I could hardly contain my excitement as Saturday neared. My feet were barely touching the ground as the countdown to 7:30 on Saturday night began.
From Wednesday to Saturday afternoon, I was a nervous wreck. I practiced what I was going to say, went through four outfits before finding one that looked right for the occasion, and generally prepared for anything that could possibly happen or go wrong.
That evening, I arrived at Carl’s maybe 10 minutes early and waited for Sierra to get there before getting a seat. Right on cue, she wheeled in, and I asked if she wanted a table or booth and she said booth. We picked a booth toward the back where it was a little quieter, away from the main crowd. Once we settled in, Sierra angled her wheelchair at the booth, and effortlessly used her arms to transfer to the seat.
“Wow, that’s awesome,” I said, genuinely impressed. “Your coordination is out of this world. I don’t think I could have done it without falling.”
“Thanks, that was one of the first things I was taught in rehab. My arms were worked out so much, I could probably beat anyone in arm wrestling,” she laughed.
The sudden urge to kiss her right then and there flashed through my mind. Patience took over, and that would have to wait for another moment.
Our pizza came, a large with everything, and a pitcher of Coke. We settled in and took our time eating.
“To success on our project,” Sierra said, clinking her glass against mine.
“To success,” I toasted back. “Hopefully to the beginning of many more.”
“What do you have planned for the weekend?” I asked.
“My sister Jackie is coming in from Miami for a couple of days. She works as a paralegal in a law office there. She hasn’t been able to get time off from work to visit since we moved here, so it’ll be nice to see her,” she answered. “How about you?”
“Well, not much. I have a little bit of homework to do, but I just want to relax and recharge.That project just about wore me out, but we did it.”
“Another toast-to teamwork,” She clinked my glass again.
After saying hi to Sierra’s mom when she came to pick her up, I made my own way home, totally and completely fallen for Sierra. It was tough thinking about anything else that weekend.
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