Chapter 42
Chapter 42
It was late by the time Daphne pulled up outside Calvin’s house. The clock on her car’s dash said a few minutes past nine. Late enough that she hesitated, glancing at the lights shining from behind the living room curtains, wondering if he’d think she was horribly rude for showing up like this.
Ever since she’d left Eileen’s house the night before, Daphne had felt like life was running away from her. She was on a conveyor belt, being carried out to a destination without her conscious input. Another cubicle. Another step in her life plan, her foot positioned exactly where it should be.
But things had changed.
Her internal pendulum had swung too far in the other direction. Her body had been bruised and battered; her heart hadn’t been safe from injury either.
She’d read her old boss’s email about a hundred times, and every time, the feeling of dread got stronger. A life of cubicles and traffic, a series of safe decisions that got her nowhere.
Huffing out a breath, Daphne cut the engine and got out of her car. She circled around to the passenger side to grab a box from the front seat, then closed the door with her hip as she faced the house. Calvin was in there, and he probably didn’t want to see her.
But she had to do this.
If anything, she had to apologize. Maybe he’d slam the door in her face and she wouldn’t get the chance, but she had to try.
Calvin was the one who’d jarred her out of her stupor of safety. He was the one who’d shown her that there was depth to her she hadn’t plumbed before. He was the one who’d seen it and appreciated it. He was strong and kind and good, and he didn’t deserve to be lied to.
Even if he told her he never wanted to see her again, she had to stand up, put her hand on her heart, and tell him he deserved better than to have been misled.
Being a planner at heart, Daphne had rehearsed her speech. She’d visualized it a thousand times over the course of the day, ever since she’d seen the post on the sheriff’s department’s social media about Calvin’s birthday. She’d written down all the reasons she wanted to tell him she was sorry, and all the ways that he’d made her life better in the short time they’d been together.
All those carefully practiced words flew out of her head as soon as Calvin answered her knock. He stood in the doorway, surprise lifting his brows, and Daphne forgot everything she was meant to tell him. He was so beautiful, standing there in a soft tee and faded jeans. She ached to be allowed to fall against his chest and feel his arms come around her.
Maybe this was her penance. To see him this last time and know that she loved him while being absolutely certain that she’d messed it all up.
Grief and longing and need formed a writhing ball of snakes in her gut, and all Daphne could do was look up in his hazel eyes and wish she’d realized how much she felt for him earlier. She wished she hadn’t been so afraid.
“Daphne,” he said, breaking the silence stretching between them.
She blinked, then blurted out, “I made cake.”
His gaze dropped to the box she held between two trembling hands. “Cake?”
“I didn’t know what flavor you liked so I made vanilla, but then I worried you’d think that was boring, so I made a red velvet one with cream cheese icing. And, actually, really I made you twenty-four cakes because I decided to do cupcakes, because ... well ... I ...”
In her panicked need to make amends, Daphne had thought of the silly nickname she used to hate. Now, the twenty-four treats lined up in the box with perfectly piped swirls of icing seemed like a presumptuous way of demanding that Calvin forgive her.
His brows furrowed as he glanced in the box. “I see.”
“For your birthday,” she explained, feeling stupid. “I saw the sheriff’s department post about it online, and I thought ...” Gulping, Daphne shook her head. “It’s probably silly. I just thought about what you said, about no one ever making you a birthday cake, and I figured ...”
His eyes lifted to meet hers. She couldn’t read what was written there, and her anxiety mounted. He deserved so much better than a bumbling apology from a woman who didn’t know herself. She’d thought a few cupcakes would fix what she’d done?
“I’m so sorry,” she said, blinking back tears. “We made that silly deal, and I lied to you. I caused a scene at your mother’s vow renewal, and I wasn’t honest with you.”
“About what?”
“About how I felt!” Daphne cried, clutching the box closer as she sucked in a hard breath. “You were so strong and good and, and ... and just everything , and you made me feel like I could do anything. You made me feel special, Calvin, and I just—got so scared. I thought you’d get bored of me and toss me aside, so I didn’t tell you the truth about the pot. I should have told you. I should have told your mom . God, I made such a fool of myself, and now ...”
She thrust the box of cakes at him.
“Take them,” she said, then hesitated. “Unless you don’t want them, in which case, don’t. But—happy birthday. And I’m sorry. And you’re the best man I’ve ever known, and even if you tell me you never want to see me again and slam the door in my face, I’m still glad I got to spend time with you.”
Calvin still hadn’t moved. He had a strange expression on his face, and Daphne was having trouble meeting his gaze. Her heart began to thump, and she knew that once again, she’d made a mess of the situation. Panic and embarrassment and heartbreak wound themselves around her ribs, squeezing so tight it became hard to breathe.
