Chapter 26
Chapter Twenty-six
Caleb
Jesse trailed after me into Gray’s Diner. Usually, my patience with him was close to infinite, but he’d dragged his feet getting out of the truck then moved across the parking lot at a snail’s pace for no good reason. I was at the end of my rope.
“You forgot to check in with the hostess,” he said from behind me.
“Don’t worry about it,” I gruffed over my shoulder. “I see Alice over there. Let’s go say hi.”
“Ms. Clark?” Suddenly, he was right beside me, craning his neck. “She’s here?”
She was. We were now seven minutes late, and she was sitting by herself in a booth, a hardback book open in front of her, a glass of water sweating beside her cast.
As we approached, she looked up as if surprised, though the corner of her mouth was already lifting.
“Caleb,” she said with a teasing lilt. “And Jesse. What are the odds?”
Jesse grinned. “Pretty high, I think. There aren’t a lot of places to eat around here.”
“You have me there,” she conceded.
I stepped closer, resting a hand on the back of her booth. “Are you here alone?”
“I was,” she said, sliding the bookmark I’d given her between the pages before closing the book. “But I’d much rather have company. Would you two like to have dinner with me?”
I didn’t even have to look at Jesse. He’d already started toward the empty side of the booth, and I followed, lowering myself across from her. The light from the overhead fixture fell across her face, making her eyes sparkle.
She met my gaze for a second then glanced away, fingers brushing the edge of the bookmark like she couldn’t help herself.
“How’s the hand?”
“Still attached.” She waved it in front of herself.
Sitting this close but not being able to reach across the table and drag my finger along the rose in her cheeks was a true test of endurance. It was what I deserved. If I’d made a move sooner, she might’ve already been in my arms.
But we were here now. This was no place for regret, not when we were moving forward, exploring what had been building between us. A time would come when I wouldn’t have to think twice about pulling her into my arms or taking her hand in mine. I was confident we’d get there.
I leaned back, letting Jesse launch into a story about his day, but I didn’t stop watching her.
I took my time, cataloging every detail.
The way her lashes fluttered when she laughed, the pink high on her cheeks, that bookmark poking out of her book.
I hoped when she looked at it, she thought of me.
I damn sure had been doing a lot of thinking about her.
“How much longer do you have to wear that cast?” Jesse asked.
Alice gave it a poke, scrunching her nose. “It should be two more weeks. I can’t wait to get it off. The downside is I have to go back to the hospital to get it removed.”
Jesse cocked his head. “You don’t like hospitals?”
“I don’t,” she replied. “I spent a lot of time in them as a kid, and I’d do just about anything not to go back. But getting this thing off my wrist will be worth it.”
“It won’t hurt, will it?”
“Nope.” Her eyes rolled to the side then returned to him, filled with mischief. “Unless the saw slips. But I’m sure they’ll be able to reattach my hand.”
My boy looked alarmed for all of two seconds before Alice’s snicker gave her away.
From there, the two fell into a flowing conversation, and I sat back, listening, liking the hell out of what I heard.
She asked him about school, and not just general questions.
She knew some of his teachers’ names and projects he was working on.
And it was obvious every answer he gave mattered to her.
When he told her about the robot his team was planning to build in the fall, she leaned in like it was the most fascinating thing she’d heard all week.
“An arm attachment?” she asked, her pretty eyes wide. “What does it do?”
Jesse’s hands flew into motion as he explained, sketching shapes in the air, picking up speed with every word. She shifted to summer camp, wanting to know what activities he was most excited for, if he was nervous about living in the dorms, what he thought about being away for three weeks.
“I’m certain they’re going to keep you so busy, you won’t have time to get homesick. But I hope you have time to write back to me. I’m warning you now, I love writing letters. There's no way I’m not going to write at least two. Maybe three.”
Jesse grinned. “People still write real letters?”
“I do, and I’m pretty sure I count as a person,” she quipped.
He sighed, like he was the most put-upon teenager on the planet. “I mean, if you really want to write me, I guess I can probably find the time to write back.”
“That would be incredibly kind of you, Jess,” she said, amusement lacing her words.
The two of them didn’t really need me here, but I didn’t mind. I ate my dinner, letting their conversation ride. There was nothing forced about their interaction, and it was clear Jesse liked the addition of her to our table.
By the time the plates were cleared and the check was paid, there was a warmth in my chest that had nothing to do with the coffee I was sipping.
Jesse glanced across the diner, spotting a friend from school at the counter in the front. He was out of the booth before I could say a word, tossing over his shoulder, “Be right back.”
Then it was just the two of us, the space between us suddenly feeling smaller, charged in a way it hadn’t been a moment ago.
I put my hand on the table, palm up, and Alice did not hesitate to slip hers in mine. When I closed my fingers around hers, her much smaller hand got lost.
“It’s not easy.”
“What’s not?” She shifted forward on her side of the booth.
“Sitting across from you and not doing this.”
“Holding my hand?” she asked.
“Yeah. Seeing the way you are with my boy, it was hard not to pick up your hand—or better yet, lean across the table and put my mouth on yours.”
