Free My Heart Says Yes by Ashley Blake

touched
because he truly wanted Mary to be comfortable with the arrangement.
    He is nothing
like I thought he would be.
    “Yes, the poor dear. 
She told us that one of the drivers was sick so that’s why it took so long to
get all of us.”
    “Well we have a couple
of people that have volunteered to drive groups of people home so we should be
fine now.”  Caleb turned to look at me.  “How are you getting home?”
    “Oh, I’m just going to
take the bus.”
    “No, you’re not. I’ll
give you a ride home.”
    I didn’t argue with him
because I really did not want to ride the bus home and, of course, I would
rather be with him.  We all said our goodbyes to everyone and then we were on
our way.
     We had a lot of fun
riding in the jeep with Jack and Mary.  I found that Jack had an incredible
sense of humor and he had all of us laughing almost the entire way to Mary’s
place.  When we pulled up to Mary’s building, I told Mary how nice it had been
to see her again and I looked forward to seeing her again soon.  Jack got out
and asked us to wait for him while he walked her to the door.
    I watched them through
the window and saw that Mary had her arm linked through Jack’s arm.   Aren’t
they sweet ?  I didn’t realize I had said it out loud until I heard Caleb
respond.
    “You’re a bit of a
romantic, aren’t you? And to answer your question, yes they are very sweet, as
you say.”
    I turned around and
realized that this was the first time Caleb and I had been alone since he
kissed me in the kitchen and suddenly, I felt just a little bit nervous.  I
felt him looking at me and I slowly turned to look at him and a smile slowly spread
across my face.
    “Do I have a hair out of
place or something?”
    My hands were resting in
my lap and he looked a bit serious as he reached out and linked a finger
through mine, his eyes gently searching mine.   “I really enjoyed today.”
    The butterflies in my
belly were getting out of control and once again I was speechless.  Instead of
dwelling on why Caleb would be interested in someone like me, I decided to just
go with it and see what happens.  No, I was not used to this kind of attention
from a guy like him, but it felt really good and I didn’t want it to end.
    I gave him a small smile
in return. “Me too.”
    He started to lean
toward me and I could feel my palms getting sweaty as my heart was thumping,
and right then is when Jack came back to the jeep.
    “Okay kids, now that I
have walked my lady friend to her door we can get going.”
    Caleb backed away and decided
to tease Jack about Mary and have a little fun with him.
    “You know Jack, I think
you might have a little crush on Mary.”
    I glanced at Jack in the
mirror and saw him blushing and it was so cute.
    “Oh no, no, Mary and I
are just friends. She is a wonderful woman and I enjoy spending time with her,
that’s all.”
    I decided to chime in. 
“I don’t know Jack, it looks like you and Mary have a little bit of chemistry
going on, and I think she likes you too.”
    “Oh now, now, you two,
have you become professional matchmakers?”
    “Maybe we should because
I think I see a love connection!”  I couldn’t help but have a little fun with
him.
    “Hey Jack, have you ever
spent any time with Mary outside of the functions at Friends of Seniors?” 
Caleb looked genuinely curious.
    “Well no, I’m sure Mary
has other things to do during the week.  I know she plays bridge and her book
club meets once a week. I wouldn’t want to intrude on her time.”
    Caleb decided to give
him some encouragement.  “Jack, in all honesty, I really think that maybe you should
ask Mary out on a date.  You know, just go for a cup of coffee or something
simple like that where you guys can talk to each other.  Actually, if you don’t
feel comfortable going out with her alone, just the two of you, then Emma and I
could always double date with you two.  What you think about that?”
    That totally