“So you’ll be working and going to grad school? Ambitious. Good for you. I hope you like it here,” Eliza said.
Callie liked her, too. This looked like a lucky break for her, an office full of nice people. When they stepped into the other office, Mac looked up, surprised to see her. He stood up. She stopped, recognizing him from Doc’s.
“Callie, this is Mac Caldwell, the other dean, Mac this is Callie Richards, our new assistant,” Jonesy said, watching Mac’s face intently.
Mac smiled and extended his hand, Callie placed her hand in his. He closed his fingers around her small hand but didn’t let go, she didn’t pull away. Callie felt her cheeks begin to flush.
“You’re new here?” He asked, staring into her eyes.
“I am,” she replied, mesmerized.
“Freshman?” He asked.
“Oh, no,” Callie laughed, breaking eye contact, “I’m getting my Masters.”
“Ah, I see,” he said. “What field?”
“Education,” she responded, again unable to look away from his eyes.
“Excellent,” he said, finally letting go of her hand.
“She’ll be working in the office with me every afternoon and all day on Friday,” Jonesy said, pausing for his reaction.
“Great. Welcome aboard,” Mac said, smiling warmly.
When they left his office, Callie had goose bumps. She wondered about Mac, who made her feel so bothered with one warm handshake and a look. She was curious to know if Jonesy noticed how long he held her hand and how she stared into his eyes. She frowned at the thought because she didn’t want her attraction to Mac Caldwell to jeopardize her job.
* * * *
In the office, Mac tried to keep up a professional appearance and not show too much interest in Callie, but every time he came to her desk and leaned over to give her instruction about a document, the fresh scent of her hair and the soft lavender of her perfume drove him wild with desire. His face flushed a bit and he became slightly tongue-tied in her presence. He thought she must also have sensed the electricity between them because when he was close to her, he saw a slight blush rise in her cheeks to go with the warm smile she sent his way. The way she looked up into his eyes as he leaned over her desk, made him want to fold her in his arms and kiss her, causing him to retreat quickly before his self-control melted.
Mac smiled more at the office. He dressed better, sporting new shirts and ties. While the
compliments on his new attire embarrassed him a bit, he hoped Callie noticed. When she said, “Nice tie,” he grinned for an hour.
Jonesy’s sharp little eyes saw everything. Reading their body language, she could see their attraction growing and while they thought they fooled everyone in the office, the only ones they fooled were themselves. Jonesy kept assigning Callie to projects Mac was working on, throwing them together constantly. In those close quarters, they couldn’t resist each other forever.
He was interested in her but unsure of how to maneuver getting close enough to her to ask her out. Mac was very conscious of his position and didn’t want to step over the line and compromise his career by making an inappropriate move on this young woman. What used to be a compliment these days was considered sexual harassment—a man had to watch his step.
* * * *
Her first Friday, Callie took her homemade sandwich outside, looking for a quiet spot. She found a beautiful wooden bench with a dedication on it, “In Loving Memory of William Keith Baines”. She wondered if he was related to Eliza.
In this peaceful place, Callie closed her eyes. The smell of the grass and trees brought back pleasant memories of picnics with Kyle in secluded spots where they made love and listened to bird songs. Callie felt the caress of the gentle breeze, which could have been Kyle’s soft lips on her face or neck.
As she was walking back to campus, she spotted a dirty white van, parked nearby. The license plate read “UCKYL1”. She stopped dead in her tracks. “You see Kyle” it said to her. Callie caught her breath, thinking about him again. He wasn’t tall like Mac but very strong. She visualized him, as she saw him last, in his uniform, his sandy blond hair short, his blue eyes shining. She leaned up against the brick administration building, closed her eyes and dreamed about him for a moment, remembering his strong embrace, how it felt to be in his arms and his kiss, at once sweet and soft then becoming passionate quickly, filling her body with heat. Tears formed in her eyes.
