"Yeah. Sorry I didn't text. We had a seven-hour delay and changed gates several times last night. By the time we made it home, I was out of it. I just woke up an hour ago." I let out a short laugh, trying hard to keep things light between us.
"No worries. I took a red-eye last night and got in about two this morning. I didn't think you'd appreciate a call then."
"I was still up then, but I hear you." I took a quick breath. "I'm really sorry about not saying goodbye.”
"No need to apologize, but how about you make it up to me?"
"Okay. What did you have in mind?" I sat back in the small plastic chair and let my eyes move back up to the screen so I could look at his picture as we spoke.
"I'm heading out for Los Angeles at lunch tomorrow, but my night's just come open. I'd love to have dinner together and at least put some closure on our week, if that's what you were trying to do by slipping out in the night." He chuckled, but the sound fell flat.
I'd hurt him. I could hear it in his voice. It wasn't something I'd ever want to do to anyone, least of all him. Foreign emotions welled up in my stomach and pushed their way up into the cavity of my chest, threatening to choke me.
"Okay. Just tell me what time and where. I'll be there." I forced back tears as the possibility of a future with him in it danced around my thoughts.
"Let's see...it's two now, and I want a long night with you. Nothing more than dinner and a conversation, just in case you're worried." The sweetness in his voice left me wanting to apologize again.
"I'm not worried at all." I pressed my fingers to my lips and held back the need to confess a million things to the handsome man on the other end of the phone. I didn't know him well enough to offer up my heart, my bed, my tomorrows, but I wanted to. Maybe dinner would open the door a little wider and help me see if it was truly light that was working to peek through from the other side.
"Good. Let's meet at six on the dot." He coughed softly. "My favorite restaurant is Jaspers. Could we meet there, or I can pick you up, if you like?"
"We can meet there. I've not been there in years. My dad used to love to go for his birthday." I smiled as memories assaulted me. "Do they still have their passion fruit crème brûlée?"
"Absolutely. They'd be insane to remove it from the menu." He chuckled, and my smile widened at the sound of it.
"Good. It's a nice place if I remember correctly, so a dress would work?" I got up from the terminal and clicked a few buttons, closing everything out. I wanted to get home and make sure my hair, makeup and clothes were perfectly on point for seeing him.
"Yeah, a dress would work well. I'll see you then. Bye, Viv." He hung up, and I let the phone slide down the side of my face as my heart fluttered wildly in my chest.
I packed up quickly and jogged down the stairs toward the ground level. I collected a few dirty looks, but I didn't care. My entire body was buzzing with anticipation of seeing Easton in New York. I figured that he had lots of great promises to give while we were on vacation, but that it would be highly unlikely that we'd see each other once we got home.
I called Casey and didn't wait for her to get out much more than hello.
"He called. He got in last night, or really this morning around two. He didn't think I was up, but he just called." I was breathless and overly excited.
"Viv. Hold up. Who called and where are you? You sound like you're in the middle of a wind tunnel."
"Sorry. I'm in front of the library. Easton called. He wants to have dinner tonight." I ran my fingers through my hair as the wind picked up and tugged strands of it from the braid I'd forced it into.
"Oh nice! I knew you guys weren't done ju
st because vacation was over." She laughed joyfully. "Are you going to stay with him tonight?"
"No. I'm not ready for that." I jogged to the car, trying to avoid the groups of students that stood around talking or skateboarding down various ramps.
"Not ready for that? You guys fucked at the hotel, right?" Casey always was one to shoot straight regardless of the shock factor.
"Made love. We didn't fuck." I growled into the phone. "You're so vulgar sometimes."
"You love it. Making love is good." She huffed. "Why wouldn't you spend the night with him? A great dinner, bottle of wine, good conversation, and then sex. Hello."
"Sex complicates things, Case. Shit." I got in the car and wrapped my arms around myself. "It's freezing here."
"Yeah, a late winter cold-front just blew in yesterday from what my mom said. Stop changing the subject. Sex doesn't complicate things, it softens them. He deserves a chance. He's not Jackson, and you're not the same girl that fell in love with a thirteen-year-old boy who lived down the street. Things change, Viv. People change."
"I applied for a job at his company. I probably shouldn't have, and I don't believe in fate, but just in case it is real, I didn't want to chance it." I started the car and flipped the heater on high.
"That's a great idea, but I'm not thinking you're going to need to help fate out at all. The guy just called you after you not only left him alone in a hot tub the night before, but didn't even have the balls to say goodbye."