Chapter 22
22
Caleb
C aleb could feel the contents of his stomach swirling and churning, threatening to make an appearance if he wasn’t careful. He stormed toward his truck, crumpling the scrap piece of paper in his hands as he did.
He didn’t want to believe what Charlie had said. In fact, he’d nearly corrected her, but then he went over everything in his head and it all suddenly made sense. Her name. Her disguise. Her appearance in Copper Creek coincided with the disappearance of the singer. Emily Hartford was none other than Emma Hart, and he was a complete idiot for not seeing it sooner.
Caleb shook his head. He couldn’t believe he’d been so distracted that he hadn’t even bothered to do a little digging. Charlie had talked nonstop about Emma since he’d returned home from Mateo’s. All it would have taken was for him to glance at the news articles that his sister had been reading.
And this Emma Hart—she was probably laughing at him the whole time.
He yanked open his truck door only for it to be pushed shut. Caleb whirled around and glowered at Emily—or was it Emma? He didn’t know anymore. “Don’t,” he warned.
“Let me explain.”
“ No ,” he shot back. “You don’t get to explain. You had all the time in the world to tell me who you were, and you chose to deceive me.”
“I didn’t have a choice,” she said quietly.
He let out a bark of laughter. “That’s rich.”
“I’m telling the truth.”
Caleb leaned closer to her, his voice lowering to a hiss. “In my experience, people who lie about one thing, lie about a great deal more.”
She flinched, and for a moment he forgot himself. His instincts were to pull her into his arms and shield her from what threatened her. But then it all came slashing back at him, and those claws of truth were razor-sharp.
“Manipulation. That’s all this was. You manipulated me from the start.”
“That’s not what this was,” she said with desperation. “You were never supposed to get hurt.”
“Oh, is that the lie you’re telling yourself then? You weren’t supposed to hurt me? Tell me, Emily—Emma—whatever your name is?—”
“Legally, it’s Emily. But Emma is what everyone calls me.”
“I couldn’t care less what your name is. You could be the Queen of England at this point.” His head pounded like it was being hammered by a mallet. Any second it could shatter into a million pieces—and that was if his heart didn’t take that route first. His breath was sharp and uneven, making him dizzy. Was he actually having a panic attack? Caleb leaned against his truck and shut his eyes as he focused on his breathing.
“Caleb,” she whispered.
“Don’t!” he said. “Don’t you dare try to make excuses. As far as I’m concerned, you don’t belong here, and you never will.”
She didn’t argue. At least they could agree on that front. When he opened his eyes, he was surprised to find her still standing there. Tears streaked her blotchy, pink cheeks. Her green eyes seemed more vibrant as if the tears had turned them from a typical green to something resembling a sparkly seafoam. Her lower lip quivered, but she didn’t speak.
“You want to know the worst part?” he whispered. “You actually had me believing I was wrong about people. You had finally made me wonder if I’d been too harsh in my judgments of those around me. I was beginning to think that there were some decent people in this world and I had found one of them.” He released a raucous laugh. “Oh, I was so wrong about that. And I only have myself to blame.”
“Don’t you even want to know why?—”
“I don’t want to know a single thing more. The fact is, I was right about you—about everyone. I knew that strangers couldn’t be trusted. Heck, most of the people I grew up with in this town shouldn’t be trusted. Everyone is out for themselves around here. No one is genuine anymore. You can’t even trust your own family not to turn on you. I’ve learned that not once, but twice. So, it really doesn’t make a lick of sense why I’m surprised that you weren’t any different.” The bitterness in his voice only made her shrink away from him.
Good. She needed to understand what she’d done. Hadn’t he spoken about consequences?
Fury built up inside him again. He’s shared so much with her. He’d poured out his heart and soul to her. And she’d gone and stomped on it just for kicks. “I need you to leave,” he whispered. “I need you to get in that rental car of yours right now and leave.”
“Caleb—” desperation oozed from every word she breathed.
He held up a hand, his own voice breaking. “Why can’t you listen?”
She reached for his forearm, momentarily stunning him much like a tranquilizer might do for a large animal. “I needed an escape,” she said through her tears. “Everything was pressing down on me. I felt like I couldn’t breathe.”
He tore his arm away from her. “That doesn’t mean you lie about who you are.”
“It was the only way I could think of to get out from under all that pressure. I only planned on staying long enough to catch my breath.”
“Then why drag it out?” he demanded, venom in his voice. “Why string me along and lie about who you were? Why make me believe we were something more?”
“It wasn’t a lie,” she choked out. “Everything I told you was the truth.”
