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“Be safe,” he said. “I don’t want anything bad to happen to my girlfriend.” He walked her to her car and held her tightly in silence. Then he brushed a strand of hair off of her forehead and kissed her gently. “I’ll miss you.”

By the time Kate pulled her car into her driveway in Rocky Mount, her cheeks hurt from smiling the entire ride home.

Kate went through the motions the next day at work, exhausted from her whirlwind trip. The day seemed to drag on forever, but it was broken up by frequent text messages from Ben.

When she got home at the end of the day, she dropped her keys on her dining room table and immediately went to her room to change into comfortable clothes and settled in for the evening. Before she had time to finish her dinner, her phone rang. She smiled as her phone displayed the picture on her caller ID she had snapped of Ben sticking out his tongue at her as they walked around the streets of DC after dinner the night before.

“Hey,” she said with familiarity as she answered the phone.

“Is this the beautiful and talented Kate Henry?” said Ben’s voice.

“Yes…” she said coyly.

“The Kate Henry who thinks I’m amazing?” he continued.

“Mmm-hmm…” she said.

“The Kate Henry who kisses on the first date?”

“I suppose that has been known to happen,” said Kate, laughing.

“Oh, then I must have the wrong number. I wouldn’t associate with such a person. I’m sorry to have disturbed you.”

“Ben!” she cried. “Cut it out, you big goof.”

“Okay, okay,” said Ben with a chuckle. “Hi you. How are you today?”

“I’m fantastic,” said Kate. “How are you?”

“Great…except I miss my girlfriend.”

She grinned from ear to ear and buried her face in a pillow.

“You do?”

“You know I do,” said Ben tenderly.

“Well…I miss my boyfriend.”

Ben and Kate proceeded to talk about their days and what they both had planned for the next couple of weeks. They talked for hours about everything and nothing.

“Tell me a secret about you,” said Ben.

“A secret? Okay…well…let me think,” said Kate.

“I’ll tell you one first if you want,” said Ben.

“Yes, please,” replied Kate.

“Okay. When I was little and Darren was mercilessly picking on me one day, I went out in the backyard and started digging. Our mom came out and asked me what I was doing, and I told her I was digging a grave for Darren.”

“No you did not!” she said. “You are horrible.”

“Your turn.”

She took a deep breath. “I’ve never felt this way about anyone before,” she said. “You’re different than any man I’ve ever met. You keep me on my toes.”

“Kate?”

“Yes?”

“I need to see you again soon,” said Ben.

“I need to see you too.”

“Look, I’m really busy with work for the next few weeks, but what are you doing around the end of the month? What if I took a trip down there? I could stay with my brother and we could spend a whole weekend together. What do you think?”

“I can’t think of anything more perfect.”

“It’s a plan then,” said Ben. “Look, I’ve got to be up early for a breakfast meeting tomorrow, so I should really go to bed. Even though I think we could talk all night.”

“I know,” chuckled Kate. “But I should go to bed, too. I don’t want to be a zombie at the store tomorrow.”

“I’ll speak to you soon.”

“Good night, Ben.”

Only Kate didn’t go to sleep right away. She lay in her bed and stared up at the dark ceiling, hugging her favorite pillow (which she had named Mr. Darcy in honor of one of her favorite books, Pride and Prejudice. Since she had a habit of not only talking to but naming inanimate objects, it just seemed natural for her favorite pillow to be named after her favorite character.) She couldn’t believe how her life had changed in just a few short days. There was someone out there who missed her. Someone who was thinking about her. Someone who gave her butterflies. With Ian, everything was always so natural, but with Ben…with Ben, there was a sense of excitement. Knowing that sleep would not come soon, Kate got up, went to her desk, and pulled out a piece of stationary and her favorite pen.

Dear Mom,

I can hardly believe I’m writing you this letter right now. You know how broken I was after Ian. I told you that I wasn’t sure if I’d ever be able to trust another man again, and how I thought I’d be single for a long time – if not forever.

Well…I met someone. His name is Ben. He’s actually Darren’s younger brother, which is so perfect. My friends and I went up to the beach house for the weekend on a last minute trip, and Ben happened to be in town so he came with us. We immediately hit it off and it wasn’t even 24 hours before he admitted he has feelings for me. It was so romantic – we were walking down the beach in the morning, just like a scene from a movie. Anyway, we were pretty much inseparable the whole weekend, and we ended up having some really good talks. I was really honest with him about how protective I am of my heart and how I don’t trust people easily, and he’s had some issues with trusting women as well. But I really feel like we’re on the same page. Actually, just yesterday we made it official. He is my boyfriend. I have a boyfriend! The best boyfriend, really.

He’s amazing, Mom. You’d love him. He’s so charming and funny. I love that when he sees something he wants he just goes for it. He’s going to come and visit me in a few weeks and I can’t wait.

