After work that night, Evie crawled up inside her favorite blanket on the couch with Hocus Pocus humming on the TV.
She picked up her phone. He was active online.
She was going to ask him out.
Her heart rate picked up, and her skin tingled. “Okay,” she breathed heavily. “You can do this. If he says no, accept it and move on.”
She stared at his name and wrote, “Hey, Caleb! I gotta be honest with you. You’re absolutely fucking handsome as hell. I love the fact that you play guitar, work with horses, and you like the same music I do.You seem like a really nice person too! I’d like to invite you out to dinner sometime or a drink. If not, I totally understand and won’t be mad at all. Have a great night!”
And she threw the phone on the adjacent sofa and cried hysterically. Oh, she was so mortified at herself! She wasn’t much thinner, and her house was still a wreck. There was no way inhella guy that handsome would ever go for a woman with her body. Not ever. They didn’t when she was younger, and she was certain they wouldn’t now.
There was no wine to blame this time. The message was sent. The possible damage was done. “Dammit!” she cried. “Why the hell did I do that?” The turmoil within her heart tumbled a storm of regret and anxiousness. What was once confidence immediately was stripped and broken down into self-loathing.
Across the way on the couch, the phone lit up.
With shaking hands, she rolled over to reach for it and slowly looked.
He responded, “Hey, Evie! Damn, I’m flattered you came straight out and asked. Never had a girl do that before! I definitely would love to do that! But I’m in the middle of a divorce right now, as you’ve probably heard. So, I can’t do much more than that. But I really think you’re hella sweet. You’re a really nice girl. Don’t let anyone change that.” It ended with a smiley emoji.
Then he added, “It’d be nice to see you when you’re not needing help.” He topped it off with a winky emoji.
How quickly the tears of embarrassment turned into laughter and little screams of absolute elation.
She let out all of her breath in one long sigh of relief, and her tears turned into a gleaming smile. She wrote back, “Right? You’re always there at the right time! And I understand entirely. I hope everything goes okay for you. I couldn’t imagine how hard that’s gotta be. Well, now you know. So, if you’d like to, let me know when you’re ready.” She finished with a smiley emoji.
She waited while he saw the response.
And little did she know, he was thinking on the other end. His hand gripped around that whiskey glass, and he looked at his empty house. His kids weren’t with him that Friday night, and what she had said wassuch a kind and understanding response. Over and over, he watched and read her goofy Facebook posts. She was darling, genuine, understanding, passionate, friendly, and always tried to help people in her community as much as possible. On the occasion, he would laugh at her silly posts and even laughed at the memes she would make.
On the other end, Evie grew sore waiting. She bit her finger.
Then Caleb drew in a breath and wrote back, “Do you really wanna know when I’m ready?” He was about to gamble everything and take one last chance. Maybe if he hadn’t been drinking whiskey, he wouldn’t have been so careless.
She could have broken her index finger swiping her response so fast. “Of course!”
“I’m ready now.”
Chapter Five
Oh…my…God, Evie thought to herself. She couldn’t stop staring at the message. Was it really true? Tears welled in her eyes, and she pressed her fingers to her mouth in shock, and gratefulness. As Teddy purred lying against her leg, she began texting back. Brave once again. “Your place or mine?”
Please say yours. Please say yours. My house isn’t nearly as nice as yours probably is.But then it hit her. He already knew where she lived. He’d have to be careful walking up her steps and prepare for mild vertigo on the slanted porch.
“Yours,” he wrote. “I already know where you live. Can I head that way?”
He sent a smiley emoji.
That stopped Evie straight in her fantasies. All at once, the emotional train of romance and love derailed and flew off the tracks. It was a booty call. Ithadto be. Why else would he want to go to her place so late at night? And why the smiley emoji? She knew men well enough to know that once again, she was going to be either a rebound or the mistress. When she had written “your place or mine,” what she had meant was for when they met up. She didn’t think that when he said he was ready now that he would have literally meantright now.
Her heart sank, and her head dropped with regret.
On the other side, Caleb waited while biting his thumbnail. She had seen it but hadn’t responded. What was taking her so long? She had asked him out, and now she was getting all weird and reclusive. Once again, a woman was confusing to him. He feared he had already offended her in some way.
She thought.
He waited.
She cried.
