"I wouldn't answer, if I were you," Noah advised then stared at Amanda. "You might find it on the front page of the local paper."
Amanda laughed. "I have that reserved for locals with oversize egos and undersize...well, I'll let you finish the sentence yourself."
Noah jammed his wallet back into his pocket, stalked around her and out the door. Leah stared after him.
"Wow, and I thought he was giving me a hard time, but he's definitely set his sights on you."
The faint flush on Amanda's cheeks surprised her. Maybe there was more there than irritation with her newspaper stories. None of her business. The farther away from Caleb's brother she could stay, the better, especially now he'd declared open warfare.
"How many bales do you need?"
"Twenty. That should be enough to keep my guys bedded down good for a while."
"You need help loading it?"
"Mack was MIA when I came in. You have time?"
"No problem."
After Amanda paid, Leah grabbed a pair of gloves and headed out the side door to the semi-trailer they used to store hay. She climbed up inside and waited for Amanda to back up her truck. From here, Leah could keep an eye on the store in case any new customers arrived.
Leah and Amanda worked as a team. Leah tossed the bales into the back of the truck and Amanda stacked them. In no time flat, they had it loaded and ready to go. Leah jumped down from the trailer and dusted off her clothes.
"Thanks, Leah," Amanda said as she closed the truck's tailgate. Mack was still nowhere in sight. "You know, you should buy this place."
Leah laughed. "Right. I'll just write Mack a check."
"I'm serious."
"No one is going to give me a loan."
Amanda raised her brows. "You might be surprised. There are several families around here willing to loan money to the right people if it means keeping local businesses up and running. You and I both know Mack's not invested in this place. He runs it because he promised his dad he would, but that's not going to keep him here long term. Talk to Caleb. Or Mack."
With a wave, Amanda climbed into her truck and drove out of the lot. Leah stared after her, her brow furrowed in thought. Both Amanda's advice and Noah's attack kept going around in her brain. She didn't want anyone to think she was sponging off Caleb. More importantly, no way was she going to end up trapped again.
However, when she sat down and looked at what she was making minus what she figured she owed Caleb for their medical bills, there was no way anyone would consider loaning her money. The first bill from the hospital had been in the mailbox when she arrived home with Jonah late in the afternoon. Two emergency room visits and it was already more than two thousand dollars. That didn't count the two of them having to spend the night in the hospital.
Leah let out a sigh of frustration. She needed to get on a plan to pay these bills, but to do it, she really needed to talk to Caleb. It would have to wait until morning because there was no way she could stay awake until he got home from the grand opening of Last Call.
Maybe, after she'd slept on it, she would have some brilliant idea of how she could stand on her own two feet. Maybe some miracle would have occurred in which she suddenly had the money to buy Mountain Plants from Mack.
When she awoke to dawn's first rush of rosy light spreading across the master bedroom, the only miracle that had occurred was the one that happened every morning—awakening to find Caleb Allred naked and sleeping next to her. In fact, on this morning, he was pretty well entwined with her. That was all right with Leah. She couldn't imagine anyone else she'd like her legs tangled with.
As if he sensed her staring, Caleb's eyes opened. He gazed at her with a heavy-lidded look that sent her pulse hammering, particularly when his lean hand slipped down to knead her butt.
"Mm," he murmured, pulling her hips in against his erection. "The perfect way to wake up on a Sunday morning. I can think of only one thing that could make it even better."
"What?"
"Having you wrapped all around me while I make you come."
Those words, delivered in his gravelly morning voice, were more than enough to make her melt. Leah twined her arms around his neck and pulled him in for a kiss. Caleb's hand slid from her hip into the indentation of her waist and higher to cup her breast.
"Your nipples are hard," he whispered against her ear. "Imagine how they'll feel when I get my mouth all over you."
Okay, she was ready to come right now. "What are the odds you locked the door when you came in so we won't have an early morning intruder?"
