Matters Of The Heart ✔

Chapter Seven

“Hey Abbie”, Tracy hopped to stand beside her. She greeted back as she reciprocated her smile. “Can you please help me with cleaning up tonight after our shifts?”

Stephanie was picking Emily up from her playgroup later that day, and she also didn't have any plans after her shift

“Sure”

“Thank you. I promise we won't take long”, Tracy hugged her from behind. “Four hands are better than two, right?”, she grinned and Abigail laughed.

“We both know the saying doesn't go like that”, Tracy laughed before she moved away from her to attend to one of her tables

“Will you be okay?”, she asked Tracy as she locked up. “Yeah, I'll catch a cab”

“I can drop you off if you want”, she offered, but Tracy pushed her towards her car and opened the door for her

“You go home Abigail, I've delayed you enough. I'll be fine”, the other woman sighed before she got inside the car, and she closed the door for her. “Thank you for helping me”, she said as she rested her elbows on the open window, Abigail a short nod.

“Goodnight Abbie”, Tracy stepped aside and stood on the sidewalk

“Good night”, she waved before she turned the ignition on

It was a bit cold that evening, and she couldn't wait to get inside to warm herself near the heater with a cup of coffee in her hand

“I'm sorry I'm late-”, she walked through the door already taking her jacket off to hang it. She stopped in her tracks as she turned and saw Ian and Emily, sitting on cushions on the floor, colouring in one of Emily's colouring books. Stephanie was sitting on the couch reading a book. Ian rose his eyes, already finding hers on him and smiled warmly.

“Mommy”, Emily ran up to her, and she picked her up and kissed her cheek

“Hey sweetie. Why are you still up at this time?”

“Ian was helping me with leaning words and numbers before we started colouring”, she was a bit surprised with how thrilled Emily looked as she said that to her. She nodded with face before she placed her down. Ian stood up to walk towards them.

“Hi”, he greeted and Emily wrapped her tiny arms around his leg

“Oh Emily no”, Abigail frowned as she attempted to pull her towards her, but Ian stopped her and picked Emily up

“It's okay Mommy. Emily and I are best friends now, aren't we?”, he held his hand high for a high five.

“Yeah”, she smiled as they high-fived and laughed

“Emily honey, it's time for bed”, Stephanie stood to her feet. Emily frowned in disappointed.

“Good night Ian”, she pouted, and he kissed her cheek

“Goodnight princess”, he put her down and she walked to her mother

“Good night Mommy”, Abigail knelt to meet her height and engulfed her in a hug

“Goodnight sweetie”, she kissed her forehead before she galloped to take Stephanie by the hand, and they walked to her room. Abigail didn't know what to say to him as she fiddled with her fingers nervously. She couldn't help but wonder why was he there?

He on the other hand could feel his heart accelerating against his chest. He didn't understand why was he so nervous around her, his palms sweating. He thought things would be less hectic after they spent time together last night, but it was far worse. He felt like a teenage boy again, unable to control his feelings when he was around her.

“I'm sorry for just coming here uninvited”, he spoke first as Abigail gestured they set down. It wasn't like him to show up without warning, but he felt like he was losing his mind without talking to her, seeing her, and hearing her voice.

“Your phone was taking me straight to voicemail when I tried to reach you. I thought something was wrong and figured its best I came to see that you're okay”.

She felt like an idiot in that moment. Her childish behavior made her switch her phone off, it was because she lacked patience.

“I'm sorry, It was a hectic today, I didn't want any distractions”, she lied, and he breathed a sigh of relief

“For a second there I thought you blocked my calls”, he said and she laughed

“No, we're still cool”

“I hope you don't mind I introduced myself to Emily”, he scratched the back of his neck as he smiled nervously. She shook her head.

“No I don't. She seems to like you”, she smiled.

“She's so adorable”, he chuckled. The sight of the little girl was the first highlight of his day. “And also beautiful, just like you”, he said, and she gave a short laugh as she looked away for a second. Something was bothering her, she wanted to say it out loud, but trying to figure out a way to say to him.

“About last night...”, she started, and he fixed her gaze onto her, daring her to continue with his eyes. He feared she was going to tell him they can't see each other anymore, he could feel his heart pounding against his chest. She opened her mouth to speak.

“Did I do something to upset you?”

He paused for a second as his thoughts ran wild. Why on earth would she think that? Last night was just perfect. If it was up to him, the night wouldn't have ended. The couple of hours they spent together, seemed like minutes. He wanted more, needed more of her time.

“Yes”, he nodded his head as he twisted his bottom lip to the side before turning his body from her, the suspense grew in the room as her chest tightened. He noticed her tensing up next to him, waiting to hear what he says next.

“You kept biting your lip nervously, and I had to fight the urge to kiss you the whole night”, he gave her the side eye. He could see her pinch the bridge of her nose as she crossed her legs, clearly lost of words.

“That was the difficult, I even had a restless night”, he added dramatically, and she punched his arm playfully

“You're such a liar”, they laughed. Her laughter quickly faded though. He was saying things she obviously would want to hear, but, she couldn't help but wonder.

“Why didn't you?

“Why didn't I what?”, he turned to face her yet again

“Kiss me?”

That wasn't a hard question, but his throat went dry for a second. Ian knew he wanted to kiss her, badly. But didn't want to come across as too strong on her. He didn't want to do anything to jeopardize her agreeing to see him again, so he said the first thing that came to his mind

“Cause you said it wasn't a date”

She laughed a little. “So you only kiss on dates?”

“I guess so”, he laughed nervously. “I wouldn't want to risk getting slapped across the cheek when I attempted to lean to your height. My ego would be bruised”, he joked, she couldn't ignore the humor in his voice and laughed softly.

“Okay, I hear you”

“That's why I'm here,”, he watched her raise a brow at him. “To ask you on a real date. Saturday night?”

“I'd love to”, she replied without any hesitation as her lips turned up into a smile

“Great”, he said excitedly as he stood to his feet and put out his hand to pull her up to her feet. “I have to get going, it's late”

“Thanks for stopping by”, she walked him to the door. “Saturday night, what time?”

“I'll pick you up at 6pm”, he turned around to face her when he walked out the door. “Wear anything you're comfortable in, okay?”

“Are you going to tell me where we are going this time?”, she folded her arms and leaned on the door frame. He smiled widely at her and shook his head.

“It's a surprise”