At Peace (56 page)

Vi’d been there with Mike, from the look of
Elaine more than once.

Violet took a step back and ran into him.

Cal touched her then, sliding his arm around
her waist, he moved to her side, pulled her to his and looked at
Elaine.

“Got a booth, Elaine?” he asked.

Elaine looked at the wall of booths, two were
open.

She looked back at Cal. “Take your pick,
Cal.” Her eyes dropped to Cal’s hand curled around Vi’s waist then
up to Vi. “Hey Violet.”

“Hi Elaine.”

“What’s shakin’?” Elaine asked as Cal moved
Vi forward.

“World’s upside down,” Violet answered.

Elaine finally grinned. “I can see.”

Cal didn’t catch what Vi did, but whatever it
was, Elaine’s grin grew to a smile and Vi walked with him through
the restaurant as eyes followed.

He let her go when they hit a booth, the last
one against the back wall, more privacy.

She slid in, he slid in beside her.

She looked at him and asked, “Can you sit
opposite?”

“No,” he answered.

“Why?”

“I like you at my side.”

Her expression gentled but she said, “I like
my space.”

“Say good-bye to that,” Cal advised.

“What?” she whispered.

“Baby, I’m moved in, you got a new dog and,
tomorrow, you got Dane sleepin’ on your couch. You like space,
you’re fucked.”

Her face ungentled and grew pale. “You’re
moved in?”

“I moved in this morning before you got
home.”

“Where?”

“Your room.”

“
How?” Her voice was rising.

“How?” Cal repeated.

“Yes, how?”

“Packed some shit, brought it over, unpacked
it,” Cal explained unnecessarily.

“Where’d you put it?”

“In your room.”

“Yeah, but where?”

“Jeans and boots in the closet, dumped some
tees in a drawer, razor in the bathroom. Done.”

“Holy crap,” she whispered then jumped when
Elaine slapped two menus on the table.

“Should I have bothered with those?” she
asked a pertinent question, tipping her head to menus no person
who’d lived in that town longer than a month hadn’t memorized.

“
Not for me,” Vi told her, “I want a
reuben.”

“Burger,” Cal said.

“Cheese?” Elaine asked Cal.

“Yep.”

“Cheddar, swiss, or jack?” Elaine went
on.

“Surprise me,” Cal told her and Elaine
grinned again.

“Drinks?” Elaine continued.

“Diet Coke,” Vi ordered.

“Beer,” Cal said.

“Bud, Coors, Bud Light, Coors Light, Heineken
–” Elaine listed.

Cal cut her off. “Bud.”

“Onion rings, fries or both?” Elaine went
on.

“Fries,” Vi answered.

“Both,” Cal told her.

“
Gotcha.” Elaine shoved her pencil behind
her ear and slid the menus back off the table. She’d had her pad in
her hand while they ordered but this was either for show or she
held it by habit. She hadn’t written a word before she walked away.
The order would come to the table as they’d asked for it and the
check would come with a total at the bottom, that was it and it
would be the right total. That was Elaine. That was
Frank’s.

“Joe,” Violet called and he turned to see she
was out and out fretting so he turned more fully to her and dipped
his head close.

“Relax, buddy,” he said softly.

“This is going really fast.”

“I know.”

“We need to talk.”

“About what?”

“Nadia.”

Cal pulled back. “What about her?”

“Who is she?” Vi asked.

Fuck.

He did not want to get into this shit and
what was more, she didn’t.

“Vi –” Cal said low.

“No, I don’t want to know. What I want to
know is, honest, right here, did you sleep with her while you were
sleepin’ with me?”

Cal locked down his temper. “I already told
you the answer to that.”

“Okay, then, is she gone?”

Nadia was never gone. Nadia was always a
phone call away. He didn’t share that.

“Yeah.”

“Definitely?”

“Vi, not a big fan of askin’ or answerin’
twice.”

“You lied to me.”

“There was a reason.”

“And that was?”

“To save you from me.”

Her torso moved back and her eyes got
big.

Cal wrapped a hand around the back of her
neck, pulled her close and leaned into her.

“Thought I was savin’ myself from you, but I
was savin’ you from me.”

“I –” she started.

