getting married next week."

  “Wow.” Henry sat back, dazed. his dad had never been the over share type, but this seemed like something that should have come up. The rest of his dad’s announcement caught up to him. "Next week? Why so quickly?"

  His dad shifted. "The reception hall Clarissa wanted had a last minute cancellation for next weekend, so we took it. The truth is, neither of us are getting any younger and we're sick of being alone."

  “What about Adam?”

  “He won’t be home for another year. He’ll understand.”

  Henry had his doubts, but in the end, they couldn’t put their lives on hold because his youngest brother was on a mission. “Are you sure about this?"

  For the first time since Henry arrived, his dad relaxed into the chair with a huge grin on his face. "I am. Clarissa makes me feel alive again. It's been so long."

  Since their mom died. When his dad grinned, there was a light in his eyes Henry hadn't seen in a long time.

  A burst of longing for his mom hit Henry. Most days, he felt a twinge of sadness that he couldn't call her up and ask for advice like he used to do in high school, or that she wasn't there for him to share his accomplishments with, but it was rare that grief hit him like a sledgehammer to the stomach anymore. He cleared his throat and blinked as fast as he could until the feeling passed.

  "Then I'm happy for you," he managed to say with some sincerity. "Is she a member of the church?”

  "She's not. But she knows about our faith and she respects it. She's a good woman."

  Henry would have to take his dad's word for it. His dad’s church attendance had dropped off after their mom had died, and Ava had speculated more than once that it was a part of his grieving process and he’d come back when he was ready. It would be more difficult with a wife who wasn’t a member of the church, but who knew what could happen. The Lord worked in mysterious ways.

  He had a feeling that Ava saw things differently. He cringed imagining her reaction. In fact, he was shocked she hadn't called him to cry and vent and devise ridiculous plots to get the wedding called off. Unless... "You haven't told Ava yet."

  His dad rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I’m telling her after her cooking segment tomorrow. We both know she isn't going to take it well."

  Ava had been so close to their mom, and she was going to take this personally. He'd have to call her on Saturday if he didn't hear from her and make sure she was dealing with it okay. "She'll get used to it eventually.”

  A week didn't give her enough time to adjust to the idea, but it also didn't give her enough time to break them apart, as he was sure she'd try to do.

  "At least Clarissa is her boss, so they already have a relationship," his dad said with a determined slap of his hand to the arm of his chair. "I think it will take some getting used to, but eventually she'll grow to love Clarissa as much as I do."

  Henry wasn't so sure, but he didn't want to extinguish his dad's hope, as unfounded as it may be.

  His dad leaned forward again, tense. "I'd like for you to be my best man."

  His dad watched him with nervous expectation, and Henry knew he had to say yes. He loved his dad, and he'd support him, even if it meant he was moving on from their mom.

  "I'd be honored." He stood and his dad followed, and they hugged for longer than usual. Henry thought he saw his dad wipe at his eyes when he pulled back.

  "Enough about me." His dad sat down in his chair. "How are you?"

  Henry's phone dinged with a new text from Tessa. Despite himself, excitement buzzed up his spine. It had been almost a week since he’d heard from her. Since their kiss.

  Tessa: Henry Renovation Task List: Get haircut and new t-shirt. I’m setting you up on a blind date.

  Henry read it over once and then twice. He groaned and banged his phone against his leg. It was one thing for her to ignore his phone calls and blow him off, it was another to foist him off onto someone else.

  Clearly, despite all indicators, she hadn't felt what he had when they kissed or else she wouldn't be back on her asinine make-over plan and setting him up with someone.

  "What's wrong?" his dad asked.

  "Women," he said darkly.

  His dad raised an eyebrow. "Lots of them?"

  "No. Just one."

  "Ah. Tessa?"

  "Yep. Apparently I'm going on a blind date, compliments of Tessa."

  "Do you want to go on this date?"

  "No."

  His dad watched him, intent, and Henry had flashbacks to personal priesthood interviews he'd had with his dad as a teenager, where he found himself confessing to things he wasn't even sure were sins because of that penetrating gaze. "I've watched you for two years now put up walls and push people away. It's time to stop."

  Henry's jaw came unhinged. He hadn't expected his dad to say that.

  "You're living your life in the shallows when you need to dive all the way in. You were hurt, but it's time to live again. Life is too short, too unpredictable, to play it safe." His dad looked over the wall of family photos hanging in the living room. Pictures of them as a family, from Henry's parents' wedding photo to the last family picture of them taken right before Henry went on his mission, all with their mom smiling like she lived the happiest life she could imagine.

  "Henry." His dad waited until Henry looked at him again before speaking. "I'm only going to ask you this once, and I want you to think before you answer." His dad folded his arms and watched him carefully. "What do you want?"

  Henry's mind whirled with a million possibilities. He wanted to get a job at the border. He wanted to continue teaching nights at the university at least once a week. Most of all, he wanted to stop caring about how people judged him for his passions, and be the person he was meant to be.

  "I think I need to get rid of these old glasses,” he finally answered.

  A satisfied grin spread across his dad's face. "Well, Henry. It's about time."

