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  “Uh huh,” Min said. I’m going to kill myself now.

  “Are you okay?”

  Min turned to look at him and blurted, “Did you love her?”

  Cal slowed the car and Min thought, Oh, just hell, when will I learn not to ask what I don’t want to know?

  He pulled over and shut off the ignition and turned to her. “Yes.”

  “Oh.” Min nodded. “Okay. From now on, when I ask you something, just refuse to answer, okay?”

  “All right,” he said.

  “Do you still love her?” Min said.

  “Yes,” Cal said.

  “You don’t listen” Min said.

  “Min, it’s not like that. I haven’t been in love with her for a long time. I think we both saw where it was going and neither of us wanted that nightmare, and Reynolds starting paying attention to her again, and I dated other women, and over time, it went away.”

  “Not really,” Min said. “There’s something nice between you. More than in-law affection.”

  Cal nodded. “Yes, she’s special. But it’s not . . . romantic. That was over a long time ago. Years and years ago.”

  “Uh huh,” Min said, still coping.

  Cal stared out the window. “Cynthie,” he began, and Min thought, Oh, kill me now. “She never caught that. She’s the psychologist, we were together for nine months, and she never saw that I’d felt like that about Bink. How did you?”

  “I’m very acute,” Min lied.

  Cal slid a little way down in his seat and stared out the windshield, and Min watched the ease in his broad body and wanted him more than she thought was possible. “You know, Cyn spent months trying to figure out why I was a serial dater.”

  “A what?” Min said, trying to find her way back from lust and misery.

  “That’s what she called it. The hit and run thing you keep busting me on. She decided it was because I was trying to make up for my mother, that I was trying to get love from all these women, and then when they gave it to me, I’d leave them to try to earn it from somebody else.”

  “That Cynthie, a theory for every occasion,” Min said, feeling bitter and wanting somebody to take it out on. Cynthie seemed good.

  “I wasn’t looking for my mother,” Cal said. “I was looking for Bink.” He turned and Min smiled at him so he wouldn’t see she was about to open the car door and throw up in the gutter. “I wanted somebody I could talk to, somebody I didn’t have to charm and please, somebody it just felt good to be with.” He shook his head. “I just didn’t realize it until now.”

  “Well, good luck on that,” Min said brightly.

  “Pay attention, Minnie,” he said. “I was dead in the water the minute you sat down on my picnic table.”

  Suddenly Min realized there was no air anywhere. That would account for the dizziness.

  “It took me a while to figure it out,” he said. “I wasn’t used to anybody like you. Because there isn’t anybody else like you.”

  Keep breathing, Min thought.

  “And then you ripped up at me in the street in front of Emilio’s, and I thought, Well, the hell with you. For about five minutes. Then I just wanted you back. You’re the only woman I’ve ever wanted back. And I’ve been trying to figure out a way to get you back ever since.”

  Min sucked in some air before she passed out.

  “I love you,” Cal said. “I know it’s insane, we’ve only known each other a few weeks, we need more time, I get all of that, but I love you and it’s not going to change.”

  Min took another deep breath. You needed air to talk.

  “For God’s sake, Min, say something,” Cal said.

  “I love you,” Min said on a breath. “I’ve loved you forever.”

  “That’ll do it,” Cal said and reached for her.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Min wrapped her arms around his neck, so grateful to be back in his warmth that she dragged him over the stick shift to get him closer to her.

  “Ouch,” Cal said.

  “Sorry,” Min said, trying to pull back.

  “Not a problem,” Cal said, holding on. “God I’ve missed you.” He kissed her and the glittering heat flared low just like always, except that this time she wasn’t fighting it and it went everywhere. She clutched at him, amazed that he was kissing her again, breaking the kiss to kiss him again, over and over until he stopped to breathe.

  “Listen,” she said. “About my heart. Don’t break it.”

  “Right. Me, too.” Cal pulled her back, and she fell into him and lost herself, drunk on the knowledge that she could have him, would have him, that everything was going to be wonderful. She felt his hand slide under her shirt and touch her breast, and she shuddered against him and bit his lip, and his hand tightened on her, and then her cell phone rang.

  He pulled back, breathing hard, his eyes dark for her, and she held on to him.

  “Ignore it,” she said, gasping, “it’s Diana, she calls twelve times a day, come back here and love me,” and he shook his head.

  “Answer it,” he said, between breaths. “We have to stop. We’re parked on a public road.”

  “I don’t care,” she said, reaching for him again.

  He put the car in gear. “Your place or mine, Minnie, not in a car.”

  “Whatever’s closer,” Min said, and answered the phone to stop the ringing as Cal pulled out into traffic.

  “Min,” Diana said, her voice tight. “Oh, Min, we’re in trouble”

  “Okay,” Min said, trying not to sound dizzy with lust. “What?”

  “The rehearsal dinner,” Di said. “Greg was going to get the caterers because he could get us this deal.”

  “Oh.” Min looked at Cal, who was much too far away. “Greg was going to get the caterers for the rehearsal dinner. In four hours.”

  “I hate Greg,” Cal said.

  Diana sounded as breathless as Min felt. “Mom’s going to crucify Greg and he’s already a nervous wreck. This is my perfect wedding.”

  “Okay,” Min said. “Let me think.” Cal, naked, in my bed, in me. No, not that thought.

  “What are we going to do? There’s nothing,” Di said.

  “I’m trying to think,” Min said and met Cal’s eyes for a long moment, until the car drifted and hit the edge of the pavement and Cal yanked it back.

  “Where is this dinner?” he said, keeping his eyes on the road.

  “At some bed and breakfast near the chapel,” Min said. “Down by the river. Why?”

  “How many people?” Cal said.

  “Fourteen, I think,” Min said and spoke into the phone. “Dinner for fourteen, right?”

  “Yes,” Diana said.

  “We can do it,” Cal said. “Tell her it’s okay.”

  “We can?” Min said. “We who?”

  “Tony and Roger and I worked in a restaurant, remember? We’ll get supplies from Emilio’s, you make chicken marsala, and they’ll plate it and serve it. Your parents don’t know Tony and Roger so they’ll buy them as servers. It’ll work.”

  “I’m making chicken marsala?” Min said, and then thought, What the hell. “Okay, I’m making chicken marsala.” She spoke into the phone. “We’ve got it covered. Relax. Your job is to give Mom a story if Cal and I are late and to make sure the back door to that kitchen is open. We’ll do everything else.”

  “Oh, thank God,” Di said. “I didn’t interrupt anything, did I?”

  “Yes,” Min said. “But it’s okay. We have a couple of hours before we have to cook. You can do a lot in a couple of—”

  “No, you don’t,” Diana said. “Are you crazy? You’ve got the last fitting right now. We thought you were on your way. We’re here now. We’re waiting for you. You can’t miss the fitting. Mom will kill you. I need you. You can’t—”

  “Right. Now,” Min said. “I forgot.”

  “Don’t tell me,” Cal said as he slowed the car.

  “Fitting,” she said to him. “I have a fitting right now. I have