Page 65 of Another Last Call
It wasn’t at all what I had expected him to do with the place. Everything was fresh, yet cozy. The floor was new, but a different colour than what he’d ended up using for the bar. He hadn’t replaced the cabinets, but had refinished them, and they gleamed under the soft rays that floated through the back windows. There was a plush sheepskin rug on the floor in front of the fireplace, but instead of looking like something from a trashy romance novel, it made me want to settle on the couch and pick at my guitar.
When it came right down to it, it was modest compared to the other luxury houses, but it looked like an actual home. Caleb had updated a lot of things, but I could see the marks of care and pride in everything he’d done. It was nowhere near the extravagant things he’d planned to do, but it was…
It was perfect.
“Holy shit,” I finally managed to say.
“What do you think?” Caleb asked, grinning.
I wandered into the house. “It looks amazing. When did you finish?”
“Beginning of the summer,” he said.
He grabbed two beers from the kitchen, where he’d replaced the appliances, and led me out to the deck.
It was different from the last time I’d seen it, and the only thing that seemed to have stayed from the initial plan. Caleb had built the dream deck he’d talked about, with stairs leading up to a patio off the bedroom and another set leading down to a stone terrace. The railings were done in glass so there was a seamless view of the lake. The same patio furniture was still there, old but sturdy, giving the place a lived-in feel. I walked past a lounger with a striped cushion on it to the railing, looking out over the lake.
“It turned out great, Caleb,” I said as he came up behind me.
“It might not be what I planned, but I think it’s exactly what I wanted,” he said.
We sipped our beers quietly. Caleb’s property was surrounded by trees, and if any of his neighbours were out enjoying the amazing sunset, I couldn’t hear them.
“You’ll rake in the money when you leave. Private lot like this, all those upgrades.” I tried to smile, but the thought of Caleb leaving made me miserable. “Will you still come to the bar?”
He didn’t answer right away, and when I turned to him, I realized he’d been watching me intently.
“I’m not selling it, Maggie.”
My stomach fluttered. “You’re going to stay? And live here?”
“Yeah.” He looked nervous, his lip trembling just the slightest bit. “Mags, I’m about to say something, and it’s going to change things between us.”
The fluttering in my stomach stopped abruptly, dropping in terror as my mind raced. He had met someone. Or wanted to buy me out of the bar. Or worse.
“Okay,” I finally managed to say.
“Move in with me.”
Whatever I had been expecting, it wasn’t that. I stared at Caleb, frozen in place.
“I can’t. We… we’re business partners. We have to keep it professional,” I finally stuttered.
“Yeah, and every time we agree to stop fucking, we end up back together.” Caleb put his beer down on the patio table. “I can’t pretend anymore. I spend almost all my time with you. I see you every day.”
“We fight all the time.”
“We fight because it means we’re probably going to fuck after,” he shot back. “Do you think we’d fight all the time if we could just be together whenever we wanted?”
I flushed. The last time he came to my apartment after a shift, we’d argued about changing a beer we had on tap. I had no strong opinion either way, and it was only after he’d pulled his cock out of me that I realized I’d disagreed with him just to get him upstairs.
“I want you to live with me,” he continued. “I want us to be together. I want to stop pretending like neither of us wants that. Don’t you?”
His eyes seemed to stare straight into my heart.
“Yes,” I whispered.
He let out a breath, his eyes flashing hopefully. “You do want me?”