  Chapter 25

  On Sunday, Henry managed to track Tessa down before she made it to her car after church. It was clear she didn’t want to talk to him, but his Dad's upcoming wedding put him on a timeline.

  He'd wanted to go alone, but Clarissa insisted he and Ava have dates. Something to do with numbers and chairs and he didn't know what else, but his dad informed him it was best not to argue when it came to wedding planning and to find a date. Clarissa wanted to set him up with her niece, but he shut that down quickly. He didn't need anyone else trying to set him up on dates.

  Tessa picked up her speed, and he held back his frustration at her obvious attempt to avoid him. She wore a skirt that hugged her long legs nicely, and shoes with a tall, thin heel that only seemed to allow for small steps. Still, he was impressed by how quickly she moved. He’d had to move pretty quickly himself to get away from Chelsea and her octopus hands.

  He reached Tessa as she got to her car. He tapped her on the shoulder and she swiveled around, out of breath, feigning surprise.

  "Hey, Henry. I didn't see you there."

  He lifted a brow in challenge before remembering she couldn't see his eyebrows through his hair. It had gotten so long that strands of it kept getting stuck in his eyelashes when he blinked, and it was driving him insane. Even if he hadn't had a talk with his dad, he would’ve been tempted to cut his hair.

  "I have a favor to ask you."

  "Sure. What do you need?" She'd straightened her back and gave him a professional smile. Detached but still beautiful. Like there was never anything between them but working together on a calling. And for her, maybe that's all it was.

  "My dad is getting married next Friday."

  Her professional facade slipped and she leaned against the car. "To C
larissa?"

  He leaned beside her and folded his arms, mostly to keep the sun from glaring in his eyes, but also because she still held her keys like she was going to jump in the car and squeal away any second. "Yes. How did you know?"

  "There was clearly something serious going on between them when we went to see Ava."

  "I wouldn't say clearly..." And casual dating was not the same as getting married only weeks later.

  She bumped his shoulder. "It was so clear, Henry. The way they looked at each other with all the smiling, how they kept finding excuses to touch."

  He was a grown, mature man, but the idea of his dad and Clarissa finding excuses to touch was not a thought he wanted to dwell on.

  "So what's the favor?" she asked. "Need my help picking out a suit?"

  "No, I need you to come with me."

  She stiffened beside him. "Not happening."

  "Why not?"

  "Because I'm with Logan," she said, almost like she was trying to convince herself just as much as him.

  He shook his head. No way. Not after the way she’d cried after seeing Logan and Dawn kiss. "Be honest, Tessa."

  "I am!"

  "No with yourself or me. You don't want to go because we kissed and it freaked you out."

  Her face turned the same shade of red as a lily leaf beetle’s shell. Sounding flustered, she said, "That's not it at all." She stepped away from the car and wouldn't meet his eyes. "I'm really busy."

  "Uh, huh." He stood beside her, knowing he was too close for her comfort but not caring. Tessa was everything he promised himself he wouldn't ever date again, but in that moment, he didn't care. The more she pushed him away, the more he wanted to catch her. Not for forever. He wouldn't go down that road again with someone as gorgeous and obsessed with appearances as Tessa. But she was fun and he loved talking with her and he knew the night would be great if she agreed to come. And to be honest, he needed a date and she was the only girl besides Chelsea he knew would say yes.

  Except she was saying no.

  "I've got school and this calling and I might babysit for Jenkins, and I’ve still got to set up your blind date…" He could see her mind whirling while she tried to come up with more excuses.

  He didn't want to have to resort to this, but did it anyway. "Tessa. You owe me."

  She swallowed. "For what?"

  "I agreed to be the prince, and you said you owed me. Clarissa is obsessed with even numbers and I need a date." He put one hand on the car beside her head. "Will you please go with me to my dad's wedding?"

  She closed her eyes and sighed like she knew he'd won. "Yes, I'll go." It sounded like she was agreeing to a root canal.

  "Hey. It'll be fun. I promise. And no kissing. Unless you want to."

  Her face reddened. She pushed his shoulder back, but one corner of her mouth turned upward into the smile he’d missed more than he realized.

  Chapter 26

  Fifteen minutes into practice and Henry still hadn't shown up. Tess had been so busy avoiding him, she forgot to send him a reminder text, and now his phone was going straight to voice mail.

  The hum of voices filled the courtyard of her apartment complex to a point where she worried about getting a complaint called into the front office. So far when they'd had to practice here, most of the residents had understood or been amused when they poked their heads out their doors to watch. They even had a small fan-base of children who sat on the grass behind the makeshift stage of cardboard and PVC pipe to watch their practices. Tessa loved spending the first few minutes of every practice talking to them, but without Henry there, she had to focus on getting everything set up by herself.

  Ideally, practice would be at the stake center, but unless they were willing to skip FHE and meet on a Monday night, they could only reserve the cultural hall twice more before the road show, which meant finding an alternative place to practice.

  "Everyone! Let's get started!"

