“What’re you doin’?” Keira asked and Cal looked through his arms to Keira.

“Installin’ a new garage door opener.”

Keira and Kate looked at each other. Keira grinned big. Kate’s eyes came back to him and she looked thoughtful.

“That’s cool, Joe,” she said softly, her eyes going to the ceiling then she looked at him and finished, “thanks.”

“Please tell me you left enough clothes and shoes at the mall for the rest of the population of Indianapolis to buy so people aren’t walkin’ around in tatty, non-designer clothes they got at Goodwill,” Vi joked, walking up to them and Cal dropped his arms again.

“We’re doin’ our part to help out the economy,” Keira said to her mother.

Vi came to a stop and looked at her daughter. “What’d you buy?”

“A pair of shorts you will just love and a new pair of flip-flops that are awesome and there was a buy two get one free at that accessories place so I bought four and got two free, a bunch of bracelets and necklaces. They’re sah-weet. You can borrow them,” Keira answered.

Vi stared at her youngest a moment then looked to her oldest. “What’d you buy?”

“Nothin’,” Kate grinned, “I’m gonna borrow Keira’s stuff.”

“You are not,” Keira snapped. “Mom can borrow it but you can’t.”

Vi’s eyes went to Cal and she shook her head then they went back to Keira. “You two fightin’?”

“No,” Keira said.

“Yes,” Kate said.

Vi knew instantly who was lying and who wasn’t so she looked at the one who’d be honest with her and asked Kate, “Why?”

“She and Heather want to go to that party at Jody’s house with me and Dane,” Kate answered.

Vi’s gaze went to Keira. “I thought we talked about that.”

“Mom,” Keira whined.

“You aren’t goin’, that’s for juniors and seniors.”

“Kate’s a sophomore,” Keira returned.

“Kate’s a junior now, school’s over,” Vi retorted.

“I’m old for my age,” Keira shot back.

“Honey, you’re fourteen goin’ on twelve. You’ll be forty-five goin’ on twelve. You’re locked in girldom. You’ll be livin’ in a house with daisies on the walls and wearing pink wellingtons when you’re married and have six kids,” Vi replied.

“I’m not havin’ six kids,” Keira snapped, not stupid enough to deny she was all girl and would be until the day she died.

“And you’re not goin’ to that party,” Vi said softly but firmly, using a voice that, from the look on Keira’s face, she knew that was the end of the discussion but Vi wasn’t going to leave it bad so she told them both, “Guess who’s comin’ to town next weekend?”

“Uncle Sam!” Keira shouted, guessing immediately and also immediately losing her attitude.

Vi smiled. “And Melissa.”

“That’s awesome!” Kate yelled.

Vi turned to Kate. “Baby, can you bunk with Keira on her futon so Sam and Mel can have your room?”

“Sure,” Kate agreed instantly, her face bright, her mouth smiling, obviously loving her uncle like her mother loved her brother if she’d give up her space.

“This is so cool!” Keira announced.

Vi slid an arm along Keira’s waist and gave her a squeeze before letting her go and saying, “It certainly is, honey. Now go get your bags, take ‘em into the house and leave Joe alone, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Keira grinned at her Mom then at him and said, “Later Joe.”

“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 fuck 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 fuckin’ ladder in your goddamned garage, installin’ a fuckin’ door opener so I could buy a fuckin’ 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 fuck 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 fuckin’ 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 fucking 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.