Finding A Way (14 page)

There is a knowing silence between Evan and me. We both hear Mac's truck start up and speed off into the night. The peeling of his tires against the road makes my heart drop to my stomach. Evan breaks the silence first by letting out a small chuckle.

"Did I miss something?" he asks, still amused.

I'm glad he finds this freaking funny because I sure as hell don't. I sigh, getting up from the swing, and walk past Evan into the house myself. If he didn't come outside, none of this would have happened. I would never have lied and Mac and I would probably still be cuddling on the swing.
Evan is an asshole.

"No," I snap at him, slamming the door behind me the same way Mac did.

"Wake up, beautiful."

I hear his voice echoing within the depth of my dreams, but my body has a mind of its own. It craves sleep, but it also craves the man whispering in my ear.

"Callie, sweetheart. Today's a big day. How are we supposed to celebrate if you sleep it away?"

His soft lips find my ear and a delicate nibble graces the lobe. His warm breath tickles me and small round pebbles coat my skin.

"I'm up," I groan out.

My arms stretch over my head and my eyes flutter open revealing the love of my life lying next to me in our king size bed.

"Good morning babe," he beams at me with straight white teeth. The smile he showcases is contagious.

"Morning.”

“What time did you get home?”

He stares at me with sorrowful eyes, a lump in his throat visible.

“Around three in the morning. I’m sorry, Cal. I shouldn’t have left like that last night.”

It’s too early for this. I can’t deal with it right now. It’s our anniversary and I refuse to spend the day fighting over the fact he left again. It’s nothing new.

“Let’s just enjoy the day together. We’ll discuss it later.”

His brow furrows and his bottom lip pouts out at my change of subject.

“Okay baby. We’ll enjoy our day, but just know I really am sorry.”

He places a lingering kiss on my lips before jumping out of bed and heading toward the bedroom door.

“Come downstairs when you’re ready. I made breakfast!”

Ten minutes later, I lean in the doorway of our conventional kitchen and see Derrick working over the hot stove, preparing breakfast. What I wouldn’t do for this to be our routine every morning. One without having to see Derrick crawling out of bed at noon, barely functioning.

I sweep my eyes over the room, landing on the roses which sit proudly in a vase on the kitchen table along with a cup of already steaming coffee.

“Well, this is an unusual sight,” I quip, a small laugh escaping me.

He turns to face me, spatula still in hand.

“It is our anniversary, babe. You know I had to make it up to you by spoiling the hell out of you. There’s a card over next to your flowers. Take a look.”

I go along with him, sauntering toward the card and taking a seat to open it.

“Do you like it?”

In the envelope is a paid spa day for the local salon in town. There’s two tickets, and I can’t help but laugh.

“Are you going to the spa with me?”

My eyebrow raises as he lets out a loud laugh.

“No, babe. But Sierra is. I already talked to her and she gave me all the information I needed so you and her could get pampered for the day. She also made me buy her pass as well, but it was worth it to see a smile on your face this early in the morning.”

I just realize now that my smile is huge. The gesture of him doing this is more than I could ever dream of. Derrick has never really taken my needs and wants into consideration when it came to his. I’m not saying he’s a bad man. I’m just saying sometimes he can be selfish when it comes to us.

I cross the kitchen to where he stands and wrap my arms around his midsection. He leans down and places a kiss on my lips which make my toes curl with emotion. I love when he’s like this. When Derrick is caring and considerate, it makes me remember why I fell in love with him in the first place.

“I love it, Derrick. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, baby. You better get ready because Sierra will be here in a half an hour to collect you and she’s already warned me I better not make you late for your day together. I love her and all, but she’s is a little scary. I’m afraid if I don’t hold up my end of the bargain, she’ll dispose of me in the river.”

I slap his chest playfully, turning away to get ready.

“She just might do that.”

“I love you, Derrick. Thank you.”

“I love you too, babe.”

I wake up to the smell of bacon cooking and hop out of bed to follow the smell down the steps and into the kitchen. I love bacon. I actually love all breakfast related foods, but bacon is at the top of my list. Followed by French toast and Belgian waffles. I could eat breakfast all day.

Sierra is in front of the stove flipping what looks to be pancakes as Evan sits at the kitchen table sipping on coffee and reading the paper. I take a seat at the table, making a scraping sound with the chair. Sierra turns to me as she continues to cook breakfast.

