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The fresh smell of coffee spread through the house as Callie climbed out of bed, she breathed in the scent as she pulled on her robe and walked out to the front room. The morning light shone through the windows making her sigh as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes. Nate was sitting at the dinner table having a nice breakfast before his job interview, While Shaun fumbled with his mushed food that was spread all over his bib and face, She laughed.
“Morning honey, did you sleep well?” Nate asked looking up from the newspaper giving the paper a quick flap before turning his gaze back to the latest news stories.
“Yeah I did, the game last night was exhausting, thank you for letting me sleep in Codsworth.” Cal let out a sigh of relief as she sat down across the table from Nate, She wiped the mushed fruit off of Shaun’s face and gave him a delighted “YAY!” In response the little boy giggled.
Codsworth flew besides her Giving her a delighted “Good morning Mum!”
“Good morning to you too Codsworth." Cal took a sip of her Coffee and grimaced at the strong taste, pouring in more creamer and sugar.
“And that's quite alright that you slept in Mum, you deserved it after the smashing ball game you played last night! I don't quite think there is a baseball player out there like you!” Codsworth said pouring her a cup of orange juice.
“Thank you Codsworth.” She smiled as she drank, There wouldent be another game for about five weeks. “I wont have practice all this week babe so I can take Shaun to Mommy and Me classes so you can look for a job.”
Nate smiled, “Thank you, although I think I’ve got this job interview in the bag,” Nate trailed off becoming more interested in the paper he was reading in front of him, his head shot up remembering something important.
“That man who moved down the street what's his name.. Robert? Robert MacCready? I’ve been carpooling with him to the classes.” Nate said taking another sip from his coffee as looking down at his newspaper. "He says his car is in the shop but I'm pretty sure he just wants to make some new friends in the city, you know his wife isn't with him anymore."
“Ok, I’ll go over to his house and introduce myself today, I could use a little company.” Callie smiled and looked over at Shaun, he was getting bigger. Almost a year old, growing up so fast.
Nate left giving Cal and Shaun a kiss goodbye and was off to his job interview while they both waved good luck at the door. Cal placed her hand on her cheek where Nate kissed her and felt a stab of sadness at the noticeable way he kissed her cheek instead of her puckered lips. Cal shook the feeling from her mind, maybe he didn't notice. Or maybe he didn't want her freshly painted lips to stain his own, she knew how important the interview was to him and the family and one mistake ike that might cut it.
Cal carried Shaun inside bouncing the small baby on her hip deciding to go meet Robert MacCready in an hours time.
After taking a shower and choosing a sunflower yellow dress, she was off to introduce herself to the hopefully nice man across the street. Codsworth waved her goodbye at the door and handed her Shaun as she made her way down the street heels clicking on the concrete and trying to stealthily balance her son on he hip.
The house she found herself at was a light shade of yellow with Halloween decorations pinned up around the house. Cal straightened up her dress and brushed her hair behind her ears. Shaun smiled up at her noticing the decorations and laughed at the funny shaped pumpkin cut outs, Cal kissed his head and knocked at the door.
There was some muffled noises from inside the house when a small boy opened up the door and looked up at her. He had messy brown hair and tan skin that was covered in freckles and a confused look on his face. He looked Cal up and down warily trying to decide whether she was good or not. Shaun giggled once he saw the young boy, he turned his attention to Shaun and a smile popped up on his small face.
“You must be Shaun’s Mom!” The small boy exclaimed.
“Duncan, look how many times do I have to tell you don't answer the door to people without asking who they are first.” A man’s voice echoed down the hallway accompanied by heavy footsteps.
“Sorry Dad but it's Shaun’s Mother.” He yelled back in response.
The footsteps stopped, Cal looked into the house and saw a man standing at the end of the hallway, he had messy hair and little cuts on his face, the tie around his neck was undone, he looked like he was getting ready for work. Her heart skipped a beat as she looked at him, he was very attractive.
She noticed she was staring for way too long to be comfortable and introduced herself.
“Hi my name is Callie Harris, but you can call me Cal. You must be Robert MacCready?” She stuck out her free hand and balanced Shaun with her other. He walked up to the door and shook her hand.
“Yeah that’s me but just call me RJ.” He guided her inside and closed the door.
Duncan’s eyes widened as he looked up at Cal, “Are you really Callie Harris?”
“The one and only.” She responded smiling and puffing out her chest.
“Damn! I’m a huge fan can I have an autograph!?” Duncan yelled.
“Duncan what did I say about cursing?” RJ said looking down at his son.
“Don’t do it…”
Cal kneeled down and looked him in the eyes, “If you promise to stop cursing I will give you an autograph.”
Duncan’s eyes lit up again, “Thank you!” he yelled running up to his room for his baseball cards.
“He’s probably going to forget you said that and curse again, sorry I’m trying to teach him manners.” RJ smiled sheepishly.
“Oh it's fine I’m sure it must be hard! I can't wait to see how much trouble Shaun will be!"
"Are you kidding me? Shaun is a little gentleman, when Duncan was his age I swear I couldn't control him for a second!" RJ took a look around the room and cringed at the mess. “I’m sorry the place is a mess, I was just getting ready for work and we just moved in..”
Cal cut him off, “Oh I hope I'm not intruding I’m sorry I should have came at a better time..” She looked at him and frowned.
“No, no! You’re fine don't worry, I have an hour until I have to go I just like getting ready earlier.”
She smiled in response looking around the living room, it was almost identical to her house but had a much more lived in feeling, and they only moved in a couple of weeks ago. It smelt like aftershave which reminded her of the cuts on RJ’s jaw and made her laugh.
