“There you two are,” Betty said as she came down the stairs, coming at Caleb with her arms spread wide. She pulled him into a hug, proving she was a hell of a lot stronger than she appeared. “It’s so good to see you. You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting for Kate to bring someone home.”
Shock widened Caleb’s eyes as Betty continued to talk.
“I keep telling my grandkids I’m getting old and won’t be around much longer. Is it too much to ask for some great-grandbabies?”
“We aren’t…” Caleb started, but stopped. He had no idea what he and Kate were. They never discussed it.
“Grandma, he’s here to speak with Mason about their businesses teaming up.”
“So, you two aren’t together?”
Caleb looked to Kate, not sure how to answer it. A part of him wanted to say yes, they were, but the other part, the part that was burned so badly in the past, warned him to get away now before it was too late.
“Just friends,” Kate said, but for some reason the words stung.
“Is that what you kids are calling it these days? Well that’s all right. Just because you’re”— Betty raised her hands, air quoting with her fingers—“‘just friends,’ doesn’t mean you can’t put a baby in her.”
“Grandma!” Kate exclaimed.
“What?” Betty asked in the most innocent tone that made Caleb laugh.
“You’re going to scare him away.”
“Nonsense.” Betty wrapped her arm through Caleb’s arm and guided him toward the house. “I could just imagine a baby with Kate’s eyes and your bone structure. My Lord it would be gorgeous.”
Kate caught up and glanced over to him, mouthing sorry as they followed Betty into the house. Caleb didn’t mind. Just like with Terry he took what she said with a grain of salt, but if that were true then why did he keep picturing a little girl in strawberry blonde pigtails with Kate’s smile?
Betty guided him through the house, pointing out the spot where Kate took her first steps and the doorway where all the kids were measured, each sibling received their own color; Kate’s was red.
The inside of the house was beautiful with vaulted ceilings and exposed wood beams. A grand fireplace made of slabs of natural colored stone was the centerpiece of the living room. Caleb imagined a young Kate cozying up in front of it on snow days and creating her bracelets.
From there they went outside to join the rest of the Hayes family. Kate came to rescue him, but Betty rested her hand on his chest. “We were having so much fun. Caleb, weren’t we having so much fun?”
“We were,” he said, smiling down at Betty.
“Kate, I think you have yourself some competition,” Betty said, wrapping her arm around his waist.
“Grandma! Your husband is right there,” Kate said, pointing to an older gentleman with thinning white hair that stuck up in the front. His fair weathered skin showed a man of the outside who spent his days in the sun doing hard labor.
Kate’s grandfather waved his hand in annoyance. “He can have her.”
“Grandpa!”
“What? He’d probably return her after a few days anyway. Get myself some peace and quiet in the meantime.”
“You better watch it, old man,” Betty said.
“Who are you calling old?”
Caleb watched as the two bickered and couldn’t help but laugh as he saw nothing but love and devotion in their eyes.
“Sorry, kid,” Betty finally said, patting Caleb’s chest. “I gave my heart to this dope before you were even born. I think I’ll stick with him. He’s been okay so far.”
“Okay? Fifty-seven years of my life and all I get is an okay?”
“What would you call it?” Betty asked.
A sly smile formed on Harold’s face. “Pretty darn wonderful.”
Betty left Caleb’s side and went to her husband, wrapping her arms around his neck and giving him a kiss. “It has been pretty darn wonderful, hasn’t it?”
“Fifty-seven years.” Caleb said, trying to imagine what that would be like, waking up to the same person every day for the rest of your life. He looked down at Kate who nodded, and he was struck by the fact that he wouldn’t mind waking up to her face every morning. On the days when they got to work at the same time and he got a rare glimpse of her in the morning light, he would know that it was going to be a good day. “That’s a long time.”
Kate shrugged. “I imagine when you love someone the way my grandparents love each other, time is more of a blessing than a curse.”
He never thought about it that way, but now that he did, she was right. Fifty-seven years might seem like a long time in the grand scheme of things, but he wondered if at the end, if it would feel like enough. He had thirty-one years with his brother, and to some, thirty-one years would feel like an eternity, but for him it felt like a blip in time. Not nearly enough.
“Come on. Let me introduce you to the rest of the family.” Kate nudged her shoulder into his arm, and tired of trying to keep his distance and ignore the feelings that were brewing inside of him, he slipped his hand into hers.
She looked up at him with those big beautiful eyes, a flash of surprise brightening them to an intoxicating aquamarine. Her teeth slid over her bottom lip as the edges of her mouth twitched.
Without another word, she pulled his hand and introduced him to the rest of her family.
First, her parents, Jonathon and Carol. Carol, a blonde with the same bluish green eyes as Kate, smiled warmly at him, taking his hand in hers. “It’s a pleasure to officially meet you. The wedding was a little hectic. I wish I would’ve had more time to talk then just a passing hello.”
“Don’t worry about it. You were busy and the wedding was beautiful.” Caleb then remembered what Kate had said earlier and complimented Carol on her home.
