Cece Writes A Book [COMPLETED]

Chapter 13 - "Did you not hear anything I said?"

Millie Kate put Wesley James's tire iron in the back of his pickup truck and stopped when she caught sight of her reflection in the truck's window. Half of her hair had fallen loose from her ponytail, she had a grease mark on her cheek and her shirt was wrinkled and dusty.

She began to brush the dust off her clothes as she thought about how horrified her mother would be at the sight of her but she stopped when she found Wesley James looking at her. One corner of his mouth was turned up and there was a look in his eyes like she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

She stopped fussing with her clothes. "What are you looking at?"

"You," Wesley James said, walking towards her. Millie Kate felt out of her element and she dropped her gaze, but he gently placed his hand beneath her chin and lifted it until she was looking directly at him. Millie Kate froze at his touch. "That's better," he nodded as if he thought she should never drop her gaze for anyone's sake. "You've got..." He pulled out his bandanna and wiped at the grease mark on her cheek.

"Better?" she asked, breaking free from his hold to look at her reflection. The mark was gone.

He shrugged like the results were debatable. "Ice cream?"

"Yes," she said, taking a step back and taking a breath.

Millie Kate wasn't sure what was happening. An hour ago Wesley James was simply a friend giving her a ride home but the stirring in her chest at his touch was telling a different story. They had been heading to Millie Kate's house when they had seen Mrs. Warren on the side of the road with a flat tire. Wesley James had insisted on changing it for her.

To Millie Kate's surprise, he invited her to help. She didn't know how to change a tire but that fact hadn't surprised him or deterred him from getting her to join in. Once Millie Kate had started, her curiosity had overcome her southern manners and she dove into the process, working right alongside Wesley James in the dirt.

Now, she was a mess on the outside and the inside. She took another deep breath as she tried to forget the butterflies in her chest and climbed into the passenger seat. Wesley James was always at ease and by the time they reached La Rue's Ice Cream Parlor, Millie Kate was at ease too.

So at ease was she that she completely forgot about her messed appearance until she came face to face with Cannon McHenry. He was coming out of La Rue's and stopped when he saw her. His eyes quickly took in her dirty clothes and messy hair before they jumped to Wesley James standing behind her.

"Millie Kate," Cannon said, nodding his head. "Wesley James. It looks like you two have gotten into some trouble."

Millie Kate froze. Never in all her life had she let anyone see her in such disarray and now Cannon McHenry was seeing her like this.

"A flat tire," Wesley James said, giving Cannon a friendly slap on the shoulder. "No worse trouble than we're used to getting in." There was a congenial tone in Wesley James's voice, nothing like the insinuating one Cannon had used. "We're getting ice cream, would you like to join us?"

Cannon let his heavy gaze fall once again on Millie Kate before he smiled at Wesley James. "I would love to, but I have more pressing matters to attend to. Have fun."

Without another look at Millie Kate, Cannon walked away. By the tone of his voice, she could tell he thought something was going on between Millie Kate and Wesley James. Millie Kate didn't know how she should feel about it. Before she could settle on a feeling, Wesley James nudged her shoulder and held open the door to La Rue's.