Chapter 29
Caleb
There are a number of realizations I have before I even open my eyes.
Number one: I’m too old to sleep on couches. My shoulders are completely stiff. Pain shoots through my muscles as I try to move my arm. A pillow is digging into my hip, and it’s so narrow one of my legs is dangling off the side.
Number two: there is a small creature climbing all over me. Little paws poke into my ribs, the soft brush of its fur tickling my upper arm.
And number three: somebody is brewing coffee.
With a groan, I open my eyes and come face-to-face with an orange little cat.
“I’m not a jungle gym,” I scold her, my voice rough from sleep, before picking her up and setting her down on the ground.
Right. I came over to Lauren’s house. Right after Henry scurried out of the café, where he was waiting for Nic’s message announcing their return.
I wince as more memories replay in my head.
I made a damn fool of myself. It's a miracle she didn’t kick me out, making me either drive through the snowstorm or walk through it to beg Kieran for asylum.
“Good morning, sleepyhead.”
My eyes dart to her kitchen. She’s leaning against her kitchen island, a giant, steaming red mug in front of her, and wiggles her fingers in a quick wave.
“Coffee?”
“Yes, please.” I close my eyes, take a deep breath, tug off the blanket and sit up. Pain shoots through my shoulders, making me groan as I push myself further upright. “Fuck.”
She shoots me an empathetic grin as she walks over with one mug in each hand.
“Here.”
“Thanks,” I mumble and accept the dark blue giant mug she holds out, then haphazardly fold the blanket together to make space for her next to me. For a moment she stares at the spot, as though she’s not sure whether she should, before she softly shakes her head and sits down.
“Good morning, gorgeous,” I mumble, snake my arm around her hip, and press a kiss to the side of her head. Instantly, the tension leaves her, and she melts against my side with a happy sigh.
“Morning,” she whispers again.
“How’s the snow?” I take a sip of the coffee, letting out a sigh. It’s excellent coffee. And it tastes even better since she made it for me. The same way she mentioned yesterday, with the tiniest splash of milk.
“It’s… piling. I mean, look.” She nods toward the floor-to-ceiling window to our right. I turn my head to follow her gaze.
“Oh, shit.” My eyes widen. It’s piled up to what must be at least two feet, and flakes are still falling from the sky.
“It appears you’ll have to stay a little longer.” I can hear the grin in her voice.
“The horror. How will I ever survive that?” I ask deadpan, voice dripping with sarcasm.
“Oh, we’re going to have so much fun.” I watch her from the corner of my eye, noting the mischievous smile lighting up her face, but the happiness slowly fades into the silence. “We need to talk about yesterday, Caleb.”
I nod, an icy fist gripping my heart. Of course, we do. I was horrible to her.
People leave.
I force myself to bury that thought in the depths of my consciousness. If she had wanted to leave, she would have. I know that much. If she had wanted an out, she wouldn’t have climbed under my blanket in the middle of the night to sleep.
“We will,” I assure her and let my thumb draw circles over her hip. “Once my consciousness has arrived in the land of the living. Okay?”
“Okay,” she agrees softly and takes a sip of her own coffee.
We enjoy our morning coffee in comfortable silence, watching the snow fall outside. It’s mesmerizing to watch the flakes dance through the wind and blow against the window before they join the knee-deep white blanket that’s covering the world.
When the snowflakes become scarcer, Lauren downs the last bit of coffee, sets down her mug and gets up to stretch her arms over her head. It makes the hem of her shirt ride up the tiniest bit, and my eyes are captivated by the sliver of skin it reveals.
“Okay,” she says and shakes out her arms. “I’ve got a pile of boxes to bring in and pack away. Do you want to join me? Or would you rather entertain the kitties?”
She disappears into the hallway without waiting for my answer. My eyes dart to the two cats sitting on their cat tree by the window. Simultaneously, they slowly turn their heads to me, and I could swear they give me a judgmental once-over. I’m pretty sure they’re planning my murder.
Their eyes are… empty. It makes them look unpredictable.
“Coming!” I shout and jump up, pulling my sweatshirt on along the way.
She’s already wearing a red puffy winter jacket, a white scarf that she has pulled up to her nose, and tucked her hair under a beige knitted wool hat.
“Okay, let’s do this.” Her voice is muffled through the fabric of her scarf as she pulls the door open with vigor.
“Wait, wait, wait. Don’t you have a shovel?” I ask her, pulling on my jacket.
She turns around and narrows her eyes at me. “I’m not going to shovel the five steps it’s going to take to my car.”