When she returned to the office, Mac had left for the day to take care of his son, Jason. Callie was having a trigger day. All she could think about was Kyle. She touched the gold heart he gave her she always wore around her neck, becoming quiet and sad. Jonesy noticed the change in Callie after lunch, which coincided with Mac’s leaving or maybe her learning about Jason.
“What’s up, kid?” Jonesy asked.
“Remembering an old friend,” she replied, unaware she still held onto the gold heart.
Sighing her relief to hear it wasn’t Mac making Callie sad, Jonesy still wondered why this efficient and hard-working girl was so quiet and shy. She didn’t smile much and kept to herself, she seemed sad to Jonesy. To show her support, she patted Callie on the arm before going to the Xerox machine. At five o’clock, Callie left and went straight home to face her first weekend in Willow Falls. The weekends were the hardest times to be alone and when she went outside, the van was gone.
Sunday was especially difficult because it was the day, two years earlier, when she got word Kyle died. The night was warm, Callie couldn’t sleep, so she went for a walk. Willow Falls shut down on Sunday night. The streets were deserted, unlike New York City, there were no delis open late, no people out for an evening stroll or lovers looking for a dark corner. She strolled aimlessly for a while, ending up at the William Baines memorial again. She liked to be alone there because it was such a calm place to sit and reflect.
She sat down. Where are you, Kyle, when I need you so much? A question she asked herself repeatedly over the past two years.
Callie wasn’t the only one in Willow Falls who found Sunday night difficult.
Sunday nights were lonely nights for Mac because it was when he returned Jason to Audrey. To avoid the deafening silence of his empty house, he went to Doc’s Diner, looking for a little company and a decent meal. He left the diner late, and walked home.
* * * *
Mac strolled slowly to the memorial bench…Bill Baines had been his best friend. He’d end up there from time to time to sit and think about Bill. As he got closer, he heard crying and saw Callie sitting on the bench with a folded letter in her hand, weeping. He hesitated, deciding whether to go in or leave. But the sight of the beautiful girl so upset melted his heart, so he went in. She started at his footsteps. When she looked up and saw him, she hid her face with her hand.
Mac handed her his handkerchief. She put it over her face.
“Did you receive some bad news?” he asked.
She shook her head. He sat down and put his arm around her, gently pulling her towards him. She turned her face into his shoulder, soon the tears stopped and she relaxed a little. He held her until she could talk.
“Not today. Two years ago, today. This is so embarrassing. I should be able to handle this by now,” she said, a flush creeping up her neck.
“Do you want to talk about it?” He asked.
She shook her head and got up.
“Can I walk you home? It’s late to be out alone,” he said.
She smiled at him as he followed along next to her. Mac shot her a questioning look but she still didn’t reveal what made her so sad.
“I’m sorry, Mac. It’s too…too…”
“I understand. Too personal, too painful. It’s okay,” he said, taking her hand.
She laced her fingers through his, absorbing his quiet strength. She leaned into him a little and he was surprised he felt so protective toward her. Although Mac usually shied away from a woman with so much sadness and pain in her life, Callie’s beauty and swee
tness drew him to her.
The next day at the office, nothing was said about the night before, but the ice between them was broken. Holding hands, touching made them more comfortable with each other. If they accidentally brushed up against each other or touched, neither one blushed profusely or made a quick exit.
Mac felt his attraction to Callie growing, pulling him to her. He couldn’t take his eyes off her lovely face or her beautiful breasts. He knew he shouldn’t stare at her chest and he tried, but when she came into his office wearing a low-cut blouse and bent over to put papers on his desk, he was mesmerized. He looked away before she noticed, he thought, but sometimes it was a close call. Still he felt she had a painful secret. While her beauty drew him, her quiet pain made him cautious. He didn’t want more unhappiness in his life, but he couldn’t avoid her. It seemed he always walked into a room and Callie was there. He felt drawn to her like iron filings to a magnet. Whenever he encountered her in the file room, the kitchen or the library…when he entered, she turned around, as if, she could feel his presence. The gaze from his icy blue eyes was pulled to her soft blues. They hesitated, eyes locked for a few seconds, enough to make two pulses race.
