Caleb stepped towards Maggie and tilted her chin up with his thumb so she would look him in the eye. “Samantha is Bryan’s sister. Hell, she’s like my little sister too.”
“And what about when I walked in on you guys dancing? And that moment you two had just before?”
“You know how I mentioned that Bryan was in town for a bit? Well, he’s here supporting Samantha. She was in the ballroom competition that was last weekend. Sam was my partner. And that “moment?” She asked me if I finally made my move. On you.”
Maggie’s mouth formed an ‘O’ shape, no sound coming out as she realized that she had read wrongly in to everything.
“You were right though. It wouldn’t have been the first time someone you didn’t expect cheated, but it never would have been me.” Caleb finished.
Maggie stood where she was, not sure if she was able to hold Caleb’s eye contact any longer for she felt like a fool and an idiot for thinking all the things she had.
“I’m sorry you were hurt before.” Caleb whispered.
Maggie’s eyes locked with his before Caleb’s lips descended on hers once again.
This time, the kiss was different. Sure, there was passion behind it for there was no denying that they had pent up feelings for each other, but there was also a sweetness behind it, one that took the lead. Maggie’s comment earlier had made Caleb realize that Maggie was scared and he wanted to show her that she didn’t have to be afraid, that not all men are assholes and that if she allowed him, he would treat her right and help her forget.
Chapter Eleven
“Spill.” was the first word that Maggie heard on the other end when she picked up her ringing phone. She had rushed in to her apartment after hearing the ringing in the hallway, not even having time to put down her things.
“Spill what?” Maggie asked the voice on the other end, whom she recognized as Taylor’s.
“Okay, seriously Mag? What happened tonight?! Better yet, what happened Tuesday?”
Maggie’s mind flashed back to what had happened in the hour before her arriving back at home; Caleb’s hands, and more importantly, his lips on hers. It had been everything she had dreamt of, well, minus interruption by the believed-to-be girlfriend, but that could easily become forgotten or even turn in to a cute little anecdote or story later on. But what mattered was that Caleb wanted Maggie and she wanted him back. Needless to say, the two of them didn’t do that much dancing after Samantha left, and whatever dancing they did accomplish, it was in very tight quarters with many breaks for lip action, all ending with a plan to meet for dinner the next night. All Maggie could do was giggle in response to Taylor’s question which frustrated her.
“Seriously? I bail you out and you don’t want to give me an explanation?”
Sighing, Maggie filled her friend in on the invite to the show and why she eventually fled before the curtain call. “But, after you left...” Maggie led, squealing a little like she did when she was excited, “we kissed!”
“What?!” was all Taylor could muster in shock. For as long as she had known Maggie she was not one to kiss guys she barely knew. Sure, she had gone to his concert, but she had never spoken that much about him to her friends so she was a bit taken aback. Regardless, the happiness and excitement that she could hear coming from Maggie was definitely refreshing. “Hold on,” Taylor continued, “this requires reinforcements.”
Before Maggie knew what was happening, Taylor was connecting Alexis and Callie in on the call so that they could all be ‘present’ when Maggie filled them in on every detail. After getting every little bit of the story, the three others were squealing along with Maggie in their excitement for her. From what they had heard, Caleb was a great guy and they knew if Maggie was this excited about him, he was definitely something special.
“Coffee and shopping in the a.m.” Alexis confirmed before they all hung up and made their attempts at sleep.
The next morning, Alexis, Callie, Taylor, and Maggie met at the coffee shop closest to Maggie’s apartment where they quickly caffeinated themselves before heading off to Robson street for some shopping. It was Maggie’s first date in a year and she knew she had to dress to impress. Maggie’s nerves weren’t getting to her at all as she was having fun with her friends, trying on different looks, joking around. But it wasn’t until they were finishing up at the last store and she checked her cell phone to see that it was already 5:15pm that the panic set in. Caleb was to be at her place at seven to pick her up for dinner.
“Guys!” Maggie yelled, causing most of the ladies in the store to turn her direction. “We’ve got to go, I’m going to be late!”
“You’re always late.” Callie joked, as Alexis and Taylor nodded, knowing the truth, not really paying her any mind.
“I know, but I don’t do it intentionally. And I’ve been really good with getting to class on time and such. I just...I just really don’t want to mess this up by being late.”
The three girls smiled at Maggie, seeing in her eyes how much this truly meant to her. Grabbing her and her bags, they pulled her out of the store, and raced back to her place, arriving just after six.
“Okay,” Taylor started, taking charge, “Maggie; shower. And quick. No getting your hair wet, we don’t have time to re-do that. We’ll put your purchases away and get your outfit ready. Go!” And with that, everyone assumed their battle stations, so to speak.
At 6:45, Maggie was clean and dressed, but had only partially started her make-up routine. It was then that the buzzer to her apartment went off, causing all four girls to whip their heads in the direction of the noise in panic. Maggie, who happened to be holding an eyeliner pencil, was left with a lovely teal colored streak across her cheek.
“Shit!” they all cried almost simultaneously. “Maybe it’s not him?” Callie questioned, hopefully.