When Calvin made no move to take the cakes from her, Daphne did the only thing she could. She gave him a no-nonsense nod, set the box on the ground between them, and hightailed it back to her car. Her pulse pounded so hard that she heard nothing but her own rushing blood and the breaths sawing in and out of her lungs. Her eyes were blurred with tears. Her hands trembled as she clawed at her purse for her keys, needing to escape.
She’d made a fool of herself—again. Cupcakes as an apology? In what world would that fix anything? He’d made it clear he didn’t want to speak to her over the past month. She shouldn’t have come to see him. It was stupid to think she deserved forgiveness.
Her keys slipped through her fingers in her purse until she finally gripped the fob. Feeling for the right button, she unlocked her doors and reached for the handle.
And a broad palm landed on the door to hold it closed.
Daphne froze. Her shoulders were hunched up near her ears, her breaths panting as if she’d sprinted from the door to the car. Hell, maybe she had. The last ten seconds were a blur.
“Is this goodbye?” Calvin asked in a low voice.
Daphne glanced at the distorted reflection of his face in the curved window of her car. Her heart splintered at the question, because of course this was the end. She gulped. “If that’s what you want,” she whispered.
“Look at me.”
She didn’t want to. All Daphne wanted to do was get in her car and run away to somewhere she was safe. But she’d come this far, and he deserved to see her face to face. If she was honest with herself, Daphne might have admitted that she wanted to look at his face one last time, since he’d just confirmed that this was the end.
Squaring her shoulders, Daphne turned. She knew her eyes were watery when she lifted her gaze to meet his, but she worried that if she tried to blot her tears, he’d think she was being dramatic.
“I heard you got a job offer,” Calvin said.
Daphne nodded. “I emailed my old boss a while ago. We both got laid off at the same time, but he’s got an opening at his new company.”
A muscle twitched in Calvin’s jaw. “I see. When do you leave?”
Daphne blinked. A tear escaped, and she brushed it away, then shook her head. “Oh, I’m not.” Her gaze slid to his shoulder as she let out a bitter laugh. “I turned him down. I still don’t know if that was a mistake, but hey. I’ve made a lot of those lately, so what’s one more? At least my family’s happy I’m sticking around.”
The sour twist of her lips faded when she lifted her gaze to meet Calvin’s. His eyes were intense, blazing as they circled her face. “You turned down the job?”
Daphne nodded.
“Why?”
“I ...” Words stuck in her gullet.
Calvin shifted closer, the scent of him sweeping over Daphne as she inhaled a trembling breath. The hand he’d kept pressed against her door moved to her shoulder, then to her neck, thumb brushing her jaw as he tilted her face up so he could study her expression. “Why did you turn it down, Daphne?”
Maybe it was the feel of his skin against hers that broke down the last of her defenses. Or maybe it was the shivering hope in his gaze, or the simple fact that he was chest to chest with her, and Daphne had never been able to resist him.
Of all the reasons she could have given him—all the logical little blocks she’d lined up in her head about career progression and living costs, about being close to her aging grandmother and working on her family relationships—there was only one that came to mind.
“Because I’m in love with you,” Daphne whispered.
Breath gusted out of him, and his grip on her neck tightened, his other hand reaching for her waist. Suddenly he was closer, the whole world contracting to only him. To that first brush of his lips against hers. The trembling breath that slipped through his lips as he shifted to press a kiss to her nose, then her cheek. The way his hands softened as he held her, drawing her tight to his chest.
When Calvin finally kissed her—really kissed her—Daphne clung to him like he was her only salvation in a raging storm. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and kissed him back, the length of her body pressed to his. He pulled away to wipe his thumbs against her cheeks, and she realized she was crying.
“I’m sorry,” she said.
He smiled. “Stop apologizing.”
“I can’t.”
Huffing, Calvin kissed her again. It was tender and soft, but it held a thread of promise. The promise that this was real and enduring and everything Daphne had been so terrified to face.
Leaning his forehead against hers, Calvin let out a long sigh as his fingers stroked her cheeks, her jaw, her neck. “I’m sorry too, Daphne.”
She jerked back. “For what? You haven’t done anything wrong.”
“I never told you how I felt, and I should have, and then I let you walk away and never reached out. All because I was afraid of what you meant to me.”
Daphne’s lip wobbled. “And what’s that?”
His smile was sweet and warm, his thumb stroking her jaw. “I want to show you something,” he said, and reached down to thread his fingers through hers. He tugged her to the front door, then leaned down to pick up the box of cupcakes and carry it inside, depositing it on the bench next to the entrance. Then he led her to the bedroom.
On the bed was a suitcase, half-full of neatly folded clothes. At the foot of the bed was her grandmother’s cast-iron pot.
Calvin wrapped his arms around Daphne, his chest pressed to her back. He braided their fingers together and clasped them against her stomach so she had no choice but to lean against him.
“I don’t understand,” she said, looking at the suitcase and the pot.
