Page 58

“Your girlfriend’s okay too?”

“Girlfriend?”

“Yeah, the woman on the phone. She’s the one watching Toby, isn’t she?”

Caleb stares at me for a long second before chuckling. “That was my stepmom.”

“Oh!”

I let out an embarrassed laughing noise. “I don’t know why I thought... I guess I just assumed since you said her name and ‘I love you’...”

He waves a hand. “No worries.”

The half smile he flashes makes my stomach do a tiny flip. I don’t know why... I barely know this guy... I definitely shouldn’t feel as giddy as I do to find out that he’s single.

“She’s retired so she offers to watch Toby most days during the week so I don’t have to leave him home alone when I go to work,” Caleb says.

“That’s really nice of her,” I say. “Toby is an excellent dog name, by the way. It’s really cute.”

“That’s actually his nickname. His full name is Toby-Wan Kenobi.”

I burst out laughing. “That is ridiculously adorable.”

“I let my niece and nephew name him when I got him a few years ago. My sister, who’s their mom, got him for me as a gift for my thirtieth birthday. My nephew was really intoStar Warsat the time so he wanted to name him Obi-Wan, but my niece thought Toby was better. So Toby-Wan Kenobi was my idea for a compromise.”

I swoon even harder than when I did while he was on the phone talking to his dog. Because the fact that Caleb seems to be so good with kidsandis into animals is my romantic kryptonite.

I swallow back the thought and remind myself to keep it together. We’ve known each other for less than an hour. On top of that we technically have a professional relationship, since he’s my contractor. And I definitely shouldn’t be having daytime fantasies about the guy I hired to redo my kitchen cabinets. That’s beyond creepy.

I push those thoughts aside and notice Caleb glancing down at Mango.

“So what’s his name origin story?”

I reach to give Mango a chin scratch. “It’s not that interesting. Mango was his name when I adopted him from the animal shelter a handful of years ago. I thought it suited him perfectly because he’s an orange tabby.”

“It’s still pretty cute.” Caleb winks at me and I try my hardest not to choke on the air in my lungs.

“He’s cute for sure,” I finally say, relieved that my voice sounds mostly steady. “But also a handful.”

“Really? He seems so laid-back.”

I scoff-laugh before giving Caleb a quick rundown of my frantic day taking Mango to the vet.

His eyes widen. “Whoa, I didn’t know cats ate stuff like muffin wrappers.”

“This guy does. He’s a garbage disposal. I have to be careful about leaving food out on the kitchen counter or the dining table. He’ll hop up and devour anything and everything.”

I give Mango one more chin scratch and he slow-blinks at me before nuzzling the plushy edge of his bed and falling back to sleep.

“That’s why I was running around like wild when you first came over,” I say. “The surprise vet visit threw off my whole schedule today and I was scrambling to get ready for a Zoom meeting. Not like that matters now.”

Caleb nods like he understands. “I’ve been there. Toby has a habit of chasing after bees and he’s been stung a couple times. Had to cut work to rush him to the vet.”

I make a sympatheticawwsound.

Caleb shakes his head while aiming a smile at a now-sleeping Mango. “The things we do for our little guys.”

He glances at the karaoke machine sitting under the TV.