Chapter 15 Elijah
ELIJAH
“I’m so, so, so sorry,” Calliope gasps, her breath brushing softly against my hair as she stands over me, another butterfly stitch clasped in her hand.
“It’s fine.”
“No, it’s not,” she says. “And you really should get this checked at the hospital.”
“It’s not that bad.”
“I cut you with a diamond tiara. It’s bad.”
I huff out a soft breath. “I’ve had worse.”
Calliope leans back, squinting under the harsh breakroom light. “From jewelry?”
“Uh… no, not from jewelry. But it honestly doesn’t even hurt that much. It feels more like a bruise. You’ve got a strong arm.”
Calliope lunging at me with a crown in hand might be the most terrifying and equally amusing thing I’ve ever seen in my life. In hindsight, I should have announced myself, but it didn’t cross my mind that she would be on the defensive.
“Oh, God, I feel terrible,” she whines as she returns to gently cleaning the small gash on my forehead. “I heard all these thumps, and we’ve been robbed before. All I could think was that someone was here to do something fucked up, y’know?”
I gaze past her body to the plastic box of tarts that used to hold four perfectly shaped snow-themed cream tarts.
Until I tripped over myself and dropped the tarts on the floor.
Twice. Now the cream is splodged all over the package and the pastries have been shoved together on their two trips to the floor, or three after we both took a tumble under Calliope’s blow.
“I understand. It’s really not your fault. It happens.”
“No, it doesn’t.” She laughs, and her chest rises in my face, bringing with it a rush of the sweet, floral tones of her perfume. I keep my gaze respectfully averted.
“I should have announced myself. I’m sorry. It didn’t cross my mind that it would be dangerous, but looking back, I really should have. I didn’t know this place had been robbed before, not that that’s an excuse at all. You were here alone, so I should have thought about it.”
Calliope leans closer, her delicate fingers moving over my forehead where a throbbing, bruise-like pain is beginning to build. She tsks softly and continues to apply two more butterfly stitches, then she steps back and our eyes meet.
“I don’t know what’s more embarrassing, attacking you or trying to tell the 911 operator that everything was fine. He sounded so pissed, I thought I was going to get arrested for wasting time or something.”
“It can’t be the first time something like this has happened.” I chuckle. “Maybe not the crown, but definitely the accidental dial.”
Calliope smiles and her entire face lights up, though it falters when my phone rings for the umpteenth time. I hit deny and pocket it.
“Okay, how are you feeling?”
“Fine.”
“Honestly?”
“Yup. One hundred percent.”
Calliope squints at me and clearly doesn’t trust my answer, but it’s the only one I’ll give. I don’t want her to feel too guilty about this. “Can I see?”
“Oh, sure!” Turning back to the table, she sets down her tweezers and picks the mirror out of the medical kit. Then she holds it up for me to inspect her work.
The gash is a couple of inches long on the right side of my forehead and a fresh bruise blooms out around it like the petals of a flower. Despite this, it’s neatly held closed by the butterfly stitches Calliope carefully applied. “It looks really good, thank you.”
“You shouldn’t thank me,” she groans. “Not when I did it. God, you must think I’m insane.”
“For protecting yourself? Not at all.”
“I’m really sorry.”
“And I accept the apology. It’s really okay. How did you get so good at this?” I indicate to my stitches as she sets the mirror down.
“Nick.” She smiles warmly. “And avoiding hospital bills I can’t pay.”
“Ah, understandable.” Guilt nestles like a hard ball beneath my ribs. I didn’t even consider that. “You said this place has been robbed before?”
“A couple of times. We hold stock here, as you’ve seen. Against all my advice, but Jimmy knows best.” She rolls her eyes while focusing on packing up the kit. “And with the mail pickup we—”
My phone rings again. I ignore it once more.
“Basically put a target on our backs since he also pulled back on security, which is really dumb. I was here the last time it got robbed, maybe spring last year? So when I heard the thumps I thought… Well, I don’t actually know. I just panicked and reacted.”
“My poor tarts,” I say mournfully. “I passed Victoria in the elevator and she said you were working late. Since I was too, I thought I’d bring you a snack.”
Calliope’s cheeks suddenly glow a soft pink as she gazes at the ruined tarts. “I can’t believe you dropped them.”
“Me either.” I chuckle. “I was—” Again, my phone rings and I groan.
“Someone really wants to talk to you,” Calliope says, snapping the kit closed.
“My ex,” I sigh. Out of the corner of my eye, Calliope freezes.
“Your ex?”
