Leah had no doubt her normally light brown cheeks were now flaming red.
“I’m so sorry,” she apologized. “I didn’t mean for that to sound the way it did. I mean, it’s not as if you couldn’t get a girlfriend. I’m sure if you tried…”
Okay, stop talking!Goodness, what was wrong with her!
“I’m going to shut up now,” Leah said.
Caleb only laughed harder. “No, really, it’s okay. Like I said, I don’t blame them for choosing to spend the weekend with their girlfriends. It’s just that I requested today and Monday off for this fishing trip. I could have saved those two vacation days for something else later in the year.”
“Is fishing alone out of the question?” she asked. “I’ve never gone fishing before, so I don’t know if there are unwritten rules about it.”
“Actually, I would go by myself, but I happen to be without a truck,” Caleb explained. “It’s getting serviced this weekend. I specifically planned it that way because I figured I’d be at the lake with the guys.” He ran a hand over his closely-cropped hair. “I guess I can finally paint the shutters. Not exactly how I’d planned to spend my weekend, but it’s better than loafing around the house.”
Leah grimaced. “That’s a crappy use of your vacation days.”
He hunched his shoulders in awhat are you going to dogesture.
“Sorry again about your friends bailing on you. Believe me, I know how that feels.” She pointed to her house. “I should probably get going. I’ll see you around.”
He responded with a wave. “Enjoy your weekend.”
Leah went back inside and parked herself in front of her computer. She was giving herself exactly ten minutes to figure out where she wanted to spend her weekend, then she would get on the road.
Maybe she could drive up to Niagara Falls or go down to the Poconos? For a moment she considered checking into the Waldorf or the Mandarin Oriental and treating herself to a couple days of pampering. But she wasn’t in the mood for a luxury hotel.
She wanted to go to Camp Firefly Falls, dammit! Once she’d warmed to the idea of spending time in the mountains, she’d actually gotten excited about it.
Leah pushed away from the computer and went back to her bedroom, lifting the brochure from where she’d tossed it on her bed.
This weekend’s retreat was billed as an opportunity to learn and grow in your relationship. From the newly engaged, to the recently married, to the longtimers; all were encouraged to participate, with the rationale that there was something that could be learned at any stage of a marriage.
The one demographic that wasn’t included in any of the advertisements was singles. But did that mean she couldn’t go?
Yes, it did. It was acouplesretreat.
She crumpled the brochure and stomped over to the wastebasket next to her dresser, pitching it in there with such force that it popped right out and onto the floor.
Leah stuck her tongue out at it.
It wasn’t her fault she was no longer part of a couple. Why did she have to miss out on what could have been a nice, relaxing vacation, just because her fiancé turned out to be an asshole? Hell, shedeserveda vacation after what she’d been through these past twenty-four hours.
Based on the pictures she’d seen of the campgrounds online, Camp Firefly Falls was the ideal spot for her to unwind. So maybe she wouldn’t get to participate in any of the activities. That didn’t mean she couldn’t float around in the lake, nap in a hammock, even do a little hiking if she wanted to.
Okay, she wasn’t really the hiking kind, but that’s only because she’d never tried. There was a possibility that she would actually enjoy it.
Even if she spent the entire weekend lounging around with a good book, at least the money she’d spent wouldn’t go to waste. Well,herportion of the trip wouldn’t go to waste. She would just have to consider the money she’d spent on Derrick a loss.
Unless…
Leah glanced over at where the rumpled brochure still sat next to the curved foot of her Queen Anne dresser. She then looked toward her window. She couldn’t see past the sheer curtains, but she knew what stood just beyond the pane of glass. Her next-door neighbor’s house.
Would he?
“That’s crazy, Leah,” she said.
She’d lived next door to Caleb Scott for little over a year, but if someone were to offer her a million bucks to state ten facts about him, she’d be out a million bucks. It would be crazy to invite him to join her.
But he wassoupset about missing out on his fishing trip this weekend.
