Just A Kiss Read online

  “Do you have any other places of torture planned on today’s tour?” She asked, hoping the answer was no because the place Victoria wanted to go was going to the hardest stop yet.

  “That’s all I’ve got.” Stella chuckled. “Is there somewhere you want to go?”

  Victoria nodded and started walking toward the car.

  “I want to go to dad’s.”

  “Dad’s? Why do you want to go to…oh.” Stella grasped her arm. “Are you sure? I don’t want you to do this because of what I said today. If you need more time…”

  “It’s time, Stella.” Victoria took a deep breath and patted her sister’s hand. “It’s been fifteen years. It’s time dad knew the truth.”

  And like the amazing sister she was, Stella sat with Victoria an hour later. Holding her hand and encouraging her as she told their dad and step mom about the terrible secret she had been keeping.

  ****

  Chapter 19

  “That looks great, Anna. You’re quite the artist.”

  “Thank you, Mr. Wilde.” The fifteen-year-old smiled up at him. “Do you really think so?”

  “Of course. I would hang that on my wall in a second.”

  Anna’s smile grew wider and Cooper was amazed at how far a little encouragement went in helping today’s youth.

  When Cooper had arrived at the community center Monday for his first day of volunteering he had no idea what to expect. His whole experience with at risk youth centered around his very limited time with Amy when she was going through the toughest part of her addiction. It wasn’t like Cooper grew up on the mean streets of Chicago like most of these kids did, but after only ten minutes there he knew he wanted to make a difference. Especially after he met Anna.

  Anna was a remarkable girl with tremendous talent who unfortunately was dealt a pretty terrible hand in life. Her father was in jail for murder and her mother was in and out of rehab all the time for substance abuse, which left nowhere for Anna to turn except for the streets. A meth addict at thirteen, Anna was finally picked up by child protective services when she was fourteen and placed with a loving family. A family that entered her into the program Youth At Risk as soon as she finished her detox program. Now Anna was thriving and sharing her talents with the world.

  Checking his watch for the time, Cooper walked to the front of the art room and got the classes attention.

  “Alright everybody listen up. Your parents will be here in fifteen minutes, so make sure you clean up your areas and put your supplies back in the supply closet. I’ll see you all next week. Have a good weekend.”

  One by one the kids, ranging from ages twelve to seventeen, cleaned up the paints and brushes and placed their paintings in the drying room for the next time. Cooper went through the room, checking to make sure everything was as it should be like he had been told, and wished the kids a good weekend once more before allowing them to leave.

  A few of the other volunteers were gathered around the director, Mrs. Pike, as Cooper shut the art room door, and she waved him over to join the group.

  “Everybody.” Mrs. Pike addressed the other volunteers. “If you haven’t yet met him, this is Cooper Wilde. Mr. Wilde is one of our new volunteers and will be working at the center a few days a week.”

  Introductions were made between him and some of the people he hadn’t met, then Mrs. Pike continued.

  “Some of you may recognize Cooper from his job with the Chicago Crush, but while he is here Mr. Wilde has asked that it not be discussed and I think that’s a request we can all respect. After all it’s not about us, but about the children we are helping here.”

  With everyone in agreement, Mrs. Pike moved on to schedules and an upcoming fundraiser.

  “If no one else has any other business to discuss then we are finished here. Some of you I’ll see tomorrow, the rest of you I’ll see the next time you volunteer.”

  It had been a long time since Cooper felt proud of something he was doing, but as he grabbed his wallet and keys from a small locker near the office he couldn’t help but feel pride in what they were trying to accomplish here.

  That pride only grew in its intensity when Cooper walked outside and saw Anna sitting on the steps near the entrance.

  “Anna? What are you still doing here? I thought Nina was picking you up.” Anna’s foster mother had never been late before, and Cooper didn’t want her sitting outside all alone.

  “Mom, I mean Nina” she corrected herself. “Is right over there.” She pointed to a blue midsized SUV parked at the curb.

  “Is everything alright? Do you need to talk to someone?” He couldn’t imagine there being a problem with Nina or Bill, Anna’s foster dad, but sometimes looks could be deceiving.

  “No, I was just waiting for you.

  “Me?”

  “Yes. I wanted to give you this.” From the step beside her, Anna picked up a much smaller canvas than the one she had been working on earlier and handed it to him.

  It wasn’t a painting Cooper had seen her working on Monday or today, but the painting was no less mind-blowing. Beautiful blues, greens and reds worked together to create an amazing landscape of a sunrise over an open field.

  “I painted it last week and Mrs. Lewis told me it was ready when I was leaving. It’s for your wall. I even signed it like a real artist. See!” Anna excitedly pointed to the lower right corner of the painting. Sure enough, there in black paint was the name Anna Franklin with today’s date.

  “Anna I don’t know what to say.” And he really didn’t. He was honored that she wanted him to have one of her paintings, but Cooper felt like someone more deserving should have this beautiful work of art. “Are you sure you don’t want to give this to Nina and Bill?”

