Interlude (20 page)

Hey Toots! I had to run to LA to go over some
deliveries with Enrique. Enjoy your day off :) See you tonight, and
happy 6 month!

Cal smiled. Grabbing his phone off the night
stand, he texted her back:

Hey girl! Legs still sore from last night.
Hope your meet goes well. BTW, want me 2 call the sales guy for the
table and give him an update ; )

She sent back a text immediately:

Thanks! The thought of the sales guy getting
that call is making me horny :) GTG, driving. Have a good day.

Just then, he heard a noise from down stairs.
Nobody should have been there that day. Cal's senses for this kind
of thing had been pegged ever since he got pummeled in the trailer.
Moving slowly the stairway, he could see down to the living room
and kitchen from the second floor. The sliding door to the pool was
open slightly! He made his way down, his footsteps like those of a
ninja. As he turned the corner to the kitchen, he saw a girl in a
blue bikini rummaging through the fridge.

“Uh, who are you and what are you doing in
the fridge?” Cal asked with as much authority as he could
muster.

The girl jumped and let out a small scream.
As she spun around, Cal could see that it was Karen's friend
Cassie.

“What are you doing here?” He asked. Her look
of terror subsided when she saw it was him. She gave him an
embarrassed smile and explained her situation.

“Sorry, I didn't know anybody was here. Karen
lets me use her pool in the mornings sometimes. She also lets me
raid her fridge, but usually there's nothing in here. What
happened? Did she take up cooking to go with her new man?” She said
in a sarcastic tone. Cal remembered how much of a brat she was to
him the other day.

“Actually, the cooking is mine. Karen doesn't
cook much, but I paid my way through school with it.” He said. Cal
saw her unwrapping one of his special cupcakes. He had made a
dozen, and Karen had only made it through one before jumping his
bones. He waited quietly as he watched her take a big bite. She
chewed, and then began making small groaning sounds as her bare
legs rubbed together. Her eyes closed as she unceremoniously shoved
the entire pastry into her mouth. Cal stood there, laughing as his
recipe claimed another victim.

“Holy shit, what’s in those things? I can't,
I mean, it's just wow, just wow.” She fought to find words as Cal
moved past her to make coffee.

“It's an old family recipe. I found a great
little grocery store in Santa Barbara that had the best
ingredients, so I was able to really ramp it up.” Cal said
proudly.

“You have to give me the recipe.” She
commanded.

Cal regarded her as the coffee maker churned
and gurgled in the quiet kitchen. “No.” he said with a smile. “You
were kind of a jerk to me the other day, and that recipe is older
than you and I combined, times two. I don't just give it to
anybody.” He said nonchalantly, chuckling at the power he now held
over this bratty friend of Karen's. “Where's your car?” He asked
her.

“I walked over here. My folks have a house
across the hill from you guys.” She said, motioning out the large
window to a house on the adjacent hill. “I'm staying with them
while I save up for a place of my own. Oh, and FYI, sounds really
travel far out here.” She said with a telling smile and raised
eyebrow. Now it was Cal's turn to blush.

“Thanks for the heads up.” He said with a
stupid grin. He changed gears, “I'll tell you what. I'll give you
the recipe if you help me out with mine and Karen's six month
anniversary. Julie told me it's a big deal, and I don't want to
flub it up.”

Cassie looked at him for a long time. Her
demeanor changed a little as she questioned him. “So, you guys are
pretty serious?” She finally asked.

“Yes. I've never felt like this before. Being
with Karen has changed me in so many ways I can't even describe it.
We have so little in common, but it doesn't really matter because
she feels like the thing I've been missing my whole life, but I
didn't even know I was missing it. You can't just walk away from
that.” Cal finished his confession with an embarrassed shrug. Why
did he always do this?

Cassie put her hand on her heart. “Oh, that's
so sweet! I thought you were just some money grubbing gigolo or
something.” She said.

“She could live in a box and I would still
love her.” Cal said. He paused. Cassie stopped and stood there in
wide eyed silence. Cal threw his hands up. With a final realization
he said, “I love her! Why didn't I say that sooner?”