He cut her off. “You see these scars on my
face?”

Her eyes went to his cheek then back to his.
“Yes.”

“Bonnie gave them to me. So high, her head
was in the clouds but it wasn’t a good trip. She got pissed at
somethin’, I don’t even know what, she came at me. Got me with her
nails.”

“Joe,” she whispered, her fingers curling
tight around his thigh.

“She got like that a lot. When she was
pissed, she’d scream the fuckin’ house down and it wasn’t unusual
she came after me. She only marked my face and, you probably don’t
know this, buddy, but you gotta come hard and dig deep to make
marks like these with your nails.”

“I… I don’t know what to say,” Vi
muttered.

“Not tellin’ you for you to say anything. I’m
tellin’ you because now it’s happening. You’re with me and you’ll
find this shit out about me. I look in the mirror every day and
remember her marking me then I remember what else she did to me.
Now you see it, right on my fuckin’ face, you’ll think about it
too. Maybe it won’t come to you every time you see it, but it’ll
come to you and, I know you, you’ll feel it.”

“Joe –”

His face got closer and he whispered, “That’s
what I was savin’ you from, baby.”

“It’s you,” she said incomprehensibly.

“What?” he asked.

“I didn’t know she did it. Before you told me
what you just told me, those scars were just you.”

“Now you know.”

“Those scars are still just you.”

“Vi –”

“They are.”

Fuck, was she serious?

“Vi –”

“Maybe you’re right and I’ll think about it
sometimes. But most of the time, I don’t even see them. They’re
just a part of you.”

Cal had no response to that except the
urge to kiss her.

So he did and he kept doing it until he heard
the thud of a beer bottle hitting the table.

His mouth left Vi’s and he turned to see
Elaine putting Violet’s drink in front of her.

“Bud, diet. Enjoy. Shout for a refill,”
Elaine said, her mouth curled up at the ends and then she walked
away.

Cal turned to Violet who’d grabbed her drink
and was sucking on the straw. It reminded him of her at J&J’s,
her elbow on the bar, her head in her hand, her straw between her
lips, her eyes on him and half his concentration had been on her,
the rest of it trying to stop his dick getting hard.

He hoped Frank hurried with their goddamned
food.

Violet’s eyes came to him. “We should
probably not make out in Frank’s restaurant.”

“Why not?”

“’Cause it’s mostly full.”

“So?”

“Rumors fly.”

“Buddy, my truck’s in your drive and my tees
are in your drawer.”

Her eyes slid to the side then back to him
then she put her straw to her mouth and muttered, “Right,” then she
sucked on her straw.

“It’s a small town, we’ll be the talk of it
for about a week then someone else will.”

“Okay,” she whispered and put her glass
down.

When she released her glass, he took her
hand. Linking his fingers with hers, he brought their hands to his
thigh.

“What else is in there?”

Her eyes lifted to his. “What?”

“In your head that we have to get sorted
out?”

She laughed softly then replied, “You don’t
wanna know.”

“Wouldn’t ask, I didn’t wanna know.”

She leaned into him. “Joe, there’s so much in
my head, it’d take a year to get it sorted out.”

“All right, break it down. What’s
priority?”

Her face set to confused. “Priority?”

Christ, she was cute.

“The most important, baby,” he explained
quietly.

“Um… all of it.”

“First thing,” he said.

“First thing?”

“Right now, first thing that comes to you,
what is it?”

“Mel.”

His brows drew together. “Mel?”

“She’s… I know what she’s feeling, Joe, I’ve
been there and I’m worried about her.”

His hand squeezed hers. “Buddy –”

“And she doesn’t even have kids to make it
easier.”

“Then give them to her,” Cal said and a
surprised laugh came from her.

“I can’t give her kids, Joe, it’s
anatomically impossible,” she teased.

“You got two with phones and you got a car,
honey.”

Her face turned startled and she whispered,
“You’re right.”

“Helps both ways. The girls and you call her
regular, you get her regular. Go up to see her, get her to come
down here.”

“I don’t think I can go up there, Joe, not by
myself.”

“
Didn’t say you’re goin’ by yourself,
wouldn’t
let
you go by
yourself.”

