It was the house phone again so I twisted, grabbed the handset from the charger by the couch, beeped it on and put it to my ear.
“Hello?”
“Hey baby.”
My bent knees fell to the back of the couch, I felt my eyelids go half-mast and I licked my lips.
Yes, all this from a greeting.
“Hey Chace,” I whispered. “Having fun?”
“It’s a game, honey, not a parade.”
My head cocked to the side at his words and tone and I asked, “That isn’t fun?”
“Not when my team is losing.”
“Oh,” I muttered then enquired, “Who’s your team?”
He hesitated and I heard sounds in the background of a TV clearly on a sporting event before he replied, “The Nuggets, Faye.”
Right, of course.
“Basketball,” I mumbled.
“Yeah, honey. Football’s done in January.”
I was still mumbling when I replied, “I heard something about that somewhere.”
His team losing grouchiness faded and I knew this when I heard his chuckle.
“You could be watching the Avalanche,” I pointed out.
“Avs are on the road. West coast. Deck’s tapin’ it. That’s next.”
“Oh,” I whispered then, “Long night of male camaraderie.”
“Deck doesn’t break out the beer, dip and brownies unless there’s serious shit to watch.”
I was with Deck. All that effort should be for something.
“Deck sounds interesting,” I noted.
“Yeah, he is and every breathing female thinks the same thing.”
A small, short giggle escaped me and I asked, “Pardon?”
“The amount he gets means he’s either a good-lookin’ guy or he’s got the ability to hypnotize women that’s undetectable but highly successful though the purposes he uses it for are nefarious.”
“Ah,” I replied through a smile, “breaking that down, he’s hot.”
“I can’t make that call but I’m a detective so evidence suggests this is true.”
I laughed softly and I knew Chace listened to it because he didn’t speak again until I was done.
“You gettin’ ready for bed?”
I blinked and looked at the funky clock mounted on my brick wall that I found in a cute shop in Glenwood Springs as I asked, “Bed?”
“Bed,” Chace replied.
“It’s ten o’clock,” I told him.
“When do you go to bed?”
“I don’t know, midnight?”
There was silence.
“Uh, when do you go to bed?” I asked.
“If I’m not drinkin’ beer and eatin’ homemade brownies, ten.”
“Early to bed, early to rise,” I whispered.
“Late to bed, lazy in the morning,” he whispered back.
“I’m not lazy.” I kept whispering.
“Baby, give me that. The thought of you, lazy in bed in the morning is a good one.”
That got a full body shiver and a quick mental inventory of my junk drawer to see if I had fresh batteries for my vibrator.
“I’m not sure this is fair.” Yes, still whispering. “You being at Deck’s with beer and brownies, me being here and you being sweet and um… other things.”
“Other things?” His voice was teasing.
“Yeah, other things,” My voice was soft.
“Fuck me,” he muttered then kept muttering the weird words. “Cute. Hot.”
“What?”
“Nothin’, darlin’. It sucks but I’m gonna let you go. Boys’re givin’ me looks which means they’re listenin’. That means they’re gonna give me shit so I should probably not hand them more to give me shit about.”
I didn’t know if saying it was right or wrong because of how much it exposed about how much I didn’t want to let him go.
I also didn’t care.
This was why I suggested, “You could move to another room.”
“Yeah, your sweet voice for any longer, the other room I’m gonna move to is your one room apartment. That right there from the grins I’m gettin’ bought me a load of shit so I’m gonna let you go.”
“Okay,” I said quietly.
“When you get to sleep in three, four hours, sleep good.”
Teasing again.
God, I loved that.
So much, I laughed softly then I replied, “When you finish male bonding and get home, you sleep good too, Chace.”
“Will do. ‘Night.”
“Goodnight, honey.”
“Fuck me,” he whispered and it was a surprise so I blinked then asked, “What?”
“Nothin’, baby. Talk to you tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow, Chace.”
“’Night, darlin’.”
“’Night, Chace.”
He disconnected and I beeped off the phone. Then I brought it to my lips and smiled against it.
Huge.
Six oh four the next morning
My home phone rang.
I drifted up from sleep, tipped my eyes to my clock and smiled a sleepy smile.
Then I went straight for the phone.
“’Lo,” I whispered.
“Baby,” Chace whispered back.
I snuggled deeper under the covers even though his voice made me way warm and cuddly.
“Hey honey,” I said soft. “You get home okay or are you deep in the mountains recovering from a ceremonial male bonding ritual after killing a bear?”
I got a husky, drowsy, sexy chuckle that made me feel warmer and way cuddlier then, “I got home okay.”
“Good,” I muttered.
“You sleep okay?”
“Mm-hmm,” I mumbled.
This got me nothing.
I waited.
Still nothing.
“Chace?”
“I’m here.”
“You were quiet,” I told him something he knew.
“You sound half asleep.”
“I’m not,” I kind of lied.
“Maybe not, honey, but you sound it.”
“Oh.”
“I’ll let you go after you tell me if you took care of our kid.”
“All good,” I said softly. “Bottle of ibuprofen, kid’s multi-vitamins and some Neosporin. The other stuff I told you I’d do yesterday. Some more food to keep him stocked up. Another note telling him how to use the ointment and to get a wash if he can.”
“You don’t need me to pop ‘round the store to pick anything up?”
“No, honey.”
“All right, baby. Now go back to sleep.”
“Chace?”
“Yeah?”
“In the note, I told him a little bit about you. Just who you are, that you’re cool, he has nothing to worry about and you’re helping me look out for him. Was that okay?”
“Yeah, Faye. That’s fine. Go back to sleep.”
I didn’t want to go back to sleep. I wanted to talk to him until the earth started revolving around the moon.
I didn’t tell him that.
I said, “’Kay.”
“See you later, honey.”
“Later, Chace.”
He disconnected.
I beeped off my phone.
I didn’t think I could get back to sleep.
But I did.
Eight thirty-two that same morning
My eyes on the return bin, Chace’s coffee on my dash, mine in my hand, my car parked on the street, I waited for the boy and Chace.
I’d texted him to say coffee was my treat. He’d texted back to give me his order and tell me he’d pay me back when he got to my Cherokee. I texted him back and asked him if he knew what “my treat” meant. He texted me back with, Baby, I’ll give you money when I get to your SUV.
These were simple words on a phone display but I still could read the tone.
My text back was, Oh, all right.
I expected that would be the end but I got a one word reply.
Cute.
God, Chace Keaton was fraking awesome.