Beauty

Chapter 21

 Michael had prepared homemade waffles with fruit and whipped cream for breakfast. He invited Bill to join and the three of them enjoyed breakfast on the patio with quiet, polite conversation. They avoided the topic of the expected arrival, or anything unpleasant, until Michael went back inside to refill the whipped cream. 

   Bill studied Callie for a moment and Callie kept her gaze at her plate. She pretended to be especially interested in filling each crevice in her waffle with cream as she felt his glare beat down on her. "You know," He started in his deep voice, finding a way to sound polite but intimidating, "I'm not sure if I trust you yet."

   She put her fork down and looked up at him with a small forgiving smile. "That's understandable."

   Bill raised an eyebrow which made him look more intimidating. "Really?"

   "Yeah, I mean, Michael's this big rock star and I'm just some nobody from across the country. I've only been in his life for a few days and now I'm his girlfriend... I know it's all going kind of fast but it's... it's just different. He makes me feel so wonderful about myself, I've never really had that before. My life has always been about what I was doing wrong and what I needed to do to be right, but Michael likes me just as I am. He looks at the imperfections like they're the most beautiful..." She trailed off. "Anyway, it's all kind of fast but I just couldn't walk away from him... Shacking up with a rock star isn't exactly the plan I had for my life but I want to see how this plays out."

   Bill gave a small smile and leaned back, reaching for something in his jacket pocket. "Good answer. I still don't trust you though."

   "That's fine." Callie smiled with her eyes following the small white card he had pulled from his pocket and was reaching across the table to hand to her. She pulled it from between his index and middle finger. She examined it and saw that it was a plain business card with his name and number on it. 

   "My home number is on there, as well as the number here and the car phone. If you need anything, just call me."

   Callie examined the card once more and whispered a stunned, "thank you" as Michael came back to the table. He noticed the card in her hand and looked over at Bill and gave him a look of thanks. 

   The rest of the morning was spent sitting at the patio table listening to Bill and Michael tell Callie of their stories of being on the road. After the super soaker situation, Callie wasn't surprised to learn that Michael was a bit of a trickster. She laughed so hard that her already sore muscles (from laughing the day before) burned as tears streamed from her eyes and she gasped for breaths between giggles. Michael's joyful cackle played in her ears like music and even Bill's low rumbling laughter made her feel comfortable. She felt at home for once and tried to push away the distant nagging feeling that she would soon have to leave it.