“Maybe we should talk about what happened,” Lauren said.
Caleb’s knee-jerk response was,Do we have to?But he said, “That is the elephant in the room, I guess.”
She sat across from him. “I’m not trying to make it a thing, but it just feels weird not to acknowledge it.”
“No, I get it. I’m acknowledging it. We slept together. It was good. I’m not opposed to doing it again.”
Lauren rolled her eyes. “Well, there’s a ringing endorsement.”
“What?”
“‘It was good. I’m not opposed to doing it again.’” She dropped her voice in imitation of him, and the way she said it did make it sound quite lackluster.
Of course, it was anything but. Caleb was still thinking about Lauren in bed all these days later.
“Well,” he said. “We know where things stand. We had an amazing…morning together, but neither of us can do a relationship right now. So where does that leave us?”
***
Lauren stared at Caleb. His facial expression made him look like he was fighting with himself about something. This guy clearly had some baggage Lauren would do well not to look into. That was fine, she could work with that. Because she wanted him again. In, like, a primal, monkey sex way, not as a potential romantic partner.
“Crazy idea,” she said. “We could be friends.”
“Friends.”
“Friends who have sex sometimes?”
He laughed. He really was so very cute when he smiled. He should do more of that and less scowling.
“Seems reasonable,” he said. He sipped his coffee. “This is good. Very strong.”
“A little too strong if you ask me.” She sipped her own coffee, and it was bold and bitter. Lauren liked a strong cup of coffee, but not this much so late in the day.
“Hmm,” Caleb said, clearly enjoying the punch in his cup. “I’d try to talk my way back into your apartment, but I really do need to get home before the dog tears apart my living room. He’s been gnawing on the rug when he gets anxious. I’m going to start bringing him to work with me, because I think he gets lonely.”
“Where’s home?”
“Brooklyn Heights. I’m renting a one-bedroom not far from Borough Hall. I usually walk here in the morning, and it’s a nice walk. I’ll probably walk home now, in fact.”
Lauren nodded. That was a swanky zip code. Recently divorced veterinarians apparently did all right for themselves. Lauren silently thanked the charity of eccentric older ladies with money to burn for her apartment.
Lauren recognized belatedly that there was an invitation in Caleb’s voice; he was asking her to walk home with him. Did she want to do that? Something about having to actually go somewhere gave the moment more importance.
“Well,” said Caleb. “Maybe I should go.”
“Finish your coffee, at least.”
He smiled.
They sat in companionable silence for a minute. Searching for something to talk about, Lauren said, “So, Boston, right? That’s where you lived before you moved here?”
“Yeah, my ex and I had a clinic in Back Bay. Do you know Boston at all?”
“I went there once to visit a friend from college. Her husband has a very park-the-car-in-Harvard-Yard accent.” She affected the best Boston accent she could.
Caleb chuckled. “As a New Englander, I should be offended by that, but we had some clients who spoke like they just walked off the set ofThe Departed.”
“You don’t have an accent.”
