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He spotted her by the cake, surrounded by Julie and Lori, but Steph was looking right at him. And smiling.
His heart jolted, and he smiled back.
Then they were both walking toward each other, threading their way through the crowd that was still congratulating Brandy and Ian, with Everly and Austin in the midst of everyone.
When Cal finally reached Steph, she stopped before he could grab her hand or hug her or kiss her. “I’m ready to go home,” she said, tilting her head, her eyes sparkling. “You coming?”
“Of course.”
She smirked, then slipped her hand in his. They walked together to find Pops.
“It’s about time you noticed I’m over here wasting away,” Pops said. “I almost had to ask Lydia Kane if I could borrow her couch for the night.”
“Oh, Pops, you’ve been living it up.” Steph linked her arm through his. “Cal’s coming home with us, so you need to behave yourself.”
Pops looked over at him, noticing how Steph held his hand. “It’s about time you talked some sense into her. I see you’re sticking together, now.”
“That’s right,” Cal said. “Your granddaughter has finally seen reason.”
“Funny,” she said, but she squeezed his hand.
Cal decided that splitting up from Steph to drive his car over to her house was nearly torture. He didn’t want to be separated from her quite yet. But he resolutely headed to his car. He sent a quick text to Rachel to see if he could spend the night at her place. He wasn’t sure if she was working, but he hoped to talk to her at some point about the plans he wanted to make.
Plans that would only happen if Steph was good with them, too.
By the time he reached Steph’s house, Rachel had texted back that he was fine to stay at her place, and she’d be happy to see him. Cal texted back a thanks, then climbed out of the car.
He jogged to where Steph was escorting Pops into the house. Cal took his other arm, and they all headed inside together.
“Boy, am I tired,” Pops said. “I think I’ll head to bed right now. You two enjoy yourselves.”
Cal looked over at Steph as Pops headed down the hallway.
“What did you say?” he whispered.
“I didn’t have to say anything.” She walked toward him. “He did all the talking anyway, and I could only nod and agree with him.”
“What did you agree with?”
“That you’re an amazing guy and that I’m a stubborn woman.”
Cal smiled. “Well, I can agree with that.”
“Ha.” She shoved at his arm, and he caught her hand, then brought it to his lips. “You smell like cake. How come I didn’t get any?”
“I guess you were busy?” she said, looping her arms around his neck.
Cal could get used to this—very quickly. “What are your plans tomorrow?”
“Sleeping in, then working in the afternoon.” She wrinkled her nose. “I should warn you, I’m kind of a boring person.”
“You’re far from boring, Bee.” He leaned down and kissed her softly. “I’m going to be hanging around for a day or two, staying at Rachel’s. Want me to bring over dinner?”
Steph bit her lip. “No. Let’s go somewhere to eat. Lydia and Jorge told me they wanted to come visit Pops tomorrow night anyway. Play some new board game together.” She nestled closer to him. “Then we can see if we still like each other without Pops around.”
Cal smirked. “I hope you’re not serious, because liking you has nothing to do with your grandpa—no matter how much I might like his grumpy self.”
“I knew that, but it’s nice of you to say it.” Her hands moved to his shoulders. “Do you want to hang out for a bit, maybe we can watch a movie or something?”
