“Hey, who are you calling a bimbo, sister?” Beth demands, ready to go to war.

“Stop.” My voice is firm and clipped. “I’ll be back.”

I stand and escort Kate out of the restaurant and to the sidewalk outside. “What the hell, Kate?”

“Oh no, you don’t get to be mad at me,” she says, shaking her finger at me. “What are you doing out on a date with someone other than Callie?”

“I’m not on a date. Beth is my agent.”

Kate frowns, and then her shoulders deflate as she lets out a sigh. “Oh.”

“It’s okay. Say you’re sorry for biting my head off. Where’s Eli?”

“Eli isn’t here,” she says, worry suddenly settling over her. “I was here with Callie.”

And now dread settles over me. “Oh, God.”

“Yeah, I asked her out to dinner because Eli’s out of town tonight, and we were in the middle of talking about you being an idiot when she glanced over and saw you getting all cozy with Beth the agent.” She props her hands on her hips.

“This is a business meeting, Kate.”

“I know that now, but it didn’t look like that. Let me put it this way: remember when you picked me up to take me to the airport when it was time for me to return to Denver last year?”

“Yeah.”

“And we saw Cindy leaving Eli’s house, and I was devastated because I thought he’d spent the night with her?”

“I hate Cindy,” I mutter.

“Yeah, well, that’s what it looked like to Callie.”

I rub my hand over my mouth, dread settling in my belly. “Look, I have to finish this dinner, but I’ll talk to Callie tonight and clear it up.”

“You’d better,” she says. “And you’d also better explain to her why you’ve been a douche bag lately.”

“I’ve been a douche?” I ask, completely thrown. “I haven’t even seen her in days.”

“Exactly,” she says. “Fix it.” And with that she turns on her heel and walks away. Jesus, what a shit show. Women confuse the hell out of me. How could I have screwed up? I’ve barely spoken to Callie.

I walk back to the table and find a pouting Beth when I get there.

“Jealous?” she asks.

“Cut the bullshit, Beth, and tell me what you need to tell me. I don’t want to be here all night.”

“I’m leaving the firm,” she says, and my heart bursts with joy, but I keep my face and voice passive.

“Good luck to you, but you could have told me this via email. There was no reason to blow my phone up and demand a meeting.”

“Well, I was hoping that once I told you, you’d want to go home with me.”

She leans on the table, showing off her cleavage, and I just stare at her face. “If you don’t have any other business to talk about this evening, I’m leaving. Right now. I’ve told you I’m not interested. I can’t make that any more clear.”

“Fine. A girl can ask,” she says irritably. “I do have some business to talk about. There’s some recording work coming up in Memphis you might be interested in, and some song writing requests came in last week.”

It takes an hour to discuss all of the business details. Honestly, when Beth is in professional mode, I don’t hate her. But I take a deep breath when the meeting is over and I can head straight over to The Odyssey to see Callie and straighten all of this out.

When I walk through the door, the place is mostly empty. Adam is behind the bar.

“Hey,” I say as I approach. “Where’s Callie?”

“In the office, but—”

“Thanks,” I say, cutting him off and hurry to the back of the bar, then stop short when I open the door and find another fucking man with his hands on my girl.

He’s pulling away from her, as if he just kissed her. I can’t see Callie because the dude’s back is to me, completely concealing her.

When he does move to turn away, she’s smiling up at him in the special way that she smiles at me, and it sets my teeth on edge.

Tall, Blond and Handsome bushes past me. “Sorry man, she’s all yours.” Damn right she’s all mine.

And just when I think he’s going to leave, he turns back to her. “Take care, sweetheart.”

I should punch him, just out of principle, but I can’t take my eyes off of Callie. God, she’s a sight for sore eyes. I’ve had a shitty few days, and all I want is to pull her in my arms and hold on tight, but her eyes are emotionless as she stares back at me. She crosses her arms and cocks a brow, and I read her loud and clear.

Fuck off, Declan.

She’s mad at me, and I don’t even know what I did wrong, but I can see anger and frustration written all over her. So I’m going to leave her be, let her cool down, and then she and I are going to have a coming to Jesus about who’s allowed to put their fucking lips on her.

Because I’m the only one on that list.

I shake my head and walk away, through the bar and to the street, when Adam catches up with me.

“Hey!” he yells. “What the fuck, man? Were you really out with another woman tonight?”

“It was a business meeting,” I reply in frustration.

“So things are good with you and Callie?”

“She’s upset,” I reply, shaking my head. “She needs to calm down, so I’m going to give her some space.”

“Knowing Callie, that’s probably a good idea,” Adam says with a nod. “Just don’t make me regret trusting you with her.”

“It’s a misunderstanding,” I reply and clap him on the shoulder. “We’ll figure it out.”

***

Someone is leaning on my doorbell, making it go off over and over again. I stumble out of the music room where I spent the night writing songs for the job Beth gave me last night and open the door.

“What’s wrong with you?” I ask Savannah, glaring at her.

“You didn’t hear it the first three times,” she says, breezing past me and into the kitchen, where she proceeds to brew a cup of coffee, then glances over at me. “You look like shit.”

“Thanks.” I slide onto a stool, longing for a cup of that coffee. “Didn’t sleep much.”

“Kate called me,” she says, eyeing me over her mug. “Did you get it all straightened out with Callie?”

“Not really,” I reply and scratch my head. “I saw her, but she was pissed, and I decided to give her time to cool down.”

“You’re an idiot.”

“Wait. What?”

“She’s upset, thinks you’ve been out with another woman, and you walk away to let her cool off? You’re such a man.”

“First of all, I don’t like the way you call me a man like it’s a bad thing.”

“It can be,” she says, but I keep going.

“Second, I know Callie pretty well by now, and I think she needed some space.”

“How much space are you going to give her?” Van asks.

“A day,” I reply. “I miss her.”

Van barks out a laugh, rinses her mug, and turns back to me. “If you miss her, go see her. You know, women aren’t as difficult as men believe. Hug us, tell us we’re pretty, and we’re happy.”

“Not true,” I reply, shaking my head. “Y’all are complicated as fuck. Trust me, she’s not hurt; she’s pissed. I know what I’m doing. I want to see her, but I’m respecting her space.”

“Whatever,” she says. “There was a reason I stopped by.”

“Aside from giving me awesome relationship advice? Great.”

“Smart ass.” She glares at me. “I have a hearing for the divorce next week.”

“I’m there,” I say immediately. Van will never have to be in a room with that asshole alone ever again. She nods and fights tears, and I stand, circle to her and pull her in for a hug. “It’s going to be okay, you know.”

“Why is it taking so long?” she asks. “It was supposed to be over long ago, but he keeps appealing everything.”

“His lawyer is a dick, but ours are better,” I assure her, rocking her back and forth. “He can legally appeal all he wants, but it’ll eventually lead to a court date and it’ll be over.”

“It could take a long time,” she says and sniffs.

“It’s okay. It’s all going to be okay.” I’m not sure who I’m trying to convince, her or me, as I rock us both back and forth.