Chapter 19
Caleb had been irritated, more than he wanted to admit, when Mia shut him down this morning. It wasn’t about the barn. That could wait. It was the way she brushed him off—curt, like he was just another problem she didn’t have time for.
And that stung.
He honestly thought they were getting somewhere.
It had been slow. Months of circling each other, keeping things carefully on the surface.
When he started building the barn, he hadn’t been looking for more.
But the more time he spent with her, the more he liked her.
She was hardworking and smart. The women in his friends’ group liked her, and that wasn’t nothing.
Family was important to her in a way he understood, and she carried not only the weight of her business but the farm and taking care of her father. That kind of loyalty hit close to home.
And no matter how hard he tried to ignore it, she was sexy as hell.
Somewhere along the way, liking her had turned into something deeper. Something he probably shouldn’t have let himself want. And still, he’d started to believe she felt it too.
Caleb told himself to drop it. To forget it.
Still, part of him replayed the scene anyway. Her distracted tone. The way she hadn’t even met his eyes.
The sudden unwelcome thought landed hard. Maybe she didn’t see him at all.
By the time he turned onto the sand road leading into Cedar Run Preserve, he’d put that thought away.
His jaw clenched as the truck rattled over ruts that could swallow a tire.
Palmetto scrub pressed in close, tall grasses lining the edges of the road.
Ranger lifted his head from the passenger seat, ears twitching, tail thumping once.
“Yeah, buddy,” Caleb muttered, reaching over to scratch his ears. “It’ll be fun. You’ll see.”
The farther he drove, the quieter it got.
He parked in the small clearing, stepped out of his truck, boots hitting soft sand.
Ranger hopped down beside him, his nose already to the ground.
Caleb took a deep breath. The air was clean and dry, sharp with pine and damp earth.
The wind blew gently through the mixed pine and cypress. Ford and Nate were already there.
“Dex, Linc, and Liam will be here shortly,” said Ford, leaning against his truck. He jerked a thumb toward the bed. “I have all the tents and most of the gear. We’ll have to carry it down to the water. Nate and I already hauled the canoes to the water.”
Caleb nodded and took a deep breath, letting the place settle him. The next two days were Ford’s unofficial GearUp test run. No pressure. No schedules. Just men, gear and time to think, whether he wanted to or not.
GearUp was Ford’s project. It was an outdoor shop offering everything from handmade knives, hand-tied flies and fishing rods to guided trips.
With Nate on board, it had expanded into a full-blown wilderness adventure.
This weekend was about testing new gear, seeing what worked, what didn’t.
Nate wanted to map a few backcountry routes, and in between they would fish and eat what they caught.
Another truck barreled down the road in a cloud of dust and skidded to a stop.
The rest of their party had arrived.
“About time,” Ford called.
Liam leaned out the window. “You miss us already?”
“It’s only a short hike to the water,” said Ford, shouldering a pack like it weighed nothing.
Liam snorted. “Says the man who thinks two miles trekking through scrublands and ankle-deep muck counts as a casual stroll.”
Caleb grinned as he hefted his pack. Ranger circled once, then fell into step beside him. The familiar weight grounded him. Out here, problems didn’t vanish, but they stopped taking over his mind. No cell service. No interruptions, just friends and nature.
For the first time since morning, the tightness in his chest eased.
He didn’t forget Mia. Not even close.
But as they started down the trail, Caleb knew one thing for sure. When he got back, he wasn’t going to keep pretending this was just business. If Mia saw him as only a contractor, at least he’d know. And if she didn’t, well, it was time to stop leaving things unsaid.
For now, he’d let the woods and quiet remind him who he was when everything else fell away.
By the time they reached a large pond lined with cypress knees and still, dark water, the last of the tension had drained from his shoulders.
Packs hit the ground. Tents were unpacked and camp set up. Nate and Liam headed off to gather wood for a fire later.
Caleb eyed the canoes tethered to nearby trees. He hadn’t been in one in a long time, not since he was a kid in Vermont.
Ranger sat beside him, alert, watching the water ripple as a fish broke the surface.
“It’s been a while,” Caleb murmured.
Ranger let out an eager huff and thumped his tail.
Dex and Linc were already casting their lines.
Caleb rested his hand on Ranger’s head and smiled faintly.
This weekend wouldn’t give him answers.
But it was giving him clarity, and that felt like a start.
The fire cracked and popped as the sky faded from purple to black. Fish sizzled over the grate. Someone passed out bottles of beer. Caleb leaned back in his camp chair, letting his body and mind ease into the night.
Ford nodded toward him. “How’s the build coming along?”
“Framed,” Caleb replied. “Moving fast.”
“Good sign,” Nate said.
Caleb huffed softly and took a long swallow of beer. “Depends. Lots of opinions. Makes it complicated.”
Ford poked at the coals. Sparks leapt, then settled. “Hard to build anything when you don’t know where you stand.”
Caleb swallowed hard. “Yeah.”
The fire snapped again, sending embers spiraling. He knew the guys were talking about the barn, but damn if it didn’t fit everything else, too.
Mia stood in the quiet barn long after Dana left. The place still smelled faintly of cinnamon and maple. Sarah had called to tell her that everything was sold, so she wasn’t coming out. That was a relief. Mia told her to hang on to the receipts.
She looked at the calendar tacked to the wall. A small anniversary dinner. Another engagement party. Then blank space. Just a few scribbles of rumored upcoming events. Mia sighed. She had several potential jobs coming up that would bring in money. If she landed them.
She stood by the counter, phone in hand, staring at Caleb’s name. She’d already called twice. It had gone straight to voicemail.
“Busy,” she whispered, trying to believe it. “You’re just busy.”
But doubt crept in anyway. Avoiding me? God, she hoped not.
She set the phone down and leaned against the counter, staring out at the road. She hadn’t meant to brush him off this morning. The words had come out sharp, all wrong. Between the barn, the coolers, Roy, and everything piling up, she’d snapped without meaning to.
Dismissive. Rude even.
Outside, the tree branches swayed in the wind. The silence pressed in, heavy and relentless.
Mia pictured Caleb the way she always did when she tried not to. Solid. Steady. Patient to a fault. Ranger was probably by his side, tail wagging, happy just to be there. The image tugged at her heartstrings.
She picked up the phone again, thumb hovering. Her pulse thudded in her ears.
You dismissed him. You didn’t even look at him.
With a sigh, she set the phone back down. Whatever she had to say deserved more than a rushed voicemail. And if, when she could finally apologize, he didn’t accept it—well, that’d be on her.
She swallowed hard.
When Caleb returned, she’d fix this.
She’d make time and stop pretending she didn’t care.
And she hoped that it wasn’t already too late.