Accidentally His

by Brooks, Sarah J.

  The problem with her theory was that Caleb could get in touch with me if he really wanted to. I’d seen how innovative and determined he could be. If he wanted to see or talk to me, he would have, and that was all there was to it.

  “Let’s just get to work, please,” I said unable to continue arguing with her anymore.

  The second I sat down at my desk, Rob was there asking me questions. Something crazy had happened to him since my return. He was being nice to me and complimenting my work. I wasn’t sure if it was because he actually cared and was glad I had made it off the mountain alive or if he just wanted to see if he could conquer me again. Either way, it didn’t matter to me because I was over him.

  I was over any guy who didn’t make me a better person. There was no more room in my life for settling. I’d almost died up on that mountain, and I wasn’t about to take anything in my life for granted. Every moment was going to be filled with me living to my fullest.

  I thought about Caleb a lot; there was no way to get him out of my mind. What we had experienced together was amazing, and I’d always remember him very fondly. I just wasn’t going to dwell on him and what happened or the fact that he didn’t want to stay in touch. I couldn’t turn that week into something negative, I had to remember the positives, and that was what I was choosing to do. Life was clearly too short to have as many worries as I had previously.

  As I got back into the normal day-to-day work life, it was so much easier than I remembered. In the past, I’d labored over each decision and worried about doing better than others in the office. Not anymore. Instead, I was able to be productive and confident that I was doing my best. Somehow, I knew that I was going to be just fine. With or without Caleb in my life, I planned on finding the ultimate happiness balance in my work and personal life.

  Chapter 20

  Caleb

  “You know, Mom hasn’t stopped talking about your visit down there to help take care of Dad after his heart thing,” Jeff said as we sat in my condo eating breakfast after our run.

  “I know, you should have seen her. I swear she would never wish anything bad to happen to Dad, but she was really dang excited that he was okay and I was there for the last couple of weeks. She would come in and wake me up in the morning and then stand there staring at me like some sort of mothering maniac.”

  “So how are things going with the mountain girl?” Jeff asked.

  “Not going at all. I took off to help take care of Dad and never got a chance to talk to her again.”

  Jeff burst out laughing. He wasn’t laughing like I’d said something funny; instead, he thought I was actually joking with him or perhaps lying to him. It was the truth. I went back to the hospital to see Jordan, and she was gone. That was the end of it.

  “So, the man who literally built a cabin on his own, powered it with solar power, and found a way to heat rainwater can’t find the woman he’s in love with? Sure.” He laughed.

  “Who said I was in love with her?”

  “Oh, you didn’t have to say a damn thing; it’s all over your face every time we talk about her. Which you have on several occasions. More times than I ever remember you mentioning a woman.”

  “You’re being ridiculous. That’s not true.” I tried to defend myself. “I haven’t talked about her that much.”

  “Right,” Jeff said and then started to play with his phone.

  “Plus, if she wanted me to get in touch, then she could have contacted me easily. I’m not a hard person to get in contact with.”

  “Wow, now I see why women always say you drive them crazy. She almost died on that mountain and went through the trauma of having her ex try to kill her, but you think she should be the one to reach out to you instead of you reaching out to her?”

  “If you say it that way, I seem like a jerk.” I laughed.

  Jeff was a good brother. No matter what was going on in my life, I knew he was always looking out for what was best for me. I had to listen to him. There was no way I could ignore what he was saying to me.

  Not only did I want to get in touch with Jordan, I had been thinking about her since the very moment she was taken into surgery. I spent that whole day pacing and trying to keep calm, worrying, and trying not to be a jerk when people wouldn’t tell me what was going on. If my father hadn’t had a heart attack, I definitely would have showed up at the hospital when I said I was going to be there.

  I’d thought about tracking Jordan down in the weeks that I was helping out with my father. I thought about sending her a letter. I thought about showing up at her home or her work, but all of those options seemed like something her crazy ex-stalker might have done.

  There was no way I wanted her to be afraid of me in any way. I didn’t want to do or say anything that would make her worry that I was anything like that man. It seemed like a safe idea to just let her come to me. If she wanted to stay in touch with me, she could.

  “You do seem like a jerk,” Jeff said without a smile. “You don’t actually get more than one chance with women anymore. Either you are going after her, or you are not. Right now, she’s probably thinking that you are a jerk. Sorry to be so blunt, but I bet she’s only going to consider you as an option for a few more days before you will have lost your window to go after her.”

  “Since when did you become such a ladies’ man?” I joked. “Fine, I’ll go get her tent from the mountain and mail it to her. How is that? Then if she wants to stay in touch with me, she can send me a letter.”

  “Right, because any normal person in the twenty-first century is going to send a letter. Come on, you can do better than that, Caleb.”

  “Fine. I’ll deliver it to her office. I don’t want to show up at her house like some sort of stalker. She clearly doesn’t need someone like that around.”

  I still didn’t feel all that great about showing up at Jordan’s office either. It seemed like a grand gesture that someone who knew the feelings of the other person might do, but not someone in my situation.

