Chapter Three #2
Peanut and Butter came trotting toward them from around the back of the house, both shooting Ollie guilty-looking glances.
"Come back here, you two," he told them.
He wasn't surprised when they went to Rosa instead of him. They knew she'd make a fuss over them.
"There you are, my babies!" she exclaimed, making Callie laugh and Ollie narrow his eyes at her.
Rosa straightened up with a smile. "I know they're not babies," she said to Callie.
"Oh my goodness, I wasn't laughing at you! I was laughing because I called them the same thing."
"They may as well be his babies," Rosa told her. "He takes such good care of them and loves them as if they were." She turned back to Ollie. "I'm glad to see you're home. I didn't know if you'd be around this afternoon."
Ollie's heart thudded to a halt, but Callie didn't look as though she'd clicked to what Rosa meant, and he realized he could get away with it.
"Yeah," he told Rosa. "We're done flying the wedding guests home now." He smiled at Callie. "All except the most important one. And since she doesn't have to go back until tomorrow..." He turned back to Rosa. "Oh, wait. I'm sorry. Rosa, this is Callie. Callie, this is Rosa."
The two women nodded at each other.
"It's nice to meet you," said Callie. "And thanks for letting us walk the dogs here."
Ollie bit down on his bottom lip, not knowing if he'd be able to rescue the situation. Rosa shot him a puzzled look before smiling and nodding. To his relief, she answered, "It's always my pleasure to see Ollie out walking the dogs."
She petted Peanut and Butter, and they both stared up at her. "Are you flying early tomorrow?" she asked. "Do you want to bring them over tonight?"
He shook his head. "I'll drop them off in the morning if that's okay. It won’t be too early, around ten."
"That's fine by me. I'll see you tomorrow, then," she told the dogs. "And hopefully I'll see you again," she said to Callie, who simply nodded.
They watched as Rosa climbed back into her vehicle and turned it around.
"Oh," said Callie. "I thought she was going home." She looked up at the house.
Ollie knew that this was his moment. He should explain that Rosa was going home — back to her cottage. He opened his mouth, but all that came out was, "I don't know what she's up to."
He was a coward, and he knew it. But instead of heading to the house, he took a ball from his pocket and threw it into the vines. "Go get it, then," he told the dogs.
Maybe he'd find the right words as they walked back to his SUV. They had to go and collect it, no matter what else happened.
~ ~ ~
As they drove back toward town, Callie debated with herself whether she should just jump into Xander's truck and drive away when they got there.
She liked Ollie, she really did, but she couldn't for the life of her figure out what was going on with him.
She glanced over at him, and he shot her an apologetic smile.
"Is everything okay?" he asked.
"I feel like I should be the one asking you that question," she said.
"What do you mean?"
"Just the..." She didn't want to offend him, but she had to say it. "Don't take this the wrong way, but I feel like you're acting really weird." She let out a short laugh. "Or maybe it's just me. Maybe I just don't know you."
When he glanced over at her again, she had to say it. "But even though we only met a few days ago, I felt like I did know you."
His shoulders sagged. "You mean before today, don't you?"
"Yeah."
"Sorry. I need to explain myself." He took a deep breath, looking so tortured that she had to stop him.
"No, you really don't. It's okay. I mean, if this wasn't what you were expecting, if I'm not.
.. you can say that too, you know. I mean, sure, there was a spark between us when we met, but maybe we're not the same kind of people.
" She laughed, wanting to ease the tension between them.
"I expect I'm not like the girls you usually go out with, and that's not a problem.
We did say that we could be friends, right?
Maybe it's for the best if we leave it at that. "
"No." The way he said it so emphatically took her by surprise.
"Sorry," he said immediately. "I'm not trying to boss you around.
I definitely wouldn't try to boss you into going out with me if you don't want to.
All I really meant was, I know I've been weird today, and I'm sorry.
But I'm still hoping that maybe we can go on a date.
Even if it's another time, since today didn't work out too well. And I'm sorry about that."
"Hey, it wasn't all bad. The dogs had a good time."
He let out a short laugh. "Does that mean that you didn't?"
"Not exactly," she said with a smile.
"How about this, then," he asked. "Can I at least try to make it up to you? We said we were going to eat after we took the dogs out. I understand if you want to get away from me as fast as possible, but... at least have dinner with me."
She glanced over her shoulder at the dogs in the back. "I don't know how I feel about you leaving them home alone in your apartment while we go out to eat. Is there a good takeout place near you?"
Even that question seemed to throw him off his stride. Or annoy him or something — she couldn't tell what it was.
After a few moments, he said, "How about this? How about we get takeout and go back to Jacob and Becca's place? We can sit outside on the terrace by the pool. The dogs can roam around. Jacob won't mind them being there."
She pursed her lips. It sounded like the best solution, but she wasn't entirely sure that Jacob wouldn't mind Peanut and Butter being there.
"We can stop and check in with Hannah first, if you’re not sure." He gave her a rueful smile. "At this point I wouldn’t blame you if you don’t want to take my word for it."
"No, it's okay."
There was no reason that Ollie and the dogs shouldn't come over. It wasn't like she was just bringing some random guy back to Becca and Jacob's house while they were away. He was someone they knew better than she did — their friend.
"It'll be good," she said decisively. "Do you want to go straight there?"
"Yeah, let's do that."
"Do you need to pick up anything for the dogs?" she asked. "You could drop me back at Xander's truck, and you could run in to collect whatever they need."
He shot her a quick smile. "That's okay. I have everything they need with us in their bag. We can swing back that way if you want to collect Xander's truck. Or you could ride back with us later and collect it then."
"Okay. I'll collect it when we're done," she said. It might not be the best idea, but she could see the gate to the Jacobs estate approaching, so they might as well go in rather than drive all the way into town and then come back again.