Chapter 41
Caleb
The drive to my parents’ takes ten minutes, instead of the usual five. Both sides of the driveway are lined with cars, beginning right after I turn through the gate.
“Maybe she said five thousand , and Hazel heard five hundred,” Lennon comments, from her spot in the passenger seat.
“Haha.” I can feel a headache forming at the thought.
I didn’t drink much last night, but I didn’t get much sleep.
In addition to celebrating the end of my career, the guys were drowning their sorrows about not making playoffs.
I was relieved we didn’t, which is one reason I know I made the right choice retiring when I did.
Now that I’m back in Landry, all I want is to be alone with Lennon. Preferably in a bed, naked.
Instead, we’re heading to a fancy party that will undoubtedly include a lot of people I have no interest in talking to but will have to make nice with anyway.
Hazel starts kicking the back of my seat half-way up the driveway.
“Hazel. No kicking.”
She keeps kicking.
“Listen to your dad, Hazel,” Lennon says.
She keeps kicking. “Party!”
“If you don’t listen, you won’t get dessert tonight. There’s peach pie and Grandpa’s birthday cake, so you’ll really be missing out.”
She keeps kicking.
Lennon sighs, quietly. “She’s stubborn,” she mutters to me, under her breath.
“Wonder where she gets that from.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
I raise my voice. “Hazel. Stop kicking, or no riding for a week.”
Finally, the pounding against the back of my seat stops. I glance over at Lennon. “She got that from you too.”
“When our son is breaking every window on the property with a baseball, I’ll remember that.”
My head snaps toward her. “Are you talking hypothetically?”
Slowly, Lennon shakes her head. “I saw it on one of the tests they ran at my appointment last week, by accident. The tech felt so badly, and I hadn’t decided if I was going to tell you. I know we agreed we weren’t going to find out again.”
“It’s a boy?”
“Yes.”
“Wow,” I whisper. I’ve had to travel regularly for most of Lennon’s pregnancy. Aside from seeing the bump, this is the first moment where it’s really hit me we’ll have another child in a few months.
Now, more than ever, I wish we were at home and alone. But I can’t miss my father’s fiftieth birthday. We’re nowhere close to the relationship I plan to have with my son, but we’re on much better terms than we were for most of my life.
I drive all the way up to the house, managing to squeeze in between two cars right in front of the center walkway. All the trees and bushes have been wrapped with twinkling white lights, illuminating the whole yard.
Lennon climbs out of the passenger seat with her pie, while I unbuckle Hazel from the back.
We head around the side of the house, toward the back patio where the party is being held.
It’s a balmy fall evening, ideal for an outdoor gathering.
Knowing my mother, she had a tent on standby in case it rained and heaters lined up in case it was cold.
“Grandma!” Hazel begins struggling in my arms as soon as she spots my mom. I set her down, a smile automatically forming as I watch Hazel run over to her.
My mother stops talking mid-conversation, leaning down to listen to my daughter. The hem of her dress drags on the dirty patio, and for once she doesn’t seem to care.
Hazel is still talking exuberantly when Lennon and I reach them. The women my mother was talking to excuse themselves, leaving us to a family moment.
“Caleb!”
“Hey, Mom.” I lean in to give her a hug.
“It’s so nice to have you home.”
“Thanks. It’s nice to be home.”
My mom smiles, then looks to Lennon. “You didn’t have to bring anything, Lennon.”
“I know,” she says, before handing the pie over. “I just had the ripe peaches and wanted to contribute something. You don’t have to use it tonight, I’m sure you planned for plenty of food. It’ll freeze well.”
“Thank you. That was very thoughtful of you. I’m going to put this in the kitchen. Caleb, you should say hello to your father. He’s standing over by the grill.”
I tug at my tie and nod. Thankfully, Hazel erases some of the awkwardness that sometimes lingers between us.
“I see Grandpa!” she announces, then makes a beeline for my father.
Just like my mother said, he’s standing next to the grill, talking with a group of business colleagues.
By the time I get to the grill she’s in my father’s arms, telling him all about the pie Lennon made and the tie that’s his birthday gift.
“How old are you?” she’s asking my dad.
“Fifty,” he tells her.
“Wow. That sounds old.”
All the men around my father laugh uproariously.
I step forward. “Happy birthday, Dad.”
“Caleb!”
He holds a hand out to shake, since he has his arms full of Hazel. She leans into me once I’m in reach, wrapping her small arms around my neck and clinging to my chest. “I’m hungry,” she says.
“I’ll take you to get some food. Give dad a minute to talk,” Lennon says. “Happy birthday, Austin.”
“Thank you, Lennon,” my dad says, before she and Hazel disappear into the crowd.
“How’s the arm?” he asks me.
I rotate my shoulder. “Still solid.”
“Smart, leaving while you’re still on top.”
“Thanks.”
“I know you have plenty of money. And you should enjoy your family, especially with the new baby on the way. But we’d love to have you at the company, now that you’re out of the majors.”
I nod, already expecting the offer. “I’ll think about it, Dad.”
He nods back. “Good.” Then turns back toward the group of men. “You all know my son, Caleb?”
After visiting with my father’s friends, I end up in a long conversation with the St. Jameses.
