I'm leaving in two days, and I'm feeling very conflicted about whether I should stay. The fact that I have a date tonight with Matt isn't helping either. I was nervous because this would be my first date since having Mallory. I've had a crush or two over the years, but they never led to anything serious.

"Okay, I'm almost done." Liz offered to help with my makeup and pick out a dress from her closet for my date.

"Thank you so much for helping. None of the dresses in the guest room fit me."

"No worries, besides those are all my old dresses from school dances. Not even Mallory would fit in them." Liz adds more blush to my cheeks. "Are you nervous?"

"A little bit."

"Don't worry, Matt has planned every detail, it's going to be perfect. You can trust me on that because I also helped him."

I chuckled. "Well, thanks for helping."

She scoffs, "Who pairs cheeseburgers with a candlelight dinner and wine? That boy is crazy."

"Good thing he has his charm and looks."

"Oh, I'm telling him you said that."

"Please, don't." I throw on one of Elizabeth's cardigans and head downstairs, gasping at the sight. The living room is surrounded by flickering candles, petals are everywhere, a bottle of wine is next to the couch, and two plates of pasta are sitting on a table. "You did this?"

"You like it?" Matt questions.

"I love this! Thank you," I say and kiss his cheek.

"You look...beautiful."

I'm wearing a little black dress with a cutout on the back, it was showing too much of my scarred skin and so I put a red cardigan over it. "Thanks, you also look beautiful. Uh, I mean handsome."

"Well, thanks. Ready to eat?"

"Sure." I sit down next to him on the couch and take a bite of the food. "Mm, this is good, Matt."

"You can think Elizabeth, she did most of this." He gestures around the romantic-looking room.

"Still, this has the be sweetest thing anyone's ever done for me."

Matt kisses my hand, "You deserve this Tessa, and so much more."

I blush and when we finish eating, Matt takes our plates into the kitchen. I noticed a guitar case peeking out from under the couch, I wondered if it belonged to Matt.

Matt comes back into the room and catches me peeking at the case. "Oh, I see you found my old guitar."

"You can play?"

"I used to a long time ago. Liz must have moved it there."

"What other secrets are you keeping from me, Mr. Green?"

"I um.... I was the lead singer in a country band."

"What! Which band? Maybe I've heard one of your songs."

He shakes his head. "We never really made it big, and over time the band slowly started to drift apart."

I bet their fans couldn't resist Matt's charm, which makes me think of the other night...when his siblings said that he liked to take other girls riding. "So, did you have a lot of groupies?"

"Not really. We never went on tour, so all are fans were local girls."

"Oh? Were you close with any of them?"

"I dated some of them here and there, but it wasn't anything serious. Why? Are you jealous?"

"No...I was just curious."

"Sure." He smirks. "What about you?"

"I haven't been on any dates, exactly. Just a couple of work crushes over the years."

"What did you do for work?"

"Anything. If you were hiring and had good pay, I'd do any job."

"Any...job?" He questions.

"Yeah, I worked at a club for a couple of months. I started as a waitress, then the other girls convinced me to take up working on the pole."

"Did you like it?"

"Did I like to be stared at as if I were a piece of meat? Absolutely not. But it paid well, it helped pay for Mallory's medication and some homeschooling...so.... yeah, I did it for a few months and then I left."

"Can I ask why you left?"

"I don't like to talk about it but...one of my work crushes, Josh was a bouncer at the club, and he saw me dance every night. He was super sweet and funny, and I thought maybe he liked me too. But then one night I said that I was struggling to pay off hotel bills....and so...he offered to pay me a thousand.... if I slept with him."

Matt whispers, it's quiet but I can hear him, "Did you?"

I sigh and look away, "The hotel was threatening to call CPS on me for not taking proper care of Mallory...so, yeah. I did it. It was awful and I immediately threw up after it ended, because I was so disgusted with myself." I start to tear up at the memory, "You must think I'm an awful person."

"Hey," Matt lifted my chin and stared into my eyes. "I wasn't thinking that, and you shouldn't ever feel bad for sharing your past with me. I want to know everything about you, both the good and the bad."

