Chapter Fifty Cal Rafferty
Chapter Fifty
Cal Rafferty
Cal watched as Margo went out the French doors into the backyard with her parents. There were heating lamps on the expansive
back patio of Hector and Margaret’s stately home, the only house, Margo had explained, big enough to host everyone. The tables
were set for a feast, but right now there was a lull and the large backyard afforded a bit of privacy. They stepped out of
sight, likely walking over to the gazebo on the other side of the pool for privacy. Margo loved her parents and her family
so much, he was glad she wanted to work through the problems and find peace. While he didn’t know everything that led to their
estrangement and reconciliation, he knew enough to know that she had hurt.
He would do anything to keep Margo from hurting.
He was in love.
Cal knew when it happened. He liked her from the minute she slipped his tail in September: He’d been following her because
one of her investigations hit upon one of his cold cases. He had been impressed. Then, when he first got a good look at her,
he was attracted. She was cute, curvy, and confident, three big pluses in his book.
He liked her boldness, how she was straightforward and blunt.
But two things happened that had him teetering on the precipice of falling for her.
First, when she, Tess, and their mom had been held hostage at their office. Margo handled herself like a pro, but there was
a moment when he saw her restrained that his heart pounded with the realization that the world, his world, would be lesser if she wasn’t in it.
Then, the next day, when he kissed her. He knew he wasn’t going to walk away, that he would do anything to keep this woman
in his life.
Food was his love language. He loved cooking for people he cared about. Margo might not have realized that yet, but she would.
He didn’t plan on telling her he loved her right now, but he wasn’t going anywhere, and the right time would present itself.
He loved her family. The enormous Morales-Angelhart clan. His family was tiny in comparison. More, his family had taken the
tragedies life gave them and wallowed. Margo’s family took their tragedies and blossomed. It was rather intoxicating to be
around them.
“You can help in the kitchen anytime, Cal.”
Tom Morales, Ava’s brother, came over to where Cal was prepping the salad. Tom owned a restaurant and had brought over turkey,
ham, and roast beef in one of his food trucks, where they were slowly roasting and would be hand carved right before dinner.
Between family and friends, Cal figured there were upwards of fifty people here for Thanksgiving.
“Tossing a salad is not rocket science,” Cal said with a grin. “Now, if you let me make the stuffing next year, I’ll show
you perfection.”
“Hmm, I might take you up on that, but you have big shoes to fill,” he said. “My mom always makes the stuffing.”
Mrs. Morales came over to them. She was a spry eighty-one with strong hands and wide hips. Her dark gray hair was done up
in a bun that added at least two inches to her short stature. She wasn’t as petite as Ava Angelhart, but she would still need
a step stool to reach the second shelf in the kitchen.
“Next year,” she said, “come over the day before Thanksgiving and you show me your tricks. But I also make the pies, so you’ll
be helping with that.”
“I look forward to it,” Cal said honestly.
He hadn’t known his grandparents well. His father’s parents were divorced and not in his life, sending Christmas cards and
a hundred dollars for his birthdays and high school graduation. His grandmother had died, his grandfather on his third wife
and living in Florida. He knew his mother’s parents a little better. They’d visited for a couple weeks every summer when he
was a kid. They lived in Colorado, where Cal’s mom had grown up. They had passed, first his grandpa then his grandma, six
and ten years ago, and Cal now wished he’d made more of an effort to stay in contact with them after he went to college. But
because they’d moved so often when his dad served, those connections were harder to maintain.
And his mother wasn’t close to her parents for reasons Cal never understood.
Cal saw here in this house what happened when family put family first. When generations stayed in the same community. While
it would be a bit of a trek, he could walk to Margo’s house from here, and it was an even shorter walk to the Angelhart home.
This was what he had been waiting for all his life. He wasn’t going to lose it.
Margo came back into the house without her parents, and there was contentment in her expression. She looked over at him and smiled; he smiled back. She started toward him, but was waylaid by two boys of about eleven who grabbed her hand and led her down a hall.
