Free The Truth About Fairy Tales by Annie Walker Page B

didn't trust myself to look at him.
                  “It’s good, I promise. Try it.” He leaned over and kissed my cheek.
                  “I know, and it just so happens I love Chinese food almost as much as pizza.”
                  We spent the rest of the day holding each other and doing little else until it was time for me to leave for work.
                  Jackson parked beside my little car and waited to make sure it would start. For some reason he had his doubts. I didn’t tell him I’d had that car since high school. A hand me down from Lee. It might be a relic, but it had gotten me through quite a few difficult situations.
                  Jackson didn’t appear to be in any hurry to leave, which had me wondering what Miss Monday night might be thinking.
                  “What time do you get off tonight, little bit?” When he asked that question, I forced myself to squelch my happiness. I wasn’t going to wait around, and hoped he’d get around to calling me.
                  “Eleven.”
                  “So late? Then I’ll call you to make sure you get home, okay?”
                  Everything about Jackson thrilled me including his thoughtfulness.                            
    It was unbelievably hard to say good-bye to him and I was more upset with myself, because I’d let Jackson mean too much to me. I’d probably never see him again and if I did, it would only be for Saturday or possibly Sunday nights. I wouldn’t be anything more to Jackson than just another rotation in his schedule. Was I willing to settle for so little?
                  My shift that night seemed endless. All I wanted was to be alone with my thoughts. I’d been with Jackson since my last shift ended and I needed time to think.
                  I was desperate to get the old, focused Maggie back, but she seemed to have softened into one of those foolish little girls that could no longer concentrate.
                  I spent most of the evening dropping things, screwing up orders or simply forgetting why I was there in the first place. By eleven, everyone around me wanted the evening to end.
                  I’d just turned off the lights and climbed into bed when Jackson called.
                  “Hi there—you made it home okay, huh?”
                  I couldn't remember being this aware of another human being. Every single pitch in his voice was seductive and I tried to analyze the meaning of each of them.
                  “You weren't sleeping were you?” Oh, my God, did he have any idea what the sound of his voice was doing to me? I prayed not.
                  “No,” I somehow managed to get words to come out.
                  We talked for a little while, but I couldn’t remember anything he'd said because I was just listening his voice and getting lost in remembering things.
                  Somehow, through it all, I fell asleep. I awoke to the sound of someone ringing my doorbell and the dial tone blaring next to my ear.
                  I hung the phone up and went to answer the door only to find Jackson holding an overnight bag in one hand.
                  “Hi. You fell asleep on me.”
                  I couldn’t say a word. I still wasn’t convinced I wasn’t dreaming this whole thing.
                  “Do you want me to go?”
                  I shook my head and he closed my door, tossed the bag on the sofa, and took me back to bed.
                  It was still very early when he got out of my bed. I was exhausted physically as well as emotionally from the crazy range of emotions Jackson brought out in me.
                  He showered and dressed and then he came back to