“Mmhmm. I’d turn my phone off, but there are other people I need to talk to, so, y’know.” Shaking my head as my phone rings again, my gut flips. “She just can’t take a hint.”
“Messy breakup?” She doesn’t look at me as she moves away and returns the med kit to the top cupboard above the terrible coffee maker.
“Sort of. We were together for two years and had a messy breakup early last year. Had a lot of stuff to split, so it went through the courts. Now she’s having a change of heart and feels justified in cheating on me.
No matter how many times I tell her it’s over, and it’s been over for a long time, she just won’t listen. ”
“She cheated on you?” The warmth from Calliope suddenly seems to vanish as she returns to the table in front of me and carefully opens the container of ruined pastries. “That must have sucked.”
My brow twitches slightly. There’s something about her words that catches me off guard, like a coldness has suddenly swept in and laced her tone with ice. “Yeah it was… pretty horrible.”
“Cheating is irredeemable," she mutters, swiping her finger along the edge of one tart. After gathering it on her fingertip, she lifts it to her lips and sucks it off.
I watch her, utterly transfixed, and nod. “I agree.”
“You do?” Her eyes snap to me, and I look away quickly, not wanting her to see how intently I was staring at her.
“Of course I do.”
“Interesting.” Calliope picks the small tart out of the case and takes a bite.
Interesting? Was she cheated on? I don’t want to ask her outright as the topic is clearly uncomfortable for her, but something fuels me to keep prying subtly. “Is that what happened with Nick’s father?”
She pauses her eating and stares down at the pastry in her hands. “Not exactly.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
Calliope shrugs, popping the last bite into her mouth. “It’s fine. He’s just not around because he had better things to do.”
“A disgrace,” I mutter. “Walking out on your kid is lower than low. I can’t stomach the thought of a man who would do that.
” I glance up, and Calliope’s staring at me with the strangest look on her face.
It’s an odd mix between curiosity and disbelief, but there’s something else there that I can’t put my finger on. “He’s missing out, that’s for sure.”
“You think so?” Calliope finally looks away and moves to the sink, pulling paper towels out of the dispenser and cleaning excess cream from her hands.
“Yeah…” I stand slowly, ignoring the pulse of pain from my head, and approach her.
“Calliope… that night at the conference… I know I’d only known you for such a short time, but it was the best night of my life.
So one night with you, like that, tells me all I need to know about how incredible you are, and he’s a fool for—”
“Don’t,” Calliope snaps suddenly, balling up the paper towel in her fist. “We can’t talk about that.”
“Why not? It happened.”
“I know. But you can’t say a thing. Not here. Not anywhere.”
Is she worried people will find out? Or… something else. “Do you regret it? If I’m reminding you of a bad time, then… I’m sorry.” In my selfish enjoyment of her presence, it never crossed my mind that she might not look back fondly on our time together. Maybe for her, it was awful.
“No.” Calliope frowns, and while she’s angled away from me, she lifts her head and our eyes lock. “I… I don’t regret it. It was one of the best nights of my life.”
Excitement suddenly explodes through my chest, lifting my heart rate and sending heat flushing through my body. She remembers. And she remembers fondly. “It was?”
Her lips purse briefly. “It was. But… we’re different people now, Elijah. So we shouldn’t talk about it. It’s in the past.”
I step forward and she raises her hand, pressing her palm flat to my chest to keep me away, but there’s no resistance when I continue to lean forward.
“I know. It was six years ago and it was a long time ago. We’re different people, but I can’t hide that ever since running into you again, I’ve felt…
different. I never thought I’d see you again and suddenly, here you are. That has to mean something.”
“Elijah, you can’t just…”
Fearing she’s about to turn me down, I surge forward with barely a thought and gently place my lips over hers as I curl my finger under her chin and lift her head an inch.
The moment we kiss, my mind goes quiet and a deep, blissful sensation pulls through my body like warm taffy.
The sweetness of the lingering cream on her lips mingles with a taste that’s all her, a taste that’s achingly familiar and unlocks every single detail of our night together all these years ago.
Calliope’s fingers curl against my chest and then she’s kissing me back. She lightly presses upward, pushing into the kiss, and her eyes flutter closed. I join her in that blissful darkness and slide my hand from her chin to gently cup the side of her face.
A kiss is all it takes.
A kiss will ignite everything again, will remind her that I—
She suddenly pulls away and her palm collides with my cheek in a sharp slap that leaves my face and tongue fuzzy with a stinging sensation. My eyes snap open and I stare at her hurriedly retreating back.
What the hell was that?