"Morning," she beams happily.

I'm not a morning person, being I don't sleep much at night. Therefore, I'm not in any way chipper or talkative before noon. Sierra, on the other hand, is physically sickening in the morning. I've never met someone who loves the morning as much as she does. She wakes up at six in the morning, every single day. It doesn't matter if it's a weekday or the weekend. If you need somebody to talk to before the sun comes up, she's your girl.

"Morning," I grumble.

Evan lowers the paper, grinning at me like a kid in a candy shop. It's the same stupid grin he had on his face last night and all I want to do is smack it off him. It's too early for this shit. Ignoring Evan's smug look, I turn to see the coffee pot freshly filled.
Thank God for that.
Coffee is exactly what I need to brighten my mood.

I hop out of my chair grabbing a mug from the drying rack, and pour myself a cup. I lean against the counter taking my first sip.
Sweet heaven
. This is good java.

Sierra is still cooking as a heavy silence lingers through the air. The only sounds are the sizzling of the bacon. I take a couple more sips before I speak.

"What time is it?"

Sierra glances at the stove clock, answering me quickly.

"It's nine. And, I'm going to point out the fact you can sleep the morning away is mind blowing. How did you sleep last night though?" she asks.

Evan clears his throat at the table and I look up to stare holes into the side of his face.

"I didn't get much sleep. I sat outside and drank a couple beers before I went to bed.”

Evan pipes up from his seat at the table, lowering his paper to look toward me.

"She kept Mac company for a while. He came over to see if I was up or something, but obviously I was with you, babe."

I glare at him over my cup again, taking a couple more sips. He has to let the cat out of the bag.
Ass
. He has to open his big fat pie hole. God forbid he keeps it shut for more than five minutes.

Evan gives me a slick smirk, turning back to read the paper. Sierra on the other hand, looks over at me with wide, excited eyes.
Here it comes.

"That's really weird. He never comes over that late. I hope everything was okay. I didn't hear your phone ring Evan. Unless he called Callie's phone…"

Dammit.

I keep drinking my coffee trying to contemplate how I can stop Sierra from being suspicious. The last thing I want to divulge is he came to see me, I pissed him off with my nonexistent filter, and then he stormed out of the house. So, instead I stay silent.

Evan swoops in to save the day with his next sentence.

"Yeah. I didn't hear it either, but I had two missed calls. Everything seemed fine. He was probably just bored, or drunk or something. You know how he is."

I look toward Evan giving him a half scowl for slightly saving me from a thousand questions later on. Why did he even bring it up to her if he was just going to blow if off like it was nothing? I’m going to guess he’s just pushing my buttons. Well, I don’t like my buttons pushed
roomie
.

Sierra seems to be skeptical of his answer, but then nods her head, agreeing with him.

“Yeah, it’s just strange. I guess he is a strange guy after all.” She resumes her cooking.

I feel the sweat drip from my brow as I sag against the counter in relief. Hopefully, it will keep my crazy best friend at bay until I can come up with a logical answer to what last night was myself. My head is still swimming with how comfortable we both got with each other. As innocent as it was cuddling up with Mac, I felt something more than a friend would feel for a friend. I mean he kissed the top of my head like we have known each other for a long time and we barely know each other. That’s a problem. His strong arms wrapped around me and made me melt into a puddle. That’s a problem too. Not to mention all of the other problems which come with being
friends
with him. I’m starting a mental checklist and hopefully I can remember each reason next time he's near me.

After breakfast, Sierra decides we need to do some shopping as a kind of initiation to the city. I happily accepted her offer needing to get some fresh air. I’m dying to see the city and some shopping thrown into the mix sounds like a perfect solution. Sierra drives up to a small clothing store in the middle of the city. She claims they have amazing prices to go along with their incredible inventory. It’s a small boutique I would never have noticed if it wasn’t pointed out.

Once inside the store, we make our way through the racks of clothing which are lined up strategically. As I look around, I have to agree with Sierra about the prices being amazing. We’re talking serious shopping here. I could charge an entire new wardrobe on my credit card and still not max it out.

“Try that on!” Sierra practically screams at me. I hold up a black dress which reveals a little more skin than I’m used to showing. I look at the dress on the hanger and back to her with a skeptical look.

“I don’t know. Don’t you think it’s a little too much? Where would I even wear this? It’s not like I can wear it around campus,” I chuckle.