“Later,” Cal replied.

Keira took off and Kate moved toward the house but she was looking at Cal. “You want a Coke or somethin’, Joe?” she asked.

“Sounds good,” Cal answered, ignoring the fact that his brain was trying to decide if he liked quiet Kate calling him Joe better than loud Keira.

“I’ll get it,” Kate muttered and walked away.

Cal looked from Kate to Vi and she was staring at the ceiling.

“How much did that cost?” she asked the garage door opener.

“You, tonight in my bed with your hand between your legs,” Cal answered quietly and her eyes shot to his.

“What?” she whispered.

“You heard me.”

She looked to the drive to see Keira down at the end carrying her bags and waving across the street at Feb who had Jack at her hip and she was talking to Myrtle in her front yard. Then Vi looked at him and got close to the ladder.

“You want sexual favors for a garage door opener?” she asked sounding slightly pissed but more disbelieving.

Cal turned his attention to the opener. “I do the work, I decide the payback.”

“I’m your booty call, Joe, not your prostitute.”

At her words, unexpected words, words that pissed him right the f**k off, Cal turned his attention back to Vi.

“My booty call?” he asked quietly.

“Yeah.”

“Booty call?” he repeated.

“Yeah,” she repeated too and he saw she was pissed as well but he reckoned she wasn’t as pissed as he was.

He put the screwdriver he had in his hand on the top of the ladder, climbed down and got close to her. She didn’t retreat then again she never did either because her attitude made her stupid or because she had a backbone. He figured it was both.

“Booty call?” he asked again, hoping she’d cotton on to the tone of his voice.

She didn’t.

“Yeah,” she repeated yet again.

He studied her then, he had no idea why, but just to piss her off further, he stated, “You aren’t pissed that’s what I want, you’re pissed you want it so bad you can’t wait to give it to me.”

He succeeded in his effort at pissing her off more, her eyes narrowed and she leaned closer to him and hissed, “I can’t believe you.”

“You been thinkin’ about it since I said it on the phone.”

Her eyes got wide then he watched her clench her teeth as she fought for control but he was too angry to give her the time.

Instead, he bent at the waist to get into her face and informed her, “Buddy, what we got is what it is. It might not be what you want but you gotta admit, what it is, is good. What it isn’t is a booty call and it pisses me off you’d say that and it pisses me off you’d think I’m on a f**kin’ ladder in your goddamned garage, installin’ a f**kin’ door opener so I could buy a f**kin’ session with you.”

“That’s what you said,” she accused.

“And that’s what I want as payback, I told you, straight out. I also told you, I do somethin’ for you, we talk payback. I’m doin’ somethin’ for you so that’s what I did. You didn’t like that idea, it made you uncomfortable, all you gotta do is say.”

“So every time you do something for me, it’ll require payback?”

“Buddy, that’s life. You always work to balance the scales. You don’t wanna owe someone something, even if it’s only in your head that you owe ‘em and they don’t give a shit. It’ll f**k with you. So you give back to balance the scales.”

He knew he had her with the way her face changed, not that she nodded in understanding, instead she looked more irritated because he was right.

“That said,” he went on, “I’d buy this and install it for nothin’, you need to take care of your car and Kate doesn’t need to be scrapin’ ice off hers either. I thought you’d let me do that and know those scales stayed balanced, I wouldn’t have said shit. But you wouldn’t let me do that, I know because you asked how much the f**kin’ thing cost.”

She glared at him, even more irritated because he was again right.

Then she changed the subject and he knew she was trying to piss him off further too.

“If I’m not a booty call, what am I?”

He looked over her shoulder to see Keira skipping across the yard, swinging her bags, going to the front door of the house.

Then he looked at Vi and muttered, “Jesus, Vi.”

“No, I wanna know, what is it that we’ve got?”

“What it isn’t is a booty call.”

“You said that already.”

Cal glared at her and she took it, waiting, silently demanding an answer.

So he answered, “I enjoy you, you enjoy me, for as long as it’s good.”

“That’s it?” she asked, her face carefully controlled, her body tense, fighting to hide her reaction to his words and, in doing so, not succeeding in hiding the fact that he’d gotten under her skin too.

Shit.

He should have never f**king started this again.

He forced his voice to soft when he replied, “I thought we had an understanding, buddy.”

She held his eyes a moment then she stepped away, murmuring, “Yeah, we did.”

The side door opened and Kate called out, “Here’s your Coke, Joe.”

Cal looked from Vi to Kate and saw Kate also got her mother’s walk, cool, calm, unconsciously moving her hips, swaying her ass, in possession of her body in a way that no teenage girl should be. Dane probably saw her walking down the hall and knew he’d go for it.

Or he’d seen her smile.

First chance he got, he was having a conversation with Dane.

She made it to him and handed him the Coke.

“Thanks girl,” Cal muttered.

“You want a sandwich?” she asked. “We got turkey and roast beef.”

Vi’s kids were polite. Cal wasn’t surprised.

“I’m good.”

“You want one, just call,” she said, looked at her Mom, gave her a small smile and then she walked away.

“I’ve got shit to do,” Vi mumbled but Cal reached out a hand and grabbed her arm.

When she turned back to him he said, “We’re not done, buddy.”

She looked at him and replied, “I don’t think I’m comin’ over tonight, Joe. I got things to think about.”

He knew what she’d be thinking about, she’d be thinking about ending it. He also knew she should and, she didn’t, he knew he should but he wasn’t ready.