“Rose,” Cal said, smiling.
When Sierra and Amy had mentioned that his new housemate would be their friend Rose, he’d immediately thought of the woman he’d met at Nautilus last summer. Could it be her? He’d quickly pushed the thought aside, figuring the probability was low. Not that Cal knew anything about probability, but still. It seemed unlikely.
Yet here she was.
It wasn’t like he’d been hung up on her for the past seven or nine months, or whatever it was. But occasionally, he’d thought of that night fondly and wondered what might have been. He was pleased to see her again, and she was just as pretty as he remembered.
She was also furious.
“You.” She pointed her finger at him. Her other hand held a stuffed animal—was that her alpaca?—against her hip. “I thought my new housemate was Caleb.”
He toed off his shoes. “Cal. For Caleb.”
“I assumed it was short for Calvin.”
She then said something about long vowels and short vowels...he wasn’t quite following.
“You never texted me,” she said. “You told me you would, but you never did.”
He tried not to laugh because he knew that would piss her off, but angry Rose was rather delightful, and he really was glad to see her again.
“Why would you ask for my number,” she said, “if you never intended to text me?”
“I did, but I dropped my phone and it was run over by a truck.”
“That’s a new one,” she muttered. “Your phone was run over by a truck.” She didn’t seem to believe him. “Are you usually so careless with your phones?”
“I’d had that one for four years, but the previous one only lasted six months. I dropped it in a lake.”
“I see. Did you actually drop it in a lake, or did you just say that so you didn’t have to call some other poor woman you seduced?”
“You had a good time, didn’t you?”
“That’s not the point, Caleb.”
He held up his hands. “My phone really was run over. Destroyed. When I got a new phone, I hoped to recover your number, but my friend Marv said I couldn’t.”
“How convenient.”
“I’m not lying. I’m a pretty simple guy. If I ask for someone’s number, I plan to use it. I tried to find you on social media, but I didn’t know your last name, and there are lots of alpaca-related Instagram accounts, so that didn’t work.”
“His name is Fred,” Rose said.
“Fred. Yeah, it might have helped if I’d known his name.”
“Right.”
She still didn’t seem to believe him, but what else was he supposed to say? Had lots of men lied to her in the past? Was that the problem? There was nothing he could do about it, but he hated the thought of people being shitty to her.
“Look,” she said. “Maybe a guy not texting when he said he would is no big deal to you. Maybe you’re like Joey in Friends and have no trouble finding women to sleep with you. You just move on to someone else. But for me...”
Her lip trembled, and he stepped forward.
“Don’t touch me,” she snapped.
“What does Joey have to do with this?”
She shook her head. “I wouldn’t expect you to understand. You with your charming smile and your big biceps—”
“You admiring me, Rose?”
Her eyes widened and she looked embarrassed. If he thought she’d enjoy it, he’d tease her some more, but that was clearly the wrong move now.
“Some white guys love Asian women,” she said, “but they usually want Asian women who are petite, not like me, and I don’t want to be someone’s weird fetish anyway.”
He was lost. It seemed she had trouble finding dates, which he didn’t understand. “You’re very pretty, Rose.”
Her eyes flashed with anger. “You have no right to say stuff like that, not after you asked for my number and I never heard from you again.”
He didn’t bother defending himself, since he didn’t think it would do any good.
But even though she was angry right now, he was still happy she was his new roommate. Though he did recall hearing that it was a bad idea to sleep with your roommate. Because it could be awkward...or something. Was that right?
“I’m not sure I can live with you,” she said.
Shit. This was a problem.
The moving truck would show up with all his stuff in five minutes. He’d paid first and last month’s rent. If needed, he could crash with a friend or his sister for a few days—he didn’t consider his parents an option—while he looked for another place. But where would he put all his furniture?
It would take a while to find something, too. He’d thought he’d lucked out when he found this rental. He liked the area, and the rent was surprisingly reasonable. Also, it included utilities, so he wouldn’t have to worry about paying those separately.
He’d lived in Mrs. Weissman’s basement for three years, but a few months ago, she’d decided she couldn’t care for a house anymore, even with his help, and sold it before moving to a retirement home. That place had been a pretty sweet deal, and he’d thought this one sounded just as good.