  She might as well have whispered for all the attention everyone gave her. They continued to flirt and play with the props she'd brought down from her apartment. There were two huge bins filled with things Tessa had found at the thrift store in the past three days when she should have been studying instead of shopping. But any time she stopped moving or her mind got too quiet, she thought about Henry's kiss or Logan’s gifts.

  Logan had dropped roses at their door sometime on Sunday after his shift, and she found them Monday morning. And that morning, there’d been a box of chocolates. He was definitely pulling out all the stops. So what was holding her back from talking to him again and making up?

  She grabbed a chair and dragged it toward the stage. She stood on it, about to yell at everyone to gather close, when Logan walked into her courtyard with hair damp from a shower. He scanned the crowd, his gaze alighting on Dawn who motioned him close.

  That was what was holding her back.

  She couldn’t be bought. He’d kissed another girl!

  But it might have been a misunderstanding. And technically, she’d kissed another guy. A kiss she couldn’t stop thinking about.

  She needed to break up with Logan. And return all of his gifts. The ones she hadn’t already eaten, anyway.

  Logan spotted Tessa before she could hide, and his expression turned determined as he strode toward her. Dawn's glare was thunderous and Tessa felt the power of it rumble through her body, even from so far away.

  "You haven't been answering my calls," Logan said.

  "I've been busy," she said, wishing she could come out and call him a cheater and maybe throw a convenient bucket of paint or spiders or cat hair on him. Everyone would cheer, except for Dawn who would slink away before anyone could implicate her in this whole mess, and Logan would leave as an itchy, but humbled, man. Break-up achieved.

  "Did you get my gifts?" He reached out and entwined their fingers. "I've missed you."

  Her heart softened like it always did when Logan was close. He really was so handsome, and when she was with him, she could almost hear her family’s future approval for her life choices.

  Still. Was his kiss with Dawn as one-sided as he said? It sure seemed mutual when she saw it.

  She plucked her hand from his, glad for the extra separation she had from standing on the chair. "I need to get started with practice."

  He took a step closer. "I'm not on tonight until ten. Want to grab some dinner after rehearsal?"

  Dawn sidled up beside Logan before Tessa could answer, and Tessa tried to block the image of them kissing from her mind. Her drama could wait for later. Right then, they needed to get on with practice.

  Tessa turned to the crowd of people while Logan was distracted and cupped her hands around her mouth to yell, “Everyone! Be quiet! It’s time to start!”

  She let out a sigh of frustration when no one listened.

  Addison appeared at her side. “Listen up!” she barked like a drill sergeant before whispering to Tessa, “They’re all yours.”

  Tessa mouthed her thanks before turning to the crowd. “We have less than four weeks before we perform in front of the whole stake. You guys are doing really great!”

  Everyone cheered, including their audience of kids.

  “Henry’s not here yet, so let’s run through the scenes he’s not in while we wait for him. Let’s start with scene two, so we need Dawn and the chorus.”

  She went to step off of her chair, but Chelsea’s voice stopped her. “I don’t like scene two. I think Dawn needs a friend to talk things over with.”

  Tessa paused, taken aback by Chelsea’s critical tone. “It’s too close to the road show to change the script now.”

  “But don’t we want to make this the best it can be?” Chelsea pushed. “I wrote up a few lines. Let’s put them in.”

  “We’re already really close to our time limit as it is. There’s not enough time for more lines. I’m sorry.”

  Dawn folded her arms. “The real problem is that Tessa’s upset she didn’t come up with it first. It
sounds like a great idea to me.”

  Tessa resisted the urge to rub her aching forehead. Everyone was starting to talk again, and no one was coming up to run lines. She ignored Dawn’s comment, and instead continued to talk to Chelsea. “We already have a new prince learning his lines. We can’t add anything else new this late in the game.”

  Chelsea’s smile tightened. “Well, you’re not the only one in charge. I think you should run it by Henry.”

  “I’ll ask him when he gets here,” she said through her teeth. If I don’t kill him first.

  Tessa turned back to the crowd. “Everyone get in your places. We’re going to start from the top.”

  “This is ridiculous,” Dawn yelled. She bunched the pink prom dress she’d insisted on wearing to recitals because it made her feel princess-y, into her hands and stalked toward Tessa. “You clearly have no idea what you’re doing!”

  That set everyone off again, their voices growing louder—Dawn and Chelsea’s the loudest of them all, talking bad about her, based on the glares they were throwing in her direction. She shouted for everyone to get in their places, but no one listened.

  Until one lone, distinctive clap sounded from the back of the courtyard. Slow at first, it grew louder and faster, reverberating through the crowd and quieting everyone, as her brother walked toward Tessa, a mocking gleam in his eye.

  Tessa froze. There was nowhere to hide.

  A moment later, her mom appeared as well, holding a box in her arms. Everyone remained quiet, like they could sense that drama was about to go down. Tessa’s mom looked around at their audience. "What is this?"

  "Road show practice," Dawn piped up, sounding friendly for the first time. "Tessa is our director."

  "Interesting," Jenkins murmured. His gaze took in all the people, the costumes and stage, and finally landed on Tessa, with that knowing look of his. The one that said she’d proved once again how incapable she was.

  "Why didn't you tell us you were doing this?" her mom asked.