Kissing Booth

"I'd shake your hands, but as you can see I'm working on an open wound here, so..."

"No. That's fine. Is she going to be all right?"

"Yes. In fact, she should be able to go home later today. We'll debride this burn on the arm then take a look at the face, but I think she'll be ready for discharge in a few more hours."

"Great," Brad said as he moved a little closer.

"You'll need to leave before I remove the facial bandage," the doctor told him.

"Oh. Sure," Brad replied understandingly and began to turn around.

"No. Can he stay?" Kayla asked.

"Well, that's up to you, young lady," the 50-something MD told her.

"It's fine."

"As you wish," the doctor told her being finishing up on her arm and rebandaging it.

The doctor slowly and carefully pulled the old gauze off, and when he did, Kayla said, "I wanted you to see. So you can..."

Brad had just enough room to grab her hand and did.

"Kayla, I wasn't kidding. I don't care about this. It makes no difference to me whatsoever."

He squeezed her hand hard then smiled and added, "None. Zip. Zero. Nada. You are just as beautiful as you were, and that's never going to change, okay?"

Brad saw tears welling up in her eyes just before she squeezed his hand back.

"Hey. None of that," he told her as the doctor continued working.

"Brad?" she asked as she blinked away the tears.

"Uh-huh?"

"Is it...too late?"

He let go of her hand then went around the other side of the bed.

As she looked up at him, he waited for the doctor to move away, and when he did, he leaned down and softly kissed her.

"Does that answer your question?"

"Um...excuse me. But that's a sterile area, my friend," the doctor warned.

"It's okay, Doctor Coleman. He's..."

"I'm her boyfriend," Brad said, filling in the blanks as tears fell from Kayla's eyes.

******

One Year Later

"That was an amazing wedding," the fire lieutenant, whose relationship had ended a month ago, said to the beautiful woman standing next to him.

"Yes, it was. And after a lot of foot dragging by her insurance company the house has finally been rebuilt."

The lieutenant laughed and told her that was a good thing.

"The old place was a nightmare. Faulty wiring in the basement started the fire, so having everything all new is a great way to start a life together with someone."

"Yes. Yes, it is," Marie said as she smiled at the man who'd been eyeing her all afternoon.

"Would you maybe like to dance?" she finally asked him after debating about it for the last hour so of the reception.

"I would love to," he told her as he offered her his arm.

Mr. and Mrs. Brad Taylor were back out there, the beautiful bride in white dancing with her handsome husband who looked dashing in his black tux.

"Well, well, well. Look at you two," Brad said when he saw his boss with his new wife's best friend.

The lieutenant laughed then said, "Hey. If you can find a woman that beautiful to put up with the likes of you, there's hope for me, too!"

Even with makeup, there was an unmistakable area of about an inch that couldn't be completely covered even after having had a cosmetic surgeon do his best on it. But Kayla Taylor no longer worried about 'the scar' because the man she'd just married loved her for who she was, and she knew beyond any shadow of a doubt that he meant it when he said, "For better or for worse, in sickness and in health, until death do us part."

"I'm the lucky one, Lieutenant," Kayla told him.

He smiled at her then smiled at Marie as he took the very svelte, attractive woman in his arms, and said, "No. I believe that would be me."

Brad and Kayla both laughed as the new couple danced away just as he looked at his new bride.

Brad could tell she was thinking and said, "What is it? You've got something you want to say."

"I was just thinking, that's all."

"About?"

"The kissing booth."

"Ah, yes. The kissing booth."

"I SO did not want to do that. But Marie convinced me."

Brad smiled at her again then said, "And she convinced me not to give up on you."

"Right. After the fire. She told me that."

"I'm so glad I didn't."

"I came so close to missing out on the best thing that's ever happened to me," she told her handsome, younger husband as they also danced around the floor. Brad was actually a very good dancer, just one more pleasant surprised Kayla had learned about him over the last year.

He pulled her closer then quietly said, "Hey. I thought my...extraordinary lovemaking skills...were the best thing that ever happened to you."

Kayla laughed, happier than she been in many years, and told her husband he had a point. As he gently pushed up against her she felt him and laughed.

She knew just as certainly as she did about the vows that he thought she was the most beautiful woman on earth. Still, it was wonderful to actually be about to...feel it.

"Speaking of something with...a point," she said, laughing even harder.

Brad made big goo-goo eyes then said, trying to play the Big Bad Wolf, "All the better to love you with, my pretty!" before swirling her around then dipping her, causing his beautiful older wife to yelp with happiness just before he kissed her and told her again how much he loved her.

When Kayla learned that she was pregnant seven months later, feelings of deja vu swept over her. But this time there was no accident and Kayla Taylor gave birth to the son she'd so desperately wanted just one week after her due date. Brad had been with her every step of the way reminding her how much he loved her and how beautiful she was even when she was nine months pregnant.

When they learned they were having a boy, Brad told her without hesitation they should name him Steven. He reached over and lifted the chain around her neck that held the diamond he'd given her and smiled.

"Don't you think?"

"What I think is that I'm the luckiest girl in the world," Kayla told him as tears streamed down her cheeks.

As usual, Brad lightened the mood when he told her, "Well, duh. You did marry me after all."

His wife stopped crying and managed a laugh as she hugged her handsome husband and said, "Yes. Yes, I did, and I'll always be grateful for that and for you not giving up on me."

"And the kissing booth. Don't forget that," he told her in that overly serious way she loved.

She smiled then said, "No. How could I? Without the kissing booth we wouldn't be married or having a baby."

Kayla rested her head in the crook of his neck and thought back on that first day of the State Fair and smiled knowing he was absolutely right.