Kaleb could see my discomfort. “We can. What’s bothering you?”
I blew out air. “I haven’t exactly lived with someone. Sharing a space is different from being alone.”
Kaleb nodded his head, glancing down at the hardwood floors. “Yeah, it will take time to adjust. And again, I’m sorry about just throwing this out there. I know this wasn’t in the agreement.”
I wasn’t even mad about this. I felt bad for Kaleb. I knew he and his father had an unsettling relationship, and I got why he said that we were living together. But what I didn’t understand was why he was trying so hard to prove his dad wrong? Why did he let his father get under his skin like that?
“Hey, I agreed to this, and it’s probably better this way anyway. Us living together looks like we are serious to everyone. Maybe this will get Ryan to leave me alone.”
“And in here?” he asked, tilting his head. “How is it going to be in here? I can already tell you’re uncomfortable, Nora.”
“It’s not fake in here,” I offered. For this to work, I had to let my anger go. I was willing to go along with this, but I wasn’tgoing to put my heart on the line. I needed to remember that at the end of all this, we were both single. We were both trying to get rid of a problem and were using each other to accomplish it. If we acted like we were together in here, it would only make things confusing.
“And what are we exactly in here?” he asked, “Enemies? Friends?”
“I wouldn’t say we are friends, but I wouldn’t say we are enemies either.”
“We aren’t friends?” he asked.
I shook my head. “This relationship can’t be the same as it was before, Kaleb. You know that,” I swallowed. “I might have agreed to this, but that doesn’t mean I am over things. I’m still hurt about what happened.”
Kaleb frowned. “Nora, I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
“I know that,” I said, because deep down I did. I let my anger get the better of me, and I shouldn’t have. It wasn’t his fault that he didn’t feel the same. “Which is why in here things have to have boundaries. Can we agree on that? I understand outside anything can happen, but in here, in this space, I need it to be real. I can’t fake it twenty-four seven.”
Kaleb nodded. “We can.”
“Good,” I said with a nod as I looked at my boxes. “Now, can we move all my shit upstairs?”
Kaleb nodded, giving me a genuine smile. We spent the next couple of hours putting my stuff where I wanted it. I unboxed all my clothes while Kaleb unboxed my kitchen items. I made my bed and tried to organize my bedroom. I started dragging the boxes down the stairs and found Kaleb in the kitchen.
“I think that’s everything.”
“And to celebrate, how about we go out?”
I raised an eyebrow at him and paused by the kitchen counter. “Out?”
He nodded. “Yeah, go out for a date. We can spend time together like we used to.”
I suddenly was nervous. “Like a date date?”
He nodded. “Well, we did agree that we need to keep up appearances. We can go somewhere that’s quiet if you want.”
I shook my head. We couldn’t have dates like that. Not if we wanted people to believe it. We needed to go somewhere public, and I knew the perfect spot.
“The hog bar. We can go there.”
His eyebrows went up. “Really? You want to go there?”
I nodded. “Yeah, it’s always busy, and everyone goes there. They have pool tables and karaoke. We’ve gone before.”
A small smile pulled at his lips. “Yeah, and I remember us all leaving drunk off our asses by the end of it. Pretty sure Westley threw up behind the garbage.”
That’s exactly what I needed. A hard drink to turn my brain off.
I went to the shower and tried to find something to wear. I wanted to look nice, but I couldn’t remember the last time I dressed up.
I glanced at my phone that sat on my bed and gave in. I grabbed it and called Jade. It rang a few times before a young voice picked up. “Aunt Nora!”
