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She got a call she had to take; they ended their lunch and parted ways.
So much for a good lunch and the potential of another date.
She just wasn’t meant to find someone, she was sure.
The loser baby of the family. Mia always worried she couldn’t do anything right, and yet, now she was proving that.
She looked up when she heard a knock at her door. “Hi,” she said to Cal.
“Hey,” he said. He was smiling again. “Got a minute to talk?”
“I do,” she said.
He shut her door and came in to sit down. “I want to apologize for yesterday.”
“Why?” she asked.
She’d done some digging online last night. Once she remembered that Brian had said Lynn Perkins had been shot while Christmas shopping, she figured that played a huge part in Cal’s reaction.
But when she saw the article about Jack Perkins being killed two weeks before Christmas, her heart sank. It’d been close to the anniversary of his wife’s death. What a horrible reminder that those you loved were gone during a time when family meant the most to people.
Or was celebrated the most.
“The way we left our lunch,” he said. “I never did get to find out why you went the route you did with the not-for-profit. I was hoping maybe we could continue that conversation over...let’s say dinner?”
Mia wasn’t one for shying away from anything.
“So I didn’t ruin it with my comment about Santa?”
He sighed. “No. That is why I’m apologizing. I shouldn’t have reacted that way. I normally have it under control around the holidays.”
She nodded. “I felt horrible last night. I later remembered the timing of your mother’s passing. I did some digging online and found out about the timing of your father’s death. I’m sorry about that. I didn’t mean to be insensitive.”
“Don’t apologize,” he said. “You’re not insensitive. It’s me. It’s my problem. I know it. Most around me know and tiptoe and I hate that too.”
She supposed that this was the one thing that made him seem human and not so perfect.
Not that anyone was perfect, but from what she knew about him, he sure the hell seemed it.
From being hard working to the reasons he bought the businesses he did.
Mia could see right away that he was trying to keep memories of his parents alive and yet during the time when he’d lost them, it was almost like he wanted to forget that time existed.
It seemed like a contradiction, but grief could cause people to do odd things.
She shouldn’t and wouldn’t be someone to judge that.
She couldn’t imagine what he went through at such a young age not once but twice.
“It doesn’t mean you aren’t justified in what you feel,” she said. “Now I know.”
“Please don’t do that,” he said. “I need to get over people tiptoeing. It’s just I don’t like Christmas. It’s out there. Nothing more than that. Think of it as someone that doesn’t like chocolate.”
She laughed at the grin on his face. “Chocolate?”
“Yeah. Doesn’t a huge population of the world love chocolate? I equate that to Christmas. Think about it. What do you think when you hear someone say they don’t like chocolate?”
“If I ever heard anyone say that I’d think they were nuts,” she said.
