Page 27
“YOU HONESTLY DON’T have to come with me,” I told Caleb over the phone while gathering the last of my things from my desk. We’d managed to get along fine for the remaining four days of my stay, save for a few spats here and there, and after finding a new apartment close to where my old one was, I’d made arrangements to meet my new landlord and get the keys. Caleb, however, was not being agreeable about it.
“Kadence, if you think I’m going to let you go all the way out there on your own, you’re mistaken. I’ll be outside in thirty minutes.”
He ended the call, and if I weren’t already so exhausted, I would roll my eyes. The fact that he thought he could order me around was laughable, but I’d learned that arguing with him when he insisted upon something was pointless.
It was already 6 p.m. and the office was still alive with chatter, the clicking of keyboards, and all round productivity. Everyone was pulling longer hours in preparation for Callahan Industries’ next big event – The Callahan Fashion Show for Young Designers. It was the first of its kind, and because of the magnitude of the event, everyone was on the brink of losing what was left of their sanity, myself included. But that had more to do with living with Caleb than planning a fashion event.
I stuck my head into Macy’s office, and found her squinting at her computer screen.
“I’m heading out, can I get you anything before I leave?”
She peered at me from behind her screen, her reading glasses perched on her nose. “I would love a few extra hours in a day, think you can wing that?”
I giggled. “Trust me, if I had the secret to making days longer, I won’t be sharing it.”
Macy tsk’ed, but gave me a tired smile. “I think I’m going to call it a night.” She stood from her desk, her round belly bigger at seven months.
“Can I give Andrew a call and ask him to come fetch you?”
“I’ll call him,” she replied, waving me off. “Go get the keys to your new place. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
I smiled at my boss, and made my way down to the lobby. I didn’t notice that Jennifer was in the same cart until I got off, and saw her walking ahead of me. Caleb was outside, leaning against his Escalade, and my feet faltered when Jennifer stopped to talk to him. I lingered on the peripheral, just out of earshot, and waited for their conversation to be over before I approached. Jennifer and I weren’t on friendly terms, and I knew that if she found out I’d been living with Caleb, the entire building would know about it come morning. I did not need that kind of drama, especially when I was so close to having some kind of normalcy again.
Jennifer said something, and then kissed Caleb on the cheek before walking in the opposite direction. I paid no attention to the pang of envy that took root in my gut, nor did I acknowledge that seeing Jennifer so much as touch Caleb intensified it.
Caleb’s lips thinned as he tried to conceal his grin. Smug bastard caught me glaring at Jennifer, even when I’d tried to be unobtrusive about it.
“You ready?” he asked with a chuckle.
“You really didn’t have to come,” I told him again, wondering if he would ever grow tired of listening to his own commands. Surely he had better things to do on a Thursday night.
Caleb ignored me, and I sighed in resignation when he opened the passenger door for me. I climbed in, and watched him round the hood before jumping into the driver’s side. It was the first time I’d seen him behind the wheel, and if the act of driving could ever be considered sexy, Caleb pulled it off.
“No Alfie?” I asked, expecting to find Caleb’s behemoth of a driver somewhere in the back seat. I’d befriended the dark skinned giant, and had taken to calling him ‘Alfie’ instead of ‘Alfred’. Because Caleb had deemed my ‘pile of scrap metal’ unsafe, and no longer in driving condition, he’d tasked Alfie with getting me to work and back every day, and in that time I’d grown rather fond of him.
Caleb turned onto Park Avenue, and into the early evening traffic. “No, I left him with the babysitter. It’s just you and me.”
I hoped he hadn’t heard me swallow, thankful that the butterflies in my belly weren’t in any way audible either. I’d been living with this man for an entire week, and had managed to keep myself together in his presence, but put me in a vehicle with him alone and I had no idea what to do with myself. I shifted, and the leather squeaked against the exposed flesh of my thigh. I was suddenly very aware of the way my dress was creeping up my legs. I turned the air-conditioner on, feeling too warm all over, and purposefully turned my face away from Caleb’s enquiring gaze. He had a habit of doing that, looking at me as if he were trying to get a read on me, and it was only now that I was alone with him in a confined space that I was unable to stop my reaction.
“Are you feeling okay?” he asked, looking between me, and the profusion of taillights in front of us.
“Just tired,” I replied. It was the truth, but also a pretext for how I was really feeling. “The fashion show is keeping everyone busy.”
Caleb remained silent, and I glanced at him, admiring his perfect profile.
“What made you decide on a fashion show?” I asked impulsively. I knew what the show was about, that it started as a statewide competition for young designers between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five, but I wanted to know why Caleb had come up with the concept in the first place.
“Simple. I want to grow Callahan Industries, and in order to do that I need to find the best people in their respective fields.”
“Is that really all there is to it?”
Caleb gave me a sidelong glance. “Why else would I do it?”
“Because you care,” I said honestly. “You want to give those people a chance to live their dreams, like you’re living yours.”
He shrugged, and turned his face to look out his window. “I always thought this was my dream, but then I had no choice in the matter. Now, I work hard so that Braelynn will always have a future.”
I had so many things I wanted to say, but none of them seemed fitting. The moment had grown heavy with far too much sentiment, and I suspected Caleb would rather not talk about this with me.
