Actually, he's right, but not for the reason he's referring to. It's because I can't stop thinking about her.
"It's hotter than hell in the bedroom. That's why I'm not sleeping. I need to get an air conditioner for that room. I just haven't had time."
Because I'm spending all my time with Callie. But I'm not telling Jake that.
"I could bring one down. I'm out buying stuff today anyway. I'll pick one up and we'll install it this weekend."
"That'd be great. And you might as well get one for the other bedroom and the downstairs so we can cool the place down since you guys are all staying here."
"Will do. But if I get lucky at the bar, I won't be staying with you guys."
"I still expect to see your ass here bright and early Sunday morning."
"You never answered me about your neighbor. You going out with her?"
"No. We're just friends." I try to avoid telling him, or anyone else in my family, about my love life. It's none of their business.
"So she's single?"
"For the last time, you are not going out with her. And neither are Bryce and Austin, so make that clear to them before they get here. What time you guys leaving tomorrow?"
"Probably around six. Should be there by eight."
"Sounds good. Thanks again for doing this. And for getting the air conditioners. I'll pay you for them when you get here. See you tomorrow."
"Yeah. See ya."
My brothers can be a pain in the ass sometimes, but they're all good guys. We help each other out and always have. Their idea of a fun weekend is not fixing broken concrete but they'll do it because I asked.
At three-thirty, Callie shows up in my kitchen, still in her work t-shirt and jeans. "Sorry I'm late. I was helping Lou clean up after the cupcake disaster. I'll get to work."
"Callie, wait." I dust my hands off on my shorts and follow her to the living room. "If you want to go home and change, go ahead. It's too hot in here to wear jeans."
"I'm already late. The jeans are fine." She opens a box and starts sorting through it.
And I thought I was strict about being on time. My construction guys know better than to be late when I'm in charge. They get their asses kicked if they're late. But I don't have strict hours for Callie. I've told her that before, but maybe she forgot.
"Callie." I hold her arm. I can't help it. Whenever I'm around her I want to touch her. "I don't care what time you get here. Don't worry about it. Go change into shorts. Or just skip today if you want. It sounds like you had a busy day at Lou's." I let go of her arm. "You said something about a cupcake disaster?"
"Yeah. Princess Katie didn't like the cupcakes we made so we had to hurry and make new ones."
"What was wrong with the first ones?"
"She just changed her mind. She ordered different ones last night, then lied and told Lou he got her order wrong so she wouldn't have to pay for the new ones."
"He should've refused to do it."
Callie rolls her eyes. "You don't refuse to do something for Princess Katie or she'll have her dad put Lou out of business."
"He can't do that."
"He could if he wanted to. Lou said her dad could make up some code violation and shut the place down."
I shake my head. "This is why I hate politicians. They're always using their power to screw over people that piss them off."
"I know. Anyway, she got her stupid cupcakes and now we have a hundred we have to toss out. Actually, I brought a few dozen home in case you wanted them."
"You brought me cupcakes?" I smile.
"I didn't want to see them get thrown out."
"That's the only reason?"
She shrugs. "And because you eat a lot so I figured they'd help fill that bottomless pit you call a stomach."
"What kind are they?"
"Chocolate coconut."
"Sounds good. We'll have them for dessert tonight."
"We're having dinner again?"
"You don't want to?" I look at her face, trying to figure out what she's thinking. I know she's confused about last night. We both are.
"Um, I guess I could," she finally says, but I can hear the uncertainty in her tone.
"Can we just talk about this?" I pull her over to the dusty couch to sit down.
"Talk about what?"
"What happened last night. I think we both know there's something between us. Something that makes us want to be more than just neighbors. Would you agree?"
She nods. "Yeah."
"So what do you want to do about it?"
"I don't know." She looks down and brushes some flour off her jeans. "I'm not looking to get into a relationship, but when we're around each other, things just seem to happen and..." Her eyes meet up with mine. "I like those things."
"I do too. So maybe we just don't define this. Or label it. Maybe we just keep doing what we're doing and see what happens."
"But what exactly are we doing?"
"Having dinner. Talking. Analyzing the validity of country music lyrics."
She laughs. "Yeah. I like doing that. We should do that again."
"Then that's what we'll do tonight. There's a rib place down the road about ten miles from here. I'll get us some BBQ and we'll go out on my deck and eat ribs and listen to country songs. Sound good?"