The phone rang around 7:30 p.m. I knew it was Kim and was hoping she wasn't going to make a habit of calling me all the time; with the new school season fast approaching. I didn't want to tie up the phone and figured I better tell her.
"Hello?"
"Hi, it's me. I don't want to be a bother, but I had to call you."
"It's okay. What's up?" I said, a little relieved that she knew too many calls might be somewhat troublesome with me.
"My mom knows," She answered.
"Knows what?"
"About you and me."
Kim went on with her story, "When I got home, my mom was cooking dinner. She acted like she always does, but when we sat down to eat she said, "So, How's Ken?" I asked her what she meant and said she knew I was going to see you. Apparently I had the same look on my face this morning that I had when you brought me back from the hiking weekend. I was speechless. Then she told me that she didn't mean to destroy the napkin with your e-mail address and that she was glad I was able to find you again. She wanted to know if we were involved. I told her no, but now I feel bad that I lied. Not that it matters because I don't think she believed me."
"So, did she object to me seeing you?" I queried.
"No. She did ask how old you were, and I told her."
"What did she say?"
"She told me to be very careful."
"Kim, we're going to have to talk. When can you come over again?"
"Not tomorrow. I have to work at the dry cleaner's. Maybe the next day, I'll let you know." She sent me an e-mail telling me to she would come by in two days. She was true to her word, though twenty minutes late. I opened the door, when I saw her walking up the front stairs, and could see she had been crying. We hugged for a while until I took her hand and led her to the back yard. We sat at the picnic table where she started wiping her eyes.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"Oh Ken, I'm afraid." She started tearing up again.
I reached over and took her hand. "There's nothing to be afraid of." I said.
"When I got here, I sat at the end of your road for a while 'cause I didn't want to see you. I'm afraid you're going to tell me we can't see each other anymore and I don't want that to happen."
"Well, I'm not going to tell you that. In fact I'd like to see more of you than I do now, but that might be difficult. School's going to be starting soon and my weekdays are going to be pretty filled up."
Kim got up and sat beside me, staring at the tabletop for some time. She raised her head and looked me in the eyes. God, she looked beautiful even with her teary eyes. She just kept staring at me, biting her lower lip and trying to formulate the words I knew she was going to say.
"I love you."