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As if guessing at my inner hesitation, he went on, in that calm, steady way of his, “I know I was planning for us to still be together in October. I hope you were, too.”
I raised my eyes to meet his. “Yes, definitely.”
A smile, and he leaned back in his chair. “Good. This is sort of uncharted territory for me, but I definitely don’t want you to think I’m planning on bailing out.”
“Even though your tribe isn’t thrilled about us dating?”
His smile slipped a little, but he still replied, “I’m not sure that’s the right way to phrase it. More like they’re wary. Which I can understand.”
“You didn’t date at all when you were going to ASU?”
Because Calvin had told me a while back that he’d attended college in Tempe, getting a degree in criminal justice. He wasn’t the first of his tribe to get a bachelor’s, but still, it wasn’t the norm for his people, either. They tended to stick close to home.
He chuckled at that question. “Like I had the time. I was commuting from here the whole time I was in college, and it was almost an hour and a half each way. Between the drive and the class load I was carrying, I didn’t have much time for a social life. Also, what would have been the point? I knew none of those relationships would’ve gone anywhere.”
“Oh,” I said, which I knew was a weak response. If he hadn’t been with anyone in college, and he’d never married, then exactly how had he gotten so…skilled?
“I met women at the casino,” he said, as if in answer to my unspoken question. “People passing through. I wasn’t going to live like a monk, and I didn’t think it would be fair to have anything casual with one of the women in my tribe. They would have expected it to turn into something serious. I’m sure my mother would have been even more on my case if I didn’t have my brothers and sisters and their families to keep her occupied. With half a dozen grandchildren and more on the way, it isn’t as though she can exactly guilt me about being the only one of her friends without grandkids.”
I smiled and shook my head, then reached for another piece of garlic bread. Thank God my mother had never given me grief about being unmarried and child-free. Since she looked so spectacularly good for her age, maybe she wasn’t ready to be a grandmother yet.
Or maybe after getting a dose of Tom’s spoiled-brat grandkids, she’d decided she was okay with not having any of her own.
However, I was pretty sure she’d be perfectly fine with Calvin and me starting our own family, if and when that ever happened.
“Anyway,” Calvin went on, as if guessing it might be a good idea to steer the conversation away from grandchildren…at least for the time being, “we should start planning a trip to the Verde Valley. There are a bunch of nice hotels in Sedona, or we could get an Airbnb in Cottonwood or Jerome.”
“What’s Jerome?”
“It’s a former mining town that’s turned into kind of a funky, arty tourist attraction. Very off-beat. I think you’d like it.”
Jerome definitely sounded like someplace I’d want to explore. I didn’t want to stay in a glossy resort; I wanted someone’s kitschy Airbnb.
“Let’s try for Jerome,” I said.
Calvin sent me a knowing smile, as if he’d already guessed I’d choose Jerome as our preferred destination. “It’s a deal. Sometime next week, let’s sit down with your laptop and get it figured out.”
Our getaway destination settled, we went on to talk about our plans with Hazel and Chuck to go out to the movies sometime in the coming week, and whether we were going to stick with Globe’s dinky little theater downtown or head out to Mesa or Gilbert to see something in a big place with stadium seating and all the perks.
The one thing we didn’t discuss was the Bigelow mansion and what my parents planned to do with it. That was a relief, even though I knew the house and its uninvited occupants were something that would have to be tackled sooner rather than later.
And after dinner, Calvin took me by the hand and kissed me, held me close…and I led him to the bedroom and shut the door.
After all, Archie had slipped out hours earlier, but a girl couldn’t be too safe.
The next morning, I headed over to Josie’s office early, hoping I could catch her before I had to open the shop. To my relief, she was there, putting together what looked like packets of materials for her latest listings. I’d sometimes wondered if there was really enough real estate turnover in tiny Globe to keep her occupied, but she did seem to be perpetually busy.
She was frowning, though, a frown that wiped itself away as soon as she looked up and saw me standing at the doorway to her office.
“Selena!” she exclaimed. “So good to see you!”
“I hope I’m not interrupting anything,” I said.
My comment made her wave a hand in dismissal. “Oh, no. I’m just getting these listing materials ready for my next open house, but that’s not until two days from now. You know how I like to be prepared.”
That was true. She had to be one of the most organized people I’d ever met. “It looked like you were upset about something.”
Josie paused there, hands resting on a stack of color laser-printed listing sheets. “Well, if you must know, I had something of a tussle with Miriam Jacobsen earlier.”
