My heart was racing as I remembered the events from last week. Blinking my eyes and coming out of my memory, I realized who I was talking to and I blushed.
“What about you? Anything new in the life of Cordelia?”
Cordelia played coy and shrugged her shoulders, attempting to be nonchalant. I knew her well enough to know a guy was in the mix.
“You’re going to be so jealous. It’s been going on for quite a while. It’s—” she teased.
The phone clicked, indicating I had another call coming through. I looked at the screen and saw Caleb’s name. “I have to go, Cordelia.”
She huffed. “Fine, abandon me for hot phone sex.”
I laughed and took Caleb’s call. “Hello?” I said, a little breathless.
“Hello, baby,” Caleb whispered. “Noelle crawled into my bed once I came home from Bar, so I haven’t had a minute to call until now.”
“I miss you. We haven’t seen each other at all this week.” I pouted even though he couldn’t see me. I hadn’t stopped by the bar all week because I was helping Fiona get her house sorted.
“I know. I miss you too, baby,” he said softly. Caleb took a deep breath on the other end of the phone. “I hate to tell you, but it seems like this week might be just as hectic. Max is suspended.”
Caleb started calling me baby after he gave me the best orgasm of my life, and now he was saying it more and more freely. I loved it, although it scared me a little as well.
“Why is Max suspended?”
Caleb groaned and I heard the rustling of fabric followed by a door being shut. “Because the dumbass got caught making out with Amanda in the back stockroom.”
I gasped. “That’s ballsy.”
“Yeah, but that’s not even the worst part,” he said. Now he was talking in a normal tone of voice. “Apparently, Nicky has a family emergency. So he was trying to get everything ready for his leave of absence. Max started egging Nicky on about Amanda and all hell broke loose. You know he already can’t stand Max so until further notice, Max is suspended,” he explained.
“So you’re down two bartenders? Jeez, that sucks.” I winced.
I was really looking forward to some time with him this week. When I found out he had a daughter, I knew that would makeour time together limited, but now that there’d been all these emergencies at the bar, I was afraid we would never see each other. But I mainly felt bad that he had zero time for himself.
“It does. Ms. Kenzie already agreed to pick up some of the slack with Noelle, and Jena agreed to cover the bar for a bit, but after I take care of the mountain of paperwork, I’m gonna help out as well. I’ll miss having my nights free, but you gotta do what you gotta do, y’know?” I heard rustling from his end of the line.
“I can pick up a shift or two,” I offered.
What the actual fuck? I’ve never had a traditional job. Let alone bartended or waitressed. I could make Caleb lose business.
“Really?” He sounded surprised, and I couldn’t blame him.
I thought about that sexy face and then heard the tiredness in his voice.
I nodded and proceeded to speak. “Yep. At your service, boss.”
He chuckled. “Grace, you can’t say shit like that to me.”
“I know, I still owe you for last time,” I teased, probably adding insult to injury.
He groaned and I laughed. “Come on, good things come to those who wait,” I promised.
“No, it’s not that. Noelle’s rushing me out the door. She still hasn’t gotten back to her school schedule. I gotta go, baby. I’ll see you tonight at five. Wear something comfortable and that you’re willing to get dirty.”
And with that he was back in Dad mode.
I had to say, even though I knew I’d never have him 100 percent to myself, I kinda loved how devoted he was to being a father. It made me think of my own father and how absent he was from Julia’s and my life.
After our parents’ divorce, we were shuffled back and forth from penthouse to penthouse by the nanny or housekeeper for ayear before Mom got full custody. Our parents were too involved in their own lives to actually raise us. My father specifically couldn’t be bothered with playing his part and sent us a fat check for birthdays and holidays in lieu of spending time with us, our visits to see him dwindling with each passing month.
