Chapter Three
As she triedto wrap her head around what had just happened, Leah knew she needed to at least attempt to rein in the anxious excitement racing through her. It wasn’t easy. An electric charge prickled her skin where Caleb’s strong hands had touched.
What happened back there?
It wasn’t earth-shattering, but it was…well…something.Something had definitely passed between them.
It went without saying that she found him attractive. She wasn’t dead, and the man was gorgeous. And although he didn’t flaunt it, he had the kind of body that belonged on the cover of a fitness magazine. She’d run into him on a couple of her jogs, enough to know and appreciate it. Long, lean limbs with finely-muscled biceps and the kind of taut physique that made her want to run her hands over his sculpted shoulders and firm abs.
Yeah, the physical attraction was undeniably there.
Maybe that’s all this was. The little spark that passed between them was just her understandable reaction to an attractive man who also happen to be a pretty nice guy. It wasn’t anything to get worked up about.
Except she was looking at an entire weekend with him. How could shenotget worked up about it? How was she supposed to fight these feelings for the next two days?
The better question was, whyshouldshe fight them?
She had not been mistaken about the interest she saw staring back at her when she’d looked in Caleb’s eyes as he’d held her on that log. He was interested. No doubt about it.
But just because he was interested didn’t mean it was the right thing to do. Hadn’t she already proven how ridiculously awful she was at picking men? At this point she was unsure if she could trust her own instincts. What if she onlythoughtCaleb was as wonderful as he seemed? Didn’t she think Derrick was wonderful at first?
Actually…no. No she hadn’t.
Leah almost tripped over her own two feet as she realized that not once in all the time she and Derrick were together did she feel this particular way about him. She and Derrick didn’t engage in lighthearted banter or fun, silly flirting. Derrick didn’t do silly. In fact, she couldn’t remember the last time she laughed while with her ex-fiancé.
That disturbing thought remained with Leah until they arrived at Birch House. Caleb held the door open so she could enter ahead of him. It was the second time he’d done so. It brought to mind just how much Derrickneverdid little things like that.
Okay, no more comparisons.
She could not spend her weekend comparing Derrick to Caleb.
But how could she not? Caleb wasn’t even her boyfriend, yet he’d held her car door open for her this morning, and then again just a few moments ago. He’d carried her bags without her even having to ask.
Even now, he pulled out her chair once they arrived at their table.
And it wasn’t just this particular weekend that he’d displayed this kind of chivalry toward her. Leah couldn’t remember the last time she had to drag her own garbage can to the curb. She awoke one Monday morning about a year ago to find it already sitting there, and when she arrived home from work that afternoon, it was parked next to her garage. It was the same with cutting her lawn, and how he moved the packages left by the delivery man to her back steps.
Caleb had shown more courtesy toward her than her own fiancé ever had.
“This is definitely not what I’d pictured when you said summer camp,” Caleb remarked, looking around at the dining hall as he sat across from her.
“It sure beats the mess hall at that summer camp I went to back when I was in 4-H,” Leah said. The large space held dozens of linen covered tables. Thick, high beams crossed the pitched ceiling. It was both rustic and elegant. A perfect combination.
A server came to take their order—something that definitely had not happened at her old summer camp.
Caleb took a sip of the water the server had left on the table, and asked, “Have you decided what you’re going to do with your weekend?”
Leah shook her head. “I figure I’ll look over the agenda again tonight and find something to do.” She pulled up the calendar app on her phone. “I’d made a schedule of all the workshops and activities I’d hoped to do with Derrick. Some of them sound a little cheesy, but there are a few that actually seemed fun. I’ve been looking forward to doing them.”
“What’s stopping you?”
She glanced up from her phone. “It’s a couple’s retreat, remember?”
“If there’s something you have your heart set on and you need a plus-one, just tell me. I’m here.”
Goodness but he was sweet.
“I can’t ask you to do that, Caleb. You came here to fish.”