She bit down on her bottom lip, peering at me from beneath her fluttery lashes. “Well, now you have me.”
“You’re so damn pretty,” I said. I couldn’t not.
“Thank you.” She swallowed hard. “I really like the way you’re looking at me right now. How you’ve been looking at me this whole evening. It makes me feel like…this is real.”
“It is.”
Her nod was slight but decisive. “I know, Cay.”
I glanced at her cast. “What day is your appointment?”
She looked down then back at me. “Oh, it’s the Tuesday after next, in the morning.”
“All right. I’ll meet you there.”
She startled, her fingers flexing in mine. “Really, it’s not—it will be a short appointment. I can handle it.”
“I know you can, but I want to be there. I don’t want you going it alone, and you don’t have to. I’m in your corner now, so let me be with you.”
“You’re busy on the ranch,” she tried.
“I am, but I have time for you. Didn’t you say it won’t take long?”
She sighed and squeezed my hand. “I did say that.”
“So are you going to let me be there?”
“It won’t be particularly exciting,” she warned.
“I’ll be with you.”
She sucked in a little breath. “Okay. You’ve convinced me.”
My mouth hitched. “That wasn’t too hard.”
“You’re pretty good at hitting the exact right argument.” Her fingers wiggled. “I didn’t really want to go alone.”
“And you won’t have to.”
Jesse reappeared a minute later. If he noticed Alice slipping her hand from mine, he didn’t show it.
“Ready?” he asked.
“Ready,” I said, even though I could have sat there a few more hours.
We slid out of the booth and left the diner together.
Alice’s car was parked a few spots down from my truck, and Jesse fell in step beside her, telling her about some game he and his friend were planning for the weekend.
When we reached her car, he surprised both of us by giving her a quick, awkward, teenage hug.
“It was nice having dinner with you, Alice,” he said, shoving his hands in his pockets.
Her smile warmed. “I really liked it too, Jess. Maybe we can do it again sometime soon.”
“Yeah. That’d be all right with me,” he replied.
When he stepped back, I didn’t waste the opportunity to hug her too. I pulled her into my arms, my hands splaying on the center of her back, and just like that, she melted into me the same way she had in front of her house.
I lingered for as long as I could, breathing her in, feeling the soft give of her against me, the wispy little breaths she took. The part of me that knew I should step back kept losing the argument.
Finally, I forced myself to ease my hold, staying close enough her spicy scent clung to me as we parted. Her eyes found mine, practically glowing like pieces of sea glass in the sun.
“Drive safe, Allie,” I said, my voice rougher than I meant it to be.
“You too, Cay.” Her smile, aimed at Jess and me, wobbled. “See you guys soon.”
“You will,” I promised as she climbed into her car.
I watched her taillights disappear before I turned toward my truck, finding Jesse staring at me with a smirk. I ignored that look until we were both in the truck.
“Say it,” I grumbled.
He shrugged. “Nothing. Just…you have a thing for Alice, don’t you?”
I shifted my gaze his way. “What makes you say that?”
“I’m not stupid or blind. I saw you holding her hand, and you basically attached yourself to her before she got in her car.”
My jaw dropped. “I didn’t…attach myself.” I shook my head, trying to decide if I had. I didn’t think so, but it really had been hard to let go.
Jesse snickered, and I glared at him. “Dammit, kid. Are you trying to give me a complex?”
He patted my shoulder. “If you were attempting to be smooth, you failed. But if you were trying to show her you like her, I think she got the message. I bet everyone in the diner did.”
I took a second to consider if I cared who knew Alice and I were becoming…something, quickly deciding I did not. I did care what Jesse thought, though.
“Are you good with me taking her out?” I nudged him with my elbow. “Maybe without a chaperone?”
He twisted in his seat, facing me head-on. “I’m good with it, Dad.”
“You’re not going to tell me to treat her right?”
He tilted his head. “If I thought I had to tell you that, I wouldn’t be so okay with you taking her out.”
“You have a good point,” I conceded.
He scratched behind his ear as he eyed me. “Actually, I was getting concerned about you. You know, I’m going to college in a few years and you’re going to be all alone. It’s about time you found a girlfriend.”
“You were concerned about me?” That was news to me, and I didn’t know if I particularly liked it.
“It wasn’t constantly on my mind or anything, but yeah. I was a little concerned. Now I don’t have to be. You have Alice, which means I get to have her more, and that’s cool.”
“That would be cool, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. First, I need to take her out and not screw things up.”
He reached across the cab and patted my shoulder. “I know you speak to cattle and horses more than women, but I have faith in you.”
“Thanks, kid. I appreciate the confidence.”
“No prob.” He faced forward again. “I’m all talked out. Can we go home now?”
“Sure. And since you’re all talked out, you’re going to go directly to your room and knock out your homework instead of getting on a call with your buddies, right?”
His groan told me exactly what his plan had been.
I shook my head as I started the engine. The boy could talk circles around me when he wanted, but he’d given me more tonight than he realized.
Jesse was good with the direction Alice and I were heading. I glanced at him, his head against the window, and promised myself I would get this right.
Then I spent the rest of the drive planning my first real date with Alice.