Chapter 31 Hot Tub Time Machine
Dakota
“Oh my God, it’s freezing out here!” I shriek as I grip Calder’s black-and-white checkered flannel around my body and dash
across the worn path behind his cabin.
“Stop bitching and hurry up!” he snipes, reaching back to grab my hand and hurry me along.
We make our way through the woods to the metal capsule-shaped hot tub emitting steam into the cold night air. It’s dreamlike
as large wet snowflakes drop over us. That’s the mountains in early spring for you. It’s probably not even snowing back in
Boulder.
Calder releases my hand as he steps behind a woodpile and fiddles with something while I kick off my boots and hang his shirt
on a nearby branch. I adjust the black bikini I resurrected from our Mexico trip, and my lips part when string lights turn
on overhead, casting the space in a warm glow.
“Holy shit, this is romantic!” I tease, making my way over to the tub. Are you sure you’ve never brought a girl out here?”
“Shut up,” Calder grumbles, and when he looks up from what he’s doing, his eyes snag on my body.
My chilled limbs suddenly flush with heat as his eyes score over every square inch of me, causing a bolt of desire to rush
through me and settle squarely between my legs.
“Nice suit, Ace.” His voice is guttural, and the irritable mood he had when I first arrived on the peak tonight seems to have
vanished. “Been in my fantasies a lot lately.”
Power to the bikini, baby .
If anything is going to help build up my confidence throughout all of this, it’s Calder Fletcher adjusting himself inside his swim trunks. Because of me.
But as I stand before him, enjoying how beautiful he makes me feel, I realize that I feel beautiful without his eyes as well.
I have felt more comfortable in my skin the past week than I have in years. Maybe this enemies-with-benefits challenge is
actually working.
“Are you getting in, or are you planning to cut glass with those hard nips?”
And just like that, I’m thrust back to reality.
“This thing better be hot.” I tiptoe over to one end of the tub and test the water with my hand before stepping inside. I
moan as I ease my body down into the heat, my back pressing against the narrow end of the metal basin. “Oh my God, this feels
amazing.”
“A nice, balmy hundred and four degrees for you, boss,” Calder says as he ditches his shirt and joins me.
My eyes drink in the way his inked muscles flex and bend as he lowers himself down into the tub across from me. Our feet tangle
for a moment before he grabs my legs and puts them on his lap, holding my feet in a way that feels oddly affectionate. There’s
been a lot of tender moments between us in the past week since we’ve been doing this enemies-with-benefits thing officially.
I guess seeing someone naked pretty regularly entitles you to a few sweet moments.
“This runs with no electricity or pump.” He smiles proudly as he looks around the space.
“Really? How?” I peer out of the tub to eye the metal tubing swirled along the ground.
“All the magic is in the stainless-steel coil. It takes the cold water from the bottom of the tub, sucks it into the coil,
heats up because hot water rises, following the curve of coil, then gets pushed back out into the tub. At the top there’s
negative pressure, so no moving parts.”
I stare blankly back at him. “I have no idea what you just said.”
The corner of his mouth tugs up as he rolls his eyes. “It’s fine. You don’t have to get it. This eco-friendly stuff is kind
of Wyatt’s thing. I remember him and my dad arguing about it when we were installing it. My dad hated all that shit.”
I watch Calder as he glances around the space, taking it all in. He doesn’t speak about his dad much, but I am curious about
that comment he just made. “Are you like your dad and not into the eco-friendly stuff too?”
“I don’t mind it, I guess.” A thoughtful look falls over his face. “I just do whatever makes my family happy.”
I watch him speculatively for a moment, so many things clicking into place at that simple comment. It’s probably why he’s
never told anyone that his true passion is furniture-building, not house-building. He wants to be what everyone else wants
him to be, not what he wants to be.
I open my mouth to say something but stop myself. He let me list some of his pieces on my website, and that’s probably enough
meddling from me for now.
“What was your dad like?” I ask, shifting the focus back to him. “I only ever saw him in passing a few times before he passed.”
Calder smiles softly. “He was overbearing and pushy. Kind of like you.” He squeezes the arch of my foot, and I giggle, splashing
some water out of the tub as I squirm. “He was also thoughtful and motivated and always pushing us to be better.”
“Better than what?”
“Better than we used to be, I guess.” Calder shrugs, wiping away some of the snow clinging to his beard. “If I had known we
were going to lose him so soon, I guess I would have tried harder to impress him.”
