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Pops moved into the kitchen and sat at the table, so Steph joined him.
“This might be hard for a youngster like you to hear,” he began in a firm voice. “And I know I might be old fashioned, but when you spend time with a man, he’s going to think you’re in a romantic relationship.”
Steph sighed. “We’re friends, Pops. Men and women can be friends in this century, you know. Not everything has to be about romantic relationships.”
Pops’s jaw remained in a stubborn line. “It’s impossible for a man and woman who like each other romantically to just be friends.”
“I don’t …” She cut herself off. Pops could see right through her. “I do like Cal, but he’s …”
“He’s what?” Pops prompted, his brow furrowing.
Steph couldn’t really put it into words and tell him that Cal was too amazing. Pops would laugh her out of the kitchen.
“Love can’t be forced,” he said in a gravelly tone. “Love happens despite what we might be scared about.”
She sucked in a breath. “What would I be scared about?”
Pops shrugged. “Change?”
“Change.” Steph laughed. “I’m okay with change. I live with you now, don’t I? Every day at the salon is a different day. I go on plenty of dates and have been open to a relationship.”
“But not with Cal?” Pops prompted again.
Steph looked down at the table and traced the wood grain. “I just think you like his help around the house.”
“That’s a lie.”
She snapped her head up.
Pops’s frown was in place. “I’m not going to turn down good help, but I see the way you watched him. And I see the way he looks at you and responds to you. He’s a good man, Steph.”
“I know,” she said faintly.
“All I’m saying is that he’s been bitten before—by family. Lost his mom, eventually lost his dad. And now you’re pushing him away. If you’re going to cut yourself off from him, then do it completely. It’s only fair to both of you. Then take a good look at where you want to be in five years. Ten. Still babysitting me and dating losers? Don’t you want more out of your life?”
Steph’s eyes filled with hot tears. Was this how her grandpa saw her? Treading water? Accomplishing nothing? And only if she were in a relationship with Cal, or some other man Pops approved of, would she be worth something?
“Look, Pops, sorry to disappoint you so much,” she said as calmly as possible. “But I get to decide what to do with my heart. Now, I’m making dinner, and you can do dishes after.”
Steph rose and swiped at the now-falling tears. It wasn’t her job to be in a relationship with Cal out of pity for his losses. Maybe that wasn’t exactly what her grandpa meant, but she did read one thing clear in his speech. She’d led Cal on, and then she ghosted him, and now Pops was interfering …
CAL HEARD HIS CELL PHONE ringing, but he was in a message exchange with the law firm that had hired him. Once that was completed, he left his home office and grabbed his phone from where he’d left it on the kitchen table.
Steph had called.
His heart thrummed immediately despite his determination not to react. She was only calling because he’d told her he deserved an explanation. He also wouldn’t be surprised if her grandpa had guilted her into it as well.
When he’d gone into the salon earlier today, he wasn’t sure what to expect. Or what he’d hoped to gain. It might not have been the right thing to do, but the fact that Steph didn’t gush out an apology, or act like her usual affectionate self, told him plenty.
He was okay with being dumped for a date, at least in general, but he didn’t like that Steph had gone completely quiet on him. If she didn’t feel comfortable telling him no, or telling him she’d changed her mind, it meant she wasn’t secure around him.
And that’s what bothered him the most.
Steph had been the sunshine in his dark teenaged life. And seeing her again had brought back all those emotions. Even though they’d lost contact for so long, he’d never forgotten her kindness, her nonjudgment, her sweetness …
But Steph as an adult was carrying burdens she’d only alluded to. Relationship baggage that she hadn’t unpacked. When she’d told him about some of the men she’d dated, he could tell she’d taken all their flaws and bullheadedness personally.
There was nothing wrong with Steph. There was everything right about her. So that’s why her ghosting bothered him so much. From all of her descriptions of previous dates, she’d been the one who was dumped. So what made him so special now?
