The fact that Caleb’s brothers had helped watch Lily cracked Sophia up. Clearly, Caleb had needed reinforcements. Sophia couldn’t blame him. Lily could be a whirlwind at times. Being responsible for small children wasn’t for the faint of heart. According to Lily, they had all been amazing caretakers. She had been very impressed with their willingness to play dress-up.
Sophia was still chuckling about it as she got ready to host Caleb for lunch. Instead of cooking anything elaborate, she’d prepared some teriyaki salmon, jasmine rice, and a big salad. Promptly at twelve-thirty, Caleb arrived, carrying two bouquets of flowers. Lily came racing to the door, chanting Caleb’s name as soon as she laid eyes on him.
“Lily,” Caleb said, scooping her up in his arms and hugging her. “Long time no see.”
“I just saw you yesterday,” Lily said, looking up at him with wide eyes.
Caleb and Sophia chuckled at the confused sound of her voice.
“Right you are,” Caleb said as they walked toward the brightly lit kitchen.
Since Lily had already eaten her lunch, Sophia and Caleb sat down by themselves at the butcher-block kitchen table while Lily colored in the playroom. It was cozier in here than in the larger dining room. The table being set for two lent an intimate vibe to the space. Sophia laid out the food and the place settings, along with tall glasses of iced tea.
“I like the flavor of this,” Caleb said after taking a bite of the salmon.
“Thank you. I marinated the salmon in teriyaki sauce,” Sophia said. “It really does taste nice.”
“Thanks for inviting me over,” Caleb said. “I know weekends are precious.”
“Of course. It’s my pleasure. Lily tells me that you had company yesterday,” Sophia said, her lips twitching with laughter. Ever since finding out, Sophia had wished she could have been a fly on the wall. The thought of Caleb watching Lily was adorable, but knowing it had been the Brothers Stone as a babysitting crew was magnificent.
A guilty expression came over his face. “Busted. I hope that was okay. Now I’m thinking maybe I should have asked your permission before I invited them over.” Caleb looked nervous.
“No, that’s fine,” she reassured him. “I trust your judgment, Caleb. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have let you watch Lily or stay at my house. Landon and Xavier are great. I’m really happy True and Xavier are getting married.”
“Phew,” Caleb said, letting out a breath. “I have to admit, taking care of a four-year-old is much harder than I imagined.” He made a face. “She ran me ragged.”
Sophia burst out laughing as an image of an exhausted Caleb chasing Lily ran through her mind. “Been there, done that,” Sophia said. “I could apologize, but you were pretty insistent about watching her.” She took a sip of her iced tea. “And if I haven’t thanked you profusely enough, I’m incredibly grateful for your help yesterday. Lily thinks you hung the moon.”
“As Hattie would say, she’s the bee’s knees as far as I’m concerned.”
Caleb’s comment caused a warm sensation to flow through her. Lily deserved to have as many people as possible in her world who held her in high esteem.
“As a mom, it’s always heartwarming when someone values your child. So thank you for seeing Lily.” Not everyone enjoyed children, so this was another green flag as far as she was concerned.
“You’ve been great about letting me into your world, Sophia.”
“Well, I was sort of hoping you would return the favor. I haven’t forgotten. You owe me a story.” Sophia hoped she wasn’t overstepping, but she wanted to know what had gone down with Abby. The real scoop that the reality show hadn’t depicted. He’d promised to tell her, so she was holding him to it. If their relationship was going to deepen and flourish, he had to peel back the layers. She sensed that if she dug a little, she would hit pay dirt and discover so much about him that he didn’t normally share.
Caleb fidgeted with his hands. “To tell you the truth, I hate talking about this, but I know you must be curious after what was shown on television.”
“Believe me, I get it. Making ourselves vulnerable in relationships isn’t easy. And then to have it all blow up in your face must’ve been excruciating.”
He shrugged, his sweater taut against his chest. “Maybe I’m just embarrassed that I thought Abby and I were the real deal and, much to my surprise, it was anything but authentic.”
Sophia could hear the pain laced in his voice and it gutted her. What had Abby done to him? Anger swiftly rose up inside her. Poor Caleb!
“I think loving is what we were put on Earth to do, so you should never feel embarrassed or foolish about having given yourself wholly and completely to another person,” Sophia told him. Honestly, it caused a groundswell of tenderness toward him to wash over her.
“When I went on the show, I never imagined making it all the way to the finals. I honestly did the show because I was told by my agent that it would be a great way to get exposure that could lead to acting roles. Famous last words.” His jaw clenched tightly. “I really liked Gillian. She was beautiful, smart, and funny. And I truly believed she’d come on the show in the pursuit of love. But as time went by, I knew that I wasn’t falling for her. Yet every week she kept picking me to go forward. Behind the scenes, I was falling for her twin sister, Abby, who was on location with us and had a small role on the show.” His eyes lit up. “I don’t know how else to say it, but I was drawn to her. We could talk for hours about everything under the sun. Movies. Food. Our favorite musical artists. I’d never vibed with anyone like that before.”
“Wow,” Sophia said. Caleb’s story was intriguing, and she was following along with rapt attention. How wrong she’d been to judge him.
“Abby and I started spending a lot of time together away from the cameras, so no one really knew that we were connecting. She was sweet and kind, and she made me believe that I could do just about anything.” He wrinkled his nose. “Confessing that I wanted a professional acting career hasnever been easy, but she was so encouraging and enthusiastic. Everything felt as if it was falling into place so effortlessly.”
“You fell in love with her,” Sophia said. It was clear from the look on his face and the softness in the way he said her name.
He nodded. “I fell for her hard, like someone knocked me over the head with a ton of bricks. We were in love and planning a future together. Or so I thought,” he said, quirking his mouth. “At the same time I was advancing on the show. I kept telling Abby that I needed to bail on the show so we could be together. I didn’t want Gillian to get hurt or end up being blindsided, and I knew everything was coming to a head. There were a few episodes where I tried to push her in another direction, but she always picked me.” A huge sigh slipped past his lips. “And then Gillian discovered Abby and me together while the cameras just happened to be running. Abby came out smelling like a rose.” He let out a brittle laugh. “And I ended up stinking to high heavens.”
