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“You’re late.” Dad made a show of checking his watch after opening the front door. “Half an hour late.”
“Yeah, sorry about that,” Cal said. “I left a little later than I should have, and then—”
“What’s in the shopping bag?” Kendall, his fifteen-year-old niece, gestured to the bag in his hand.
“A truck ran over my phone. Those are the pieces.”
“Oh. That sucks.” Her eyes returned to her own phone as she wandered into the living room.
Dad, on the other hand, shot Cal his only-you-could-do-a-thing-like-that look, which normally might get under Cal’s skin a little, but he couldn’t help thinking about Rose. Would he still be able to contact her? Could he recover her number somehow?
“You think you’re going to reassemble your phone from...that?” Dad asked, peering into the bag.
“No.” But Cal had gathered up the fragments just in case.
Because, dammit, he really did want to see Rose again, and he wasn’t sure how he could do that if he didn’t have her number.
His sister, Jodi, entered the front hall along with her husband and their youngest daughter, Riley.
“Uncle Cal, you were supposed to come early so we could play catch!” Riley was eleven, and normally Cal would be more than happy to play catch with her, but he was distracted at present.
He patted her shoulder. “After lunch, okay?” It would delay buying a new phone, but he wouldn’t disappoint her. “Where’s Jed?”
“They’re on vacation,” Jodi said.
Right. Cal remembered that now. His brother and family had taken a trip to the Maritimes before the kids went back to school. Cal was the youngest of three, and his brother and sister were both quite a bit older than him—they were in their forties.
He headed into the kitchen and waited to hug his mother until she’d taken the quiche out of the oven. Mushroom quiche, from the looks of it “Smells great, Mom.”
“You’re here!” she said. “I was starting to worry. Bad traffic?”
“Nah, not too bad.”
She frowned, and he turned away, listening to the argument that had broken out elsewhere in the house. Jodi and Kendall were often arguing these days. On a few occasions, Kendall had wanted space from her mom and had stayed at Cal’s for a night.
Five minutes later, they all sat down to eat in the dining room, and Dad asked Cal about work. Cal knew his father wasn’t actually curious, though. Dad had no respect for what his youngest child, the family disappointment, did with his life, and so Cal didn’t bother giving much of an answer as he scarfed down his food. The faster he ate, the sooner he could play catch with Riley and get a new phone.
Except nobody else was eating as fast as he was, and Mom was looking at him oddly.
“You sure you’re okay, honey?” she asked.
“Yeah, I’m good,” Cal said with an easy smile that didn’t match how he felt, then slowed his pace.
Dad appeared skeptical but didn’t speak.
Cal never talked to his dad on the phone—or texted him, for that matter. He maintained a distant relationship with his father mainly for the sake of his mom and the rest of the family, and when Dad criticized him for one thing or another, Cal didn’t bother standing up for himself and tried not to let the older man’s words get to him.
What was Rose’s family like?
His thoughts drifted back to her and that radiant smile she’d given him this morning. He usually felt calmer than he did now, but with his dad glaring at him and Rose on his mind, he wasn’t his usual self.
Well, so it went. He’d just have to do his best to get through this family meal.
* * *
“Tell me everything,” Sierra said as soon as Rose stepped in the door.
“I need to shower and change my clothes and brush my teeth.”
“But then you’re telling me everything.”
Rose nodded, still feeling a little giddy.
Upstairs in the shower, she soaped herself up, and touching her skin felt different from usual. She tipped her head back in the spray and smiled. She was present in her body. Appreciative of it.
She took her time moisturizing her skin before she threw on some clothes and went downstairs, where Sierra had made a pot of tea.
“How was your trip up north?” Rose asked as she poured herself a cup.
Sierra gave her a look.
“I’m kidding!” Rose said. “I know you want to hear about last night.” She had a sip of tea. “I didn’t feel like staying in, so I went out for dinner, then figured I’d have a drink at Nautilus. You know the table under the blimp? I left my cardigan there to save my spot while I got a drink, but when I returned, he was sitting there. Big white guy named Cal. I was a little pissed at him, then I acted a bit awkward.”
She continued describing the evening, leaving out the part where he’d gotten her off in public—Rose still couldn’t believe that had been her—and glossing over the details of the sex, except to say it was good and...
“You know how I’d never...”
“Oh my God!” Sierra said. “He went down on you.”
Rose blushed. “More than once.”
“Did you like it?”
“Yeah. A lot.” Rose also glossed over just how upset she’d been in the middle of the night, moving on to the events of the morning. “We ate breakfast, had sex again.” She spoke as though it was no big deal, even though before last night, it had been years since she’d been intimate with a guy. “He asked for my number and said he’d take me out next weekend.”
“That’s amazing,” Sierra said. “I’m really happy for you.”
Rose smiled. She was happy for herself, too.
She checked her phone. Cal hadn’t texted her yet, but that was fine. She’d left his home an hour ago. It was probably uncool to text someone immediately, and she might have slept with Cal, but she didn’t know him all that well. Not well enough to know what his texting habits were. She wouldn’t worry yet, even if she was particularly prone to worrying.
Nope, she’d just trust that he’d text her in the next couple of days.
He would, wouldn’t he?