Cassie became a bundle of hops and bounces as
she emitted little giggles and screams. “Oh my God! You said it!
You love her! Oh my God, oh my God!” She screeched.

Cal regained his footing. “Okay, so now you
know how important this is to me. If you help me make this work,
the magic cupcake recipe is yours.” He said, sticking his hand out
to indicate a truce.

Cassie took his hand and gave it a congenial
shake. “Deal,” She said. She spent the next hour divulging all of
Karen's deepest revelations and wants in a guy. Cal had to pause
his mental note taking as Cassie would occasionally break to swoon
over more cupcakes. Cal jotted down his great grandmother's recipe.
He paused before handing it over.

“What I'm giving you is very important.
Nobody in my family could make these but me. You need to follow the
entire recipe to the letter, or they will taste horrible.” He said.
“Now, I've got to get ready and do some shopping. Do... you just
let yourself out?” He said.

“Yep,” She said brightly, adding, “Remember,
it has to be from the heart!” She yelled up at him as he went to
change.

Karen looked at her phone. She was waiting
for a text from him. The sun was getting low in the sky as she made
her way back to the house. She was hoping for anything. A dinner,
dancing somewhere, even just drinks. She was beginning to think
that he blew off their big day because of work. He was always
emailing someone or programming something. Maybe he lost track of
time? She knew that she was being irrational. He was the greatest
guy she had ever met! He knew her better than she knew herself. She
felt so happy around him. She couldn't even describe it. To make
such a big deal about a half year anniversary was just stupid, she
thought to herself. Just then, a text buzzed into her phone:

Hey babe. I emailed you a Google map of where
our date is. C U soon!

Karen pulled over to load the map. She didn't
recognize the location. According to her navigation, there weren't
even roads where he was! She puzzled at the weird location as she
checked her makeup in the mirror.

The drive to his rendezvous point on the map
was a bumpy one over dirt roads and through the hills North of
Santa Barbara. As the sun dipped even lower in the sky, she rounded
a hill and saw the coastline splashed in the pink hues of evening.
“This is promising”. She thought to herself as the navigation
prompted her to turn right. She gasped, her hand moving to her lips
involuntarily as she saw what Cal had done. Arranged on a lone,
wooden deck overlooking the coast were a trio of waiters and an
impeccably decorated formal dining table! The whole area was
littered with flowers. Strings of lights ran through the deck's
railing, illuminating the area with a soft glow in the encroaching
dusk. Her car pulled to a stop, the tires crunching on the gravel.
She saw Cal coming up to greet her. He was wearing a white linen
shirt and gray slacks. He had on the same tie that she asked him to
wear for their first meet up at the hotel. He took her hand as she
stepped out of the car.

“How did you arrange all of this?” She asked,
swiveling her head around to look at everything he did.

He smiled and said, “Money, and labor from
college students. Those guys will do anything for cash.” He
joked.

“Wow. It looks so nice! I can't believe you
put this together so quickly.” She said.

Cal pulled her into a long kiss. She felt a
little self-conscious making out with him in front of a bunch of
tuxedo-ed college kids, but she surrendered to his lips as he
dipped her low.

“Okay, we have to eat first. I don't want the
food getting too cold.” He said. As he took her up the stairs to
the table, he whispered something to one of the waiters. They all
conversed quickly and lined up. As Cal and Karen ate, an iPod
played her favorite song.

“Is that-” She asked. Cal cut her off.

“Bittersweet Symphony, Cassie told me it was
your favorite.” He said.

“Wow. How did you get her to give you any
information?” She asked.

Cal smiled, remembering the power of the
cupcake. “I have my ways.” He said.

He and Karen made their way through to
dessert. As they finished the Cherries Jubilee, Karen held out a
small box. Cal took it and gently un-wrapped it. Inside was a layer
of little caramel candies arranged in a pattern around a single
key.

“What's this?” He asked, holding the key up
to inspect it.

“It's my house key.” She said quietly,
adding, “I didn't want you to feel like some kind of guest in my
home. I want you to feel like it's your place too.” She said, her
hand touching his on the white tablecloth.