A chuckle vibrated through him just before he slid down to slide his tongue along the valley between her breasts. "It's locked, and I checked on him right before I came to bed. He was sleeping soundly and breathing well, so I think we're good to go here."
He flicked his tongue over her nipple and his hand moved south, teasing and rubbing between her legs.
"I hope you have a condom handy because I don't think I'm going to last long," she told him.
"Don't hold back. I love to watch you come. Then we'll do it again together."
And they did.
As they sipped coffee after a late breakfast and Jonah watched cartoons, Leah asked, "How did it go last night?"
Caleb grinned. "Better than I anticipated. We're opening again today at noon to catch some of the pro football crowd."
Leah glanced at the clock. "So when do you have to go in?"
"Andy's opening. I'll go in a little later. It will probably be slow this evening if you and Jonah want to come in for dinner. Do you have to work today?"
"Yes. I've got to be in at noon."
"I'll keep Jonah. You want me to drop him by Mountain Plants or see if my parents can watch him?"
"I don't want to be a burden," Leah began, but Caleb took her hand and gently squeezed.
"You're not a burden. You're family, and you know they would love to watch Jonah." He studied her, eyes narrowed. "What else is on your mind?"
Leah pursed her lips. "I've been thinking about the future."
She tried to keep her tone light, but every time she had tried to have a discussion with her family about change, it had led to her father losing his temper. Now, Caleb's eyes narrowed and he slowly withdrew from her.
"You have a future, Leah. You and Jonah both have a future here, so what's the problem?"
His sudden shift in attitude only made her warier. In Leah's experience, it was a really short trip from uncertainty to rage.
"I want to be able to stand on my own two feet, to pay you back what we owe you—"
"Owe me? You don't owe me a damn thing."
Leah swallowed nervously. Her gut instinct was to start placating him so she could get away, but this was Caleb, not her father.
"I would hardly call two hospital bills nothing, Caleb."
"I volunteered. It wasn't a loan, Leah."
"But you didn't know us."
"I knew you well enough we share a son. That hardly makes us strangers."
"It doesn't make us a family either." As soon as the words left her mouth, Leah regretted them. From the shuttered expression on Caleb's face, she knew with certainty she'd hurt him. It was the last thing she meant to do. "I am so sorry. That is not what I meant."
His green eyes were cool. "On the contrary. It's my experience when people say something that quickly in response it's exactly what they do mean." Caleb rolled to his feet and took his dirty dishes to the sink before facing her again. "I get it, Leah. You're right. We aren't a family, but apparently unlike you, I'm willing to take the risk for us to become one."
"Caleb..." At the look on his face, she hesitated, and he filled the silence.
"I'll clean up the breakfast dishes while you get ready for work."
Leah opened her mouth, started to say something else, but changed her mind. From the expression Caleb wore, she would be talking to a wall right now. It was her fault. She had hurt his feelings. With a sigh, she turned on her heel and c
limbed the stairs to the master suite.
Why was this all so hard? She had always imagined once she found the man she loved everything would be as smooth and easy as eating ice cream on a summer afternoon. However, right now, the flavor of the month appeared to be rocky road.
Leah turned on the shower. She was seriously going to have to find some way to help Caleb understand and make up for the hurt she had caused him. Right now, though, she had to get her mind on the nursery, and figuring out how she could make it hers.
Chapter 21
Caleb was in a shitty mood. Leah's words kept replaying in his head no matter how hard he tried to eradicate them. It was more than the fact she didn't see them as a family, and however much she might protest, he had felt the truth of what she had inadvertently admitted.
He dropped her at Mountain Plants, remaining behind the steering wheel while she said goodbye to Jonah.
"I'll leave the car seat with my parents so someone can pick you up and get you and Jonah home." Yeah, he was pretty much rescinding the invitation for her to have dinner at Last Call. Not very mature, but maybe a little time for them to regroup would be best. They had been practically living in each other's pockets, so setting up a routine in which they spent a little more time apart wasn't such a bad idea.