“Now aren’t you just the sweetest. Thank you.” She took Caleb in her arms, a warm and inviting embrace that made him instantly feel like part of the family.
Jonathon Hayes looked at him with gray eyes and gave him a pat on the back. “You like beer?”
“I do.”
“Good. Mason has a Double IPA in the fridge that I already snuck a taste of, and let me tell you, it’s outstanding.”
“I look forward to trying it.”
“Once dinner is done. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to help the Mrs. in the kitchen.”
“You haven’t run away yet, so I’m taking that as a good sign,” Kate said.
“Your family is great. I have no reason to run.” He slipped his hand back into hers and brought it to his lips, needing to feel her skin against his. He pressed a kiss to her knuckles, wishing he could kiss her somewhere else.
“This the new boy toy?” Kate’s youngest brother, the one who was late to the wedding, asked as he approached them.
“Cooper, this is Caleb, my friend.”
“Since when do friends hold hands?” Cooper lowered his aviator sunglasses and stared down at their linked hands.
Kate went to drop his hand, but Caleb held on tighter. Who knew what exactly they were. All he knew and cared about was that he liked touching her.
Kate looked at him for a second before turning back to her brother, but Caleb noticed the smile curving her lips.
Cooper was easy going and had a lot to talk about. Mason joined them, but he seemed to be the opposite of Cooper—a silent type who liked to observe rather than be the center of attention.
Caleb was enjoying Cooper’s stories and was disappointed when he had to cut one short to go help his dad.
Kate was currently helping her mom with setting the table, so that left Caleb alone with Mason, which is exactly who he was there for. It was a flurry of chaos when they walked in and Hadley’s newest foster dog grabbed the roast off the table and took off so Kate didn’t have time to make proper introductions.
“I don’t know if your sister talked to you, but she thought maybe we could team up together to help promote our businesses. Kate suggested hav
ing you host a tasting at my shop, or we can put our heads together to come up with something else.”
“You fucking my sister?” Mason asked, completely ignoring everything else Caleb had just said. Caleb stuttered sounds, but he couldn’t form words. He stared at Mason, trying to figure out if he was serious or joking, but that man had a stone-cold poker face that was completely unreadable.
“Uh…” Caleb managed as he searched for something anything to say.
“What are you two talking about?” Kate asked as she approached, and Caleb sighed a breath of a relief.
“You know the usual. The weather, mom’s cooking, whether or not he’s taking advantage of my sister…”
Kate smacked Mason in the chest. “Don’t be a dick.”
“A dick? Is that what I get for looking out for you?”
Kate rolled her eyes at Mason and turned to him. “Ignore him. He doesn’t know how to act around company. Did you tell him the idea we came up with?”
“I did,” Caleb replied.
“And?”
“It sounds like a great idea. We’ll talk,” Mason said, surprising Caleb. He could have sworn he didn’t even listen to anything he had said.
Matt and Shay approached, holding hands and looking like the classic newlyweds. They approached them and came to a stop, joining their group. “What’d Mason do now?” Matt asked.
“Why do you always assume I did something?”
“Because you always do,” Matt said matter-of-factly.
Shay laughed at her husband. “Kate smacking you in the chest before was kind of a dead giveaway.”
“So, what’d you do now?”
The siblings started to bicker, and Caleb stepped back, refusing to get dragged in.
Shay came up beside him and bumped her shoulder into his. “How you doing?”
“Okay I guess.”
“It can be a little overwhelming at first. They’re not even all here.” She laughed before continuing. “You do get used to it after a while, and before you know it you’ve become one of them, calling Matt out on his overbearingness, laughing at Mason’s dry humor.”
Caleb looked across the deck to Betty. “Do you ever get used to Betty’s comments? I thought Terry was bad.”
Shay laughed again, this time louder and more amused. “Never. I’ve known this family a long time, and Betty still stuns me into silence. Let me guess. She was asking you about great-grandbabies?”
“How’d you guess?”
“Before Matt even brought me around the house, she stopped in my bakery and started asking if I was fertile.”
Caleb should have been surprised, but he was learning rather quickly that there wasn’t much that could surprise him anymore. Red Maple Falls was full of the unexpected, and it was for that very reason why he was falling in love with the little town. Not that it was the only reason.
He caught Kate’s eyes across the way, and she stopped arguing with Matt to give him a smile. Her smile was like sunshine on a rainy day, breaking through the clouds and shining light upon him.
“Don’t hurt her,” Shay said, and Caleb looked down at the petite brunette who barely came up to his shoulder. “She really likes you, and she’d probably kill me if she knew I told you that, so don’t tell her.”
“So why are you telling me?” he asked confused.
“I’m not one who usually meddles in other people’s business, but Kate always looked out for me, so I feel it’s my place to look out for her. She’s a good person, the best really, and she has a heart of gold. I’d hate to see her get hurt because she finally opened her heart to the wrong person.”
“I won’t hurt her.” He had no idea what was going on between them, but that was one statement he could stand behind. He hurt her once when he walked out on her, and that was one time too many.
