Page 58 of Even If the Sky is Falling
“Your girlfriend’s okay too?”
“Girlfriend?”
“Yeah, the woman on the phone. She’s the one watching Toby, isn’t she?”
Caleb stares at me for a long second before chuckling. “That was my stepmom.”
“Oh!”
I let out an embarrassed laughing noise. “I don’t know why I thought... I guess I just assumed since you said her name and ‘I love you’...”
He waves a hand. “No worries.”
The half smile he flashes makes my stomach do a tiny flip. I don’t know why... I barely know this guy... I definitely shouldn’t feel as giddy as I do to find out that he’s single.
“She’s retired so she offers to watch Toby most days during the week so I don’t have to leave him home alone when I go to work,” Caleb says.
“That’s really nice of her,” I say. “Toby is an excellent dog name, by the way. It’s really cute.”
“That’s actually his nickname. His full name is Toby-Wan Kenobi.”
I burst out laughing. “That is ridiculously adorable.”
“I let my niece and nephew name him when I got him a few years ago. My sister, who’s their mom, got him for me as a gift for my thirtieth birthday. My nephew was really intoStar Warsat the time so he wanted to name him Obi-Wan, but my niece thought Toby was better. So Toby-Wan Kenobi was my idea for a compromise.”
I swoon even harder than when I did while he was on the phone talking to his dog. Because the fact that Caleb seems to be so good with kidsandis into animals is my romantic kryptonite.
I swallow back the thought and remind myself to keep it together. We’ve known each other for less than an hour. On top of that we technically have a professional relationship, since he’s my contractor. And I definitely shouldn’t be having daytime fantasies about the guy I hired to redo my kitchen cabinets. That’s beyond creepy.
I push those thoughts aside and notice Caleb glancing down at Mango.
“So what’s his name origin story?”
I reach to give Mango a chin scratch. “It’s not that interesting. Mango was his name when I adopted him from the animal shelter a handful of years ago. I thought it suited him perfectly because he’s an orange tabby.”
“It’s still pretty cute.” Caleb winks at me and I try my hardest not to choke on the air in my lungs.
“He’s cute for sure,” I finally say, relieved that my voice sounds mostly steady. “But also a handful.”
“Really? He seems so laid-back.”
I scoff-laugh before giving Caleb a quick rundown of my frantic day taking Mango to the vet.
His eyes widen. “Whoa, I didn’t know cats ate stuff like muffin wrappers.”
“This guy does. He’s a garbage disposal. I have to be careful about leaving food out on the kitchen counter or the dining table. He’ll hop up and devour anything and everything.”
I give Mango one more chin scratch and he slow-blinks at me before nuzzling the plushy edge of his bed and falling back to sleep.
“That’s why I was running around like wild when you first came over,” I say. “The surprise vet visit threw off my whole schedule today and I was scrambling to get ready for a Zoom meeting. Not like that matters now.”
Caleb nods like he understands. “I’ve been there. Toby has a habit of chasing after bees and he’s been stung a couple times. Had to cut work to rush him to the vet.”
I make a sympatheticawwsound.
Caleb shakes his head while aiming a smile at a now-sleeping Mango. “The things we do for our little guys.”
He glances at the karaoke machine sitting under the TV.