“No, it wasn’t,” he said. “Don’t try to gaslight me. From the moment we met, you lied. You lied about your name. Who you were. Where you were from. What you were hiding from. Heck, that’s just brushing the surface of everything we talked about. Were you even telling the truth about not writing your own lyrics? Because I have a hard time believing that, too.”
“I was telling you the truth. Words don’t… come easy for me.”
“Well, they sure seemed to come easy when we spent all that time talking. And what about our conversation last night? The one where you said you loved your job? Well, if you loved it so much, then you wouldn’t have had the need to escape it.”
She shut her eyes tight, and tears spilled down her cheeks. His heart crumbled even more, turning into dust within his chest. What he wouldn’t give to be able to tear down the walls that had shot around him at the moment he’d realized who she was. He wished he could wrap his arms around her and tell her that everything was going to be okay. Still, after she’d betrayed him, he wanted to protect her—even if it meant protecting her from himself.
But he couldn’t.
“I know it doesn’t make sense, but if you’d let me explain.”
“There’s nothing left to explain.” Caleb felt numb. He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t feel any part of his body. It was as if he was floating with nothing to rein him in. “You wanted an escape from your life, and you got one. You came to my town—my home —and got to play pretend for a few weeks. You got to experience what it’s like to be a real cowgirl—none of that country singer nonsense. And now that you’ve got your fix, you can turn right around and go back to that life.”
“Caleb, please don’t?—”
He shoved the crumpled piece of paper at her, suddenly remembering that it was in his hand. “I finished the song for you. Do whatever you want with it. I don’t want it anymore.” Caleb pulled open the truck door, and this time Emma jumped out of the way to allow him to get inside. He started it and rolled down his window. “I’ll ask you one more time. Why did you drag it out so long? Why not tell me that first night when we…” His voice was lodged in his throat, and he couldn’t bring himself to mention their kiss or the intimate moments they’d shared.
Dang it! There was still a part of him that wanted her—not that it would do her any good. He’d washed his hands of her the moment he’d realized the truth. Even still, he wanted to hear her say it—to hear her confess that she had feelings for him that ran deep, just like his.
She didn’t meet his gaze. Her eyes were locked on the paper she held, her fingers rubbing the edges as she stood before him looking beaten and defeated.
“Well? What do you have to say for yourself?”
Emma shook her head, her breath shuddering when she took in a deep one before she exhaled. “I don’t know.”
Caleb hated the way those three words stabbed at him, gouging him in ways that he had never thought possible. She couldn’t even admit that she didn’t have feelings for him. Not only was she a liar, but she was also a coward. She was every bit the person he’d claimed her to be when he hadn’t realized who he was speaking to. His anger and frustration returned, and it took all his strength to shove it down into the darkest part of himself.
“If I were you, I’d get going. As soon as I’m gone, I would wager that my little sister is going to come out here and demand an autograph or something. Seeing as you were so careful not to get caught before now, I’m guessing you’ve decided your trip is over.”
“I’m leaving in two days,” she said quietly.
“If you ask me, that’s not nearly soon enough.”
She flinched.
“I suppose that’s it then.”
Emma lifted her tear-filled eyes.
“You came here to break things off with me.” It wasn’t a question. Somehow, he’d known this was going to happen, but he simply couldn’t have foreseen these exact circumstances. He’d imagined that she’d come to him and tell him it was a fling but that her old life called back to her. He’d thought that she might even break up via text message. He’d considered all sorts of scenarios—stressed over them until he’d lost so much sleep that he couldn’t see straight the next morning.
Nothing came close to this revelation.
“I don’t ever want to see you again,” Caleb bit out.
“That goes for both of us.” Emma’s fist tightened around the crumpled paper, and she stomped off toward the car she’d driven.
He watched her through his mirror, waiting for her to start the car and drive away. Before he had a chance to make his own mistake and change his mind, Charlie materialized at his window. She tapped on the glass, her expression so gleeful, she looked younger than her nineteen years of age. She hopped from one foot to the other, and he groaned before rolling the window down once more. “What do you want, Charlie?”
“That’s who you’ve been so gaga over? Emma Hart? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I didn’t know.”
“How could you not know? She’s everywhere.”
“Apparently, I live under a rock,” he snapped, causing his baby sister to jump back in surprise. He dragged a hand down his face. “I hate to break it to you, but she’s not staying long. She came here to break things off before she headed home.”
Charlie’s disappointment was almost more heartbreaking than the conversation with Emma had been—almost. Her frown deepened as she turned back toward him. “Are you okay?”
Momentarily taken aback, Caleb couldn’t answer right away. Then he gave a short nod. “I’m fine.”
She nodded too. “Okay. I’m going to go back inside now.”
While he watched her, his hatred continued to grow. Emma was leaving more disasters in her wake, and there was no way to make her repair them.