The Damaged Hearts Bargain (Tetherington Hearts #2)

Chapter Ten

O pening the door for a second time was no easier than opening it the first time. But that was mostly because this time, Cal was carrying a collection of boxes she’d picked up from the cellar of the pub. Rosalee had begrudgingly told her she could take them.

She struggled through the door, leaving the boxes in the hall before turning back to grab the two she’d dropped and catching sight of someone strolling down the pavement. She leaned on the doorframe and watched as Lucy came closer.

Okay, okay, she was being an idiot. Pretty women always made her into a bit of an idiot. To be fair, the offer to help had seemed genuine and Cal knew she could use it. The wedding invitation… that was trickier. But she’d cross that bridge when she came to it.

The thought of spending a few hours with Lucy though, that had been what really sealed the deal. Not that she had any intention at all of starting something, not when she was only around for a few days, but having someone friendly and attractive around was only going to make this job easier.

And Lucy was both of those things.

Cal grinned as Lucy turned into the front garden. “Wasn’t sure you were going to show up.”

“It’s my day off,” said Lucy, grinning right back. “It was this or be stuck in the garage painting.”

“You paint your garage? ”

“It’s not my garage, it belongs to my landlords, and I don’t paint it, I paint in it. Big difference.”

“Ah,” Cal said, noticing that Lucy’s eyes crinkled a little in the corners when she smiled. “So you’re a painter then.”

“Of the artistic variety, rather than the painting and decorating variety.” Lucy surveyed the open front door with its cracked paint. “Though I could probably do both at a stretch.”

“No beautification necessary here,” Cal said firmly. “This is purely sticking things in boxes and getting out of here.”

“Right,” Lucy said.

They dawdled on the doorstep for another few seconds.

“Shall we go in then?” Lucy asked finally.

Cal swallowed, nodded, and led the way inside.

Somehow, knowing what she was going to see made it worse rather than better. Coming into the living room and seeing the mantelpiece bare made her heart still for a moment and she had to stop, holding onto the back of the couch. She didn’t think she’d ever seen the mantelpiece without some collection of knick-knacks on it.

“You alright there?” Lucy asked, coming around the couch.

“Yeah, fine.”

Lucy raised an eyebrow. “I gather that you weren’t on the best of terms with your mum, but you do know that that doesn’t mean you’re not allowed to be affected, right?”

Cal grunted in response.

Lucy sighed. “Did you cry yet?”

Cal forced herself to smile a little. “You know that big, bad butches don’t cry, right?”

Lucy raised her other eyebrow, a talent that Cal found herself jealous of. “You know that sweet femmes don’t launch flying rugby tackles at shoplifters, right?”

This time Cal did actually laugh. “Fair enough.” She looked around, trying to make herself feel something more, blinked trying to make herself cry. “Yeah, now that we’ve talked about it, I can’t cry. Not on demand.”

“I could poke you in the eye if you think that’d help?” asked Lucy.

Cal laughed again. “Maybe later?”

“Alright, in the meantime, why don’t we start by boxing up some of those books on the shelves and you can go through that big cabinet and see if there’s anything you want to keep.”

Logical and sensible. Cal began to do as she was told.

“So, um, I guess we’ve both just made our admissions,” Lucy said as they began working.

“Admissions?”

“You know, coming out to each other. You’ve said you’re butch, I’ve said I’m femme, so we both know that we’re playing for the same team so to speak. Glad we got that settled.”

Cal froze, drawer in her hand half open. Was Lucy… hitting on her? She felt a stirring in her stomach. Yes, she knew that she was interested in Lucy. She was funny, pretty, what wasn’t to like? But Lucy seemed like she might be interested right back. Huh. She wasn’t quite sure that she’d expected that.

“Best to get these things out in the open,” Cal said with a shrug.

“Right,” said Lucy. “So you don’t mind being my date to the wedding then?”

“I didn’t say that,” Cal said. “I mean, in the sense of us both being women it doesn’t bother me. I definitely have reservations about going to a wedding filled with people from around here though.”

“Yeah, not popular, are you?”

Cal turned around, but Lucy was still working. “Tell me something, do you think about what you’re going to say before you say it, or do you just open your mouth and hope it all makes sense when the words come spilling out?” Yes, she was being spiky, but honestly, Lucy could do with learning a little diplomacy.