  To be honest, I still just wanted to go back up to my cabin and stay there. Living in society again was exhausting. But it was time to start living again, and I didn’t want to stay in my cabin forever. Going up there for a weekend or a vacation would have to do because now I was ready to move on with my life.

  “Let me know how it goes. You’re going to do that soon? Before you set up shop for your new company?”

  “Yes, I’ll go up tomorrow and get her gear. I’m still looking for office space and waiting for some patent paperwork. I don’t want to make things public until I have the patents. Even if I posted on social media, it would jeopardize getting the legal stuff for my company finished.”

  I’d decided to start my own renewable energy company in Oregon. My specialty, for the time being, was going to be solar energy, but I really wanted to expand into wind energy and other renewable sources.

  Throughout the last two years, I’d concentrated on perfecting my connections with the solar panels and the building to optimize space. This resulted in me being able to get about fifty percent more power from solar panels than many others could do. Plus, since I was up in the mountains and there were a lot of trees, I hypothesized that I could increase the power even more in other areas of the country.

  When my patents came in, I’d start advertising and working with a marketing firm to ensure I could get some contracts throughout the country. I already knew I’d need to hire some salespeople and train them in the system. Preferably, I would be able to hire a marketing firm who could manage most of the day-to-day items for me.

  One thing I’d learned through my time in the mountains was that I didn’t need to do everything myself. Letting others help me was more productive and meant I could save my energy for the really important things.

  “This is going to be big, Caleb. I have a feeling you are going to do amazing with your new business.”

  “Thanks, bro.”

  “I’m serious. I’m not just blowing smoke up your ass.
Everyone is talking about ways they can save money, and more and more people are looking at renewable energy. I think you will be huge in no time.”

  “I hope so. I’m excited about this for sure. I’m going to make a business plan and get going on everything as soon as these patents come through.”

  “Let me know if I can help with anything. I better get going for now, though. Maybe you should just go over to that girl’s marketing company and see about setting something up for work. It would give you an excuse to see her.”

  “That sounds super creepy.”

  “Not as creepy as you hiking up a mountain to get her tent and bring it to her. Just go see her. You can play the whole thing off as a work thing if she’s not interested. But you have to promise me you’re going to actually ask her out. None of this beating around the bush stuff. Go in there, tell her you like her, and ask her out. Understood?”

  “Wow, I don’t remember you being this pushy.”

  Jeff laughed and gave me a hug before heading out. It was really nice to be in town with him and spending more time together. As much as he had annoyed me when I was coming into town each month, I did really enjoy seeing him, and I always knew he was worried about me.

  I liked Jeff’s idea of going to Jordan’s work and seeing about a marketing plan. I already knew I was going to need to hire someone; there was no reason I shouldn’t ask Jordan for her opinion. Well, there was a reason, the whole crazy stalker reason, but if I was asking about business, I could probably avoid that.

  Somehow, with a stroke of courage, I cleaned up and got dressed to go to her firm. I was going for it. If she was going to reject me, it was going to happen in person.

  My hands were shaking as I got into my car and drove to Jordan’s work. After sitting in the parking lot for what seemed like hours, I finally got up the courage to walk up to the front door of the building. The receptionist was helpful and tried to call Jordan when I asked for her. But when Jordan didn’t answer her phone, I asked the receptionist if I could just go up to her floor and take a look around for her.

  I’d already gathered so much courage to show up at her work there was no way I was leaving without actually talking to her. This was it. This was when she was either going to say yes to me or she was going to laugh at me. Either way, I was going to know the answer to my heart-filled question sometime in the next couple of minutes.

  “You can go upstairs,” the young woman said as she smiled back at me. “Jordan’s desk is all the way in the back, but she might be in the conference room for a staff meeting.”

  “Thank you,” I replied before heading upstairs.

  I was getting nervous as I made my way through the hallways on Jordan’s floor. I glanced in each and every room trying to see if she was in there. When I finally made it to the desk at the back of the main room, I knew it was hers. She had a single picture of herself with her family which I stopped to stare at for a minute before I felt the presence of someone standing behind me.

  “She’s in a meeting,” Emma said as she crossed her arms and looked angrily at me. “Why are you here?”

  Right away, I was second guessing why I had shown up at all. Why had I listened to my brother and his big ideas? Jordan wasn’t going to like me just showing up like this. I should just leave.

  “I just wanted to ask Jordan about some marketing stuff.”

  “Oh, marketing stuff. Okay, yeah, because why would you come here to actually talk to her after leaving her hanging for the last few weeks?”

  I was about to defend myself and tell Emma why I hadn’t been in town, but she wasn’t going to give me a moment to talk. She scoffed at me and then walked over to what I assumed was her desk.

  “Can I wait for her here?” I asked.

  “Sure, I’m not the boss of her desk. But come on, you disappear for weeks on end, and now you want to try and pretend like you need marketing. From what she told me about you, I honestly expected much more than this.”

  “I’m sorry; I should have tried harder,” I said without elaborating on my reasons.

