Free Sunrise at Sunset by Jaz Primo Page A

around her. Many in her past had presumed to claim more from her and under much less pretense. And they all died for their selfish efforts. But not Caleb. He’s altogether different , she confirmed with a smile.
    Whimsy struck her, and she picked up her cell phone from the tabletop.
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    After time spent doing laundry that afternoon, Caleb was once again at the office that evening, preparing some minor changes to his lesson plans, when his cell phone rang. He’d expected it to be Melanie, but noted that it was Katrina.
    “Hello?” he asked with a distinctly pleased tone.
    “Hi, Caleb, It’s Katrina,” she greeted him cheerfully.
    As if I wouldn’t recognize her beautiful voice in the middle of a hurricane , he considered, stifling a chuckle as he realized his unintended pun. “Hi, Katrina,” he replied with a smile. “What’s up?”
    “Just a quick history-related question,” she began mysteriously. “If I wanted to read up on Andrew Jackson, what authors would you recommend?”
    He smiled, pleased that she was calling to ask him for advice. “Well,” he began as he playfully swiveled around in his desk chair, “the bio by H.W. Brands is a gold standard, but I actually enjoyed the Jon Meacham bio even more.”
    “Excellent, thanks for the suggestion,” she replied.
    His eyes glanced at the small bookshelf in his office, and he spied the very book he had just mentioned. “In fact,” he began hopefully, “I happen to have the Meacham book right here in my office. I’d happily loan it to you.”
    “I have some errands to run, so I maybe I’ll drop by and pick it up,” she ventured. “That is, unless you were leaving soon.”
    “Oh, it’s no problem,” he confirmed a bit more energetically than he’d intended.
    He had no way of knowing that she was pausing to grin on the other end. “Great, I’ll be there in…shall we say, half-hour?” she asked.
    “Perfect,” he confirmed with a smile before snapping his cell phone shut.
    Approximately fifteen minutes after Katrina’s call, Caleb’s cell phone rang as he thumbed through Meacham’s biography of Jackson. As he reached for his phone, he hoped it wasn’t Katrina calling to say something came up. Instead, it was Melanie. She must’ve reached the hotel okay. “Hey, Mel,” he answered contentedly. “How’s Florida?”
    There was a pause at the other end before Melanie spoke. “Hi, Caleb. Wow, you sound pretty happy-go-lucky. Where’s the party?”
    Even Melanie’s sardonic wit didn’t impair his good mood at the prospect of seeing Katrina again. “No party, just here at the office finishing things for Monday,” he said, but with a more subdued tone than before.
    “Now that’s the Caleb I know,” she said. “We made it to the hotel this afternoon and just got back from dinner. I’m changing clothes, and we’re gonna head out for some club-hopping.”
    “Sounds good,” he politely offered. “Having fun?”
    “Actually, yeah,” she replied with a surprised tone. “It’s been better than I expected. And Greg’s really been good company, too.”
    “So, do you miss me?” Caleb smoothly asked.
    There was another pause. “Well, do you miss me?” she countered somewhat evenly.
    “I think I asked you first,” he fenced. Boy, as if that wasn’t a junior high response , he chided himself.
    “Well, sure,” she offered a little weakly in his opinion. “But sometimes it’s good for two people to do their own thing, don’t you think?”
    “Yeah, I agree,” he diplomatically agreed. He heard a male voice in the background and frowned. “Who’s that?” he pointedly asked.
    “Oh, it’s just Greg,” she explained with hesitation.
    “I thought you said you were changing clothes,” he recalled with some annoyance.
    “Well, I just finished,” she defensively countered.
    He heard another faint noise in the background. Was that the sound of a zipper being zipped, or unzipped?
    “Listen, I better get going,” she