Tami laughed again. “Damn. The guy spills his heart on your floor, and you step on it with the heel of your Louboutins.”
“I don’t own Louboutins.”
“Missing the point.”
“I know.” I groaned. “Am I stupid for wanting to give him another chance?”
“Normally, I’d say yes. But in this case, I’m telling you no. You’re not stupid. Look, I like Cal. I don’t like what he did to you, and I’ll never forget that he did it. But I really do think he’s sorry. Seriously, Jules, he’s not my boyfriend, and I want to take him back.”
I chewed on my lip as I agonized over what to do. I didn’t want to make a mistake, didn’t want to make the wrong decision. But most of all, I didn’t want to get hurt again.
“I’m scared,” I admitted.
“Of what?”
“That he’ll hurt me again.”
Tami sighed. “That’s always the risk when it comes to love, but we do it anyway. Remember when you told me that you were going to get hurt? You said to remind you that you were going to get hurt when it came to Cal, but that you were going for it anyway. I remember thinking how brave you were, and how I’d never been that brave in love.”
“Brave? Really?”
I hadn’t considered my actions brave. If anything, I’d thought I was foolish and had beaten myself up for acting so irrationally. But maybe Tami had a point.
“Yes,” she said firmly. “Especially coming from you, my little workaholic. You knew the potential was there for things to end badly, but you wanted him more. He was worth the risk.”
She was right. I had always known that I could end up brokenhearted, but I hadn’t cared then. And I was pretty sure I didn’t care now. Cal was here, and I supposed that I owed it to myself to see what he had to show me.
“Thanks, Tam. I gotta go. I’ll call you later.”
“I’ll be dying to hear what he wanted to show you. I hope it’s not his penis, because you’ve already seen that,” she called out, laughing hysterically as I ended the call.
My heart racing, I locked the door behind me and gripped my purse as I headed down the stairs.
Cal leaned against a black SUV at the curb, looking ridiculously hot. I hadn’t paid attention until now, but he was dressed as if he’d just come from the office. He’d taken it a little more casual after hours
, his dark blue dress shirt unbuttoned at the collar and untucked from a pair of black slacks.
When I reached the sidewalk, he jogged over and held his jacket above my head to shield me from the rain.
“Thank you,” I said as he opened my car door for me and helped me inside.
Damn his chivalry.
“You’re welcome.” He shut my door and sprinted over to the driver’s side before hopping in. “It might take a little while to get there. I hope that’s okay.”
I studied Cal for second and realized he seemed nervous, or maybe defeated. I wasn’t sure.
“I don’t have any plans.” I tried to soften my tone, but it still came out somewhat guarded.
When he pulled out of my complex and headed toward Santa Monica, I frowned, a little unnerved that I had no idea where we were going. Trying to be patient, I stared out my window, amazed at how surreal this all seemed.
It seemed so weird to be sitting in a car with him and not have his hand on my thigh. I had almost forgotten how he used to do that, but now that I was sitting next to him, it all came crashing back how natural it always felt to be with him. How easy things between us always were.
When the silence began to drive me crazy, I said, “Can I ask you something?”
He shot me a quick glance. “You can ask me anything.”
“How are you here in the middle of the week? You didn’t get fired, did you?”