  The truth was that I could have tried harder. I could have made my feelings known to Jordan when I came to see her in the hospital. It was such an emotional time, though, and the last thing I wanted to do was push something on her that she wasn’t ready for. That day in the hospital she looked so tired and worn out. All I could think about was letting her rest and heal. Plus, it was awkward between us. We still didn’t know each other all that well, and it was going to take some practice to make things work.

  “She’s in the conference room down there,” Emma motioned and gave me a half of a smile.

  “You’re not mad?”

  “I like any guy who can admit when he’s wrong. I liked you when she told me everything you did for her. So, I’m going to trust that you really want to be there for her. Don’t screw her over, though, or I’ll chop your leg off with an ax.”

  “I believe you,” I said with a chuckle before heading down the hall to find Jordan.

  The conference room at the end of the hall had a giant glass wall, and as I approached the room, Jordan could see me coming. The look of shock on her face was enough to send my heart racing. She looked happy to see me. Jordan definitely looked happy to see me. I couldn’t help smiling as I stood off to the side and waited for her meeting to end.

  She kept looking up at me and then back at the people in her meeting. She could hardly focus; I could tell this was driving her nuts. Her smile brought me right back to the cabin, and something about not being able to talk right away gave us the time to look into each other’s eyes, and I felt her love for me.

  Maybe it wasn’t actually love, maybe she just really liked me, but I felt the same for her, and it deserved the chance. The feelings we had for each other deserved a real chance, and I was going to make sure it happened.

  As the meeting finally dismissed, a woman pulled Jordan to the side to talk to her. She shrugged in my direction before going with the woman to look at some papers. It only took them about five minutes, but it felt like a lifetime as I looked on and waited for Jordan to come and see me.

  “Caleb, what are you doing here?” Jordan wrapped her arms around me in a hug that instantly reassured me that she did have similar feelings for me. I held onto her and didn’t want to let her go. Her hair smelled divine as I nestled my nose in close and squeezed.

  “I’m sorry I missed you at the hospital, my father had a heart attack, I …”

  “Oh, my gosh, is he okay?”

  “Yes, he is. I went home to help my mother care for him. I was a jerk at the hospital. I don’t know I just was worried I was going to seem aggressive if I was flirting, and you looked so sick … I …”

  “Caleb, it’s fine. I know it was weird. We were both weird. I should have just asked for your number or given you mine. I should have made it clear that I was interested.”

  “Well, we are here now,” I said and pulled her close to me.

  My arms settled on her hips, and I felt the eyes of people in the office on us. I couldn’t help wondering if they knew the whole story about what Jordan and I had been through. Had Jordan told anyone the stories of near death that she had experienced up on that mountain?

  “I’m so glad you are.”

  “I came to see if you could help me with my marketing for my new company. I was going to use it as an excuse just in case you really didn’t want me to ask you out,” I confessed.

  “Oh, I can help you with your marketing too,” she said with a smile.

  “So, you would like to go on a date with me?”

  “Hell yeah, I would.”

  “A real date, like where there are no axes or snowstorms involved. I want to come to your house and pick you up. I want to take you to dinner and sit and talk with you for hours. I want to drop you off at your home when we are done and kiss you good night.”

  “I said yes, but there is one thing I’d change,” Jordan said as she grabbed onto my neck and pulled me down
toward her.

  “Sure, anything. We can meet up for the date. I don’t need to come to your house. Whatever it is, I am willing to do it. I want you to be comfortable.”

  “Maybe you should come up and say goodnight after the date. Perhaps, stay for the night and keep me safe until morning?” she said playfully as she pulled me down to kiss her.

  Having Jordan in my arms was amazing. I couldn’t wait to take her on a real date. I couldn’t wait another minute. The connection we had was just as strong as it had felt on the mountain. There was no awkwardness, no worries at all about our chemistry. I felt the sexual power between us just like I had when we were in my cabin.

  “What are you doing tonight?” I said cheekily, fully expecting to have to schedule a different night for our first date.

  “Apparently, I’m going on my first date with you,” she replied, and we kissed passionately, right there in front of her whole office.

  Epilogue

  Jordan

  “Do we have both of the camping stoves or just the super light one?” I asked Caleb as I read off our checklist for our big hiking trip.

  “I have both laid out, but I thought we were deciding to take just one of them.”

  “Yeah, from what I’ve read, our pack weights are really important. But I also don’t want to take something that isn’t going to work. Which one is the most reliable?”

  “I’d say the gas one,” Caleb replied as he held up the new stove he had purchased.

  “Okay, I trust you. How about sleeping bags? Are we bringing the new ones or the old ones?”

  “The old ones are lighter, but the new ones will keep us warmer,” he said with a smile. “I know how much you don’t like to be cold at night.”

  In the last five years, Caleb and I had done a lot of camping and hiking. It was our thing now. We both enjoyed being outdoors and being on long hikes, but this hike was our longest one yet. We were both taking a few months off from working to hike the Appalachian trail.

  Caleb had recently hired a director for his company and had over a hundred employees now. It was going to be really hard for him to be gone for so long, so we did plan on taking breaks to keep in contact with everyone.