Chapter 43

He grabbed his coat and headed out the door. On the way over to her house, he thought of Jocelyn and how he would rather be spending the day with her. But this was his own fault. He should have talked to Mallory before now. Even if he weren't having feelings for Jocelyn, he would have broken it off with Mallory anyway. Jocelyn really had nothing to do with it.
When he arrived, he pulled the car to a stop in front of the house and turned off the engine. When he looked over at the driveway, Jocelyn's car was gone. He sighed, wishing she was here. But what he needed to say to Mallory, he needed to say alone. Squaring his shoulders, he slid out of the car, but looked up at Jocelyn's bedroom window, where she had stood crying in the window the night before.
"What are you waiting for?" Mallory asked, standing on the porch, wrapping her cardigan sweater around herself. "Come on in. It's cold out here."
"Mallory, we have to talk." He looked her square in the eye, but didn't move.
"Then come in out of the cold and we can talk." Mallory motioned him in.
He sighed and walked up the stairs. She attempted to pull him in for a kiss, but he walked past her. "Mallory, things aren't working between us. I have my life and you definitely have yours, which I'm not a part of."
"Well," she took a step toward him and rubbed his chest, "that's something I'd like to change."
He took a step back, but didn't take off his coat. "Not with me."
Tears welled up in her eyes. "Give me another chance- for old time's sake."
"Mallory, we were kids when we were dating before." He took a step toward her, unable to see her cry, fake or not. "We can't just pick up where we left off years ago. I've changed- and you haven't."
Mallory looked at his chest and then into his eyes. "Give me a chance."
Caden shook his head. "We can be friends, but nothing more."
"Give me today, Caden- as friends, if nothing else." Mallory walked toward the kitchen, not giving him time to answer. She came out a moment later, carrying two cups of hot chocolate. "Let's not talk about this now. It's the first time I've seen you in days." She blew across her cup of hot chocolate seductively and then looked up at him through her eyelashes. "Please?"
"Stop it, Mallory." He set his cup on the dining room table. "If I stay, then you'll have to stop coming on to me."
She batted her eyelashes again. "Why, whatever do you mean?"
Caden started toward the door. "You can't flirt your way through life to get your way. When you want to be friends, then let me know." He had his hand on the doorknob when she stopped him.
"Caden, wait," she called out to him. "Okay. If you stay, I'll behave."
He looked over at her. "Seriously?" He laughed without humor. "I don't think you ever really knew how to behave. I don't know what I ever saw--"
"Don't say it," Mallory cut him off. "Please, don't say it. If not anything else, I want to keep the memory of what we once had. And if you say that, it'll ruin everything." She walked over to him and took his hand. "Please. Stay and help me decorate the tree- as friends."
"Could you really do that?" He lifted an eyebrow. "Just be friends?"
She shrugged. "If Jocelyn did it, then so can I."
Pain gripped his heart. "Please. Leave her out of this."
She let out a deep breath. "Fine." Then she walked back over to the table, picked up his cup of hot chocolate, and held it up to him. "Here you go. Let's sit down and talk while we have our hot chocolate and then we can decorate the tree."
Although he knew she was probably just manipulating him, he decided to stay. What could it hurt? He just wished that Jocelyn was there to help them decorate the tree, too. But he and Mallory needed time to talk alone.
"Fine." He took his cup from her, carried it into the living room, and sat in the chair by the door that he had always sat in years ago when they were dating. It brought back memories of them together, but he quickly pushed the thought aside, willing them to stay in the past where they belonged. They needed to find some common ground with her in order to let the past go and maybe become friends.
She squealed in delight and sat on the footstool in front of his chair, as she had done years ago. "So, tell me about the Navy. What was it like?"
He smirked. "Dangerous."
"So, you're stationed in California?"
He nodded.
"What is it like?"
"Busy." He took a sip of his hot chocolate. He knew he was being short with her, but he didn't trust her yet and he wasn't about to let his guard down around her. He made a mental note to take back the ring he had bought for her. Thank goodness he hadn't proposed to her as soon as he saw her. "So, tell me about your modeling career and the pageant."
"Well-," she said, obviously delighted that he had asked about her. "As you know, I've been with the same modeling agency for years and they send me on jobs when they have them-." She prattled on about her modeling career as he pretended to listen. He took a sip of his hot chocolate and studied the Christmas tree standing in the corner of the room. It was leaning to the side. He smirked, knowing that Mallory must have attempted to do it herself. "Caden? Caden, are you listening to me?"
"Uh huh." He set down his cup and walked over to the tree, then he stooped down and made some adjustments. "Is the tree straight now?"
"Yes," she said flatly.
Standing, he looked at the tree and it was no longer the Leaning Tower of Pisa. "There. That's better." Then he looked around the room. "Where are the Christmas lights and decorations?"
She set her cup down on the side table next to his with a big lipstick mark on the edge. Well, at least I'll know which cup is mine, Caden thought.