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“Maybe?”
Cal shifted forward in his chair. “Maybe? What does that mean?”
“It means that it’s what you want it to be. It could be hanging out with a group of people, or it could be going on a date with me where we end up hanging out with a group of people.”
He laughed. “And we arrive and leave together?”
“Yeah.”
“Will there be any public kissing?”
Steph let out a small gasp. “Definitely not.”
He was grinning. “My answer is yes to going, and yes, I’m considering this a date, but there is one problem.”
“What’s that?” she asked, her voice turning wary.
“Next weekend is a long time to wait to see you again.” It was okay for him to state his opinion, but still leave things up to her, right? “I miss you, that’s all. But don’t let it go to your head because the ball’s still in your court.”
“Next weekend does seem like a long time, but I think it’s good for me.”
Now this intrigued him. “Why’s that?”
“Just because …” Her tone turned reluctant. “I have a bad track record of relationships moving too fast, then crashing and burning. Well, at least for me—the guy always seems to move on just fine.”
Cal wasn’t sure what to make of her statement. “How many boyfriends have you had?”
“I don’t know the answer to that because I think the definition varies depending on who you ask.”
“What’s your definition of a boyfriend?” Cal rose from his desk and crossed to the window overlooking the street. Orange and red leaves dangled from the trees, swaying in the breeze. Otherwise things looked pretty deserted, since not many people were out and about on this lazy Sunday afternoon.
“When two people are mutually exclusive and like each other the same amount.”
“That sounds about right,” Cal said. “So how many?”
“I still don’t know because I think I’ve liked each guy I’ve dated more than he’s liked me.”
He found this hard to believe—but it seemed to be what she believed. “So every guy you’ve dated has dumped you?”
“Yeah, pretty much.”
He wanted specifics, because how could Steph be the only one investing in a relationship with a man? “What’s an example?”
“Well … the last man I dated, it lasted three weeks,” Steph said.
They were coming up on three weeks between them, if he was counting.
“Nate had told me about his ex-girlfriend,” she continued, “and she sounded like a complete nightmare. But to my surprise, one phone call from her sent him running back.”
“That’s nothing against you, though,” Cal said, moving away from the window and heading out of his office toward the kitchen. “He was already in love with someone else.”
“Yeah, maybe,” she said with a sigh. “But that doesn’t explain John Parker bringing me flowers every day for weeks, then he completely ghosts me. When I ran into his sister a few days later, she said he’d taken a job in another city. No word to me. Which only tells me he didn’t like me enough to do anything long distance.”
Before Cal could reply that John Parker sounded like a rotten guy, she said, “And then there was Drew Larson, who invited me to holiday parties with his family, and the day after Christmas, he told me we couldn’t see each other again because his mom didn’t like me.”
“What?” Cal paused as he was about to open his fridge.
“Yeah, and then Jeremy Baker told me I was fun, but too small town for his future.”
