Page 8 of Shake the Habit

“Why? What was wrong with them?” he asked, and on the rest of the way to the pet supply store, I did briefly discuss my last boyfriend.

“I should have known that something was wrong when he told me never to text or call,” I admitted, “and never to post anything about him. Also, the name he’d given me was different from what was on his license and credit cards, and he had about thirty of those.”

“Hell. Was he married?”

“Yes, to two different women,” I acknowledged. “Neither wife was happy to find out about me and they were even less happy to learn about each other. Anyway, that was years ago.”

“Nobody since?”

“No,” I said, shaking my head. “And now, I have Sir.” He huffed and I smiled.

He went ahead and behaved himself beautifully in the pet store, when Caleb told him to. And Caleb was great, as well. He didn’t seem to get annoyed when it took me a while to choose a collar that would best complement Sir’s coloring or when it took me even longer to choose a tag at the engraving machine they had there. He didn’t even object when I ran into a girl I’d known from high school and we got involved in a semi-long conversation. I always met up with people I knew, every time that I went out anywhere in this town. It wasn’t that large, after all, and I’d been a lot more social before.

As we finally emerged from the store, I looked at the receipt and mentally counted up all of today’s expenses. I had spent a wholelot but Sir was now nicely outfitted and, I hoped, safer with his tag with his name and my phone number. According to the animal shelter, there was a lag before I could adopt him. I had to wait because his former owner might show up, but after that? He would be officially mine.

Caleb drove me to the tire store, too. He helped me put on the new one when we got to my apartment and to inflate it with the pump I’d also bought. All in all, it had been a day with some serious money outlays, which was a big bite into my bank account (especially since I’d just dealt with Christmas). But it was ok, since I really didn’t do anything. What I’d told him about my financial situation was correct, like that I didn’t travel and I didn’t go out unless I had to. I ate cheap food, I paid my bills on time. I wasn’t the same woman from before—truly, I wasn’t.

With the tire on my car and Sir squared away, there didn’t seem to be much reason for Caleb to stick around, except that he’d helped me a lot. We had started at what seemed like dawn and now it was late afternoon, and I was starving.

“Do you want lunch?” I invited. “My cousin sent me home with a bunch of leftovers yesterday. That was probably why Sir wanted to get into my car in the first place.”

“Uh, sure,” Caleb answered. “You don’t mind me coming in now?”

“I guess that if you were going to murder me, you had plenty of chances,” I said. “I also have a lot of weapons inside, so it’s probably safer than being in your truck.” I actually only hadknives from the set that I’d inherited from my nana along with the car, and some pepper spray that my father had given me in high school.

“Use it on any boy who wants to take more than you’re willing to give,” he’d advised me at the time, which had demonstrated how little he knew about my behavior back then.

But Caleb Woodson really did seem normal, which was lucky since I wasn’t exactly sure where that cannister had gone and my nana had never sharpened her knives (and I sure hadn’t done it myself). He took Sir out into the back, and he didn’t say anything but he brought a plastic bag and I thought that he may have cleaned up after him, too. I was busy reheating and setting my little table, which I made festive with some candles.

Caleb washed his hands thoroughly when they came in, which made me pretty sure that he had done the pick-up, and he told Sir not to beg for food. Once again, the dog listened, and the two of us humans sat down.

“This is a good variety,” he said, looking at his plate.

“There’s plenty if you’re not vegan, vegetarian, or in any way dietary-restricted,” I agreed. “I should have asked.”

“I’m so tired of my own cooking, I’d eat anything,” he said, but he waited for me to pick up my fork before he started in.

“We had a potluck yesterday and I took a bit of everything. I’m always happy to bring home leftovers because I don’t like to cook, and luckily for me, we don’t get together only on holidays. We have a big family gathering almost every Sunday, and I liveon that food for a lot of my week. Do you have people around here?” I asked.

“No.” He shook his head. “My mother grew up on Signal Mountain, but there’s no one there, either.”

“She lived out on a farm by herself?”

I watched him chew and slowly swallow. “I came home when she needed me,” he said.

“That’s nice. I’m sure she was glad to have you with her, especially if you’re an only child. Is that right?” I asked, and now he nodded. “Me, too. That was why it was so terrible that I…” I stopped. “As an only child, it’s worse if you mess up. If there aren’t other kids and you’re a jerk and a loser, then you’re even more of a failure. They put all their eggs into one basket and you took that basket and threw it out the window, then ran it over with your car.”

“Which you can do now, because you have four working tires.”

I smiled, then laughed. “I’ll still try to avoid hitting any eggs. I don’t like wasting food and I couldn’t hurt an animal, even one that wasn’t born. I almost got sick yesterday when I thought that I hit Sir.”

The dog picked up his head and looked at me, but I didn’t invite him over.

“Do you mind if I blow out a few of these candles?” Caleb asked. “They have a strong smell.”

“Oh, sure,” I said. “I was burning all kinds of things last night due to the skunk odor and maybe I’ve gone nose blind. I wastrying to dress up the table for us, too. My cousin Prue is really good at decorating and she does cute stuff when we’re over there to eat, like fancy napkins and pretty flowers. We’re all impressed, except maybe our aunt Amber. Well, she probably is too, but she never wants to show it.”

Caleb himself seemed less than impressed with my display, so I blew out the candles and removed them from the table. So far, I had found out several things about him: he didn’t like strong scents, he didn’t have brothers and sisters, and he had been living in Florida and operating a business that I didn’t understand. I wanted to know more, too. “How old are you?” I asked.

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