The smile that had been playing across Caleb’s lips fell. He glanced toward Evan, who moved his hand in a circular keep going gesture.
Caleb sighed. “This was supposed to be my big romantic gesture. See, isn’t it cute? Caleb’s adopting a cat. But he’d never adopt a cat because he’s a dog person. Ha, ha.”
Lauren rolled her eyes. Her stomach churned. She felt like she was the butt of some April Fools’ joke. “How gullible do you think I am?”
“No, I…” Caleb frowned and rubbed his forehead. “I’m fucking this up. This was supposed to be a cute gesture where I get you to laugh long enough for me to tell you I made a huge mistake. You were right, I put up walls and didn’t give us a chance to see where things could go. I thought I didn’t want to be in a relationship, and I still think relationships are scary and risky generally, but I want to be with you enough that I’m willing to take the risk. I’ve missed you like crazy since we ended things.”
Wasn’t this what Lauren had wanted to hear? Hadn’t she fantasized about the moment Caleb realized he was stupid to let her go and came groveling back? Well, here he was. He was telling her he’d made a mistake and he wanted to be with her. But something still wasn’t right.
“How do I trust this?” she asked. “How do I know you won’t change your mind in a week and send me packing again?”
“Well, speaking of packing, I thought this could help.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a keychain with two keys on it. The tag was shaped like an old-fashioned suitcase. He handed it to Lauren.
Lauren held it and examined it. “What is this?” she asked, her pulse kicking up.
“Well, we talked a lot about our baggage, about how it was in the way. I thought this could be a peace offering. Those are the keys to my apartment. The square one is the deadbolt and the round one is the main lock.”
“You’re…giving me keys to your place?”
He took a step toward her. “I want us to be a couple for real. To go over each other’s places when we feel like it, because we trust each other and are comfortable around each other. In a way, I guess I’m sharing my baggage with you, too. My past experience is part of who I am now and I can’t just get rid of it, but maybe with you, I won’t let it hold me back anymore.”
Lauren looked down at the keychain in her hand, feeling mystified. He… He was really telling her he wanted them to be a couple. Giving her keys felt like a tangible commitment. He was trying to tell her he’d heard her and what she’d asked of him and was trying to give it to her now.
What did she want? She looked up at Caleb and met his gaze. Well, she cared about him. She loved him, in fact. She’d been miserable the last few weeks since they’d ended things.
What about the whole focusing on herself thing? She was pretty happy about her job. It was going well, even though she was losing sleep over a pending discussion about money with Diane. Still, she liked the challenge of demonstrating that she could expand the business in a viable way. And she loved her apartment, she loved the cats, she loved her friends. And she loved Caleb. Being with him would make her happy. And if the ultimate goal was to be happy, shouldn’t she go for it?
“You’re not talking,” said Caleb. “Please say something. What do you think? Am I too late, or…”
“No, you’re not too late,” Lauren said, the words coming out a little watery. “This is…” She held up the keychain. “You’re really serious. You want us to be together.”
“Yes. It was wrong of me to end things without really trying to make it work. I’ve regretted that since the moment I walked out of your apartment. I just didn’t know how to give you what you wanted. But now I do. So, yes, I do want to be with you. And, hey, all your closest friends are here to bear witness to it.”
“You invited them?”
“Well, I invited Evan. He took some liberties.”
“You’re welcome!” Evan shouted from across the room.
Lauren laughed. “Well… I mean, I can’t believe you…”
“Lauren. Letting you go was a stupid thing for me to do. I was wrong about us. Yeah, we argue about dumb things sometimes, but that just means we’re both passionate people with strong opinions, and the truth is, toward the end we agreed more often than we didn’t. Anything we disagree on is something we can work on together. I mean, I may even come around on the whole keeping-a-cat-as-a-pet thing.”
Sadie wandered over then and rubbed up against Caleb’s leg. Caleb bent to give her scritches on her head.
“Well. I’ll believe that when I see it.” Lauren took a deep breath and looked at the keychain again. Could she deal with Caleb’s baggage? Yeah, she probably could. “You mean it. You want to be with me?” Every time she repeated it, it felt truer.
Caleb opened his mouth to say something, then snapped his jaw shut, then shook his head like he’d made a decision. “Yes,” he said. “I want to be with you. I love you.”
Well, there it was. They loved each other. And hopefully that was enough. They could work together on everything else.
“Please say it’s not too late,” Caleb said. “You want to be with me too, right? I’m not just embarrassing myself in front of all your friends so you can kick me to the curb, am I?”
“No, I…” Warmth spread