Maggie made her way out of the bathroom, the other girls following closely, towards the buzzer. “Hello?” she asked apprehensively.
“Pizza” the male voice on the other end responded.
“What?”
“Pizza delivery for...Patrick Talmor.”
Maggie let out the breath she was holding. “Wrong number, he lives next apartment over.” She responded as the delivery guy apologized.
The girls just stood there for a moment before they bolted back to the bathroom where, after removing the teal streak, Maggie finished applying her make-up as quickly as she could; much quicker than she normally would, but with her three friends telling her to get a move on, she really had no other option.
Ten minutes after the initial buzzer incident, it went off again at 6:55. This time, it was indeed Caleb. Punctual, but not overly so. Very nice.
Maggie made her way to the buzzer and answered it just as she did before, buzzing Caleb in when he announced it was him. Maggie turned to face her three friends here were standing side by side facing her, with huge smiles on their faces.
“Okay, how do I look?” Maggie asked.
“Gorgeous!” Alexis responded while the other two agreed.
Maggie quickly spun around to the mirror in the entry hallway to catch a final glimpse of herself. Her hair was loosely up, tossled, which complemented her smokey, yet not overdone make-up. The dress, even she had to admit was a knockout. Dark purple satin, it fit her perfectly, gently hugging every curve down to her knees.
Just then there was a knock at the door and Maggie shooed her friends in to her bedroom.
“What?!” Taylor questioned as Maggie hollered “Just a minute!” over her shoulder towards the door, as she pushed them down the hall. “Here.” Maggie stated as she handed Taylor the spare key to her apartment. “I’m nervous enough about this that I don’t want it to be awkward if he had to meet you three tonight.”
“But I met him already.” Taylor countered.
“And I want to see if he’s really as hot in person as he is on the website!” Callie interjected.
“No, not tonight.” Maggie said. “Please?”
Sighing, Taylor took the key from her hand, “We’ll lock the door behind us.”
“Thank you.” Maggie said genuinely as she made her way from the bedroom back towards the front door.
What waited for Maggie on the other side of her front door took her breath away, as he had many times before. As gorgeous and yummy as he looked without his shirt on, the way his dark grey dress pants and matching jacket that covered deep blue button down shirt fit his body rivalled that. He wore such a big, genuine smile on his face as he handed her a single yellow rose.
“Hi.”
“Hi.” Maggie responded, taking the flower from him.
“Ready to go?”
Chapter Twelve
“So, tell me about yourself? Caleb asked Maggie after they had been seated at the restaurant. Caleb had not told her anything about where they were going or what they were going to do. Maggie was nervous about going out with Caleb in the first place, but her not knowing anything about the date itself added to the fear, not knowing what to expect.
“Well,” Maggie started, “I’m a pastry chef. I own my own shop called The Sweet Tooth, but I’ve told you that before. Um, I just recently moved in to my own space, both professionally and personally, and it’s a bit of an adjustment for me, but so far so good. Besides that, I don’t know what you really want to know.” Maggie let out a nervous giggle, not really knowing what Caleb was interested in knowing about her. And she honestly hated that question in the first place, never really knowing what to say. It always felt like she had a standard answer memorized for that particular occasion should it arrive.
“Everything.” Caleb replied and Maggie got her answer.
When his eyes met hers, she couldn’t help but smile. There was such a friendly and open quality about them, yet they had the ability to change and darken in to something that completely turned her on. That quality was one she saw the first time they kissed and was definitely something she wanted to see again very soon. Pushing those lustful thoughts from her brain, Maggie smiled in response to his eye contact.
“Why’d you choose to move out now?” Caleb asked.
Maggie found herself taking a deep breath and launching in to her story. “Well,” she began, “I had been out on my own before. After pastry school I got my first apartment just outside of suburbia and loved it. I was the first of my friends to move out and my place kind of became the refuge for them too.” She added with a chuckle. She remembered the times her friends had fights with their parents or just needed a place to crash after a long night out when she’d wake up to one or more of them sprawled out on her couch.
“So then, what happened?” He asked genuinely interested, no hint of judgement in his voice.
“Almost five years ago now, my mom got sick. Breast cancer. She’s fine now and everything is great, but at the time she was living alone and as I had just finished school, I had the most flexible schedule and was able to be there, spend nights, take care of her after surgeries. Take care of her in general. We toyed with the idea of me moving back home, but it was a big step and my mom didn’t want me to give up the life I had built here for her. But after her first session of chemo there were some complications and she collapsed. That was the scariest moments of my life; trying to wake her up, seeing her eyes roll back in her head…” Maggie broke eye contact and shook her head, trying to get that image out of her head. “That was the first time I had to call 911 for anyone or anything. That was also the first time I cried throughout the whole process; all the tests, surgeries, treatments. I just chocked it up to being ‘sick’, but this was something completely foreign and I just can’t imagine if I hadn’t been there what would have happened. She would have been all alone with no one to help her. So, I decided that I would move home.”
Caleb got up out of his seat and came to her side of the table. Cupping her face, he planted a chaste kiss on her lips before returning to his seat.
“What was that for?”
“You’re pretty amazing, you know that?”