To her surprise, Lucy just laughed and didn’t seem offended at all. “Sometimes I forget what I’m saying in the middle of saying it,” she said. “But point taken. We don’t have to talk about this at all. We could talk about how long you’re planning on staying instead if you’d prefer?”

Cal went back to her drawer. “A few days. Two weeks maximum.” Her mouth got a little dry. “So, um, if you were thinking about making a move, you should know that I’m not long term relationship material.”

“At this point, any kind of relationship would be preferable,” Lucy sighed.

Cal crouched down to pull several boxes out of the cupboard. “Bit of a dry spell, huh?” Why was she encouraging this conversation exactly?

“A bit? Things are rapidly turning into the Sahara. I don’t know…” There was a thump as Lucy deposited a pile of books into a box. “I suppose all my friends are settling down, getting married, and it leaves me feeling a bit on the shelf.”

“Surely you’ve got other things going on though?” Cal asked, picking through the boxes she’d picked up.

“Yeah, course, I’ve got my painting, I’m working, I’ve got friends. It’s just that I feel I’m missing out, like there’s some kind of hole in my life that isn’t getting filled and… yeah, I didn’t mean that to come out as dirty as it sounded.”

Cal guffawed. “It definitely did though.”

“Glad to see that my pathetic dating life is taking your mind off your troubles.” Lucy paused. “How long’s it been since you saw your mum, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Not since I left home,” Cal said, dumping the boxes into a big rubbish bag. “Left and never looked back, you know how it is.”

“Not really,” Lucy said. “I got taken off my mum when I was seven. Grew up in foster care.”

“Ah.” Cal sat back on her heels so that she could see Lucy. “Horrifically traumatizing?”

“No,” Lucy said. “No, I was lucky. It wasn’t pleasant being pushed around to different places, but no one ever hurt me or anything.”

Cal scratched her nose wondering if she could ask what she wanted to. But then Lucy didn’t seem to have much of a filter, so why not? “Ever think about her, your mum? ”

“Sometimes,” Lucy said. “But then, I figure, if she’d have been invested then she would have tried to get me back or at least tried to meet me or talk to me. She didn’t, so in my mind, I’m better off without her.”

“That’s… either really mature and logical or really messed up,” said Cal.

“That coming from the person who isn’t sad her mum’s dead.”

“I didn’t say I wasn’t sad. I said I hadn’t cried.”

“Did you go into the system too?” asked Lucy, depositing another pile of books in the box.

“No,” said Cal. She took a deep breath. Maybe talking would help. “Actually, my mum was pretty good. Lots of biscuits baked and that sort of thing.” She laughed. “Wouldn’t let me watch Children’s BBC until all my homework was done. It used to make me so mad.”

“Teenage trauma then?” pushed Lucy.

“A bit,” admitted Cal. “I wasn’t an angel, if that’s what you’re asking. I definitely had a reputation around here as a bad girl. But to be honest, a bad girl in Tetherington is one who stays out after nine o’clock. We’re not talking drug dealing and prostitution here.”

Lucy paused in her book packing. “So… what happened then? I mean, your relationship doesn’t sound that bad to me.”

“I didn’t think it was,” Cal said, feeling a spike of pain in her heart. “But I guess it was worse than I thought. Maybe all the little arguments built up into something big, maybe it all just got to be too much for her. I don’t know.”

“And?” prompted Lucy, still not packing books.

“And… she wasn’t there when I needed her,” Cal said quietly. She looked up, trying to force herself to be more cheerful. “Let’s just say she didn’t defend my honor.”

“I’m not sure sweet femmes are supposed to do that either,” Lucy said, clearly understanding that the issue at hand was not to be dwelt on.

“You seem very caught up in this idea of what certain types of people are supposed to do and not do,” said Cal. “Maybe this sweet femme should do as she’s told and get her boxes packed up so that we don’t have to spend the whole night here.”

“Cal, are you inviting me to spend the night with you?” Lucy asked, eyebrow raised and lips pushed out into almost a kiss.

For the briefest second Cal’s libido almost made her say yes. She knew how this dance went and she was very, very good at it.

But she wasn’t sticking around long, she reminded herself. Plus, there was the fact that Lucy was very obviously looking for some kind of relationship. Something that Cal didn’t think she had to offer.

“I’m telling you to do your job or you’ll see my cranky side.”

“Bloody slave-driver,” muttered Lucy. “I might have to reconsider this whole thing.”

“Too late now,” Cal said cheerfully. “You’re fully committed, now get to packing.”