Buchanan: Delicious Part 55

"Just one punch," Cal said.

"Thanks, but no. It's fine." They reached the stairs and she hurried down them. "This is good. I'd actually been wondering what I could have done to make things better between us. I won't be doing that anymore."

They reached the outside. Dani stopped walking and covered her face with her hands. "My whole life totally sucks. I don't have a career or a marriage. I hate this."

He pulled her close and let her cry against him. "Things will get better."

"When? I want a date. Tell me when."

He stroked her hair. "I'm sorry, Dani. I don't know. But soon."

"Promise?"

"Yeah."

"POOR KID," Penny said. "I can't believe Hugh was cheating. I always thought he was a decent guy."

"We all thought that," Cal told her. "Guess we were wrong."

"It's good you didn't hit him. I don't care how strong he is, he's in a wheelchair and you're a big, burly guy. No way you would have won that in court."

Cal shrugged and she could see he didn't much care about the ramifications of his actions. Someone he cared about was hurt and he wanted to lash out.

Funny how she'd never noticed that about him when they'd been married. She'd never seen his protective streak for what it was. Instead of appreciating what he was trying to do and looking for compromise, she'd rebelled against what she'd thought was unreasonable behavior.

She sank lower into the chair and closed her eyes as he continued to push his thumbs into the ball of her right foot.

"You're really good at this," she said, enjoying the ma.s.sage. "I spend my life standing. Most of the time I don't mind it but lately I've been in some serious pain."

"You're pregnant."

She opened one eye and smiled. "I'd heard that rumor. Where did you learn to do foot ma.s.sage? One of the many women you dated after our divorce? Or did you know it while we were married and keep the information from me?"

"I took a cla.s.s on the Internet," he joked. "Just relax and enjoy."

"I might have to make moany noises."

"Have at it."

She gave herself up to the slow, steady ma.s.sage. There was something erotic about having Cal rub her bare foot. Or maybe it was the fact that when he concentrated on her toes, her heel seemed to end up pressing against his-

Don't go there, she told herself. Not tonight. Maybe not ever. There hadn't been a repeat performance-no surprise, given the emotional roller coaster they'd been on for the past few weeks.

In some ways they were getting along better than ever. In other ways, he was more of a stranger than she could imagine. Neither of which kept her from lying awake in bed at night and wis.h.i.+ng he were with her.

"When is Dani moving out?" she asked, as much to distract herself as to get the information.

"As soon as she can find a place. Hugh gets the apartment. It's handicapped accessible."

"She can live here while she's looking."

Cal's hands stopped moving. She opened her eyes again.

"What?" she asked.

"You'd offer that?"

"Sure. I have a second bedroom." She waved at her cozy duplex. "She needs some time to regroup and I don't need the other bedroom until the baby gets here." She smiled. "Plus, she'll probably be so grateful, she'll help me paint when she leaves."

"I think it's a good idea. I offered to let her stay with me, but she didn't want to."

Penny wrinkled her nose. "It would be too much like moving back home. I would move in with a friend way before I would go live with one of my sisters. I would hate the daily reminder I hadn't turned out like them."

He put down her right foot and reached for her left. After pulling off her sock, he rolled up her jeans. "You don't still worry about that, do you?" he asked.

Penny relaxed and gave herself over to the stroking pressure of his fingers on her heel.

"Sometimes. Before I figured out I wanted to be a chef, I was a complete failure. I flunked out of college." She winced at the thought. "I lived two years of my life in Pullman thinking I could become a vet. Like I could ever pa.s.s those science cla.s.ses."

"But you regrouped and moved to Seattle."

"Oh, right. I moved away from Spokane because my parents were done supporting my various screw-ups. For the first month, I was so broke, I slept in my car."

"All the more reason to be proud of what you've become."

"You're right. My parents are excited about my career." If not the baby, she thought. No, that wasn't fair. They were happy to have another grandchild.

"You should invite them out," Cal said.

She opened her eyes and stared at him. "You're kidding, right?"

"Why not? They can see you at the restaurant, see the city."

"Oh, right. Because I need more going on in my life. Don't you dare say anything to them, either."

He grinned. "We don't talk much these days."

"I guess not. As it is, my mother is going to come out when I have the baby." That might be good, what with Naomi talking about leaving. "Families. Who thought up the concept?"

"You love your parents," he said. "You know you do."

She nodded. "They're great. I love my sisters, too. I wish they weren't so perfect, but I can handle it."

Cal moved to the ball of her foot and dug in with his thumbs. "I'm going to have to talk to Dani about her father."

"The whole not being a Buchanan thing?"