Her emotions balled up. “What are you talking about?”
“You’re not gonna wanna wait for me. This divorce got worse than I ever could imagine. Don’t wait around on me, because you’re only getting older, and you could have any guy you want if you?—”
She had heard enough. “Shut up! Letmetalk now, Mr. Don’t-Presume-To-Know-Me! I don’t want another man goddammit. I want you!” She sat upright and shook all over. “I don’t care if your divorce takes a fucking lifetime. You’re worth the damn wait. I don’t want anyone else. I don’t care if you call me childish, stupid, immature, dumb, whatever. Too many people give up on people these days over dumb reasons, and I have gotten too invested in you to walk away. I don’t give a shit if I have to wait for my whole life for you!”
He listened and felt his feelings rise.
She went on, rabid in her heartfelt expressions to him, “I don’t care about your PTSD or what you did in Iraq or wherever it was you were stationed. None of that matters to me, because all I know is the man who saved me in so many different ways!”
Evie began to cry. Through heavy sobs, she held her face. It had hurt her often how many people told her that she was too emotionally charged, but it was how she was wired. She sniffled and tried to calm down, swallowing hard. “If you like me at all, I will wait for you. Take all the time you need, but please,pleasedon’t shut me out.”
They both went quiet.
He said lowly, “You don’t know what you’re getting into.”
Then Evie laid it all out on the table. It was difficult for her to do, but at this point she felt she had nearly lost him already. It made no difference to tell the entire truth even if it was an embarrassing one. She steadied herself first. “I know you only have a minute left, so I’m going to make this quick.”
“Okay, I’m listening. Go ahead.”
“You wanna hear why I put up with your anger issues? You wanna know why I kept checking on you when you ignored me? You wannaknow why I wanted you to kiss me so badly that night? It was because I have never had an actual boyfriend in my life, Caleb. You know that. Every damn man has been an absolute fucking pig to me. You know that. They take everything from me. They sexually objectify me, they’ve stalked me, harassed me, and assaulted me. I mean, you’ve seen my posts. Don’t act like you don’t know.
“I was never given flowers by a guy until you, save for my dad and pawpaw. I’ve never had a date other than you. When my daddy and momma died, I had only to look to my oldest brother for guidance. Then he moved over an hour away and got married. Then I had my pawpaw, who passed away too!” Her tears came in irate sobs again. Emotional distress was ravaging in her, and it was becoming more difficult to control. “All I’ve dreamt of since I was a little girl was to be loved, protected, and held. Maybe this sounds like a stupid, childish fairytale dream. But you came into my life and helped me when I had no one else. You made those dreams come true.
“You reached out to me and taught me how to fill my coolant when I posted on Facebook needing help and no one helped me. Every time I was in a bind, you always managed to show up. You helped me with my anxiety issues and those methodsstillhelp me to this day. You held me and kissed me like I have dreamt of being kissed forever. You reached out to me and actually took the initiative. And like how you told me that you felt happy around me, well, I feel safe around you. So there, you have it now.”
She wiped her eyes and took a deep breath. “This is why I’m stupidly, hopelessly devoted to you. I tried not to be. But I can’t help it.”
He let her get it all out, but he refused to react emotionally to it. He was practical in that moment; he was trained to be. “Evie, these are all things a basic friend does. They help each other.”
“Friends don’t kiss friends like that. And once again, it’s okay foryouto be a great friend and help me, but I can’t do it for you.”
“Because you keep thinking I’ve got some deep-seeded trauma that stems from my job in the Navy. And it comes with the territory. I still love my job and am proud of it, but I can’t go flapping off my personal struggles to someone I hardly know. Maybe you work like that, but I don’t.”
Boy, what a liar he was. If she were to have been there, she would have seen his eyes flinching. Deputy Hunt would have been able to detect his lies a mile away. He went on, “Evie, just because you want a fairytale love doesn’t mean you need to have Stockholm syndrome to do it. Not every romance needs to have the soft and tender woman who lets the man treat her like shit because she wants to change him in order to be a good romance.”
She listened. His words were hittinghard. They were calm and stable, everything the town said he wasn’t.
“Stop subjecting yourself to me. Stop trying to fix me. Some people can’t be fixed. Some people are good the way they are. You said it yourself on a Facebook post that we need to look at people’s hearts and not their actions, and that some people just need to be loved the way they are.” His voice grew in fixed passion, “That’s what made me so attracted to you. You just love. If love were to be personified, it would be you. So please, give me that same courtesy and stop thinking I’m this hopeless person of misery and just accept me the way I am.”
Evie was at the crossroads of truth and realization. It was as if at that very moment, Caleb had accidentally taught her self-respect. His firm hand was everything she loved and admired him for. The way he was able to take control of every single situation possible was remarkable to her. She conceded.
Her voice was soft like snow flurries on eyelashes. “Thank you, Caleb. I really needed to hear that.”
“Yeah, you kinda did. But for what it’s worth, I really needed to hear what you told me. It’s, um, hard for me to listen to that and believe it.”
She sighed heavily once more. “Well, how would you like me to handle this? I want to go to the salon and scream at Sandy, but I don’t want to make things worse for you. I really want to know who told someone.”
“Yeah, please don’t do that. Although I admire your will to do it. Ask Joshua, your neighbor. Maybe he said something.”
Evie agreed. “I don’t think it’s in his nature, but he was my first suspect.”
Caleb added, “My only thing is he doesn’t get into town much.”
Evie realized. “No, but I’ve seen his wife at the salon before.”
Caleb looked about. His workers were calling for him. Evie heard him acknowledge them briefly before returning to the call. “Ask her then. I’m sorry, Evie. I gotta go.”
“I understand. Thank you for answering.”