“I believe you,” Shay said. “Don’t make me regret it.”
“For someone who doesn’t meddle, you’re pretty good at it.”
“I guess the Hayes’ ways are finally rubbing off on me.”
“What are you two talking about over here?” Kate asked as she approached, punching Matt in the arm as they walked.
“How hungry we are.” Shay turned to Caleb and winked. Being surrounded by so many Hayes’ family members it was nice to have an ally.
Now if he could just keep his word and not turn her into an enemy.
***
The evening was what Kate would call a success even if Lady destroyed the roast their mother slaved over all afternoon. Luckily, her mother always prepared, and had hamburgers and hot dogs her dad was able to throw on the grill. There was something about a hamburger on the grill in the middle of summer that Kate loved.
She was sad to see the day end, but as the sun faded into the horizon, casting orange streaks across the sky, it was time to say goodnight. Kate drove Caleb back to his place and put the car in park outside the barn where he lived. She was curious about what it looked like inside. If he decorated or if it was just an open space with a bed and dirty laundry tossed around the floor.
“Is it a studio?” she asked, nodding toward the barn.
“I have a bedroom, but the rest is just open space. Want to see?”
She was dying to get a sneak peek into his life and the fact that he was extending an invitation made her want to jump on it, but she was skeptical. “You think I’ll drop my pants for you that easily?”
He laughed and ran a hand over the short dark hair on his jaw. “No. I’m just having a really good time, and I’m not ready for it to end.”
Kate was shocked not only by the honesty, but by the genuineness in his tone. “Wow. Okay then. How is a girl supposed to say no to that?”
“She can’t.”
She laughed. “No, she most definitely can’t.” She took the key out of the ignition and followed Caleb to the front door.
There was a bike in the entryway that hung on hooks and, while in great condition, it was obvious it had been used often.
As Kate followed Caleb up the stairs a million visions bounced into her head about what his loft above the barn would look like, but none were even close to the reality. When they reached the top, she stepped into the open floor plan and looked around in amazement.
Oak lined the floors in a shade of walnut and lead to a seating area in one direction with brown leather couches and a wide screen TV. A coffee table made of refurbished wood had a stack of mountain bike magazines in the center.
In the other direction, a kitchen with overhead lighting that hung down in three domes above a rustic white island with brown granite countertops. Wooden stool with brown leather seats and lined with gold rivets sat pushed against the island on the outside, facing the living space.
“I’m impressed,” Kate said, taking in the rest of the space and admiring not only the cleanliness, but the warmth of the place.
“Not what you expected, I take it.”
Kate shook her head. “Not at all.”
“Let me guess. You were expecting posters of half-naked girls, pizza boxes on top of milk crates that I used as seating, and dirty dishes in the sink. Am I right?”
“Something like that.”
Kate walked into the living area and spotted a small table in the corner. On top of it a small fish tank with a bright orange goldfish that looked like it needed to go on a diet. She moved toward the tank, kneeling down to look directly at the fish.
“What’s its name?”
“Milton.”
She laughed. “I like it. I didn’t expect you to be a fish person.
“I’m not. He’s not mine. He’s my brother’s.”
“If he’s your brother’s, then why do you have it?”
“He can’t have a fish where he is.”
“And where is that exactly?”
“Six feet under.”
Kate’s eyes widened, and she mentally slapped herself for not putting two and two together. That night at his shop he had told her he didn’t have anyone w
ho cared about him. She should have realized. “I’m so sorry.” If she would have known, she wouldn’t have been so forward. She would have treaded a little lighter on the subject, since she knew in her heart that his loss affected him deeply.
She couldn’t even fathom how it would feel to lose a sibling. Her sisters and brother were a part of her and to lose one of them would be to cut off one of her appendages. She wished there was more she could say, but all she could do now was apologize for not thinking.
“Why are you sorry? You didn’t know.”
No, she didn’t, but that didn’t change anything. She still felt awful. More than anything, she was curious. She had come to know Caleb yet still felt there was so much she didn’t know about him. He could have easily skirted the subject, but he didn’t, and maybe it was because he wanted her to know. Maybe he was finally opening up to her, peeling away one of the many layers he hid behind.
“How’d he die?” she asked, staring at the fish and praying she hadn’t crossed a boundary. She didn’t want him to shut down on her not when he finally was opening up.
“Cancer,” he said the word like it burned his tongue. She stood up straight, turning away from the goldfish and looking at Caleb with a silent invitation. She wasn’t going to ask anything else, but if he was willing to talk then she’d be happy to listen.
He was quiet for a long time, making her uneasy, afraid that he was going to change the subject and resurrect the wall she managed to chip away at. Then he ran his hand through his hair and a slight smirk tugged at his lip. It wasn’t his usual smirk that was filled with snark. No this smirk, was filled with a world of heartache.
“Death sucks, you know, but cancer is torture that drags on and on. By the time death comes, you’re welcoming it with open arms, despite the claims you made in the beginning about how you would fight until the end.”
He rested back on his heels, and Kate felt the need to say something, anything that would comfort him.
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