Page 11 of Love at a 7-Eleven

"A party planner?" Marcus's wife, Sasha asked, sounding confused.

Caleb wasn't playing at the moment, and he leaned to the side so that he could reach into his back pocket where he found her business card. It had been burning a hole there all day. He was confused by his feelings, so he had intentionally left it untouched. It felt like such a relief to finally take it out. He wanted to seem natural and like it was no big deal, so he did what he thought he would normally do. He didn't even look at it before presenting it to Sasha. She had a curious expression as she took it from him.

"I think she does kids' birthday parties and stuff, if you ever want help with that. I thought you guys might want to hire her."

"Oh, Lila? I know her. I didn't know she was starting up a business. She'd be good at that. Oh, yeah, we went to that luau party at Dan and Nancy's. That was her who put that on."

"Oh, yeah, Lila Decker? That was fun, I remember that," Marcus said.

"You know her already?" Caleb asked, gesturing to the card.

"Oh, yeah, Lila? That's Eddie's daughter," Marcus said. "Eddie Decker."

Caleb had been close to Marcus during the three years that he had been with the Bears. Caleb knew a lot about Eddie Decker. After all, the man was a legend. He had met him once in passing. Lila had not mentioned that she was Eddie's daughter.

"Don't his boys own that big gym?" Caleb asked.

"ETCeee!" Kevin said wiggling in his spot on the couch while he played the game.

"This boy cannot keep himself away from that place," Sasha said.

"Are we going there?" Kevin asked, looking expectant, like it might happen right then. The injury was still fairly fresh, and there were physical limitations for Kevin, but you would never know that with how much enthusiasm and energy he had.

"Maybe tomorrow," Sasha promised.

"Yeah, maybe tomorrow, Champ," Caleb said, smiling at Kevin and ruffling his hair.

Chapter 5

Lila

That same evening

My phone lit up with a notification that I had a text.

It was 9:30pm, and I was in my sweats. I had been hoping I would get a certain text, and I lunged forward to pick up my phone the instant I heard a notification. I had a hard time forgetting about meeting Caleb today, and I had been hoping he would get in touch with me.

My phone told me that it was 'Maybe Caleb Caldwell' and I felt a giddy rush of excitement before I could even get to the full text and read what it said.

I blinked at the screen.

Caleb:

This is Caleb. We met earlier today. Is this a good number to text?

My heart felt like it stopped.

I could envision his face—his dark eyes. I was all warm and expectant when I thought about talking to him again. I really wanted this to happen. I was grinning from ear to ear as I texted him back.

Me:

Yes, this is my cell. Hey, Caleb! How was your day?

I typed my response, and then I sat there and stared at my phone.Should I ask him how his day was? Was that getting too personal?I deleted it and typed another.

Me:

Yes, this is my cell. Hey Caleb! It's great to hear from you!

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