Her hands spasmed in his and she whispered,
“Joe –”

“What else you got?”

“Joe –”

He leaned in again. “What else’s in your
head, baby?”

She tugged her hand from his, lifted it and
curled her fingers around his neck.

“Thank you,” she whispered and he saw tears
trembling at the bottoms of her eyes.

“For what?” he asked softly, his eyes glued
to her tears and her hand gave him a squeeze as he watched one
slide down her face.

Before he could do a thing about it her head
came forward and veered to his left.

In his ear, she whispered, “For not wastin’
time showin’ me I made the right decision.”

There it was. Vi didn’t make him work at it
long, it took less than thirty minutes.

Cal felt a twinge pierce the left side of his
chest and he lifted his hand to her neck too, sliding it back and
up into her hair, he bent his neck in order to kiss hers and she
turned her head and kissed the hinge of his jaw.

He’d never had a sweeter kiss. Not in his
life.

His hand fisted in her hair and he lifted his
head, positioning hers so he could kiss her.

“Burger!” Elaine announced, a plate crashed
to the table and Vi jumped as Cal lifted his head. “Reuben!” she
went on as Cal twisted his neck to look up at her, leaving his hand
in Vi’s hair. “You got cheddar. Surprise,” she told Cal, smiled
huge and walked away.

Vi giggled.

Cal let his woman go and turned to his
food.

Vi squirted ketchup in a pile by her fries
and noted, “One good thing about you movin’ in…”

Cal left his burger suspended halfway to his
mouth and looked at Violet, brows raised when she didn’t
finish.

“Don’t think Dane’ll have any ideas, you’re
in the house.”

“He gets ‘em, I break his neck,” Cal muttered
and took a bite of his burger then looked back at Vi to see now she
had a fry loaded with ketchup suspended halfway to her mouth, her
eyes wide, her face back to pale. He chewed, swallowed then assured
her, “Relax, baby, I wouldn’t actually do it.”

“
Don’t threaten it either. You’ll scare the
shit out of him.”

“Scare him enough not to get ideas?”

“Joe!” she snapped.

He grinned at her and repeated, “Relax.”

“You can’t go around threatening
everyone.”

“Sure I can.”

“Joe!”

He put his burger down, turned to her and
said seriously, “Baby, relax.”

“Telling me to relax doesn’t actually mean
I’ll relax, Joe.”

“It should.”

“Why?”

He turned and hooked a hand around her neck,
pulled her to him and up to his face.

“
Because the time when your head is filled
with shit and you gotta worry about everything and everyone is
over. The time when you can relax is now. So, I’ll say it one last
time, buddy,
relax
.”

Her eyes moved over his face then he saw them
change. In fact, her whole face changed. That look settled on her
features that he’d seen once before when she was on his couch
talking to Sam. Affection, plain as day, love shining in her eyes,
all of it focused on him and he felt his left chest contract so
powerfully, the feeling radiated throughout his frame and his hand
tightened on her neck.

Before he could process this, she leaned up,
touched her mouth to his, moved slightly back and whispered, “Eat,
Joe.”

Then she pulled away and turned to her
plate.

Cal took his hand from her neck and turned to
his.

He’d been ambivalent about the concept of God
his young life, something that sent Aunt Theresa into a tizzy. But
you lose your Mom at a young age that shit’s bound to happen.

He lost his ambivalence when he lost his Dad
who was a shit Dad but Cal knew he’d once been a good one, a great
husband and a decent man and he lost his son the same day.

Now he reckoned, Vi moving in next door,
maybe finally someone was looking out for him.

Or his luck had changed.

Whatever, he was grateful.

Sitting next to Violet in a booth in a damn
fine greasy spoon, Joe Callahan lifted Frank’s Indiana-wide famous
burger to his mouth and took a bite.

* * * * *

“Joe,” I breathed, my head arched back.

“In my mouth, buddy.”

My head tipped forward, my hands went to his
jaws, I rode him harder because I couldn’t help it. His strong
fingers were digging into my hips, pulling me up and pounding me
down.

“Joe,” I whispered into his mouth as I felt
it coming.

His hand lifted to my hair, fisting, twisting
and he growled, “Say it.”

“I’m coming, baby,” I whispered.