* * * *
While Callie refused to admit to herself how much she was attracted to Mac, she spent more time applying makeup, doing her hair and dressing before she went to work. Though she tried to rationalize it as professionalism, she knew she was drawn to this warm, handsome, smart man. She wanted to be close to him and couldn’t resist finding a reason to be in the file room when he was there. Once she actually bumped into him, by accident. He put an arm around her to keep her from falling and she thought it was heavenly.
Eliza and Mac seem very friendly. Callie couldn’t tell if they had worked together for a long time or if they were dating. She reminded herself it was no concern of hers. Still, she found herself watching Mac. She liked the way his suit jacket pulled slightly across his broad shoulders and the way his arms looked when he rolled up his sleeves on warm days. She felt heat from him, always conscious of his presence, sensing he was there, even if her back was turned. A little chill went up her spine when he came up behind her.
Despite his jovial manner and joking with the ladies in the office, part of Mac stood apart. Occasionally Callie recognized a wary, injured look in his eyes. No stranger to grief, Callie wondered what caused his pain. Her curiosity drew her to him and he didn’t push her away.
Chapter Three
One Friday, a stunning, slim, blonde with short hair and long legs walked in. She had a sleeping towheaded two-year-old boy in a stroller with her.
“Where’s Mac?” she demanded.
Callie pointed toward his office. The blonde huffed over, opened the door and slammed it behind her. This woke the toddler who started to cry.
Callie glanced at Jonesy and raised her eyebrows. The older woman mouthed the word “Audrey” behind her hand and nodded toward the blonde.
Audrey left. Callie went into Mac’s office. Mac had Jason out of the stroller comforting him.
“Is he here for the day?” Callie asked, trying to get the little boy’s attention.
“I’m afraid so.”
“Your calendar looks pretty full for today,” she said, peeking at the agenda on his desk.
“More than full.”
“Can I help? I used to work in a daycare center,” Callie said. Jason stopped crying and was now happily sitting on his father’s lap trying to cram a stuffed animal into his mouth.
“I’d take him but today’s not the day for this,” he said, “What can I do? He can’t stay here.”
“I’ll take him,” Callie said.
She approached Jason softly and quietly, smiling at him and he smiled back. Although he clearly wasn’t ready to leave Daddy’s lap, it was obvious he liked Callie.
“I live three blocks away. Would you mind watching him at my house? I have everything he needs there,” Mac said.
“Not at all.”
“I’ll pay you. I’ll pay you more than you would get for working here.”
“It’s a deal.”
Mac bundled Jason into his stroller and the three of them set out for Mac’s house. Callie was surprised to find Mac’s house homey and inviting. She assumed he used a decorator and he admitted Eliza helped him pick out furniture and match colors. Callie wondered jealously what else she did for him.
The living room had a big sectional sofa and lots of windows flooding the room with sunshine. She imagined Jason climbing around the sofa, watching birds and squirrels at the windows.
There was a small oak table in the center of the kitchen with bright peach walls and oyster white cabinets. Jason went straight to the refrigerator.
“Juice,” he said.
Callie opened the big bottle of apple juice and poured some in a sippy cup for him. She sat him down in the high chair and gave him the cup, pulling up a chair next to him and smiling, talking to the boy right away. Mac raised his eyebrows in surprise watching the shy, quiet girl take charge.
“You two look pretty comfortable. Jason’s bedroom is down the hall. It’s the one with the trains and steamrollers on the wall.”
“Oh. I thought that was your room,” Callie quipped.
Mac stopped and looked at her, quizzically. Callie appeared so serious at the office, not one to crack jokes.
“I’m joking,” she said. “Don’t worry. I can handle this guy. You go back to work.”
“Be back right after the last meeting,” he assured her, before closing the front door behind him.
“Let’s see what your daddy has in here to eat.” Callie cut up an apple and gave it to Jason with some cereal and a cup of juice for a snack.
