He broke away. “I’m so stupid. Sorry, I completely forgot where we were.”
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” he sighed while looking down at the ground. “I was worried you were gonna stay pissed at me in there.”
Evie looked away in thought. She thought about everything that had happened. Truthfully, she was in no position to be getting pissed off at someone for being who they were. She simply held him close. She held himhard.It caused him, the tired, the lonely, the secretive, and calloused man that he was, to feel the best relief once more. The sun felt like not only was it setting on the day, but it was setting for a lot of hurt he still carried within the rucksack of his heart.
Slowly, Caleb wrapped his arms around her. “Why are we like this with each other? We hardly know each other.”
She snuggled into his chest, finding the loud traffic off in the intersection to be nothing of a bother to her. Evie’s eyes closed in that affectionate moment. “Let’s not analyze it. Let’s just live it.”
Caleb said, “I’m sorry. I know we both need to be up. We should probably go now.”
She grinned up to him. “Would it kill you to skip a shower once in exchange for some rest and relaxation?”
He chuckled and combed his fingers through her hair. His eyes never left hers. “I can tell you right now that resting and relaxing with you is the last thing I’d do.”
“I’m serious, Mr. Wright.” It suddenly made her nearly die inside with laughter realizing that he was practically named after the infamous joke of finding “Mr. Right.” She’d keep it to herself, not wanting to sound corny. Instead, she pressed on with her concern about his never-ending workload. “I respect that you’re military, and I’m sure it’s hard to shut off. But don’t you think maybe once instead of constantly being on the go like you are, you can rest a second?”
“I do rest, actually,” he said with a smile. She was being so cute to him!
This was her chance to get him to possibly open up, just a bit. “Oh yeah? Like what?”
“Well,” he looked around and said easily, “I like taking Zack and Olivia to the lake and go hiking.”
She laughed. “No, I mean like true relaxation.”
“But…thatisrelaxation for me.”
“Is it really?” she asked, genuinely curious.
“Yep.”
“Do you ever just, lay on the couch and watch your favorite movie or something?”
“Not really. I do for their birthdays or like holidays. But not really.” Then he asked, “What about you?”
“Oh, I love snuggling up in my pjs, basking with some homemade brownies, enjoying a few good movies, or listening to a good album!”
“Even with all that work you gotta do around your house? How do you ever really sit and rest knowing there’s so much to be done?”
Evie rubbed his chest. Their ravenous makeout session had run its course, and they were both apparently okay with that. “I keep trying to fix things, and it’s overwhelming. I keep watching YouTube videos, but it’s so hard to understand, and everything is so different. I need to mow my lawn properly, but I don’t even know where to start because it’s kinda big.”
He smirked. “It’s barely two acres.”
“That’s big!” she laughed.
“Darling, you’re in Missouri. Like eight hours isn’t a long drive, two acres isn’t a big yard.”
“It’s a lot when you don’t have a riding lawn mower.”
Caleb thought curiously and looked at her. He remembered what he had offered a few days ago.
They had said their warm goodbyes with hugs and went home. Evie was definitely going to need to devour that chocolate cake after what just happened.
That night, they texted each other nearly nonstop. Evie listened to the scanner and was trying one more damn time to fix the hinge on her cupboard. The whole door fell off, making her jump and growl into the air with frustration. Teddy came in and lay on it.
She lifted him off and cuddled him sweetly.
