Page 77 of Something Borrowed

He picked up on the first ring.

“Hi,” she said.

“Hi,” he said back.

She wondered if he was smiling into his phone as goofily as she was.

“How’s your Christmas so far?” she finally asked.

“Pretty good, actually,” he said, sounding surprised. “I followed your example and did a bit of decorating—and you know . . . not half bad. I mean, it’s also only half over, but so far so good.”

“I know what you mean. I was sure it was going to be terrible and decided just to accept that—and then it wasn’t. It’s been pretty great.” She told him that Michael had texted and promised to email her back.

“That’s fantastic, Vic. Utterly fantastic.” Cal sounded like he meant it, like he was listening and actually cared what she was saying. A woman could get addicted to that.

They talked about Christmas—the cat now, not the day—and he thought it was the perfect name too. He seemed as surprised as she had been to hear how Audra had taken to the animal. However, when she described how Christmas was curled up with her on the couch and how she slept on her bed, he grew a bit quiet.

“Everything all right?” she asked.

“It just sounds like Christmas might have an owner somewhere. Are you still planning to put her picture online?”

“Yes, for sure,” Vic said, though her heart panged a little. And she was going to. She was not going to borrow, take, or try to hold onto things that weren’t hers, ever again.

On the heels of that inner resolve, she immediately added, Please, let that be true. Please.

“Are you going to be okay if someone claims her?”

“Yeah,” Vic said softly. “I’ll be a little sad, but I’ll just see the days we had her as a gift.”

“Aw,” Cal said equally softly—and again, Vic didn’t get the feeling he was making fun of her or anything.

They chatted for a bit longer, and Vic considered inviting him over for dinner. Maybe he was an NCIS fan too, but in the end she decided not to. It was Christmas, after all, and she hadn’t talked it over with Audra ahead of time. There were some decisions—like the cat—she would make on her own, but a surprise Christmas guest when Audra already had plans that she was excited about wouldn’t be nice.

“Okay, well, I should let you go,” Cal said, sounding as reluctant as Vic felt. What was it about their conversations she enjoyed so much? Even when they didn’t talk about anything serious or deep, they just felt so . . . companionable or something.

“Yeah,” she agreed, then added, “I can’t wait to see you tomorrow. I’m really looking forward to it.”

“Me too.” The smile was definitely back on Cal’s face. Vic could hear it. Her insides got a little melty feeling. She felt young again—and for once in a good way.

“Till tomorrow then,” she said.

“Yeah, tomorrow . . .”

Laughing softly, Vic finally hung up because, man, one of them had to.

Chapter 38

Cal arrived at Vic’s house at the appointed time, feeling inexplicably nervous. When was the last time he’d picked up a woman for a date? A long, long time ago. He’d only had a handful of dates since Melanie—and for each first date, they’d met at a coffee shop of the woman’s choosing. He understood it was a safety thing for them, and really, it seemed better for everyone involved. So much less awkward when either party could just leave and climb into their own vehicle if they didn’t hit it off.

With Vic, though, he found himself wanting to pull out all the bells and whistles he’d ever seen in TV dates. He’d brought flowers. He was wearing cologne.

“Just press the doorbell, Romeo,” he muttered to himself. If she’d seen him drive up, she was going to wonder what the heck was taking him so long.

Vic answered the door immediately, and Cal forgot how to talk. She was dressed to the nines in a soft-looking red dress that hugged each curve with a matching wrap sweater and black high-heeled suede boots. Man, oh man, he wanted to touch her.

“Wow,” he finally managed. “You look amazing.”

Her face scrunched—so cute!—and she glanced down at her outfit. “You don’t think I’m overdressed?”