“It's great. I love it!” He said. After
looping the large key onto his key chain, he handed her a small,
square box. Taped to the top was a note.

“You have to open the box first.” He
prompted.

She opened the little box. Inside, there were
two, individual gold necklaces. On them, there were small, oval
medallions with saints on them. Puzzled, she opened the note:

This is a medallion of St. Christopher.
Surfers wear these as good luck charms, as he was the patron saint
of safe travel. Couples also exchanged them as a symbol of “going
steady”. For a girl who travels the world and meets with dangerous
people all the time, I figured this would help me protect you.

-I love you.

Karen's eyes welled up as she slowly read the
note. She set the box down and grabbed Cal's hand.

“I love you too!” She said quietly.

One of the college kids groaned audibly, and
another one punched him in the arm. Cal got up. He moved over to
her and opened the box. As he looped the delicate gold necklace
around her neck, she could feel his fingers on her back. His touch
sent shivers up her spine, as the little gold medallion dropped
into her cleavage. The cold metal gave her goose bumps as it warmed
to her body temperature. She got up, and put the other medallion on
Cal.

“Does this mean we're going steady?” She said
with a giggle.

“You know it babe!” He said as he hugged her
close. Their silence was cut short by one of the kids.

“Um, sir? We were only paid to be here 'till
seven thirty.” One of the students said.

Cal kept his gaze on Karen. “It's cool, you
guys can go. Thanks again.” He said distractedly.

They both held each other tightly. The sun
had set to the point where the sky was dark red. Sitting alone on
the deck, Cal sat up straight and checked the time on his
phone.

“We need to turn this way.” He said, sliding
the chairs over to face to their right side.

He sat them both back down and had her watch
the sky. After five minutes, there was a strange rumbling sound.
Karen though it might be an earthquake, but Cal was looking
straight ahead, completely focused. She followed his gaze and saw
an object heading into the night sky on a plume of white smoke that
was slowly dissipating and turn the same red as the evening sky.
She realized she was looking at one of the rockets leaving
Vandenberg Air Force Base! It made another thunderous boom as one
of the sections separated and fell away.

“For the girl who has everything; a sixty
million dollar fireworks show!” Cal said proudly.

“How did you manage that?” She asked.

“I just lucked out there. The rest of this
was a result of Craigslist and a few called in favors.” He
responded.

She sat back again, holding onto him in the
encroaching darkness. He had finally said what she had been
thinking this whole time! She could feel them growing closer. They
had always clicked, but being together all the time only made their
bond stronger. He somehow even managed to slay Cassie's bratty
attitude. She looked up at him. He was looking off into the night
as he rubbed he shoulder slowly.

“I really do love you.” she said quietly.

Cal looked at her with a calm smile. “I know.
You technically already said it.”

“Really?” She asked quizzically.

“The Ukraine trip, you're a noisy sleeper,
you know.” He said with a little chuckle. “I love you too
babe.”

Chapter 8

Cal seemed to fall into an odd routine with
Karen. Their lives intertwined like two Wisterias. Their strength
and beauty magnified and exaggerated by one another. To separate
them was difficult at best. As the next couple of weeks went by,
Karen arranged a couple of buys that Soren took care of. Their days
seemingly filled with each other as they spent lazy days making
love and napping. The warm afternoon breeze served as their wake up
call to fix dinner and converse out on the opulent patio. Cal was
slowly teaching Karen how to cook. He would politely choke down
over-salted sauces, and gravies far more dangerous that any weapons
Karen could ever sell! One day, Karen got a call that broke up
their mini vacation. It seemed their days of lounging by the pool,
and on one another, would be cut short. She answered the call with
a forlorn look. As she sat at the dining room table, she adjusted
her sarong wrap. Her tan bikini top held Cal's attention as he made
them Caesar salads.

“So, what you're telling me is that we need
to take care of it before it gets out of hand?” She said to the
anonymous person on the other line. “I wish somebody would have
told me about this before. It's not my fault you can't manage your
people Enrique. No, don't. I'll take care of it. Next time, please
stay on top of this stuff. Okay? Thanks, you too.” She turned her
phone off and slumped in her seat.