“I’m sure he was proud of you.”
“Yeah, I suppose.” Calder slides deeper into the tub, immersing his shoulders as he rests his head on the metal edge and hooks his feet around my hips. “I really looked up to him, and it just sucks because now he’s gone.”
“You can still look up to him.” I nudge Calder with my foot as I point to the sky.
He angles his neck up, squinting against the falling snow, and I do the same, feeling the wet flakes cling to my eyelashes.
We fall into a comfortable silence as we both muse over our own thoughts. It’s humbling being out here in the middle of nature,
staring up into the big open sky. Makes you grateful for what you have and less focused on what you don’t. Maybe I’m not as
big a city girl as I thought.
“What’s the deal with your parents?” Calder asks, and I look down to find him gazing at me. “You guys close?”
“Ugh, my parents.” I wipe my face with my wet hands, feeling a sheen of sweat collect on my upper lip. “Divorced since I was
in junior high and hated each other for years even before that. I grew up hopping between their two houses, and neither of
them ever felt like a home. They both just felt like a place I stayed.”
Calder nods, his eyes laser-focused on me as he rubs my feet in the hot water.
“It’s why I was such a freak with you during my house reno. I had such big dreams for that house. I wanted it to be this perfect
home where my husband carried me over the threshold, and I brought my first baby home in... a baby with two parents and
a backyard... just... the dream, you know? Not split custody with alternating weekends, and parents arguing over who
had to take me when the other one wanted to go have a life that wasn’t kid-friendly. I felt like a commodity and a burden
all in one go. I swore I would never be like my parents because I was going to choose the right person... and just look
at me now.”
“I’m looking,” Calder says pointedly, his eyes never leaving mine. “You look pretty good to me.”
I rub my lips together realizing he’s not talking about my suit. “I just wanted things to turn out different, you know?”
He takes a deep breath and tilts his head at me. “Do you think that deep down you knew Randal wasn’t the one, and that’s why
you never wanted kids with him?”
My brows raise at that keen observation. “Probably,” I reply with a shrug. “I didn’t want to put a child through the same
shit I went through.”
Calder nods. “So do you want kids at all?”
I wipe away the dab of snowflakes melting down my cheek. “I’m not yearning to have them really, but if I met the right guy
and we were good, I think I’d come around to the idea. I still really want that happily-ever-after.”
Calder licks his lips and turns to look away, and I notice the muscle in his jaw twitch.
I shift my foot in his lap. “Do you want kids?”
He laughs. “Considering I don’t even want a girlfriend, I don’t think I have any business wanting kids.”
“Wyatt was planning to be a single dad before he fell for Trista, right?”
“Wyatt and I are very different.”
I eye him and nod. “Yes, you sure are. But in a good way, I think.”
Silence descends before Calder says, “I wish I knew all that stuff about your house. Your big dreams. Why the renovation was
so important to you. I maybe would have... I don’t know... had more patience with you or something.”
I cringe when I think about what a nag I was back then. “I was no picnic either. I was under so much pressure with the wedding
planning, and I know I took it out on you.”
“I know, but I want you to know I am sorry. I said a lot of shit that day of the incident, and I hate myself for it.”
A knot forms in my throat as my mind drifts back to that awful day.
Dakota
Seven Years Earlier
“Oh my God!” I scream from the floor of my bedroom closet. My knees and shoes are soaked in the three inches of standing water
covering every square inch of the flooring. Now it’s crawling up the walls.
Loud footsteps pound up the stairs, and I turn when Calder’s wide frame fills the doorway. He has faded jeans on, a flannel,
a tool belt, and a look of sheer panic all over his face. He’s out of breath from running to the basement where he was shutting
the waterline off after we discovered the disaster in my upstairs bathroom.
“My wedding dress is ruined,” I cry, tears falling down my face as I hold up the stained, dripping wet skirt of my dress for
him to see. The wet fabric fused to the wall during the flooding, and since the closet is covered in red floral wallpaper,
the bottom of my dress now looks like a crime scene. Whoever chose to wallpaper a freaking closet needs their head examined,
but that’s exactly why we’re in the middle of a giant renovation.
“I’ll pay for it to be cleaned,” Calder says, his boots thwacking across the wet floor as he comes to squat down by me.
“This is dye, Calder. You can’t just spray some stain remover on it and throw it in the wash. And who knows how long it’s
been sitting here like this!”