brush past her, my hand on the door. “I put that there.”
She wrestles a smile before her jaw falls. “Cocky much?”
“Not cocky. Proud.”
She follows me down the hall and toward the living room, where my clothes lie scattered around the room. I pluck a sock from a lampshade and slip it over my right foot.
“Proud because we just had sex?” Her hand hooks her hip, but her eyes go everywhere they please. She’s admiring me just as much as I admired her.
“You’re sexy as fuck, Calypso.” I slip the second sock over my foot and find my boxers. By the time I’m zipped into my jeans, I make my way to where she stands and cradle her bare face in my hands. “And I know you don’t fuck just anyone.”
“Oh, so now you think you’re special?” Her eyes smile.
“I fucking know I’m special.” I kiss the top of her head and let her go.
It’s easier to feign arrogance than to have a legitimate conversation about what the hell just happened and how fucking amazing it was.
“What are you doing tomorrow?” she asks—blurts, actually. The wide expression on her face says she’s just as shocked that she asked as I am.
I yank my shirt over my head.
“Parents,” I say. “My parents are coming over. Probably have lunch with them and Noelle. Nothing after that. You?”
“Will this be the first time they meet Emme?”
Shit.
I fall into the sofa and massage my temples.
That’s what happens when you live for the moment. You don’t think about important things, like how you’re going to introduce your shiny new baby to your parents, specifically your conservative father with a heart condition and your control-freak mother with a mean streak.
“Hadn’t thought that far?” Calypso laughs, taking the spot next to me.
“I don’t even know what to say to them.”
“They’ll take one look at that face and get over it, I’m sure.”
“You don’t know my parents.”
“Right. But she’s here. Can’t change it. They’ll have to accept her.”
“My dad.” I clear my throat. “He has a heart condition. He’s had four open heart surgeries. His cardiologist wants us to keep his stress as low as possible. He’s conservative as fuck, and this is going to set him off.”
“You have to tell him sometime.” She tucks a strand of hair behind her ears and studies me. “What does Noelle say?”
“Psh.” I stare blankly at the mess of playing cards scattered across her coffee table. What I wouldn’t give to relive the past hour again and again. Nothing mattered then. Life was weightless. “Noelle says a lot of things.”
Calypso laughs. “I kinda love that about her.”
I smirk and shake my head. I can count the number of women I’ve known who’ve actually liked Noelle on one hand. She’s an acquired taste.
“You’re going to have to figure this out,” she says. “When are they coming over?”
“Probably noon tomorrow.”
“I’m going into the shop for a couple of hours in the morning.” Calypso crosses her legs and the hem of her t-shirt pulls up, exposing the soft flesh of her thigh. “I can watch her while your parents are here. That should buy you some time to figure this out.”
My gaze darts to hers. “Really? You’d do that for me?”
Calypso slinks a shoulder to her ear. “It’s not a huge deal. Emme’s a sweet baby. I’m happy to help. You can’t do this alone.”
I rise, pulling my shirt over my shoulders and adjusting the collar. A second later, she walks me to the door.
“Yeah,” I say. The weight in the pit of my stomach shames me for taking advantage of her kindness. She shouldn’t have to rescue me. And it’s not that I don’t have the balls to come clean to my parents, it’s that I don’t have the heart to break the news to my father in his fragile state. The timing couldn’t possibly be worse. “I’ll bring her by around eleven.”
I take it upon myself to steal one last kiss from those heart-shaped lips of hers.
She pulls away, her blue gaze averted. “Let’s not make this complicated, okay?”
“It’s just a kiss.”
Calypso pulls her lower lip between her teeth and lets it go, shaking her head.
“Goodnight, Crew.”
18
Calypso
I’ve walked by this playground dozens of times, and never once did I realize that giant painted lion with its mouth open wide is a drinking fountain.
A handful of small children burn off their Saturday morning energy playing Follow the Leader across the monkey bars, down the twisty slide, and around the Merry-Go-Round.