Calleigh unlocked the front door of her apartment, her longing to kick back and relax so strong she almost decided to just plop down right in the tiny foyer to wait for the strength to venture on. Almost. Instead, she forced herself to her kitchen where she pressed play on her answering machine and sat at the table with a granola bar.
As she nibbled, she listened to the lone message that had been left: a pre-recorded greeting that urged her to call back (at $9.95 a minute, no doubt) to claim a prize. The machine went quiet and she stopped crunching. How long had it been since someone had called her just to talk? As she struggled to remember, her mind wandered to the earlier discussion of Horatio and Rebecca. It unnerved her to think that she had missed seeing something right in front of her. To push it further, she worried that maybe it was a trend she was carrying over into her job, as well. Was it possible that at some point she could have missed something while trying to solve a case?
But no, that wasn't likely. The whole reason she had been missing so much in the outside world was due to the fact that she had been throwing herself rather deeply into her work for the past year. There was nothing to worry about.
Except there was. She didn't have fun anymore, she didn't have a social life. She was still young and, being unattached, she should be out every night (or at least every weekend) painting the town red. Instead, she had spent the past year brooding and bringing home far too many case files to review.
God forgive her but she didn't want to live like that anymore. Speed was dead, yes, but she wasn't and, guilty as it made her feel, she didn't want to mourn him anymore. It didn't mean that she had stopped loving him nor had she stopped missing him, but something had snapped inside her that morning she spent on the range, nearly three months ago. Maybe that was why, since then, she had begun to let her guard down a bit; she wanted to rejoin the living.
She stood up. She decided she was going to enjoy her evening. First, she'd start with a delicious soak in the tub, then, a little later maybe, she'd take a trip to the mall and do some holiday shopping. The stores would be busy and she felt the need to have people around her.
Once in the bathroom, she turned on the tub and put a capful of scented bubble bath in the water before shedding her clothes. As she stepped into the water the warmth seemed to seep through her body, relaxing her muscles to the consistency of jelly. She leaned her head back and blissfully thought of nothing. It was the perfect end to a crappy day.
Well, partly crappy. Lunch had been good. She always enjoyed, both as a person and as a woman, spending time with Eric. He was nice and polite but he wasn't some stick in the mud, either. He always gave as good as he got, with a sense of humor that often put her own to shame. And she'd be lying if she said she didn't check out at least one of his amazing body parts or another on a daily basis. The man took care of his body and it would be insulting not to notice, right?
But it was more than that. She was never one for "damsel in distress" displays and he respected that. However, where most men would then turn to treating her like one of the guys, Eric still treated her like a lady, and she respected that. Like how he had held open the door for her today, that made her feel good.
She smiled to herself. She could still practically feel his fingers on her arm.
Ok. She was too smart a woman to deny something to herself. Considering that she had just spent the majority of her bath contemplating the wonders of Eric, she realized she had the hots for him.
Not that she was surprised. After all, she had just spent a year devoid of practically any physical contact of any kind. She was starved for attention and, due to proximity, Eric was the logical direction for her mind to stray. It wasn't that big a deal.
She stood up, letting the water drip off her body before she stepped out and wrapped herself in a towel. The evening was about getting out of her apartment and suddenly she was anxious to be going.