His Greatest Treasure

Nervous

Makenna’s POV

After I hang up the phone, I sit on the edge of my bed and try to keep myself calm with steady breaths. A date? I’ve only been on dates with Tom, and they weren’t usually very romantic, just getting drunk in a slimy bar while he screamed at whatever game was playing on the TV. The highlight was usually some drunken dancing to country music until my legs felt like they were made of jelly. Those dates were frequent in the first few months of our relationship, and then became more rare as he got moodier and more violent with me during that first year. After I tried to leave him and he kidnapped me, the dates obviously came to an end.

I had seen dates in movies where the main characters went and saw a movie or out for dinner at a fancy restaurant, but that was all I had to go off of with my lack of experience. Why does he want to take me on a date? Surely someone that handsome and that rich can have whatever girl he wants. He probably sleeps with models, heiresses, and celebrities, so what does he want with me? I wasn’t as pretty as Grace or as other girls from my town. My skin was pale from having spent a lot of my life kept away from the world by abusive men; my dad and Tom. Having such fair skin in sharp contrast with my dark hair and green eyes gave me a sickly look. I was also very thin with tiny boobs and didn’t have much of a butt. It didn’t make any sense to me why this man wouldn’t hire me as his housekeeper, but would want to take me on a date.

When Grace gets home that night, I’m curled up on the sofa under one of the blankets I usually sleep with at night. Grace gets home late, so usually I’m already in bed when she gets home, but I had to wait for her to tell her about my date. My anxiety has been gradually getting worse and worse as the day passed and I continued to think about my upcoming date with a billionaire. I did everything I could to avoid a panic attack. Wrapping myself up like a burrito was a strategy I used whenever I was on the edge of a panic attack. The warm blanket wrapped around me brought a sense of security and allowed me to breathe.

“Everything okay, Kenna?” Grace asked as she placed her keys and purse on the counter and came to sit by me on the couch. I could hear the concern in her voice.

“I don’t know what I’ve gotten myself into,” I mumble.

“What’s going on? Tell me and we’ll figure it out together,” Grace said as she sat next to me and placed my head on her lap.

“It’s a long story.” It fels like too much to explain that I had planned to get a job for my one-year anniversary of freedom, had gone for a job interview, and asked out on a date with a billionaire.

“I won’t interrupt until you’re finished,” Grace promises as she strokes my hair gently.

I tell her everything. The whole story rambles out of my mouth, from wanting to help out financially to going out with a stranger the next night. When I’m done, Grace is silent, her hand frozen on the top of my head instead of the comforting playing with my hair that she had been doing earlier.

“That’s a lot to unpack, Kenna.” She says with a deep sigh. “Are you sure you’re ready to go on a date? I don’t know if a year is enough time to heal and be prepared for another relationship.”

“I don’t know,” I mumble. “I don’t even know if he wants a relationship with me. I mean, it could be just a date, right?”

Grace gives me a small smile. “Yes, it is just a date. If you want to go, then I will help you be ready for it.”

Grace acts calm, but I know she’s unsure about the date and just as nervous as I am.