23. Lex
Chapter twenty-three
I’m having déjà vu. My head is heavy with fog, voices speak softly outside my bedroom door, and the air surrounding me is clouded with honey and citrus.
Taking a deep breath, I push myself up, throw my blankets back, and shift my legs over the side of the bed. My head whirls for a moment, forcing my hand to clutch the side, rubbing at the temples.
More of that citrus scent overwhelms me.
With a whimper, I trudge out of my bedroom. There’s a conversation of sweet words and affection coming from the kitchen as I blindly make my way through the hallway. With the hours I work, I’ve navigated this house many times with no light.
“I smell coffee,” I groan when I sense I’ve reached the living room.
“Good morning, bestie.” I pull one eye open at the sound of Claire’s voice, stopping in my tracks at the sight of her standing in the kitchen, her arms wrapped around the same guy she’s been hooking up with the past few weeks.
The contractor. The one that she started out hating, but slowly let her walls crumble around .
“I guess you guys need a formal introduction now, huh?” She smirks and pulls Lee or Leif, whatever name he goes by, over to meet me.
“Leif, this is my best friend Lex. Lex, this is, um—”
From one open eye, I can see the uncertainty on Claire’s face over how to introduce him. The fact that she is introducing him with such pride rather than a flippant wave of her hand means he’s important.
“Lee. I’m the boyfriend.”
So he’s Leif to Claire and his family, and Lee to everyone else. Got it. He holds his hand out to shake mine while Claire dissolves into girlish giggles.
Her cheeks flame, and she buries her face against the bare muscles of her boyfriend’s chest.
I’ve never seen my best friend in love, or even hardcore crushing over a guy. But when Lee smiles down at her and presses a kiss against her forehead, making her snort in uncontrolled glee, I think I can get used to it.
But not without coffee first.
“My friend looks thrilled right now, but I’ll be more equipped to deal with this after a coffee.” I make my way around the lovebirds, pulling a carton of oat milk from the fridge, then make my way through the kitchen.
“What time did your friend leave?” Claire asks.
I look over at her while I pull my glass tumbler from the overhead cupboards. “What friend?”
“Caleb Heart,” Lee says. “How did you manage that connection, by the way?”
“We met him at The Wayside,” Claire answers, looking up at him with dreamy eyes.
“And then you got to talking about the salon, and he decided to invest?” Lee asks, just as much wrapped up in her as she is in him. I’d join in on their conversation, but it’s like my brain did a record screech when Lee said Caleb’s name .
“Invest? He’s not an investor.” Claire furrows her brow in question.
“Excuse me,” I interrupt. “Are you saying Caleb was here last night?” I ask.
“Then why did he pay for the damage at the salon?” Lee asks.
“What? Trevor said the building owners covered all the costs,” Claire says. “And our building is owned by the Callahans.”
The Callahans are another rich family in Australia.
They own one of the most popular hotel chains here.
The youngest daughter, Tenley, has been investing in businesses around Heart City recently.
A few restaurants along the harbour, the aquarium, and a lot of the buildings on Main Street, like Claire’s.
Not that anyone cares about that right now, because what’s important is figuring out if Caleb Heart was in my house last night without me knowing.
“No. I met Trevor when we were doing the cleanup.” Lee shakes his head. “He handed me the business card for Heart Assets. Told me to send the full bill there. Knowing Caleb Heart, I figured it was because he was investing.”
“How do you know Caleb?”
“Excuse me!” I finally shout, making Claire and Lee break apart with a jolt. “Was Caleb here?”
Leif looks down at Claire as if the two are having a silent conversation. “I was sitting on your porch for maybe an hour after Claire was texting me. Caleb rocked up a few minutes before you guys got home.”
“W-what did he say?” I almost don’t want to know the answer.
With how we left things the other night at the party, I can’t imagine what he could possibly have to say. And thanks to copious amounts of tequila, I may never know.
“He carried your drunk arse inside when he saw me struggling with you up the stairs,” Claire sasses .
Lee clears his throat, making Claire look up at him. Her eyes sparkle as if a lightbulb has just switched on inside her head. “Oh. Um, you may have also told us he has a pretty dick.”
If the floor could swallow me whole right now, that would be fantastic.
“I think you may also be wearing his shirt.” Claire wiggles her finger in the air, gesturing up and down the length of my body.
I look down, and that’s when I realise why I’ve been carrying that citrus smell with me all morning. A white button-up shirt covers the dress I wore last night.
Bile rises up my throat, and I quickly throw my hand over my mouth and make a mad dash for the bathroom.
Dropping to my knees in front of the toilet, I struggle for a moment to purge my bad decisions from the night before. My body breaks out in a sweat from head to toe.
Why was Caleb here last night? What did he say? What did I say?
I hope it wasn’t anything more embarrassing than telling him he has a pretty dick. The mortification is enough to have me heaving into the toilet again, my stomach weak and trembling by the end of it.
By the time it finally stops, I sit back on the floor, resting my head against the wall.
I close my eyes and focus on taking deep breaths, bringing my heart back down to a normal pace.
And that’s when I go back to the other thing Claire and Lee mentioned.
Caleb paid for the repairs at Claire’s salon. Why?
I went to The Wayside hoping to bump into Caleb because I wasn’t ready to give up on him quite yet. I still don’t have answers. I still don’t have any clarity. And I don’t think I’m going to get any of that until I start asking some questions.