Page 11 of Ripple Effect

Iris quickly extracts herself from her mistake. “I think I bombed it. I’m going to hit the books again. Libs, call if you need me.”

“Oh, I’ll be sure to,” I let all the love, humor, and irony fill my voice as she quickly escapes leaving me standing in the open doorway with Calhoun Sullivan. “Would you like to come in?”

“Sure.” Cal seems to take up not just space but air as he comes into our living room. I have to keep telling myself he’s just another guy when something is constantly pulling me toward him.

“I thought we said six?”

“You don’t have a vase?”

“You came by to visit your flowers? I know they’re not touching anymore, but they live close by. Think of them as graduating from high school sunflowers to college sunflowers; you have to let them live alone sometime,” I sass.

Before I started talking, the darkly brooding look was back on his face, making me wonder if he wasn’t getting ready to change his mind on our date. By the time I’m done, he’s right in front of me. He tips my chin up just a bit before giving me that heart-stopping smile for the second time in one day. “What am I going to do with you, Libby?”

I look at him thoughtfully before answering, “Worry about laugh lines like the rest of us. If you keep losing that Zoolander look you have going on, you’re going to get them.”

Suddenly, I’m wrapped in Cal’s arms as he barks out a rusty laugh. I snuggle in for just a moment because laughter is more special when you can feel it against someone.

“See? That wasn’t so painful,” I tease.

His twists in agony for just a moment. “This isn’t the right time in my life for me to meet a girl like you,” he flat out tells me.

“First, I’m a woman, not a girl. And second, what kind of woman is that?”

“The kind that touches my heart. The kind that makes me want to stay.”

“What makes you have to go?” I wonder aloud. “We all have weeks before we have to leave.”

He shakes his head, not answering me. Reaching up, he pushes a lock of hair behind my ear. Leaning down, he whispers his lips across my cheek, barely a caress. It’s still enough to send me in a haze. His skin smells warm from being out in the quarter earlier mixed with the citrusy scent of his cologne and something else.

“We were talking about sunflowers,” I whisper.

“I’ll never be able to look at them again without thinking of this moment.”

Pulling back, I close my eyes for just a moment. Opening them, I say flatly, “I appreciate your courtesy in coming by, but really all you had to do was call if you didn’t want to go out on our date.”

“The problem, sweet Libby, is I very much do. I just can’t.” He doesn’t offer me any further explanation.

I don’t see fit to give him any when I pull out of his arms to walk to the door, holding it open for him. “Thank you for coming by, Cal.”

He walks straight to the door, only hesitating when he’s aligned with me. “Libby, I’m a professor. I’m years older than you.” As if those words are magically going to explain why I’m going to spend the night with a box of Kleenex and a tub of ice cream instead of him.

Instead I acknowledge, “I’m well aware of that.”

He tries for patience. “I was in the military; I’m still part of the National Guard, and I got called up on assignment. I got the notice this morning after I went out for a run. I have seventy-two hours to report in.”

His words cause a different kind of agony inside my chest because he’s trying to take the time to reassure me asking me out was important to him.

“Was this important to you?” I wonder aloud.

And a moment later, the door is being wrenched away from my hand as Cal pulls me into his body. “It would be so much easier if it wasn’t.”

Our mouths are mere millimeters from each other as he bows his head. But I know if our lips touch now, there’s no way he’ll leave without branding me more than he already has.

I reach out and stroke his chest. “Keep in touch.”

He hesitates a second before he steps back with a smile. “You email me. I’ll write back when I can.”

“Is that a promise?” I tease him. “Because maybe by the time you get back to Charleston, I’ll need some new sunflowers.”