Page 82 of Harvest Heat

She rolled her eyes. “I know, and I’m happy for you, as long as the people there are treating you right.”

“No one’s done anything wrong, but Rhys was freaked-out by the things they said, so we took a break from working together. I missed him, so I went to his shop last night. We worked on our drinks, and things were going really well. We were both really excited about finally having a truly viable entry, and he kissed me and⁠—”

“Oh my God, right there in the shop?”

“Yes, but we did move into the back, so I thought we were fine, but Tessa came in. Rhys forgot to lock the door, so she caught us. It really shouldn’t be a big deal. I’m pretty sure she knew anyway or strongly suspected, but Rhys ran out of there, and I haven’t talked to him since then. He told me to just enter our drink as my own, but I can’t do that.”

Caleb couldn’t stop his tears from falling. “I don’t know what to do, because I think I’m in love with him, and I think he feels something for me, but he’s just too damn scared to see me again.”

“Oh, Caleb. I’m so sorry. You are going to enter a drink in the festival, though, whether it’s what you’ve worked on with Rhys or not, and I’m coming to be there with you.”

He wiped his cheeks. “You said you can’t get away.”

“I’m going to make time for this. You need support.”

“Don’t compromise your job for me. I’ll be okay, and I will enter my own for the festival. I’m not going to disappoint the town just because Rhys and I are… whatever is happening.”

She nodded. “Damn right you’re not. Things are crazy at work, and I’ll only be able to stay for the day, but I’m going to be there for the start of the festival.”

“I’ll be all right. Really. I have friends here who support me. It’s just that they’re also Rhys’s friends, and most of them have known him since he was a kid.”

“Then you need me even more.”

He did, even though he didn’t want to admit it. “Okay. Thank you, Katie.”

She made her fiercest expression. “I’m not letting anybody mess with my little brother.”

“Rhys hasn’t done anything wrong.”

“He ran away from you instead of talking.”

“Talking isn’t easy for him. The same way it’s not for you.”

She huffed. “I can talk to people. I’m an attorney.”

“At a party? In a relationship?”

“That’s beside the point.”

“Kate.”

“All right. I’ll give him a chance if you still think he deserves one. I’ve got to go, but I’ll check in with you soon, and we’ll figure out details about me visiting.”

Caleb ended the call and flopped back onto the bed. He would never have asked Kate to come, but the idea of having her there made him feel so much better, especially if he and Rhys were still not talking or if things got even worse.

CHAPTER 30

The next morning, Rhys knew he couldn’t face opening the shop. He called Sam to ask if they could do it. They said they needed the extra hours, and they would take care of getting one of the other employees to come in for the busiest part of the day.

Once the shop was taken care of, he crawled back in bed, pulled the covers over his head, and went back to sleep. The next time he woke, he knew he should get up. He needed to eat. He needed water, but he just lay there, staring at the ceiling, wishing he could go back in time and redo everything that had happened the night of Jonah’s party and the awful things he’d said the night before at Frost + Foam.

Eventually, he fell asleep again. When he woke up, he was desperate to use the bathroom. He took care of that, then forced himself to fill his water bottle and try eating a container of yogurt. He got through a few bites and knew his stomach wasn’t going to tolerate anything else. He had a few sips of water and took the bottle back to his bedroom.

He lay there. scrolling on his phone, but when he saw a video of a barista making a drink, all he could think about was how he wasn’t working with Caleb anymore.

He tried turning on one of his favorite comfort shows, but all he could think about was watching it with Caleb and whether Caleb would like it and what Caleb’s favorite show was and why he didn’t know that.

Why had they never talked about favorite movies or shows or really anything but coffee and the festival? Caleb had tried to talk to him about where their relationship was going, but he couldn’t even bring himself to admit they had a relationship. How had he spent so much time with Caleb, but he still didn’t know that much about him? It had all been coffee and fucking. Of course, his life was coffee, but he wanted to know Caleb better.