  “I’m sure. It’s only a landscape. It’s not like it’s the Mona Lisa or anything. I just thought you might like it.”

  It may not be the Mona Lisa, but Cooper would cherish it just the same.

  “Thank you. I love it.”

  Anna gave him another one of those killer smiles before saying goodbye and left with Nina. Cooper watched as the two of them disappeared down a side street then dug out his keys and started down the stairs himself. With work and volunteering taken care of for the day, Cooper was looking forward to a nice quiet evening at home. Between work, the center, and constantly worrying about how Victoria was doing Cooper hadn’t taken a time out since arriving back in Chicago Sunday night.

  Cooper was daydreaming about a large sausage pizza, cold beer and as he stepped off the final stair and was nearly taken out by a bike messenger speeding down the sidewalk. Tires squealed and Anna’s painting went flying as both Cooper and the bike messenger did everything they could to avoid a head on collision.

  Cooper dove into a small group of bushes and the bike messenger worked hard to keep from dumping his bike and when all was said and done, Cooper had a few cuts and scraps from the bush he landed on and other than being shaken up, the bike messenger was left unharmed.

  “I’m so sorry.” The bike messenger said as he rushed over to help Cooper out of the bush. “The sidewalk was clear when I looked over at the address on the building and then when I looked back there you were. Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine.” Cooper said as he took the offered hand and got to his feet. “It was my fault. I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going.”

  “Are you sure? Some of those cuts look pretty bad.”

  Cooper examined the worst of his injuries then wiped away the blood with a piece of his torn shirt and realized it looked a lot worse than it was.

  “Nothing a Band-Aid and a little peroxide won’t fix.”

  The man seemed to breath a sigh of relief as he looked Cooper over once more then jogged down the sidewalk a little ways and picked something up off the ground.

  “Here.” He said handing Cooper the miraculously undamaged painting from Anna. “I think this belongs to you.”

  “Yes, thank you.” Cooper checked over the painting a second
time just to make sure he hadn’t missed anything before extending his hand to the other man. “Sorry about scaring you. I’ll be sure to pay better attention when I’m walking on the sidewalk.”

  “Don’t worry about it. I’m just glad I was able to save it.”

  Cooper cringed when he thought of the horrible road rash he received when he crashed his bike as a kid and was glad this guy was able to avoid the same fate.

  “Me too.” The two men shook hands and the messenger got back on his bike. “Hopefully the rest of your day is less eventful. Have a good one.” Cooper said as he secured Anna’s painting under his arm and started walking toward the staff parking lot once again.

  “Hey, you wouldn’t happen to know the people that work here would you?”

  Cooper slowed his stride and turned back around

  “It’s mostly volunteers, but yes I know most of them.”

  “This is where the Youth At Risk group meets isn’t it?”

  “It is.” Cooper looked toward the building then back at the messenger. “Is there someone in particular you need to find?”

  “I need to deliver a package to a Mr.” the messenger dug around in his right saddlebag until he pulled out a large yellow envelope that was tapped shut. “Cooper Wilde.”

  “That’s me.” Cooper said confused. “But I don’t know who would be sending me a package.”

  “It doesn’t have the senders name, just an address of where and when it was to be delivered.”

  After signing the clipboard that was handed to him, Cooper took the package and was surprised at how light it was. Cooper thanked the man and began feeling the edges of the package to try and figure out what was inside as he walked to his car.

  Popping the trunk, Cooper made sure Anna’s painting was safe and secure before climbing into the drivers seat and retrieved his pocket knife from the center console to cut the package open. The envelope was lined with bubble wrap and inside was what Cooper assumed to be three eight by ten photographs, but he wasn’t sure because all he could see was their shiny white backings at first. Setting aside the envelope, Cooper turned over the stack of photos and what he saw made his eyes widen.

  There, staring back at him in all it’s majestic glory, was a picture of the Golden Gate Bridge lit up at night just like it had been the night he and Victoria went for their walk and subsequently had their first kiss. Cooper’s lips began to tingle and it was like he was back there once again. Victoria’s lips soft and seductive as they moved against his. Cooper checked the back of the photo but there was nothing written on it so he moved on.

  The next one was a panoramic view of Los Angeles that included Griffith Park and the Hollywood sign in the background. Cooper’s thoughts and feelings about this photograph were much different than the first because it was on this night everything started to fall apart.

  After having what Cooper thought was a break through moment with Victoria at the top of that hill, the rug was metaphorically pulled out from under him the next morning when without warning Victoria pushed him away and straight into the arms of his ex. Cooper had been so upset and confused that morning that he had made one of the stupidest mistakes of his life by almost sleeping with Jenna again. Thankfully his sense came back in the nick of time, but the consequences of what could have happened were still haunting Cooper almost a week later.

  Checking the second picture like he had the first Cooper found no writing on it either, so he placed the two photos together on the passenger seat and picked up the third and final photograph. The first two photos made sense. They were both places that held significance in Cooper and Victoria’s relationship, but as he stared down at a picture of the Navy Pier Ferris Wheel Cooper was stumped.