“She took care of me for eighteen years… hell, she’s still taking care of me now. The least I could do is take care of her for two. Anyways, when she got better, I actually contemplated moving to Calgary. It was a good idea at the time.” She said, knowing she was being quite vague. “Anyways, when that fell through, I knew it was time to get things straightened out and back to normal here.”
And from there she went on to fill him in on anything else he wanted to know. She didn’t want to go in to too much detail about her past relationships, but in the end she didn’t care anymore if she thought the information would bore him or if she was sharing too much on the first date. Her stories just flowed out of her. When she finished, her face turned up a bit in confusion. Here was the woman who was so quick to judge Caleb of cheating, and who hasn’t let anyone in since Thomas, and yet she just told her life story openly and freely.
“Are you okay? Caleb asked, breaking Maggie’s thoughts.
“Yeah, I am. Sorry. I just...I don’t know where that all came from.” Maggie replied honestly. “Or why I felt safe and secure telling you all that.” She added under her breath.
“Maybe because deep down you know that I’m not one of the bad guys?”
Maggie’s face was one of shock. While the comment was one that was meant for herself, her tone was such that Caleb had heard. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean for you to hear that.”
A small smirk played upon Caleb’s lips. “I gathered that.” he replied, letting out a small chuckle before turning serious. “But Maggie, know that when I say I would never do anything intentionally to hurt you, I mean it. We’ve all been there.”
Maggie just stayed there in that moment, looking at the man that sat across the table from her. Sincerity was written all over his face and she knew that he was right. “You’re not Thomas.” she said mater-of-factly.
Caleb reached out and took her hand lightly and gently brushed his thumb over the top of her hand. “The only way I want to be like Thomas, is that he got the chance to be with you.”
Chapter Thirteen
In all honesty, the majority of the first date went by like a blur for Maggie. After realizing that Caleb had the potential to be everything that Thomas wasn’t, she was just completely in the moment, enjoying everything that was happening and taking everything in stride; something that was new to her, yet she found it inspiring.
After dinner, Caleb led Maggie down to a park she recognized, but still didn’t really know where she was exactly. Directions just weren’t her thing, but she was happy to have Caleb be her guide. It was dusk out and many other people started flocking to the area; couples, families, groups of friends. Caleb stopped at a patch of grass in front of a big tree and sat down. Maggie looked at him with a questioning look, wondering if he had expected her to do the same. Looking up at her, Caleb took off his suit jacket and laid it on the grass beside him and motioned for her to take the spot. With a smile spreading across her face at the gentlemanlike maneuver, she did as he requested and found his arm around her soon after reaching the ground.
“So, do you like things that go bang?” Caleb asked in a voice noticeably deeper than his usual one.
“What?!” Maggie quickly asked, causing Caleb to laugh outright.
“Sorry. I was trying to be suave.” Caleb replied, his laughter subsiding, but a grin still on his face. “I hope you like fireworks.”
The light bulb went off in Maggie’s head as she realized why she knew this place. She had come with her friends to see the yearly fireworks festival many times before. “Yes!” she replied enthusiastically. “I love them.”
Sitting under the tree, Maggie and Caleb enjoyed the easy silence that had fallen over them. Watching the crowds gather, they observed their surroundings and took comfort with the person who was by their side. Before they knew it, they heard a voice blare out of the speakers from the numerous stereos that the people around them had brought, announcing that the fireworks were about the s
tart. When that classic love filled Beatles tune began and the lights began to light up the sky, Maggie felt Caleb’s arm tighten around her, drawing her near. Resting her head on his shoulder, the two of them sat there watching the fireworks. When the show ended and the final notes of the song were played, Caleb leaned down lightly kissed the top of Maggie’s head. The action caused her to look up at him and when their eyes met, their lips were soon to follow.
Chapter Fourteen
It is safe to say that after their first date, dance class took on a whole different and new meaning and purpose. Sure, Caleb was still teaching Maggie to dance, but Maggie’s inhibitions basically jumped out the window and she threw herself in to whatever Caleb put in front of her, including him.
That first class, Maggie and Caleb were like two little kids. Giant smiles adorned their faces, yet they were still timid, unsure how to act. They both knew what (and whom) they wanted, but were unsure about how to go about it and whether or not it was entirely appropriate to act on it in that particular environment. As a professional dancer, Caleb knew that many partners fell for each other, but it had never happened to him. Dancing was his life, he had been doing it for over thirteen years now and he had always made a point to never mix business with pleasure in that way. With the closeness that was required to bring out the emotions of the dances, he had always felt that it was best to avoid anything that may hinder that.
When he met Maggie her first day, he was immediately attracted to her. It had been years since he had experienced an instantaneous connection like that. The minute she walked in to his studio, he felt a rush of heat surge through his body, so much so that he had to remove his sweatshirt in order to counteract what his body was doing. Ever the professional though, he pushed whatever he was feeling aside and chopped it up to her being a beautiful girl. He had danced with many pretty girls before and that was what he kept telling himself lesson after lesson, every time he had to hold her close to his body, praying that there were no other signs of his attraction that were going to make themselves known. It wasn’t until he spoke with Samantha about her that he decided to make his move.
Right in Time Page 4