As he pulled up his driveway, his phone pinged, letting him know he had a text. On the way into his house, he opened the screen to see her text.

But he loved to hear her voice and before he could text, seeing if she was up for a call she typed in: call me, silly.

Spike came bounding up but wandered away when he ascertained Royal wasn’t carrying any bacon or cheese.

So he called her.

“Hey.”

Her laughter made him grin. “I was sure you were going to make a joke like hello, silly.”

“Damn, you’re good at this girlfriend thing.” He toed his boots off and left them in the front room near the door.

“Aw.”

“Aw?”

“I’m your girlfriend?”

“Well yeah. You think I cook waffles and let my cat lay all over just anyone?”

“I was so tired when I got home. I took a long shower and I felt better, but your voice makes me far less tired.”

“Can I tell you how much I love how hardcore you are in your job and what a badass you are over your mission to prove your dad’s innocence? You’re big and bold and beautiful and smart, and it’s sort of overwhelming, the whole you, I mean. But then sometimes you say something to me, and it’s honest and a little vulnerable and it blows me away. I dig that I see a side of you probably not that many people get to see.”

“Well it seems sort of dumb not to just, you know, tell you how I feel.”

“Speaking of that, it’s our one-month anniversary on Monday. I figured I’d just say up front I know this, and so I thought you could come over for dinner after work tomorrow. Sleep over and you can leave for work Friday morning from here. And of course Friday night we’re going out. I was thinking something totally old school like dinner and a movie. More staying over. Because I like you nearby.”

“You’re pretty good at this boyfriend business. I’ll come over after work tomorrow and spend the night. I’ll even sleep over Friday night because hello, I like you at my disposal for all my wicked desires. I do have to work a little though. And I’m expected at Lassiter Central for lunch on Saturday. Ugh.”

“We’ll both go.”

“Oh we already established that I like you. Why would you believe I’d do that to you? I’m just maybe going to take a Benadryl and then drink a glass of wine.”

“No. I mean it. I hate that you line up for this every week. But if you’re going to do it, you don’t have to do it alone. Let me go with you. Let me get your back.”

“We’ll talk about it tomorrow night. You sound exhausted. How was everyone?”

“Long day at work, but we finished up a planting and so I can breathe for a day or two without panic. But I ate a lot of sliders. Like, I don’t know how many, but that could just be my conscience kicking in and being ashamed I ate eight of them.”

She laughed. “We’ll pretend it’s the former.”

“Speaking of Saturday, Lily and Nathan invited us over for dinner Saturday night.”

“Um. Okay. Sure.”

“Lily specifically told me she was looking forward to getting to know you. I know it’s hard.”

“Ugh, convo for another time.”

“Fine. I’m counting on it. Now, I’m going to take a shower and go to bed. I’ll see you tomorrow night. Just text me to let me know what you think your schedule will look like.”

“How about I bring something?”

“Like takeout? That works.”

“No, silly. I’ll make dinner. In your kitchen obviously. I’ll bring the fixings over tomorrow.”

“Yes, that would be very good. I like you cooking in my kitchen.”

“Sleep well, Royal. I’ll see you tomorrow night.”

The problem was, she thought the next day as she looked at herself in the mirror, she needed a haircut. Caroline dialed Melissa. “Do you have any recommendations for hair?”

“I assume you mean in a non-Murphy-run shop?”

“After yet another negative encounter with Anne, I’m not trusting her anywhere near my hair. I don’t think she’d do anything. She doesn’t seem cruel, just unhappy that I’m around. But I don’t have a horrible haircut death wish, so I’ll be taking care of my hair-coloring-and-cutting needs elsewhere.”

“Good point. There’s a place in Riverton. Hang on a second.” She heard some rustling, and then Melissa was back with a few names and numbers.

“Thank you. It’s my one-month anniversary. As Royal reminded me last night. We’re hanging out pretty much from tonight through the weekend. Or through to Sunday at least.”

“Well then Sunday come over for a barbecue. You and Royal, I mean. Clint should be back in town. It’ll be good. We’ll sit on the back deck and eat too much.” Clint was Melissa’s rebound after whatever went down with her fiancé. Clint was a menswear buyer for a large department store chain. He lived outside Atlanta but spent a lot of time traveling.

Caroline wasn’t sure if Clint would be around for long, but he was fun and he made Melissa happy and that was sort of all either of them seemed to want just then. “Sounds good. I’ll talk to Royal about it. He’s so social, I’m sure he’ll be up for it if he’s free.”

Caroline paused and finally the words burst from her, “Okay so I have to vent. I think if Anne wasn’t such a bitch over Royal—who is not hers anymore and she doesn’t really want him, for God’s sake—anyway, I think if she was a normal person around me, I’d actually like her. My patience at letting her work through her shit is dwindling. I get it, they’re her friends and so they all hold back, but that feels like shit. Maybe this dinner over at Lily and Nathan’s on Saturday will be a step in the right direction. They’re his friends! I want to be part of that. They don’t all have to be my best friend, but at this point every time I end up in any group situation, even when I have a good time, it’s never totally comfortable, you know?”