In the rearview mirror, he saw her slight hesitation as he made it clear they wouldn't be eating dinner together at the bar.
"All right."
Caleb waited until she'd disappeared through the door before putting his vehicle in gear for the drive to his parents' farm. Cars were parked around the farmyard, a good indication that this was the gathering place for lunch this week. He could hang out for an hour or so, lose himself in the noisy camaraderie of his family, and then head home to get ready for the afternoon and evening at Last Call.
"Look who's here!" his dad called as he trotted down the front steps while Caleb was releasing Jonah from his car seat.
"Paw Paw!" Jonah wriggled free and raced towards his grandfather. Caleb had to smile at how his dad had become such a hit with the little boy in so short a time. Little wonder when all the rest of the grandkids were trailing behind his dad as though he were the Pied Piper.
After receiving a clap on the shoulder, Caleb headed into the kitchen where he was sure the rest of the brood would be gathered. He raised his brows when he spied both Eli and Becca together.
"Who's watching the stores?"
His sister grinned. "Eli's dad's giving him a break, and I'm letting Jared handle things on his own today. I've got my phone handy in case he has any problems."
Caleb nodded. This was a big step, allowing their teenage nephew to handle her bakery business for the day, and a sign of how much confidence Becca had in Jared. His brother Luke's eldest child had turned things around since Luke had brought his kids back to Mountain Meadow for a new start. Caleb's glance slid to where Rachel was bouncing the son she and Luke shared on her slender hip. They had managed to make things work. So had Eli and Becca. Caleb just needed a way to connect with Leah.
"Where's Leah?" Noah asked as he entered the kitchen and surveyed it.
The fact his twin would be thinking about her at the same time he had been didn't even faze him. Their whole life had been that way. Lately, though, Caleb hadn't been able to read his twin as well as he used to. That worried him. Something was up there.
"Work. Mack's not much for putting in an appearance on Sunday."
"Just Sunday?" Noah's brow rose.
"Okay. He's not much for work at all. Not sure why he even keeps it."
"He promised his dad." Noah's expression clouded again. "Breaking those kinds of promises isn't easy."
Caleb started to say something to him, but Noah turned away, hurrying over to pour himself some iced tea. There was something else Caleb should glean from Noah's remark, but before he could give it anymore thought, Jake and Luke were dragging him outside to help get more chairs from the storage building. Caleb glanced over his shoulder and saw Noah staring after them, his expression shuttered. From out of his pocket, his brother pulled a small flask, un-stopped it with one hand, and poured some clear liquid into his tea glass.
He and Noah needed to have a talk. If he was drinking at this time of the day, things were getting way out of hand. As angry as Noah was, it wouldn't be an easy conversation.
It was early afternoon when Caleb finally pulled into the parking spots behind Last Call. There weren't a ton of cars in the parking lot, but enough that it justified being open on Sundays. He opened the back door and stepped into the kitchen. The sizzling of cooking food and the aromas of onions, pepper, and garlic greeted him. Satisfaction filled him. This was what he'd worked to have—a place in his hometown that he could call his own where he could immerse himself in what he loved.
"Hey, Boss," Andy greeted him. "Food business is going great. The lunch crowd has kind of tapered off, but we've got people starting to roll in now for the football games."
"We have plenty of wings?"
"The order came in first thing. We should be good."
"Great. I'll take the front for a while."
"Thanks. I could use the break."
Pushing through the swinging door, Caleb traded the noise of the kitchen for laughter, conversation, clinking glasses, and the low hum of several different sports games broadcasting on the big screen TVs. About half the clientele greeted him by name. They were customers, sure, but he had known quite a few of them his whole life. They weren't here to drink beer or watch games. They were here to socialize with neighbors and friends.