  As a Chicago native Cooper had of course been to the famous landmark quite a few times, but at no point had he and Victoria visited or even discussed going to Navy Pier, let alone the Ferris wheel. More confused than ever, Cooper picked up the yellow envelope and checked inside to see if he had missed anything and sure enough a small white envelope with his name on the front was lying in the bottom.

  Placing the pictures back in the larger envelope for safe keeping, Cooper lifted the flap on the smaller one and carefully removed the letter that was hidden inside. Opening the folded piece of paper, Cooper began to read.

  Cooper,

  I hope you enjoyed the pictures as much as I enjoyed going to those places with you. I know your probably a little confused by the last one, but I figured since you shared some of your favorite places in California with me I should share one of mine with you. Now the picture I sent you is of the Ferris wheel during the day, but you can’t truly appreciate the view from the top unless you ride it at night so I’m inviting you to do just that. With me. There’s a little stone bench near the entrance of the Ferris wheel, and tonight that’s where I’ll be. I know I haven’t given you any reason to trust me, but I hope you’ll at least consider joining me for a ride.

  Patiently waiting,

  V

  P.S. I’m sorry.

  Cooper ran his finger over the words on the page and it was like all of the emotions Victoria felt while she was writing this letter were being transferred to him, and the funny part was they were the same emotions Cooper himself had been feeling for the last five days.

  Sure it was his choice to take a step back and let Stella take the lead in the tough love department, but as Victoria’s sister she would have more insights on what was going to work best to make Victoria face her past head on. It had been hard to stay away, but Cooper knew letting Victoria come to him when she was ready would make everything better in the long run.

  And now he had the letter to prove that.

  Refolding the piece of stationary that held just a hint of Victoria’s floral perfume, Cooper placed the letter in the envelope next to the photographs and headed home to take a quick shower. If it hadn’t been for the bike messenger incident he would have headed straight to the pier, but as it was Cooper didn’t think showing up in bloody torn up clothes for what was probably the most important conversation of his life was a good idea.

  Trying his best to keep his car under eighty, Cooper raced back to Spring Towers South as fast as traffic would allow him to go. The letter may not have specified a time, but Cooper had no intention of making Victoria sit on that bench a second longer than necessary. He was ready to finally tell Victoria everything he had been holding back previously, and if the feeling in his gut was right, Cooper would be hearing the same in return.

  So after making it back to the condo in record time and taking the worlds fastest shower Cooper was back on the road heading toward Navy Pier and, if that same gut feeling from earlier was correct, quite possibly his future.

  ****

  Chapter 20

  Victoria chewed the side of her nail as she sat on the stone bench waiting to see if the man she loved loved her back.

  It had been five days. Five long, hard, emotionally draining days since she last laid eyes on Cooper’s handsome face, and in that time Victoria’s whole life had changed. But the one thing that never changed, and would never change was how much she loved Cooper.

  It may have taken her a few days to be able to say that without breaking out in a cold sweat, but Victoria knew her fears weren’t of being in love, they were fears of screwing up like she had before and losing the greatest love she’d ever known.

  The hands on the large round clock that sat high on a cast iron pedestal near the swings ticked to the next number, and Victoria’s nerves kicked up yet again. She hadn’t wrote down what time Cooper should meet her tonight, but every minute that ticked by made Victoria think that she had screwed up worse than she thought.

  All sorts of thoughts ran through her mind and tried to take root, but Victoria pushed them out before they could. If she had to sit there all night she would, and if Cooper never showed up Victoria would accept his decision and move on. Sure it would be hard, but at least she could say she tried.

&n
bsp; When Victoria found her eyes start to drift toward the clock tower once again, she turned so that her back was to the clock and started in on the nail next to the one she had already worn down to nothing. Maya was going to have a fit the next time she saw Victoria’s nails, but since Victoria was the boss her manicurist would just have to get over it.

  Quickly running out of nails to destroy, Victoria placed her hands on either side of her to try and fight temptation and shifted her attention to what was going on around her. Kids were running and laughing, couples were holding hands and kissing, and street performers were spread throughout. Victoria had just found a particularly entertaining woman to focus on when the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. Which could only mean on thing. Cooper had arrived.

  “Excuse me miss.” Victoria felt a light tap on her shoulder and when she turned around Cooper’s smiling face was all she could see. “I’m sorry to bother you, but I hear there’s supposed to be a pretty incredible view from the top of the Ferris wheel and was just wondering if you’d like to join me.”

  YES! He loves me back. Victoria wanted to shout, but stopped herself before she could. Yes Cooper was there, but Victoria wasn’t one to count her chickens before they hatched so she contained her excitement for the time being and decided to go along with this little game Cooper wanted to play.

  “I don’t know.” She pretended to play hard to get. “I’m not usually in the habit of taking romantic Ferris wheel rides with men I just met.”

  “That’s a shame.” Cooper said as he sat on the bench next to her and moved a piece of hair behind her ear.

  “Why’s that?” Victoria asked a little breathlessly, leaning into Cooper’s touch as he moved from her ear to stroking the side of her face.