“What's so funny?” he asked.
“It's just I think it might be time for you to get a new razor, you have so many cuts on your cheeks!” Cal giggled as RJ grasped his jaw.
“Yeah I was going to get a new one tonight.” he laughed.
They moved on the couch sitting side by side, Cal bounced Shaun on her knee as he smiled and giggled. RJ looked at her the baby boy and made funny faces at him.
Duncan raced down the hallway holding out a pen and a baseball card with her picture on it, Cal quickly signed it.
“I’m gonna tell all my friends about this!!!” Duncan then ran down the hallway closing himself off in his room.
“Duncan is cute,”
“Shaun is cute too, he reminds me of Duncan when he was little.” RJ smiled at the small child on her lap, “I can’t wait till they are both older then they can be really great friends.”
“Yeah! I would love that.” Cal looked at him, there was a weird feeling inside her stomach it almost made her feel heartsick whenever she looked into his green eyes.
“So Mommy and Me?” RJ snapped her out of the trance.
“Yeah yeah! I’m going to be going with you for now on I hope that's not too much trouble?” Cal asked.
“Oh no it's fine!” He asked making Cal breath a sigh of relief.
Two weeks passed, and it was the best two weeks Cal has experienced in a long time. Her and Rj spent almost all of their free time together, they weren't just stopping after Mommy and Me classes they were going to parks, to movies, and to children birthday parties together. They were inseparable.
But while RJ and Callie were growing closer, Nate was being left behind.
The last couple of Baseball practices RJ and Duncan started to sit in and watch her from the stands, it was a fun way to pass the time and she was an amazing ball player. Although the last couple of practices she was off her game, missing strikes left and right, making her entire team question what exactly was going on with her.
RJ looked from the stands as she missed her fifth ball of the night, it was a very uncommon occurrence, she came walking over to him.
“You can leave tonight if you want too I’m probably going to stay in late to work on my swings.” She took a drink from her water.
“No you need a break, why not take the night off and sleep it off, come on I’ll take you after you talk to the coach.” RJ looked over at Duncan and watched the boy yawn.
She agreed, what was the point in working herself to the bone when it wasn't her skill that was putting her on edge, Cal had more important things bugging the back of her mind than her swing.
She asked the coach to leave early, she agreed but only if Cal came back two hours earlier for tomorrow nights practice. She agreed packed up her stuff and followed RJ out to the car.
“Ugh, RJ!” Cal leaned on him and gave an exhausted sigh.
“You tired Cal?”
She nodded her head as they walked over to the car it was a long drive from the stadium to their neighborhood and the car was usually filled with chatter from the both of them, but not today. They walked in silence side by side while RJ was holding a sleeping Duncan in his arms.
The comfortable silence was long since gone and RJ was confused, he turned on the radio and settled on the song “He’s a Demon, He’s a Devil, He’s a Doll” he heard her groan as she pushed his hand out of the way and started to search through the songs herself.
“It’s a Man” no.
“One More Tomorrow” no.
“Undecided” No.
“End of the World” NO!
Cal looked over at RJ with tears in her eyes, they stung as she tried to bite them back. He looked over at her with shocked confusion.
“RJ pull over, I have to tell you something.” She looked out the window.
“What why?”
“Just do it please.. it's important.”
He pulled the car into a Red Rocket and turned off the engine, the radio still softly playing in the background, Cal kept on staring out of the window.
“Look Cal, I want to help you what's wrong?” RJ asked unbuckling his seatbelt, to get closer to her.
“He’s cheating on me.” Cal whispered, RJ looked at her in confusion not hearing what she said.
“What did you say?” He hesitantly asked.
“I said he’s cheating on me.” Cal said calmly and turned to face RJ. “I found out last night, he told me he's been going out every morning when he says he has job interviews, and he's been sleeping with one of the men from his old squad. Danse? Is his name? I don't know, but I want him out of my house.”
RJ wiped her tears away.
“The reason why he told me was because.. He thought we were sleeping together and wanted to get back at me. I don't even know if that's true or not but I have wanted to be with you, you make me feel so good about myself in a way that Nate never could but…” She wiped away the tears that sprung in her eyes looking out the window.
RJ looked at her in disbelief, of course he thought about her that way, and he was sure that she thought that way about him too. But Nate was a good man, until now, and nothing ever came from it.
“And look, I know you may not be ready for whatever we have here because of Lucy so I can understand if you don't want this. RJ I just don't want to go back to that house tonight, I don’t want to. Not if I have to sleep next to a man that doesn't love me, even if by some chance that you don't have these same feelings for me can you please let me stay at your house please?” Cal looked down as a few more tears rolled from her face.
RJ put his hands under her chin and brought her face up so they were locking eyes.
“I thought it was pretty obvious that I liked you Callie. And yes I’m still not over Lucy but I know she would want me to be happy again and I really like you. I cant really see why Nate would want to leave a woman like you because you are perfect.” He licked his lips, “And right now all I want to do is kiss you.”
They were sitting so close to each other that their noses were almost touching, she closed the gap between the two of them and kissed him. The kiss was soft and gentle, and all Cal could think of was how perfect it felt with him kissing her. Better than anything.
They separated from each other and more tears sprung from her eyes, no matter what she knew that it was going to be alright with RJ at her side.
RJ looked at her smiling, it was amazing how his smile could brighten up an entire room, the neon red glow from the Red Rocket shone through the windows and made the whole car seem on fire. Cars drove past them illuminating both of their faces in the dark night as they both started towards a new tomorrow, together.