Mom, I’m so happy. I feel like the luckiest girl in the world.

Your baby, Kate PS – Yes, he kissed me. :)

~~~~~

The next few weeks were a whirlwind for Kate. She stayed busy with work and spoke to Ben nearly every day. Many nights they stayed up well past midnight on the phone, and Kate often found herself wishing that Ben lived closer. It was hard to get to know someone from so far away, but they did the best that they could. Kate couldn’t wait for his upcoming visit and often found herself daydreaming about what it would be like to see him again. Would he run up to her and sweep her off her feet in a big hug? Would he grab her face and kiss her? However the scene played out, she knew it was going to be amazing.

One afternoon at work, she was busy arranging a display of the latest popular children’s book when Meredith wandered out of her office. “Kate, did I ever tell you about the time Mark and I went to Paris?”

She had heard so many stories from Meredith’s amazing travels, but she never got tired of it. “Tell me about Paris,” said Kate.

“Mark had just published his first book,” said Meredith. “We were young – maybe 25. We decided to splurge and go on a vacation to France. We did it all – The Louvre, Versailles, lunch on the Champs Elysees, dinner overlooking the Seine. We were so in love and having the time of our lives on this adventure.

“On our last night there, we decided to go to the Eiffel Tower. Before the elevator doors opened at the very top, Mark put his hand over my eyes. He whispered trust me and led me off the elevator.

“When he let me open my eyes, the view absolutely took my breath away. The sun was beginning to set and the sky was absolutely glowing. Mark knew how much I loved sunsets. I turned to look at him and he had a single white rose in his hand. To this day, I’m still not sure how he managed to get that rose without me noticing. He would never tell me. He handed me the rose and, which I held between by hands as he clasped his hands over mine and looked into my eyes. I’ll never forget the words he said to me.”

“What did he say?” asked Kate, wide-eyed.

Meredith got a far off look in her eyes. “The feeling you got when you saw that sunset just now is the feeling I get every day from being with you. You take my breath away, you fill my life with color and beauty that I never knew existed, and you will never cease to be my greatest joy.”

Meredith looked at Kate. “That is how a woman deserves to be loved. Mark wasn’t a perfect man by any means, but I never questioned, not for one minute, how much he loved me.”

“That’s so beautiful. You never told me that story before.”

“That’s because I’ve never seen you in love before.”

“In love? I’m…I’m not…I mean, I can’t possibly be…”

Meredith nodded. “I believe you are, dear.”

Kate looked at the ground. It was true; she had never felt this way before. She could picture her future with Ben and it was full of adventure and passion and romance. She could feel her breath catching in her chest as she thought about Ben. Her Ben. Whom…she loved.

“Just make sure he cherishes you. That kind of love is out there, and it’s the type of love that can last a lifetime,” said Meredith.

~~~~~

“Okay, I’ve got one. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?”

“Hmmm…that’s a tough one, Kate. I mean, I’m just so perfect. Why would anyone want to mess with perfection?”

“Ben, you goober. Answer the question.”

Ben and Kate had spent countless hours on the phone in the recent weeks, and they had coming up with questions to ask each other in an attempt to get to know one another better. Sometimes the questions were silly, sometimes they were deep, but they definitely always sparked an interesting conversation.

“Okay. I would probably try to stop being so darn handsome.”

“You’re impossible.”

“That’s why you like me.”

“Debatable.”

“I’m sorry, it’s a hard question! You answer it.”

“Fine, I will,” said Kate. “If I could change one thing about myself, I think I would worry less. I’ve always been one to let myself get anxious and worry about things that I really don’t have any control over. I think it would be a good thing to let go of that.”

“Do you worry about us?”

The question took her off guard, and she tried to form her answer while thinking about what the answer really was. “Well…I…I suppose I do.”

“You still don’t trust me?”

“No, it’s not that. I do trust you. I just don’t know what’s going to happen between us. We each have very different lives. Not to mention that we live in different states. I just worry that you’re going to decide that it’s not worth it, or you’ll meet someone up in DC and forget how ridiculously amazing I am.”

Ben chuckled. “Not likely, you silly woman.”

“It could happen. But we don’t really talk about the future.”

“Like, future beyond next weekend future?”

“I don’t mean to put pressure on you at all. I’m just falling for you. Hard. And I need to know where you’re at.”

Sighing into the phone, Ben said, “I’ve told you you’re the most amazing woman I’ve ever met, haven’t I?”

“Yes.”

“Guess that’s not a good enough response for you?”

“Nope.”

“Kate, look. When I make a commitment to someone, I take that very seriously. It’s been a very long time since I’ve had someone who I called my girlfriend. In fact, you’re my first actual girlfriend in years. I know you’ve been hurt in the past, and I don’t want to be another person that hurts you. That’s why I call you all the time. I’m trying to get to know you. Because I think I’m falling in love with you, but I need to be sure.”