Pint of No Return by L.M. Fortin Page A

with doings in Skinner, and Callie provided Scott with an update of farm life.  She was surprised to find the waitress coming with the check.  She hadn’t realized how fast the time had gone.
    “Shall we move on?” he asked.
    She shook her head.  “You didn’t drink much, but I’ve had some wine with dinner already. If we go and have another, I won’t be able to drive.  So as much as I want to, I think I have to say no.”
    He was quiet as they paid and went out the door.  As they stood outside of the restaurant, he said, “If you don’t mind, maybe we could do this again sometime soon?”
    “I would like that,” she said, smiling.  Callie wasn’t sure if it was the wine or just being with him that was causing the buzz in her head, but she couldn’t resist.  Slowly she leaned towards him, giving him time to pull back.  His gray eyes regarded her seriously, but he didn’t move.  Their lips touched and she sighed.  Their first real kiss, not just a quick peck on the cheek.  He pulled her in close and returned the kiss with equal fervor.
    He held her hand as they walked downtown and to her mom’s pickup truck.  “Now I’ve seen everything,” he said as he opened the door and helped her climb into the faded red cab of the truck.
    “Maybe I’ll buy something just like this,” she said.
    “I don’t think your fashion sense would allow it,” he said, giving her one more lingering kiss as she leaned out the window. She started the engine and waved at him as she drove away. 
    The downstairs lights were all off when Callie reached home, so she headed to the cottage and went to bed, her thoughts full of Scott.

 
     
     
    Chapter Four
     
    Callie woke the next morning when it was still dark although she could see by the lightening of the sky that dawn wasn’t far off.  Memories of last night’s dinner came back to her.  Was it easier to fall in love with someone you already had a long history with?  Her still sleepy mind didn’t shy from the word “love” like it would have if she’d been fully awake.  She thought of how long she had known him.
    In high school, she would never have even crossed paths with him except for Audrey.  Although she knew he was intelligent, his crowd of friends tended to be the jocks who were too cool for school.  Callie’s crowd were taking the AP classes and continually competing with one another for grades, favors from teachers, and hanging out in the after school French club.
    Callie never thought Scott deliberately cruel, but he wasn’t above enforcing the high school hierarchy where the jocks had free run to make fun of those who were more academically inclined.  As far as she knew, he had never instigated throwing someone in a dumpster or tripping them in the lunch room, but he always laughed with the rest of his clique.  Callie realized now that she had been insulated from those sorts of interactions by her friendship with Audrey.  
    She supposed at that time she didn’t really know him, she just knew of him.  When Audrey and Scott started dating, Callie felt like a third wheel.  The two of them were a natural fit, the jock and the beauty queen.  Callie wondered if they would have ever gotten together if they had met later in life when they had matured beyond their stereotypes. 
    Callie had been very surprised to hear that Scott had become a police officer.  Not only had he not seemed the public servant type, the profession wasn’t known for its high pay, which was something anyone dating Audrey should have been concerned about. 
    Callie concluded that as nice as it was to know about Scott’s past, it shouldn’t influence how she thought of him in the present.  Especially as he had changed significantly in the years she had been away on the East Coast.
    Sighing to herself and looking forward to the future, Callie snuggled deep into the bed and went back to sleep.
    Callie thought it must have been about an hour later when she woke up