Page 43 of The Love Dose
He pulls out a dusty old record player. “Thought we could use some music.”
He sets it up and lifts the 45 from the table, carefully placing it on the turnstile. Soon the room fills with the crackling sound of vinyl.
Love the One Your With
But it’s not Crosby, Stills, Nash,orYoung.
Calvin extends a hand to me. “Dance with me?”
“Is that you?” I ask, amazed.
He gives me an unsure look. “Maybe.”
I hesitate for a moment, but then I take his hand. He pulls me up and into his arms, holding me close as we sway to the music. The warmth of his body seeps into mine, and I feel a sense of peace I haven’t felt in a long time.
As the song ends, we don’t pull away. Instead, we stand there, holding each other, letting the moment linger. It feels right. It feels like home. And for the first time in a long time I’m not afraid of what comes next.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Calvin
Every cell in my body is on high alert. My breath slows, my heart rate soars. Caroline's eyes are searching mine like she is asking an unspoken question.What is this unexpected thing between us?
I recognize the query because it’s the same as mine. The pull to kiss her is intense and I know I’m about to lose the internal battle. Jeopardize years of friendship for a moment of desire?
I’m right back where we were earlier this afternoon. The kiss I’ve been kicking myself about in the hours since.
My own voice is crooning in the background, the song slowing to its end. Caroline is back in my arms, a default where left to our own devices, we revert to this state of being.
The shouting in my head quickly turns to a whisper and I draw her closer, inch my head lower. Caroline stiffens a bit but rather than move away, she closes her eyes, licks her lips.
Arf!
We pause a beat, neither of us seemingly ready to move away.
“Do you have a dog?” she whispers, her halting breath reaching my lips.
“I don’t think so.”
Caroline’s eyes open. The flicker of a smile touches the corners of her mouth. All I want is to kiss every millimeter of that smile.
Arf!
I step back, take a breath, trying to regain my bearings and bring my heart rate to normal levels. Caroline has that effect on me.
I squint out the window, Caroline at my side. The storm isn’t letting up. The sole car on the street is halfway buried by the snow drifts.
Caroline points, the tip of her finger tapping the frosted glass. “What is that?”
I take a closer look and am stunned. Something is moving in the snow a few feet from the window. It has a tail. That’s no squirrel.
In a heartbeat I have my boots on.
“Be careful,” Caroline says over my shoulder.
I grab my wet coat and lope over the snowbank that accumulated just outside the front door. I trudge across my lawn, leaving foot-deep boot prints in my wake. Caroline is back at the window, gesturing wildly at the space ahead of me.
There, in a self-made snowy den in front of the crawl space beneath the house, sits a puppy, its alabaster fur blending in with the driven snow. Only its dark eyes and nose stand in contrast to the surroundings. It’s shivering like a leaf.