She ducked into Jason's room, grabbed a couple of books, and read to him while he ate. Jason studied her face while she talked softly to him, building a rapport with children was easy for her. Before long, he was in his crib asleep. Callie wandered around the rest of Mac’s house…the two bedrooms and a den doubling as an office. Despite Eliza’s help, he lived in a decidedly masculine house with lots of blue and brown. Big chairs, a big desk and a big bed, she noticed. Who’s sleeping with him in that huge bed?
Callie found a magazine, flipped off her shoes and stretched out on the comfortable sofa until she drifted off into a light nap. She dreamed of moving into this comfy house, of the smell of brewing coffee in the kitchen in the morning and Mac joining her for a lazy Saturday breakfast. Dressed only in her terry robe, she lost herself in his arms, snuggling against his chest. The feelings of warmth, safety and security with him, now missing in her life, made her smile in her sleep.
She didn’t dream for long as Jason was soon up and howling. He cried for “Da Da” and refused to be consoled. He didn’t remember her and wanted his daddy. No stranger to children with separation anxiety, Callie backed off and searched for some toys to divert him. She soon waved the Sesame Street Cookie Monster puppet at him and she imitated his demand for “cookies”. Jason was laughing despite himself and their friendship took root.
Callie enjoyed playing with the little boy. As six o’clock approached, She realized Jason needed dinner. After giving the boy some scrambled eggs, toast and carrot sticks plus a bath, Callie read to him until he fell asleep. She remembered Mac appointments ran until seven-thirty, so he wouldn’t have eaten dinner. She found the fixings for a tuna noodle casserole from pantry staples. Mac’s refrigerator bordered on empty, except for beer, juice and milk.
* * * *
Mac didn’t know what to expect when he got home. He braced himself for a house torn apart by an out-of-control two-year-old and a disheveled, grouchy Callie. But when he opened the door, smelled the casserole, and heard soft music, he was enchanted. By seven-fifteen, the table was set, dinner was keeping warm in the oven, Jason was asleep, and Callie sat curled up on the sofa, reading a magazine. She’s a miracle worker.
“Thought you’d be hungry,” Callie said, putting the last of the silver on the kitche
n table.
“It’s only set for one?” Mac questioned.
“After a long day you probably want to be alone.”
“I can’t let you walk out on such a great meal. Won’t you join me?” he asked holding out a chair for her at the kitchen table.
Callie smiled then blushed, the soft pink making her face even more beautiful.
They ate and shared the day’s experiences. Callie told funny stories about Jason and Mac related his challenges at work. His job carried heavy responsibility. He was the one everyone went to with their problems. He tried to keep students, faculty and the president happy in addition to dealing with financial concerns.
Mac enjoyed talking to Callie. She listened carefully, showing sympathy for him when called for and asking pertinent questions. Her lovely face took on a new glow of animation when she talked about Jason. The evening ended pleasantly. He paid her, thanked her and they lingered at the door. Mac wanted to kiss her, but how can you kiss someone who you just paid? Callie stood dangerously close to him, looking up into his eyes, making him feel like she wanted him to kiss her too but then stepped away from him, toward the door. They said an awkward goodnight, with both standing too long at the door, unsure of what to do.
Callie turned, slipped under his arm holding the door open, glided through the doorway and waved goodbye as she went down the walk. Mac gazed at her walking down the path, noticing the gentle sway of her skirt, the slim outline of her hips. He remembered the soft pink of her lips—he wanted to scoop her up into his arms and kiss her. He didn’t know what to make of this young woman, at once so shy and remote-then so competent and caring. He knew there was more to her than met the eye and he’d enjoy finding out what made her tick.
* * * *
Callie felt happy for the first time in ages, smiling as she walked the ten blocks to her small room. She got undressed and pulled out a textbook to get some reading in before bed, though it was hard to concentrate. When she finally turned out the light, she couldn’t stop grinning. Callie couldn’t deny her attraction to Mac any longer. His presence made her tingle. Tonight she stared at his lips, sure he was going to kiss her then unsure if she should, she quickly slipped out the door before he got the hint.
A Love Story Page 2