"You don't think less of me?"

He takes my hand in his. "I don't care what you tell me. I will never think less of you. Okay?"

I wiped my eyes and smiled, "Okay. Now that I've shared a deep dark secret, I think I'm owed a song."

Matt chuckles, "Alright, but only because I can't say no to you. And please feel free to laugh if I mess it up." He takes the case out and puts on the guitar, "Don't judge me but this was one of our more popular covers." I smile as he starts playing and singing, "I had a thought dear, however scary about that night, the bugs and the dirt. Why were you digging? What did you bury before those hands pulled me from the earth? I will not ask you where you came from, I will not ask, and neither should you. Honey, just put your sweet lips on my lips. We should just kiss like real people do. I knew that look, dear, eyes always seeking, was there in someone that dug long ago. So, I will not ask why you were creeping, in some sad way, I already know. So, I will not ask you where you came from. I would not ask and neither would you. Honey, just put your sweet lips on my lips, we should just kiss like real people do." He finishes playing and sets the guitar down. "So...yeah. That's all I can remember how to play."

"Wow!" I stand up and start clapping. "I can't believe I got a dinner and a private concert for free."

"Oh, hush." He pulls me back down on his lap and starts to kiss me. It quickly turns passionate when I wrap my arms around his neck, pulling him closer. I gasp when he places kisses up and down my neck, his hand slowly trailing up my leg.

Open the door, Tessa.

"Did you say something?" I ask.

"No," Matt answers, and we go back to kissing, he pulls me close enough that I start to straddle his lap.

Everything's your fault.

No, no, no. This can't be happening right now. Matt pulls away and looks concerned, "Hey, is everything alright? Am I doing something wrong?"

"No, I'm fine." I try to kiss him but I'm hearing that voice in my head as I try to keep the cardigan from falling off.

I'm going to teach you a lesson.

"Tessa?"

"What?"

"I think we should stop."

"I told you I'm fine."

"I don't think you are. What's going on?"

"I can't do this." I get up and try to leave when Matt catches my hand.

"Are you having another panic attack right now?"

"I'm fine."

"Please, just talk to me."

"I...I'm scared." I say and look up into his worried blue eyes.

"Okay. What are you scared of?"

"That if we start to do more than kissing, I'll start thinking about him. And the scars, I don't want you to see the scars." I'm a total freak, a scarred and broken woman. Matt shouldn't have to deal with someone like me. "Maybe this was a bad idea."

"Hey, no. Look at me, Tessa." He reaches out and caresses my cheek. "I meant it when I called you beautiful. You're the most stunning woman I've ever seen, and I'm glad you knocked on my door."

"You're just saying that."

"No, I'm not. Can you just trust me for five minutes please?"

I nod, "Okay."

"Come on." He takes my hand and leads me upstairs.

"Where are we going?"

"Close your eyes."

"Matt-"

"Close your eyes, please."

"Fine."

He still holds my hand and guides me down a hallway. I hear him opening and closing a door. "Okay," I hear him whispering in my ear. "Open them."

I do and the room we're in is completely pitch black. The moonlight coming in through the bedroom window shows an outline of a neatly made bed, a few posters, and a nightstand. This must be Matt's room. "I can't see anything."

"That's the idea."

"You're crazy."

"And you need some TLC, tender loving cuddles."

"Hmm.... I don't think you brought me up here to cuddle." I tease.

"That's completely up to you." His breath raises the hairs on the back of my neck. "May I?" He asks and I nod as he takes off my cardigan. I lean back into his arms when he kisses my neck, shoulder, and back.

"Mm...Matt."

"Tessa. I don't care about your scars, and I want you in a way that words could never describe. All I care about is you." He slowly unzips my dress. "You're breathtaking, Tessa."

I turn around and undo the buttons on his shirt, he tosses it onto the floor, he picks me up and throws me on the bed. Matt hovers over me and smiles, "Gorgeous, just.... gorgeous." I reach out and pull him closer, calming his lips with mine in a night filled with passion and care.