In no time at all, Caleb was wrapped up in drawing beers and mixing drinks...and there wasn't a fuzzy navel or sex on the beach in the whole crowd. About as sissy as any of the drinks got were V and Ts. This group was into liquor up or on the rocks, sometimes with a little beer as a chaser.
Damn, it was good to be home.
Chapter 22
Leah checked the clock on the wall. A half hour to closing. She couldn't remember a day quite as long as this one. Business had been off despite the overall fair weather, so she had spent time taking inventory of the flowers they had on hand and what needed to be re-ordered. There had been a couple of orders for arrangements that would go out the following day, so Leah had taken care of those, placing them in the cooler until Mack could take them out to deliver the next day.
She swept and mopped, another chore Mack wasn't exactly picky about. Left to him, the place would be draped in cobwebs and swimming in flower cuttings, not to mention the mulch he often dragged in on his boots from out back.
The dearth of customers and an absent boss left her with too much time to think. Too much time to contemplate her guilt for hurting Caleb's feelings. The real truth was a whole lot harder to face. Jonah had bonded with Caleb and the whole Allred family. Leah was the outsider. No one said it and would probably be horrified she even thought it. So it was on her.
What was she supposed to do with that? No doubt she wanted what was best for Jonah, and having a father in his life who looked out for him and loved him was a no brainer. The problem was that Leah wanted—needed—to feel she could stand on her own two feet. So far that hadn't happened.
A minute or two before closing time, she heard a car pull in out front. When she didn't hear a door slam, curiosity got the better of her. She walked through the aisles of flower displays and gardening products to the front of the store to look out the large plate glass window.
For a second, she thought Caleb had changed his mind, and then she realized it was Noah's SUV, and Noah behind the wheel. When he spotted her, all he did was raise his brows. Of all the people that might have shown up to give her a ride home, Noah would have been at the bottom of her list. He seemed to have taken an inordinate dislike to her, and she wasn't sure why.
Beggars couldn't be choosers.
This definitely wasn't the choice she would have made. She stuck her head out the door and Noah rolled down his window.
"I need to lock up. Th
en I'll be right out," she told him.
Leah totaled the cash register, stashed everything in the safe, and set the alarm system, in a hurry now to get the ride with Noah over with. If there was one bright spot, it was in knowing he wouldn't want to hang around to talk. Leah nearly laughed at the thought.
He was drumming his fingers on the steering wheel when she opened the passenger door to climb in. After a quick hello, she glanced back at Jonah. He was snoozing in his car seat, probably worn out from a day of playing with his cousins or his Paw Paw.
Leah shut the door and buckled her seat belt. Without a word, Noah put the big vehicle in reverse, executed a turn with his left hand and pulled out onto the highway toward Caleb's house.
"Thanks for playing chauffeur," Leah said in an attempt to get some conversation from him. His silence was a little unnerving.
"Right. I'm surprised you haven't hit Caleb up for a car of your own yet."
Leah raised her chin as she stared out the front window. "Did you offer to give us a ride so you could pick a fight, Noah?"
"Not much else to do these days."
At least he was driving with an excess of caution for a change. Leah looked out the passenger window. "I don't want to fight. Not with you. Not with anyone."
He turned into the driveway, cutting it a bit short so the back right wheel bumped on the edge of the ditch before gaining purchase on the gravel road. Leah shot him a look, narrowing her eyes a little as she noticed the faint flush on his cheekbones.
Embarrassment or anger? When they halted in front of the house, Leah undid her seatbelt and hurried from the car. She had no desire to find out what was making Noah tick these days. She had enough on her plate as it was.
"Don't bother to get out," she told him. "I can get all this stuff."
His dark eyes snapped fire. "I'm not a complete cripple, Leah."
She grabbed Jonah's bag of toys and the little boy from the car seat and walked toward the house. Let him get the damn seat unbuckled. Guilt swamped her the minute she thought it. She'd left him with a task it would be tough to complete with one hand. When had she gotten to be so petty?
Last Call (A Place to Call Home Book 3) Page 14