Page 44 of Paging Dr. Breakup
Hurry.The keychain snagged on a thread inside of her pocket. Damn it.
“Deirdre?” Calvin’s voice reached out to her, ringing clear in the cold air.
Come on, come on.She ripped the keys from her pocket and hit the fob so the car unlocked. Slipping in, she didn’t bother with the seat belt as she engaged the engine and backed out, focusing solely on the rearview mirror.
Safety first, right?
If he jogged toward her car, she didn’t notice it. Not at all.
As she shifted into drive, she glanced out of the corner of her eye. Calvin’s mouth was open, but, with the closed windows, she couldn’t hear him. He half-lifted a hand.
She concentrated on the road like it was mission critical.
Petty? Maybe.
Dramatic like a high schooler? Not going to answer that question.
Ignoring another wave of stomach-clenching, adrenaline-powered unhappiness, she pulled onto the state highway and drove the mile or so to her house.
She quickly pulled into the garage and closed the door. There. Felt safer already. Her stomach growled.
So much for picking up groceries for dinner. Leftovers and gas station snacks would have to do.
She dragged herself into the house and made a sandwich out of cold cuts, sitting at the table and staring blankly at the wall. If the meal had flavor, she couldn’t detect it.
Ten minutes later, the sound of a car door closing outside made her lower back tingle. Then came footsteps on the front stairs and pounding on the door that made her drop the rest of the sandwich.
“Deirdre?” Calvin’s voice drifted through the wood. To her ear, his tone sounded guilty. “I know you’re there.”
There was no legitimate reason for him to be here. She had little sympathy for his frustration.
If he felt shame, it wasn’t because he had ditched her—it was because he’d beencaughtditching her. He had met with the enemy, as far as Deirdre was concerned.
More knocking. “Let me in.” His words weren’t angry. More… pleading.
Hey, he’d stood her up, fair and square. Not like he could spin it in a way that would convince anyone with an ounce of pride. He would have known that she had seen him with the guy who tried to ruin her and Mav.
Not much more to say.
“Please, Deirdre. I can explain.”
She couldn’t hide forever. As much as she did not want to confirm her feelings and conclusions, at the end of the day she was a fully formed adult who did not back down from uncomfortable conversations. Unless they involved her personal life, apparently.
With a tug to straighten her sweater hem, she lifted her chin and strode to the front door and opened it.
Calvin’s chest rose and fell under his black winter coat, like he’d been running. She peeked out. His sedan was parked in front of her house. His face fell into strange shadows with the fading light behind him and lamp light from her house in front of him.
“I want to explain,” he bit out.
“There’s nothing to explain. You don’t owe me anything.”
“I think I do.”
“Why? You’re an adult. You can do what you like. We aren’t an item.”
He scrubbed at his face. “We kind of are. Or we should be. Or… damn it.” Another big breath moved his coat up and down. “I know that I canceled dinner without giving you an explanation. Then you think you saw me in the restaurant, but I wasn’t there standing you up.”
“You weren’t there? At the diner where we were supposed to eat?”
