"I don't know if I can wait until then. We might just have to do those other things when I get to your house this afternoon."
"Callie." Lou walks up to me. "I need you to—oh, sorry, I didn't know you were on the phone."
"I have to get back to work," I say to Nash. "I'll talk to you later."
"Did you tell Lou about us?" Nash asks.
"No. I'm not ready to," I say, hurrying him off the phone. "Bye." I end the call.
"Who were you talking to?" Lou asks.
"No one."
"You look awfully happy for someone talking to no one."
"What do you need?"
"I need you to box up a dozen lemon bars. A woman's coming to pick them up in a few minutes."
"Okay, I'll do it."
He returns to his office. He's acting very strange today.
He's still acting strange when I go back there at seven for the taste test.
"What's with the white tablecloth?" I ask as he seats me at one of the small tables in the middle of the room.
"I thought it would be nice. That's all." He disappears in the kitchen, leaving me there alone.
The front door opens and Nash walks in.
"What are you doing here?" I ask.
"Lou just called and asked if I could fix a faucet in the kitchen. He said it's leaking pretty bad."
"The faucet's not leaking, at least it wasn't earlier."
"Nash." Lou appears again and walks up to Nash and shakes his hand. "Good to see you."
"You too. So you wanted me to fix a faucet?"
"Nah." He waves his hand around. "I fixed it myself." He glances at me. "As long as you're here, you might as well stay for dinner. Callie wouldn't mind, would you, Callie?"
Now I get why Lou's been acting so odd. He set this up. He's been planning this all day, or maybe all week. He's trying to get me together with Nash.
"I guess it'd be okay," I say, trying not to laugh.
"Have a seat," Lou says to Nash. "The food will be right out." He returns to the kitchen.
Nash is smiling as he sits down across from me. "Did you know about this?"
"No." I'm laughing now. "I can't believe he's doing this. Does he think I'm that desperate? I can't even find my own dates."
Nash nods toward the kitchen. "Should we tell him?"
"Maybe we should see what he has planned first."
"Here he comes," Nash says.
"We'll be starting with the salad." Lou sets down two plates of mixed greens topped with sliced apples and candied walnuts.
"Don't we already have a salad like this?" I ask.
"This has a different dressing," he says, then scurries off and comes back with a bottle of wine. "This is to pair with the meal."
"We don't serve alcohol," I say, seeing if he'll fess up to his scheme.
"Yes, but people who take their food to go might enjoy a glass of wine with their meal, and if so, we need to give them pairing ideas." He sets down two glasses and pours the wine.
Nash grins at me across the table, then says, "You look very nice tonight, Callie."
I'm wearing jeans and a gray t-shirt. I do not look nice.
"Thank you," I say. "You look nice too."
He's wearing jeans and a black polo shirt. He looks better than me, but neither one of us is dressed for a white tablecloth dinner.
Lou watches us, a sly grin forming on his face. "I'll let you two eat." He races off to the kitchen.
"Should we tell him now?" Nash asks.
"I don't know. After he set me up like this, I feel like we need to keep it going a little longer. That comment about me looking nice was hilarious. Say something like that again. Or do something romantic."
"I wasn't trying to be funny. You do look nice."
"I'm wearing jeans and a t-shirt."
"I love a girl in jeans and a t-shirt, specifically the one sitting across from me." He reaches over and holds my hand.
"Ooh, that's good. You should've done that when Lou was here."
"I did it because I wanted to, not because of Lou."
"Oh. Well, that's good too." I toss my salad around with my fork. "So what are you doing later?"
"Why do you ask?"
"I just wondered if you might want to come over to my place tonight."
"After one dinner? Wow, you move fast. I don't think Lou would approve of that." He takes a bite of his salad.
I nudge his foot under the table. "Will you or not?"
"You know I will. I want you next to me every night. Your place? My place? Doesn't matter. I just need you next to me."
I feel the same way. I want to be with Nash every day and every night, but that won't happen unless I move to Chicago. It'll be hard to go back there. There are so many memories, but I can't continue to be afraid of the memories. They're part of my past and I need to embrace them and cherish them and be grateful to have them. And if I move to Chicago, I can make new memories with Nash.
"What are you smiling about over there?" Nash asks.
I didn't even realize I was until he said that.
"I think I just made a decision."
"Oh, yeah? About what?"
"I think I'm moving back to Chicago."
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Nash
"Are you serious?" I set my salad fork down. "You're really moving back?"
She nods. "It's my home, and it's where I need to be, and I need to go back to school. But..."