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“No …” The deep ache eased, and she said, “It was getting too warm in here.”
“Yeah, for me, too,” he said easily, although the intensity in his eyes made other things clear. “More ice cream?”
“Maybe something else.”
His brows rose. “What do you have in mind?”
“Maybe you can show me around Grandin.” She set her bowl in the kitchen sink and turned on the faucet to rinse it out. Busyness and distraction were great. “I want to see the places where you used to live—you know, the diner.”
Cal joined her at the sink, and his nearness once again set her pulse jumping. “Okay.”
Once the bowls were rinsed out, they left the town house and headed toward the parking lot. A car pulled up, and a woman climbed out.
“Hi, Cal,” she said in a friendly tone. She smoothed back her curly dark hair that was trying to escape a headband.
“Got the kids with you?”
“Yep, and they’re cranky.”
Cal chuckled. “Bedtime, right?”
“Right.” The woman set a hand on her hip. “Who’s this?”
“This is Steph—from my high school days. Steph, this is Diane.”
The women nodded and smiled at each other.
“Hi, Cal!” a small voice called from inside the car.
Cal stopped and opened the door as the mother helped out a little girl from the other side.
The little boy on Cal’s side was a dark-haired kid, about four years old.
“Hey, Jeff,” he said. They knuckle bumped. “What’s up?”
Jeff’s forehead creased. “My sister can’t sing my favorite song.”
“Oh, that’s great news,” Cal said with a smile. “That means you can be the one to teach her the right way to sing it.”
The kid’s expression cleared. “Yeah!”
Steph watched their easy exchange with amusement. In a few minutes, Diane had her kids out of the car. The young girl hugged Cal fiercely around the legs. He patted her head, and she beamed up at him. The siblings were obviously twins.
It was all very cute.
Steph signed inwardly. Cal was very cute.
When he said goodbye to his neighbors, he turned back to Steph.
“Cute family,” she said. “Good neighbors?”
“Great neighbors,” Cal said with a smile. “I babysit sometimes, and Diane pays me back with food.”
“Ah, you’re not hard to please.”
“I’m picky in some things.” He unlocked his nearby car and opened the door for her.
“We’re not walking?”
