That line between love and hate really was thin, wasn’t it? Or was it a coin that was easy to flip around?
She smiled. “You’re not too late. I’ll take you back. I love you, too.”
His whole face lit up. “Really?”
“Yeah.”
“Kiss her!” yelled Evan.
Caleb laughed. Then he closed the distance between them, cupped her face, and placed a perfect kiss against her lips.
Lauren parted her lips to let him in more deeply, putting her hands on his shoulders, then behind his head to pull him closer, and he put his hands on her waist to hold her there. And they kissed right there, in the middle of the cat room, with the whole crowd of friends and customers looking on. Their relationship was secret no longer.
Lauren eased away and took a step back. Everyone was staring at them with giddy expressions on their faces.
“You know,” Lauren said to Caleb, “normal boyfriends bring their girlfriends flowers. Not cheap keychains.”
“Sure, but I also know a lot of flowers contain toxins that are bad for cats.”
Lauren laughed.
Paige stepped forward. “I’d offer you privacy, but, well, this is a place of business and it’s the middle of the day.”
Lauren was tired of having an audience anyway. To Paige and Monique, she said, “You guys have got the rest of the day handled, right?”
“Absolutely,” said Monique, smiling.
“Cool. Come on, Caleb, we’ll go to my place.”
She grabbed his hand and started leading him toward the door. There were some hoots and hollers from the peanut gallery.
“You…consulted with Evan to do all this?” Lauren asked.
“Yeah. Was that the wrong thing to do? The cat application thing was his idea.”
“It was probably exactly the right thing to do. Evan has been rooting for us all along.”
“Really?”
“He’s a smart guy.”
He was so smart, in fact, that he’d run into the back and returned with Lauren’s handbag. He handed it to her and then said, “You crazy kids get out of here.”
Lauren squeezed Caleb’s hand. “All right. Let’s go, Caleb.”
***
As he crossed the threshold, Caleb realized the last time he’d been in Lauren’s apartment was the day he’d left her. It felt a little strange to be walking back into it now.
“Pardon the mess,” said Lauren. “I wasn’t expecting anyone to come over today.”
Caleb looked around. The apartment wasn’t messy so much as a little cluttered. The blanket on the sofa was askew, there was an empty coffee cup on the table, and she busied herself now with picking some errant pieces of mail off the floor.
“Molly can’t abide my leaving mail on this table,” Lauren said. “I’m forever picking it up. Anyway.”
And now it was awkward. Where should Caleb stand? What should he say?
Lauren pulled the keychain he’d given her out of her pocket and hung it on a hook next to the door. “This is really a key to your apartment? It’s not just some old key you put on here to make a point?”
“Those are real keys. I meant everything I said. That’s why I got witnesses.”
“You didn’t have to go that far.”
“Yes, I did. I had to do something to prove I’m serious. I do trust you, you know. I mean, maybe text before you come over, but you really are welcome at any time.”
Lauren laughed while rolling her eyes. “Text first. Of course.”
“If I don’t answer, I’m probably sleeping. I do that on my day off a lot.”
Lauren shook her head. Caleb couldn’t interpret the look.
“What?” he asked.
“I’m not asking for free and open access to your apartment, but you’re already putting restrictions on this.”
He was about to protest that this had not been his intention, even though he was still a little nervous about her just barging right into his space, but then Molly darted out from under the sofa and streaked across his path, which startled him so much he tripped backward. He caught himself on the arm of the sofa, but he cursed.
Lauren rolled her eyes. “You afraid of my cat?”
Her tone was adversarial, and Caleb couldn’t exactly blame her. She’d agreed to take him back, but he still had a little work to do to make her trust him “I’m sorry,” he said. He sat on the sofa. “This is going all wrong. I was joking. I mean, I do trust you, but—”
Lauren sat beside him and put her hand over his where it rested on his thigh. “It’s okay. We haven’t been dating very long. I never even needed that much from you, not this soon. I just wanted you to open up a little and accept that something had changed between us. That we were starting to mean more to each other than just sex. Now you and I can be together and see where it goes.”
“I know. I understand that. That’s what I was trying to show you. Did I bungle it?”
“No.” She smiled.
“Because I’ve changed. You changed me.”
She blinked a couple of times. “Are we having a romantic comedy ending? Is this like every other Julia Roberts movie?”
He laughed. “I’m just a boy…sitting next to a girl…asking her to love him.”
She smiled. Her eyes looked a little watery. “Have you changed?”
He took a deep breath. “If I haven’t, I want to. I’m tired of feeling the way I have since Kara left. Putting on armor may keep me safe, but it sure is lonely in there. And I honestly don’t know if you and I will work out. I just know my life is better with you in it. The more time we spent together, the more I started to feel like myself again, and not the jaded asshole I’d become. I will probably never be the old Caleb again, but I am this man now, and I want to be open. Unlocked. Not
