“Something’s come up.”
I snorted and held back a laugh. When I opened my eyes, Calvin was standing and buttoning his pants. “I’ll say.”
He didn’t reply.
“Do I get a rain check on the second half of the date, or are we done?” I stood away from the fridge, my legs feeling like they’d finally support my weight again.
Calvin finished tucking his dress shirt back into place before looking at me. “Sorry,” he said quietly.
I shrugged, sort of at a loss. What was I supposed to say? “No pillow talk about our feelings, then?”
Calvin looked sideways and turned out of the kitchen, fetching his coat at the table.
All right, then. We’ll pretend that little episode didn’t just happen.“What about my connection to Byers?” I asked, walking out after him. “It’s not going to be a problem, is it?”
Calvin pulled his arms through his coat as he turned around to look down at me. “Don’t go talking about her to people. Give me a minute to figure this out.”
I nodded. “Sure. Okay. Thanks for not arresting me.”
He grunted while buttoning his jacket. “I’m taking this.” He held up the documents from the estate sale.
“Fine.”
“Good night.”
IT WASFriday, and Neil still hadn’t called.
Granted, it was six in the morning and he was most likely asleep. Which was what I should have been doing, but after tossing restlessly for a frustrating three hours, I gave up. I braved the new storm coming down on the city full force now and went to set up the holiday decorations in the Emporium.
Because when I can’t sleep, I deck the halls.
“Goddamn it.” I stopped stretching out the garland and lights to untangle another section. Who put this away last year? I was going to kill them.
It had probably been me.
Hall-decking is a two-man job. Pop helped me the first year the Emporium opened, and last year Neil had helped me hang the garland and set up a small tree. It had been terribly domestic and—dare I say it—cute. I missed that. Contrary to the evidence, I’m not always a cynical, crotchety old guy. I like the holidays. They’re so festive and uplifting.
I liked spending them with Neil.
Or, I had. Because that was over. Right?
I walked across the floor with the string of lights and garland and stooped to plug in the end. I started to wrap the too-bright lights around the support beam beside the outlet.
Even if it wasn’t over by some miracle and Neil came home, what had happened with Calvin? I had been trying to process our rushed, er—I’d been trying to process it all night. For me it was just pent-up nerves coupled with a crush on a really hot guy. That was it. Totally it.
But what the hell had been going through Calvin’s mind?
I had to dump a mental bucket of ice-cold water over myself when the image of his mouth on me came back. That had been, without a doubt, the hottest and greatest blowjob I had ever received. And I didn’t even get to finish.
I ended up right back at what had been gnawing at my gut all night. Had I cheated? Yes. I think so. Maybe. I had warned Neil if he walked out… but a threat to change the locks—which I hadn’t done—was pretty far from just saying,we’re breaking up if you walk out. What if Neil was just cooling down and didn’t understand?
What if he came home? Apologized?
I could not tell him what happened. I was pretty sure Calvin wouldn’t say a word either. Then I could go back to a happier relationship with Neil, and that would be that. Everything would be okay.
“Come on,” I grumbled, tugging the strand of garland up with me as I climbed a ladder. It got tangled around the legs, and I cursed at length before managing it free.
Everything was not okay. The fact that I hadn’t been able to sleep was enough.
