Page 21 of Just Add Friendship

“He’s not my boyfriend, Pops.” Steph felt Cal’s gaze on her. She wouldn’t look over at him. Not now.

“I took the back off and shot a little air into it,” Cal said.

“Oh, he did more than that,” Pops declared. “Spent a good hour fiddling with that thing.”

Cal chuckled, and Steph looked over at him then. “Where did you learn to fix so many things?”

“It’s a long story,” he said, his brown eyes locked on hers.

Here he was, in her kitchen, cooking … and her pulse was leaping all over the place.

“How long?” She tilted her head, waiting.

“Well, maybe not that long. It’s pretty simple, actually. My dad taught me a lot of the stuff … before, you know, my mom died,” he said in a soft voice, just above the sound of the baseball game. “It was our thing on the weekends. Fixing up stuff in our house or helping a neighbor. Always made me feel happy I could fix something that had been broken with my own hands and a little bit of time.”

“Yeah, well, you definitely have a knack for it.” She dragged her gaze from him and began slicing the couple of tomatoes she’d bought.

“Everything go all right with your friend Brandy?” he asked.

Steph glanced at her grandpa. He was focused on the game as he slowly tore the lettuce.

“Brandy is going to fill in her sister, Everly, on all of it,” she told Cal. “Then they’ll visit their mom in person and talk to her.”

He nodded, his expression sober. “Good. I’m glad Brandy is taking this seriously.”

Steph grabbed the cucumber and began peeling it. “Me too. Thanks again, Cal.” She gave him a sideways glance. He’d turned his attention back to the chicken.

“Anytime.”

She knew he was being nice … and she more than appreciated it. But she couldn’t let his actions and words and general appearance invade her thoughts too much. He’d be leaving tonight, and who knew when she’d see him again? Maybe they’d connect down the road if he visited his aunt again.

Other than that … Steph couldn’t really expect a long-distance friendship. What would really be the point of that? Unless she had more private investigation questions, or he needed some favor for his aunt?

“Is there a colander around here?” Cal asked, bending to look through a lower cupboard.

“Right here.” Steph moved next to him and reached into a higher cupboard, brushing against Cal in the process. He didn’t move out of the way like she expected him to. Okay, then …

She ignored the warmth zooming through her and set the colander in the sink. Cal drained the pasta, and Steph mixed the chicken into the heated alfredo sauce.

In moments, they had everything dished up, and Pops filled up water glasses for everyone. He was certainly on his best behavior by leaving the soda in the refrigerator. It was a standard argument each night that Steph had with him. No soda for dinner. It wasn’t that she wanted to boss him around, but when he drank it, invariably, he’d be up in the middle of the night with raging heartburn. And Steph would have to hear all about it.

“Grace?” Pops said.

Steph almost fell off her chair. She schooled her expression and said, “Sure.” Then she folded her hands atop the table.

Pops said a very short prayer and finished with, “Amen.”

Cal’s voice echoed the amen, and they all dug in.

Well, the men did. Steph was still recovering from her pops’s apparently 180-degree change in temperament. Had she walked into another dimension? If so, she preferred this one a lot more than the previous one.

CAL HADN’T MISSED STEPH’S SURPRISE—it seemed that she felt it all evening. Which of course made him wonder if Steph ever had help from anyone at all. Yeah, he’d worked on several things at her house, but she seemed genuinely stunned that he was helping to cook, and that Pops was helping as well.

Pops currently sat in the recliner in the front room, the baseball game transferred to the flat-screen, while Cal helped Steph with the dishes. They washed them by hand because she said the dishwasher was having issues.

“I can look at the dishwasher,” he offered.

“Oh, no you don’t,” Steph said. “It probably needs to be replaced. Wouldn’t be worth the cost of repair. Besides, we don’t normally have a ton of dishes with just the two of us.”

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