Page 55 of Seven Year Itch
I hear the sound of running footsteps, then “Uncle Caldy!” and Ethan emerges out of the backroom door wearing what looks like a dye-splattered apron and rubber gloves.
He makes a beeline toward me, and I see Dakota’s hands fly up as she cries, “Don’t touch anything!”
As soon as he gets close to me, I clamp my hands around his wrists and hold his dye-soaked gloves straight up above his head. “You’re under arrest!”
He laughs and squirms to get closer to me. “I want a hug, Uncle Caldy.”
“No way, dirt ball,” I gruff, walking him back the way he came, his little legs fighting me every step I go. “You need to finish whatever you were doing first.”
Cozy appears in the doorway next, looking out of breath. “Did he ruin anything? I’ll pay for it, I promise.”
“Calder caught him,” Dakota answers, her eyes dropping to look at the ground when I draw closer.
“I looked away for one second.” She marches over and takes Ethan’s wrists from my hands. “Thanks. I’m really glad you’re doing this tonight, Calder. He seriously needs to burn off some energy. I’ll go get him cleaned up, and then he’ll be ready to roll.”
“No rush.” I slide my hands into my pockets as Cozy walks Ethan back through the door they came out.
I take a moment and walk along the counter, noticing that Dakota is doing a bad job of looking busy back there, like she’s completely unaffected by my presence. I stop at a rack of shirts and slide the hangers over, one by one.
“I like your shop,” I offer, trying to break the tension a bit.
“It’s been here for ten years, and you never managed to stop in?” She pushes back from the front desk and leans on the counter behind her, watching me through her narrow sapphire eyes.
“I’m not a big shopper.” I walk around, perusing more of the clothes. “Plus, I don’t think you sell the kind of clothes I wear.”
“Sure, we do.” With a frown, she walks around the desk and makes her way over to me. My heart rate increases with every step she takes, ratcheting up even higher when the scent of her perfume hits me as she reaches past me and pulls out a T-shirt. “This would look good on you.”
She hands me a shirt that has the outline of a hairy man’s physique wearing a neon green mankini. I can’t help but smile. “This?”
She fights back her own amusement and nods. “Yep. We have dressing rooms if you want to try it on.”
I chuckle and shake my head. “You don’t think the real thing is better?” I pin her with a look, and that flush in her cheeks is back. I move closer to her to return the shirt to the spot she pulled it from. “Come to think of it... I am short a Colorado Rockies T-shirt, so maybe I do need to find something here.”
Dakota licks her lips, pulling the lower one into her mouth to chew on for a second. “I thought you gave that one away.”
I glance down at her lip as it goes back between her teeth. “Oh yeah, I think you’re right. That’s a shame. I kind of miss that shirt.”
I lean over her, resisting the urge to touch her like I want to. This is why the silent thing worked after our night together. When she does the talking thing, I have to do the looking thing. And the looking thing makes me want to do the touching thing. And the touching thing makes me want to do the naked thing.
When did we get so close together?
The sound of footsteps approaching rips both of us out of whatever fucked-up trance we’re in, and we split apart like a couple of horny teenagers caught kissing at a church dance.
“All clean!” Cozy sings as she walks Ethan over to me. “Thank you again, Calder, and sorry for not being home when you stopped by.”
“No worries.” I ruffle Ethan’s dark hair. “Ready to go, poop stain?”
“Ready!” he cheers and links his hand in mine to head out.
When we’re about at the door, Cozy calls out to me. “Oh wait, Calder.”
I turn around and frown, trying to keep my focus on Cozy when all I want to do is look at Dakota again.
“Dakota was asking me today if I could build her some custom shelves for these two corners of her store. And it’s just too big of a project for me... you know I’m more into the serving boards and small woodworking stuff, but I think you could make something perfect for it.”
“What?” Dakota and I both say in unison.
Dakota laughs nervously. “Cozy, it’s fine if you can’t do it. We don’t need to bother Calder with this.”