Except it included a woman he’d slept with and never texted. Not on purpose, but still.
Though if she was so upset about the whole thing, that probably meant she’d really liked him. He smiled at her, which earned him a glare.
“How about this?” he said. “The moving truck is on its way, and I kinda need a place to stay. We can see how it goes for a week, and then, if you decide you can’t handle it—”
“Can’t handle it?”
Goddamn. Why did he find it hot when she was pissed at him?
She clearly wasn’t interested in picking up where they’d left off, didn’t even believe his story, so none of that was going to happen. But he could manage living with her. Yeah, she was cute, but so what? Wasn’t like he couldn’t control himself.
“I mean,” he said, “if you decide I piss you off too much and it’s getting in the way of your...” He gestured, trying to think of the words. “Comfort. Yes, comfort. Then I can try to find somewhere else for next month, okay? Hopefully Amy will give me last month’s rent back if I do that.” He’d need the money. He wasn’t exactly rolling in dough, and he still had that credit card debt.
Rose pursed her lips, which reminded him of kissing her and—
No! He needed to stop thinking of that.
“Fine,” she said crisply. “That’s fair. I suppose it’s my fault for not meeting you first, but I was up in Ottawa visiting my family.”
“Your family lives in Ottawa? Did you grow up there?”
“Look, I’m not in the mood for small talk. Besides, I think I hear the moving truck.”
And with that, she headed upstairs.
* * *
Rose went to her room as the movers began carrying in Cal’s stuff. Cal would be carrying things, too, his biceps bulging...
She really needed to stop thinking about his muscles.
It was rare that she was actually angry at someone. Someone who wasn’t her, that was; her anger and frustration were usually directed inward. But he’d claimed his phone was run over by a truck.
He was a terrible liar.
She supposed he didn’t need to lie very often. He could tell the truth, and with that winning smile, he’d still get away with almost everything.
Even now, she was most angry at herself. If she’d met him before he’d moved in, then she could have told Amy to find someone else. It wouldn’t have been complicated, whereas now, it was a mess.
What if he’s telling the truth?
She pushed aside that thought. What was more likely: Cal simply deciding he didn’t want to see her again, or him dropping his phone on the road and it being destroyed?
Definitely the former.
She might not have a wealth of experience with dating, but people not calling or texting when they said they would...that was just part of it, wasn’t it? Sure, he’d seemed to enjoy himself with her, and he’d been good to her that night.
But maybe he was just a player.
Sighing, she left her room and headed to the house next door. She knocked, and Amy answered a minute later. Hudson was asleep in the carrier she had strapped to her chest.
“So, what do you think?” Amy asked excitedly, apparently oblivious to Rose’s dark mood. “Isn’t he nice?”
“Caleb is Cal,” Rose said. “The guy I slept with who said he’d text me, then never did.”
Amy’s eyes widened as she beckoned Rose inside. “Are you serious? Did he tell you why?” She spoke in a hushed voice, so as not to wake the baby.
“Yeah, he had some terrible excuse. I didn’t believe a word of it.”
“I can’t believe I was so wrong about him.”
For some reason, Rose had an urge to defend Cal, but she wouldn’t.
“What do you want to do?” Amy asked.
“Well, we talked about it, and he agreed to see how it goes. If it doesn’t work out, he’ll look for somewhere else for next month, and if you could refund his last month’s rent...”
“Yeah, yeah, of course.”
“I’m so sorry for being a hassle,” Rose said. “The only one-night stand I’ve ever had...”
God, she was just so tired, and this was one more thing to deal with.
Hudson opened his eyes.
“Oh, hello,” Amy cooed as she took him out of the carrier. “Rose, could you hold him for a minute? I just want to run to the washroom before I start nursing him.”
“Sure thing.”
Rose sat down on the couch in the living room, the baby in her lap. She thought he’d be fussy if he needed to be fed, but he seemed content. For now.
She loved babies. Their toothless smiles, their soft skin, their tiny hands. Occasionally they made her sad, made her think of how she couldn’t have one of her own, but today, those thoughts were taking a backseat to her living situation.
She couldn’t believe she was now living with Cal.