Father Rafe Morales approached him. “Cal,” he said. “Glad you could be here.”
“I wouldn’t miss it,” he said.
Rafe watched Cal watch Margo, and Cal felt a little squeamish. He finished slicing the veggies and now four large salad bowls
filled with fresh vegetables were displayed on the counter in front of him.
“Your family does this every year?”
“Yes, but this year, we especially have a lot to be thankful for.”
“I’m glad it worked out. Really.”
Rafe nodded.
Cal kept expecting him to ask what his intentions were toward Margo, and that was silly. They were both grown adults and Rafe
wasn’t even Margo’s dad. But he was a priest, and while Cal had been raised Catholic, he hadn’t been to church in years. Decades.
Except for funerals. Which seemed damn depressing to think about right now.
“I’ll see you later, Cal,” Rafe said and walked away.
Cal breathed easier.
Ryan, Josie’s boyfriend, came over with two beers and handed one to Cal.
“Thanks,” Cal said and opened it. He took a hearty swig.
“They can be overwhelming,” Ryan said. “But I look forward to the family dinners now.” He glanced at Cal. “You okay?”
“Sure,” he said.
He was actually more than okay.
Tom called everyone over to the table to say grace. Cal and Ryan glanced at each other, stunned that the mass of people all converged and sat within ninety seconds.
Rafe was seated next to his mother and rose to speak. “Heavenly Father, we thank You for the gift of this day, for the love
of family and friends, and for the bounty before us. We give special thanks for the freedom and light You have granted to
Cooper—a sign of Your mercy and power to redeem. Though our family has faced trials, You have sustained us with grace and
love, leading us through darkness into hope and life. Bless this meal and all who share it. Amen.”
“Amen,” everyone said in unison.
Hector said, “You may eat.”
Everyone rose and got in line to serve themselves from a buffet that would rival any hotel, Cal thought. The family ate, laughed,
told stories, and Cal had never felt like he belonged anywhere more than here.
Nate and Luisa were in the midst of a friendly argument, and Tess and Gabriel were laughing about something Luisa said. Nico
and his boyfriend, Quincy, were in a heated discussion about baseball with Jack and his son, Austin. Apparently, Quincy was
a Dodgers fan and Austin a die-hard D-Backs fan. Quincy appeared to be gloating. Hector, the patriarch, was smiling as he
ate, and as Cal watched, Hector took his wife’s hand and kissed it. She looked at him with such love that Cal felt blessed
to witness it.
To have a life this well lived, with family and friends and good food, it must have made them proud and happy. Cal wanted
this. He wanted this with Margo.
As the meal wound down, Margo helped clear plates. Cal jumped up to assist.
“I know it’s a lot, but they’re good people,” Margo said.
“They are,” Cal said. “I’m happy to be here.”
She looked at him quizzically as she put a stack of dishes down on the counter. “Okay. I’m glad.”
“Seriously.” He kissed her, and she looked like she had been caught making out with her boyfriend behind the bleachers in high school.
She glanced around to see who might have noticed, and of course everyone could have seen them as half the clan were clearing plates and the other half were sitting at the table drinking another glass of wine as the children ran in the backyard.
The noise level was high. Josie and her brother Tommy were setting up the dessert table.
Cal didn’t think he could eat another bite.
“Embarrassed to be seen with me?” he said in mock offense.
“No, but—”
So he kissed her again, this time holding her to him for a full ten seconds.
“You’re giving people something to talk about,” she grumbled.
“Good.”
Then she smiled slyly. “You know, Cal, payback is a bitch.”
“I can’t wait,” he said. “Your grandmother invited me to help her make stuffing and pies next year, so you’re kind of stuck
with me.”
Did she look nervous? Scared? What if she didn’t feel for him what he felt for her?
Impossible, he thought. What wasn’t to love?
“You should make gelato too,” she said. “That’ll really impress my family.”
And that was when he knew she was falling for him just as hard.