“Just the pancakes, or do you want to add eggs and bacon for a couple bucks more?”
“Can I get my eggs scrambled with cheese?”
“Absolutely, sweetheart.” She jots down my order, then looks at Calvin. “What about you, handsome?”
“Same for me.”
“Got it.” She smiles. “I’ll be back in a jiffy with your coffees.”
When she’s gone, I straighten my silverware, then pick up the little container that has different types of sweetener packets and start organizing them. “Hey.” I swing my head around to look at Calvin when he takes it from me. “I was fixing that.”
“Why are you nervous?” he asks, with two small creases forming between his brows.
“I’m not nervous,” I lie. He takes hold of my hands when I start to tear my napkin into tiny pieces, and I examine the way his hands look holding mine.
“You were fine until I started asking questions about your parents.”
“I can see that it might get annoying dating a detective,” I mumble to myself, then add quickly and probably too loudly, “not that we’re dating.”
“I’m getting the urge to kiss you, Anna.” My stomach flutters as I get lost in his gaze, and I instinctively lean toward him.
“Coffee,” Flo says, and I jump back.
“Thanks,” Calvin says, and she nods at him, then winks at me before she walks off.
My cheeks warm, and I attempt to ignore the butterflies in my stomach as I pull my cup of coffee toward me, adding two sugars and some cream. Calvin wraps his arm around my shoulders, then kisses the side of my head as he speaks quietly against my hair. “I won’t talk about your parents anymore—not unless you bring them up.”
“It’s okay,” I reply just as quietly, and his lips press to my temple, lingering there for a moment before he picks up his coffee. Keeping his arm around my shoulders, he takes a sip, and I settle into his side, then lift my coffee to blow across the hot liquid. Before I can take a drink, my phone rings, and I pull it out of my pocket. When I see a Chicago number on the screen, I set it facedown on the table.
“Are you going to answer that?”
“Since I don’t know who it is, and no one ever calls me from Chicago, I think it’s best I don’t answer it,” I tell him as it stops ringing, only to start up once more.
“It might be important.”
“That’s doubtful,” I say, then push it toward him. “If you’re worried, feel free to answer it, but I’m not here,” I joke, but my jaw drops when he picks it up and puts it to his ear.
“Hello?” He pauses briefly. “Sorry, she’s not available.”
I can tell the person on the other end is talking by the faraway look he gets, but it’s really annoying that I don’t know who it is or what they’re saying.
“I’ll let her know,” he says, and then he makes a growling noise in the back of his throat. “As far as I know, you two are no longer engaged, so it’s none of your business who I am to her.” He pulls the phone from his ear and tosses it to the table. “I’m thinking you had the right idea ’bout not answering your phone.” He jerks his fingers through his hair while glaring at my phone.
“Wa—was that Lance?”
“Yeah, it was Lance.” His tone is dry, and he doesn’t look at me.
I wait for him to say more, but when he doesn’t, I ask, “What did he say?”
“He says you two are still engaged, and he doesn’t know why you’d tell people you aren’t. Then he asked why the media is calling him and asking about the status of your relationship.”
“What?”
“Did you break up with him before you moved here?”
“Yes.” I shake my head. “Of course I did. I told him things weren’t working, that I wasn’t happy, and I gave him back his engagement ring. Then I moved out of the place we shared.”
“Well, you’ll be able to reiterate that when he comes to see you next week.”
I sit back, stunned by the anger in his voice and expression. “He said he’s coming?”
“That’s what he said.” He motions to my phone with a wave of his hand.
“Why is he coming?”
“I don’t know, babe. You’re going to have to ask him,” he says sarcastically, setting my teeth on edge.
I glare at him, then shake my head again. “Actually, that’s a great idea.” I grab my cell phone and turn it on. When I find Lance’s number, I press call and put the phone to my ear, listening to it ring until it goes to voice mail.
“Hi, you’ve reached Lance. I’m not available, so leave a message.”
“Lance, it’s me, Anna Belle. Calvin told me you called and seem confused about the status of our relationship, which is odd to me, because we broke up and haven’t spoken for . . . I don’t know, months. We’re over. Hopefully this clarifies things for you.” I hang up, slamming down the phone, and then guilt for being so mean hits me. So I pick my phone right back up and go through the whole process of listening to the ringing along with his voice mail message once more. “Sorry, that was rude, but seriously, I don’t know why you would think we’re still together.” I hang up, then groan and call him back again. “Actually, I take that back. I’m not sorry. Also, don’t come here; we have no reason to see each other.” I don’t get the chance to hang up again, because Calvin yanks my phone from my grasp, and he lifts his hips and shoves it in his back pocket. “Hey! That’s my phone.”