I haven’t kept in contact with Sophie since graduation, but they tell me she’s doing well, living in Los Angeles and working for an advertising firm.
Colt, Jake, and Luke are all here, but we talk regularly enough there’s not that much to catch up on.
We make a plan to get together for beers tomorrow night, at Matthews Farm.
Finally, I find Lennon talking to her boss’s wife, Mrs. Stradwell. Although Tom might technically still own the Gazette , Lennon is the one running day-to-day operations now.
“Hi, Mrs. Stradwell. How are you?”
“I’m good, Caleb, thanks. Congratulations on your retirement.”
“Thank you,” I answer, hiding a smile. It feels weird to hear that from people, when I’m not even thirty. “Do you mind if I steal my wife away for a minute?”
“Of course not. I’m going to grab some food.”
I reach down and grab Lennon’s hand, then tow her along the edge of the patio, toward the stairs. She glances around. “Hazel…”
“I just checked on her. She’s with my mom, eating cake.”
Lennon grimaces. “She already had one piece. She’ll be bouncing off the walls when we get home.”
“I’ll hook her up to the hot walker.”
Lennon rolls her eyes, but she also lets me pull her off the side of the patio and in the direction of the stables.
“Where are we going?” She has to half-jog to catch up with me, so I immediately slow my steps. “I was just about to get some water.”
“Shit. Sorry. Let’s go back and get you some.” I was so focused on getting her away from the crowd, I didn’t stop to think.
Lennon grabs my tie before I can take a step. “I didn’t say I wanted to go back.” Her lips curve upward as she takes a step closer and wraps my tie around her hand, pulling me closer.
Fuck it .
I kiss her, hard. She’s expecting it. Immediately, my tie loosens and her hands are in my hair, pulling my head down closer to her level as she rises up on her tiptoes. Her teeth sink into my bottom lip for a second before her tongue slips inside my mouth, deepening the contact.
I haul her against me, letting her feel the effect she has on my body. Her baby bump is a noticeable curve between us, and it drives my desire higher. Some primal, animalistic part of me loves knowing that’s my kid in there, that she and I are so inextricably linked.
We don’t break apart until I distantly register the sound of voices. Someone else seems to be heading this way. I let go of all of Lennon except her hand and tug her toward the left, only stopping when we reach the side door that leads into the kitchen.
I key in the code and then pull her inside. Despite the shiny appliances, it’s obvious we’re in a barn. The stamping and snorting is an obvious giveaway.
So is the scent of hay and leather in the air. Knowing Lennon, I’m half-expecting her to keep walking into the aisle to see the new foals born this summer.
She climbs up onto the counter instead. “If you can’t wait until we can do this in a bed, I’m at least sitting,” she tells me.
I swallow a laugh. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I thought you’d want to check on the horses.”
As soon as I step between Lennon’s legs her hands are on my belt, deftly unbuckling before unzipping my slacks. I hiss as she fists my erection, a sudden rush of desire jolting my system like an electric shock.
“Kiss me,” she whispers.
I step closer and tilt my face down, capturing her lips with a long, heady kiss. My hands slide up her bare thighs and under her dress.
Her lacy underwear is soaked. I’m so hard it’s painful and if our absence wasn’t already noticed, it will be soon.
So I simply tug the lace to the side, not bothering to pull her underwear off or to take my own pants off. I thrust into her, muttering curses as wet heat clenches around me.
Finding someone you share an intense emotional connection and a consuming physical attraction with isn’t a common occurrence.
I know what Lennon and I share is rare. I knew it in high school and college, and I’m even more certain of it now.
She’ll always be it for me.
Clothing constricts my movements some, but my shallow strokes don’t really matter. I’m already close to coming and I can feel Lennon’s inner muscles fluttering around me, suggesting she’s close too.
This wasn’t about wild, crazy sex. I just needed a hit of her, because no matter how much I touch Lennon, it’s never enough. And if she wants a bed, I’ll fuck her all night when we get home.
“Harder,” she begs, digging her nails into the back of my neck and rocking her hips against mine.
I quicken my thrusts, then slip my hand between our bodies and rub right above where I’m filling her.
Lennon comes with a cry that sets off my release, spilling into her as bliss spreads through my body. The sweetest sound in the world is her calling out my name.
We’re both breathing heavily, when we separate, laughing like teenagers as we fix our clothing.
But we’re not. We’re adults. Parents.
And all the things that seemed like big challenges when we were younger are obstacles we’ve overcome.
I help Lennon off the counter. She clings to me, as we walk through the dark kitchen back toward the door. The only source of light is from the moon, spilling in through the windows.
She keeps holding my hand once we’re outside. We walk back toward the house with our fingers linked, swinging them between us.
I glance over, studying her profile in the moonlight. Wondering how I got so lucky as to end up here, with her. Exactly where I want to be.
“Hey, Lennon?”
“Yeah?” She glances over, blushing a little when she realizes I’m already looking at her.
“We made it.”
Lennon inhales, like she’s pulling my words in with the oxygen. “We made it,” she repeats.
We share a smile as we keep walking.
This isn’t the way I thought my life would turn out.
I didn’t think I’d be living in this town or walking next to this girl.
Sometimes the best things in life—the best thing , love—can come out of left field.
THE END