803 Wishing Lane by Shaw Hart

Four

Heath

I must be dreaming.That’s the only way to explain Caroline standing on my front porch, soaking wet.

I had just been missing her and thinking about her, like always, when she knocked on my door. I hadn’t heard it over the torrential rain, but I’m glad I heard her the second time.

“Yeah, I live here,” I answer her. “Why don’t you come in out of the rain?”

I step aside but she hesitates.

“Charlotte is in the car,” she says, pointing over her shoulder to her idling car.

“She can come in, too. You shouldn’t be driving in this weather anyway.”

She bites her lip, debating, and I wait her out.

“Alright,” she says before she turns and runs back to her car.

She’s back with Charlotte and her backpack a few minutes later and I smile at the little girl as Caroline sets her on her feet.

“Hi, Mr. Heath,” Charlotte says with a smile, running over and wrapping her little arms around my leg. “We were camping.”

“I heard. I’m sorry that you got rained on,” I tell her and she nods.

“It’s okay. We’re going to try later.”

“Well, let me get you some towels and you can get dry.”

Caroline is still hanging out by the front door and I give her a smile before I head to get them some towels. I come back out and can’t help but laugh when I see Charlotte digging through her little backpack. She’s got a worn stuffed bunny under one arm and a bag of marshmallows under the other.

“Look what we have, Mr. Heath!” Charlotte says excitedly, and I have a feeling that I’ll be building a fire so that we can make s’mores at some point tonight.

“Yum! Did you want to make s’mores?”

Charlotte nods, jumping up and down and I wrap a towel around her shoulders before I pass the other one to Caroline.

“You two dry off and I’ll get a fire started.”

I think I have some dry firewood in the back room, so I head out there. I grab a few logs and rummage around until I find the sticks to roast the marshmallows.

“Do you need any of the stuff out of your car?” I ask Caroline as I crouch down near the fireplace.

“That depends. Do you know how long it’s supposed to rain like this?”

“Uh, I think it might be all weekend, actually.”

Caroline’s shoulders sag and I try to give her a friendly smile.

“You both are welcome to stay here for as long as you want.”

“Thanks,” Caroline says, taking a few more steps into the cabin.

She starts to look around as Charlotte takes a seat on the couch and tries to open the box of graham crackers. I get the fire started and then head over to the thermostat on the wall and turn the air up so that we aren’t all sweltering in a few minutes.

“Ready to make your s’more, bunny?” Caroline asks and Charlotte nods, jumping off the couch.

I help her with the supplies as Caroline picks up the towels and hangs them over the back of a kitchen chair.

“Have you ever toasted marshmallows before?” I ask and they both shake their heads no. “No worries, I’ll show you how to make the perfect one.”

We open the bag of marshmallows and I put one on the stick before I hold it over the fire. I make sure that Charlotte doesn’t get too close to the fire. Once the marshmallow is the perfect golden brown, I ask Caroline to pass us some graham crackers and chocolate and we slide the marshmallow between the crackers.

“There you go,” I say, passing the s’more over to Charlotte.

She grins at me, taking a big bite of the s’more and immediately getting chocolate and marshmallow all over her face.

“It’s good!” Charlotte giggles and takes another bite as I laugh and get started on the next s’more.

I pass the second s’more to Caroline and watch as she takes a bite. She licks a stray smear of marshmallow off her bottom lip and I have to look away before I embarrass myself.

The rain starts to lessen outside, but by now it’s pitch black out, and I know that Caroline and Charlotte shouldn’t be driving in this weather. I’m also just not ready for our time together to be over. It feels like I’m finally getting Caroline to see me.

“Why don’t I get your bags from your car and you can get out of your wet clothes.”

There’s a beat of awkward silence as we both think about her wet clothes clinging to her in certain places and I clear my throat, looking back toward the fire.

“Okay,” Charlotte says happily.

“Thanks,” Caroline adds and I could swear that she’s blushing.

I grab the car keys from Caroline before she can say anything else or I can get any other ideas, and I head out into the rain to grab their things. I just grab the two small duffle bags from the back seat before I hurry back inside.

Charlotte is looking tired and I pass the bags to Caroline and point them toward the bedroom to get changed. While they do that, I put the fire out and clean up all of the s’mores stuff.

Charlotte pads back out a few minutes later, dressed in her pajamas, and curls up on the couch.

“Are you warm enough?” I ask her and she nods sleepily.

I get up to grab her a blanket from the hall closet and by the time I’m back, she’s fast asleep. I cover her up with the blanket and turn to see Caroline watching me.

“There’s only the one bedroom. I’ll grab Charlotte and you two can take the bed. I’ll sleep out here on the couch.”

“Are you sure? I don’t want to kick you out of your bed after you were nice enough to let us stay here.”

“I’m sure, Caroline. It’s no problem. Really.”

She nods and I gently pick Charlotte up and follow her into the bedroom. Caroline pulls back the covers and I lay Charlotte down, smoothing her hair away from her face before I cover her up with the blanket.

Caroline follows me back to the door and we stare at each other for a moment before I give her a small smile. I lean down and I could swear that Caroline holds her breath as I brush my lips against her cheek.

“Goodnight, Caroline.”

“Goodnight, Heath,” she whispers back as I straighten and head out to the couch.

I lay down with a smile on my face. Sure, my feet might be hanging over the end of the couch and I can already tell that I’ll have a crick in my neck tomorrow morning, but the woman of my dreams is asleep in my bed, and it feels like I just took one big step toward making her mine.

Now to make sure that I don’t do anything to mess up my progress.