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*****
Calli and I have just been seated in the restaurant she chose, which overlooks a waterway she calls the Portage Canal as well as a lift bridge composed of two blue towers that span the narrow waterway. Though it's seven o'clock in the evening, the sun still glows in the sky. This part of Michigan reminds me of Scotland in that respect. The sun shines late in the evening there too.
I received another call from Seona just as we walked into the restaurant, but I dismissed her with a gruff "can't talk now." That's all she gets from me. I have no time to waste on Seona's problems because they are not my problems. I feel bad for her, but I have a life of my own to worry about.
Seated across the table from Calli, I relax in my chair and focus on her bonnie face, which brings a faint smile to my lips. Calli Douglas agreed to a date. With me.
She fidgets as if my attention unnerves her. "You look pleased with yourself. Are you concocting some sort of plan to get me into bed?"
"No." I pick up my water glass and take a sip but keep my gaze on her. "Just wondering how long you'll keep pretending we're not dating."
"We aren't. Dating implies a desire to advance the relationship." She fusses with something on her lap, maybe her napkin. "There will be no advancement."
I can't help lifting my brows and letting my smile tick up a little higher. "We share meals, we talk about our lives and our plans, and we kiss. That's dating."
She growls in frustration. "We. Are. Not. Dating."
"What are we doing, then?"
"Hanging out."
Shrugging one shoulder, I swallow another mouthful of water. "Call it whatever you like, if it makes you feel better."
"Thank you. I will." She wraps a hand around her glass of fizzing soda. "You've mentioned having five siblings, brothers and sisters. How many of each?"
I lean back, eying her with curiosity and a touch of amusement. All right, if she wants to ignore the monstrously large elephant in the room, I can tiptoe around the beggar. "Are you sure you want me to answer? This sort of question might lead to accidental dating—or sex."
"Very funny." She gulps a mouthful of soda and sets her glass down a little too hard. It thunks on the tabletop, splashing the fizzy liquid inside. "I'll risk it. Hearing about your family won't make me wild with desire for you."
"In that case, I have two brothers and three sisters."
"Wow, big family. Do you get along with them?"
"Aye," I say. "Lachlan used to be the most uptight person you'd ever meet until Erica softened him up. He's annoyingly happy these days. My brother Rory has always been serious, but he hasn't found a woman to loosen him up yet. My sister Catriona is the most American of us because she went to university here and came back to take a job at a museum. Fiona's a spitfire, and Jamie doesn't know what she wants yet."
She stares down into her glass, flattening her lips, but then focuses on me again.
I sit forward to brace my elbows on the table. "As for my parents, they're embarrassingly in love after forty-five years together."
Her eyes glisten with what might be tears. She clears her throat, sucks down a third of her glass of soda, and coughs at the sudden onslaught of carbonation.
I stretch a hand across the table to clasp hers. "What's wrong? You look unwell."
"I'm fine." She takes a slower sip of her soda. "I drank too fast, that's all."
I caress her skin with my fingers, glad when she starts to relax. "I blethered on and on about my family. Should we talk about something else?"
"Actually, I'd like to know more. Like who's the oldest and where you fit into the hierarchy."
"Make us sound like a royal family." I sit back, withdrawing my hand, and rest an arm on the table. "Lachlan is the oldest. He's forty-two. Rory's next, and he acts eighty even though he's thirty-nine. Then there's Fiona who's thirty-five, followed by Catriona who's thirty-one. I'm the youngest son, but Jamie's the baby of the family at twenty-six."
"How old are you?"
"Twenty-eight." I tap one finger on the tablecloth. "Tell me about your family."
She shifts in her chair like she's got a razor blade under her erse. "I have one brother, Gavin, but I've mentioned him before. He's eight years older and very overbearing at times."
"You don't get along?"