“I had dinner at my mother’s house tonight,” Calvin explained. “She told me you’d gotten a job off-island. As soon as I got home, I started packing my bags.”
“For what?”
He leaned down to press a kiss to her shoulder, lips curving against her skin. “To run after you and drag you back here,” he said. “Obviously. Plan B was to run after you and move to Seattle together. Whatever you preferred, as long as I got to be with you.”
Spinning in his arms, Daphne worried that her ribs would break from the pounding they were taking from her heart. She slid her hands up his chest, feeling the prickle of his coarse chest hair through the thin fabric of his tee. “And the pot?”
“Grabbed it from the office on the way home. I figured the first thing to do before I followed you to wherever you were going was return it to its rightful owner.”
If she hadn’t loved him already, Daphne would’ve tumbled headlong in silly, besotted adoration at that confession. Her cheeks ached as she smiled wide, more tears spilling from her eyes. “This is a dream,” she said.
“I hope not,” he replied, touching his nose to hers. His hands swept down her sides and dove under her shirt, and they both sighed at the feel of his palms on the bare skin of her back. “I love you, Daphne. I think I loved you at eighteen, and it didn’t take me long to fall for you almost two decades later. I love your grit and your brain and your smile. I love how stubborn you are and how you light up at the promise of ice cream.”
Daphne laughed, choking on her happy tears.
“You make me feel like I have a home,” he told her. “You make me want a future together, when I’ve never dreamed beyond the next couple of weeks before. I love you so much I didn’t even know it was possible to feel this way, like my entire world revolves around someone else. Like I need to see you and kiss you and touch you just to survive. For the first time in my life, I feel like I’m not alone.”
Breathing was difficult; speaking was impossible. The only words Daphne managed to squeeze out through the grip of her emotion were, “Kiss me.”
Calvin’s lips curled into a smile. “That I can do.”
It was close to midnight when they came up for air. Giddy and exhausted, Daphne slumped over Calvin’s chest as he trailed his fingers through her hair. She’d never been so comfortable in her life.
“Did you ever figure out who broke into Romano’s?” she asked, voice muffled against his skin.
Calvin hummed.
With a superhuman effort, Daphne lifted her head. “Is that a yes?”
His eyes sparked with barely hidden mirth. “It’s a yes.”
She rested her chin on her hands, his skin warm beneath her palms. “What aren’t you telling me?”
“You want to go for a drive?”
“Right now?”
His smile was irresistible; Daphne would follow this man anywhere. She rolled off him and pulled her clothes on, and ten minutes later, they were passing Romano’s dark windows and then turning down the alley that ran behind the restaurant.
Calvin stopped his truck a few feet from the dumpsters and leaned his forearms on top of the steering wheel.
Daphne stared at the alley, all harsh lighting and dark shadow. “I don’t follow.”
“Give it a minute,” Calvin said, eyes on the big steel container.
Sure enough, within moments, movement made Daphne lean forward. Two glowing eyes reflected the truck’s headlights a moment before an enormous raccoon clambered out of the dumpster and trotted away.
Daphne glanced at Calvin. Calvin arched his brows.
“A raccoon?” she asked, incredulous. “How? It’s way too small to reach the window.”
“There was an old mop on the ground when I came out here the night of the break-in,” Calvin explained. “I had a theory, and I tested it out last night by shoving a broomstick in the corner of the dumpster. It took about an hour for the raccoon to shuffle around enough to knock it over. I figure the garbage was at just the right level—pretty full of all the construction junk—and the mop was at just the right angle. The raccoon must have nudged it, and it smashed against the window to trip the alarm.”
Daphne let out an incredulous snort. “You’re sure?”
“There was nothing to steal. No one on any security cameras. No evidence of anyone actually getting inside, which they couldn’t have done from that window in the first place. No reason for Archie Jr. to break in here if he was trying to steal records to cover his tracks. This is the only thing that makes sense. And besides, there was a handprint that was too small to be a full-grown human’s, other than one belonging to a very tiny woman. Raccoons have opposable thumbs.”
“A raccoon,” Daphne repeated.
“I’ve let Animal Control know. They’ll trap her and move her out of town.”
“This island,” Daphne said, shaking her head.
Calvin laughed. His hand slid over Daphne’s thigh, thumb stroking along her leg as his eyes softened. “You want to go home?”
Daphne’s heart thumped. She could get used to Calvin Flint looking at her like that, asking her that exact question. “Yes,” she told him.
He didn’t move from his position, his thumb caressing her thigh once more. “You want to move in with me?”
There was only one way to answer that question. As a bright smile bloomed over Daphne’s lips, she reached over to curl her hand around the nape of his neck. “Yes,” she said. “I definitely do.”
“Good,” Calvin said, and he kissed her so thoroughly she knew that when they got home, there wouldn’t be any sleep happening for a long, long while.