I hold her gaze, eyebrows lifting up my forehead. “You should, though. Unless you want to slip on your stairs, face-plant into the snow, and have to wait hours for an ambulance.”
“You’re overreacting. I’ll take that risk.”
“And have me laughing at you,” I add as I slip into my winter boots. She freezes, slowly turning her head to me and giving me a hard stare with narrowed eyes.
“Okay. I’ll get a shovel.”
“Thought so.” I shrug and lean down to tie the laces. By the time I’m done, she’s already back with a huge snow shovel that she all but thrusts into my hands once I’m upright.
“I bet you’re so much more practiced with shoveling snow,” she says sweetly, eyes wide and fluttering her eyelashes at me.
“And what are you going to do?” I ask, already having accepted my fate.
“I’ll be your emotional support. And DJ.” She grins and holds up her phone, the first notes of Mariah Carey’s ‘All I Want For Christmas’ filling the hallway.
“Sure.” I chuckle and pull the door open.
Thank God her car isn’t too far from her front door. Honestly, it’s five steps down and then not more than another ten feet.
It seems ridiculous to shovel snow for such a short distance.
However, the snow is so high that I can’t even make out the steps down her porch.
Considering we won’t be able to watch our steps while carrying boxes in our arms, it’s a recipe for disaster.
I’d rather feel ridiculous and waste ten minutes of my time shoveling snow than have either of us slip and break an ankle, or worse.
It will be at least another day or two until there’s even the possibility of getting anywhere by car.
When I glance over my shoulder, Lauren is leaning against one of the porch’s pillars, eyes staring into the distance and obviously bored. When she catches my eye, she demonstratively taps her wrist with a grin.
“Were you planning on finishing today?”
Instead of giving in to my instincts and subtly scratching my chin with my middle finger, I pretend to continue, but lean down, press the fluffy flakes between my hands into a ball. Then I turn around, aim and…
“What the—” Her head whips to me when the snowball lands on her shoulder. “Are you for real?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” I act innocently and shove the shovel into a pile of snow. “Voilà. It’s done. Let’s do this.”
“Oh no, no, no, mister.” She walks closer slowly, a mischievous glint in her eyes. Suddenly she grabs my jacket by the collar and pulls, making the two of us fall face-first into the snow.
“Hey!” I try to push her off me, but she’s already taking a handful of snow and trying to rub it into my face with a devious giggle.
“Take this!”
“Not a chance.”
With one swift move and I turn the two of us around, pushing her back into the soft snow. I pull at the collar of her jacket and try to stuff a handful of snow down her sweatshirt.
“Caleb!” she shrieks, wiggling in the snow, trying to escape the cold. “God, you’re mean. I will get you back.”
“Oh, I have no doubts about that.” I lean closer and steal a quick kiss. Then I get up and extend my hand, pulling her upright once she takes it. “Take this as payback for you smuggling that damned syrup into my café.”
“Hey, you’re supporting my habit!” She narrows her eyes at me. “I’ll get you back when you least expect it. You just wait.”
“I’m looking forward to it.” I smirk and nod toward her car. “Are we doing this? Or do you want to warm up first?”
“No, let’s get this over with.” She blows a loose strand of hair out of her face. “Before it starts snowing again.” She unlocks the vehicle, opens the trunk, pulls out the first box, and heaves it into my waiting arms.
“Could you put it on the porch, please?”
“Sure.”
We empty her car in record time. She pulls out the boxes, hands them to me, and I stack them on her porch, making sure they’re as close to the wall as possible, in case there is more snow before we get them inside.
“Great, we got it,” she says after ten boxes in varying sizes. She eyes the two stacks on her porch. “I bet we can slide them inside.”
It takes some maneuvering, but it’s definitely easier on my back than carrying each of them all the way to her living room.
As she unpacks them, one by one, I get acquainted with her coffee machine. Thankfully, it’s easy to operate. It’s a little awkward, sitting on her couch, watching her scurry around as she unpacks her stuff, but she didn’t want my help.
“Okay, finally done.” She sinks down next to me with a big sigh, and I hold up my mug for her wordlessly.
She grabs it with a thankful nod and takes a big sip. As soon as the coffee reaches her tongue, her face stretches into a grimace.
“Yeah, no. I’m going to go make my own.”
I follow her to the kitchen, lean my back against the counter and watch her turn on the coffee machine. My eyes widen at the selection of syrups she has lined up.
“Cinnamon roll,” I read out loud, confused. “What about that is different from simple cinnamon syrup?” Which she has standing right next to it.