Page 126 of Seven Year Itch
“We were, weren’t we?” Calder says with a smile and turns his focus back to me. “I’ve been in six fights, Dakota. Seven if you count me knocking out Randal last weekend.”
Okay, so that wasn’t a dream, but that doesn’t rule out the idea that this could be a dream. “Good for you?” I reply like it’s a question because I don’t know what is happening.
“Mom, remember that time I got arrested for going to that party in the woods?”
“When you were seventeen? Yes, I remember,” Johanna responds, her face surly and scowling. “Your father had to pick you up at the cop shop and go to juvenile drug-and-alcohol education classes with you for two weeks.”
“Dad was so pissed about that,” Luke says with a laugh.
Calder winces. “Yeah, it’s still a weirdly good memory I have with Dad, though.” A thoughtful look spreads across his face before he looks at me again. “That’s the worst legal thing I’ve ever been involved with... for now, at least.”
“Can I go to a party in the woods when I’m seventeen?” Ethan asks, to which the entire table respondsNo.
“Tell her about your favorite TV show,” Trista says, chiming in out of nowhere. I jerk an accusing glare her direction, still trying to figure out what the hell is going on, and she just smiles coyly back at me.
Calder loses all humor on his face. “You swore you wouldn’t tell anyone, Trista.”
“I’m not going to say it! You are.” She giggles and hides behind her two cards.
With a heavy sigh, Calder turns his menacing glower from her to me, softening as he looks at me. “My favorite TV show isGilmore Girls. There. I said it. I love that small-town shit. Come at me, you assholes.”
Wyatt, Luke, and Max all tear into him about his love for theshow, and I still can’t understand this Calder theme-night thing happening. It seems like everyone is in on it, but it still doesn’t explain to me why it’s happening.
“I’m just fucking the patriarchy, guys.” He winks at me, and I swear my stomach gets butterflies. Why the hell is this working?
“Calder once picked a fight with a mannequin when he was drunk,” Max says, slapping the table.
“It’s true. Also, when I was eight years old, I stole a pack of Bubblicious gum from the gas station, and I still have it in my dresser to this day. I felt too guilty to eat it but also too embarrassed to return it.”
“Also, no one wants almost thirty-year-old gum returned,” Luke deadpans.
Calder’s head snaps back to me. “I was at a lake once, and there was sign that said not to feed the ducks, but I fed them. I’m sure that upsets you because of your sincere hatred for birds, but it’s better you know this side of me now.”
My eyes swim with confusion as I process everything he’s saying. “Calder, what are you doing?”
“I’m telling you anything from my past that I think you should know. So there’s no more hidden truths like the Randal thing.”
I cringe, feeling awkward about bringing up all of that in front of everyone at the table. “Why is everyone participating?”
“Because we like you two together,” Trista adds with a smile.
“Calder told me the night you two met when I was little that you were the prettiest girl he’d ever seen!” a scratchy voice says from somewhere unknown, and I look around, frowning curiously.
Cozy holds her phone up and reveals Everly on a FaceTime call, stunning me into a rare silence. Everly in Ireland is in on this too? What time is it even, over there?
“Oh, Dakota—” Calder starts, and I hold my hand up to stop him.
“No more, Calder, please!”
“This isn’t a confession.” He pins me with a serious look, and I calm down, hoping he’s finally going to tell me what the fuck isgoing on. “I was just going to tell you that I need you to take down that tab on your website that lists my furniture.”
“What?” I snap, my lips parting in shock as I fight back the sting of that request. It somehow feels harsher than anything else he’s said to me.
“You can go ahead and take my furniture off your website. I’m done with all that.”
I sit up straight and lean across the table. “Are you taking that deal from that store in Denver?”
“It doesn’t really matter, does it?” Calder’s eyes narrow, his nostrils flaring slightly as he looks at me. “You don’t want to know anything else so...”
