Chapter 30
The next morning, Rhys knew he couldn’t face opening the shop. He called Sam to ask if they could do it. They said they needed the extra hours, and they would take care of getting one of the other employees to come in for the busiest part of the day.
Once the shop was taken care of, he crawled back in bed, pulled the covers over his head, and went back to sleep.
The next time he woke, he knew he should get up.
He needed to eat. He needed water, but he just lay there, staring at the ceiling, wishing he could go back in time and redo everything that had happened the night of Jonah’s party and the awful things he’d said the night before at Frost + Foam.
Eventually, he fell asleep again. When he woke up, he was desperate to use the bathroom.
He took care of that, then forced himself to fill his water bottle and try eating a container of yogurt.
He got through a few bites and knew his stomach wasn’t going to tolerate anything else.
He had a few sips of water and took the bottle back to his bedroom.
He lay there. scrolling on his phone, but when he saw a video of a barista making a drink, all he could think about was how he wasn’t working with Caleb anymore.
He tried turning on one of his favorite comfort shows, but all he could think about was watching it with Caleb and whether Caleb would like it and what Caleb’s favorite show was and why he didn’t know that.
Why had they never talked about favorite movies or shows or really anything but coffee and the festival?
Caleb had tried to talk to him about where their relationship was going, but he couldn’t even bring himself to admit they had a relationship.
How had he spent so much time with Caleb, but he still didn’t know that much about him?
It had all been coffee and fucking. Of course, his life was coffee, but he wanted to know Caleb better.
He did know about Caleb’s horrible ex, and they had talked to each other when they’d had dinner, but they were often strategizing or talking about their shops or how much they wanted each other.
Even there, alone in his bed, heat filled Rhys’s face as he thought about how easily Caleb turned him on.
Somehow, even without knowing all those little details about Caleb, Rhys knew that he’d fallen in love with him.
As it got dark outside, Rhys realized he hadn’t done anything all day.
He’d barely eaten, and he’d only had a little water and a single cup of coffee to drink.
There was no way in hell he was going to get out of bed in the morning, go open the shop, and talk to people.
Rumors had to be all over town now that he’d hidden for a day.
How was he ever going to leave his house again?
Once again, he got Sam to cover for him and found them some more help.
After two days of hiding, barely leaving the bed, barely eating, sleeping fitfully because of stress dreams, where he was always too late to help someone or incapable of making a simple phone call or opening a door, he felt just as exhausted as he had when he’d run from Caleb.
The thought of seeing people, and especially of talking to people, made him feel sick. Tessa had texted him regularly, and he’d responded often enough to keep her from coming over. How much longer could that last?
He got an answer to his question a few minutes later when he heard a knock at his door. He ignored it until Tessa texted him. Let me in. I need to see proof of life.
He had no doubt he looked like hell and probably smelled terrible too, but she’d let herself in if he didn’t answer the door.
So he pulled on joggers and a T-shirt, ran a hand through his hair, and went to the door.
When he swung it open, he didn’t just see Tessa. Jonah and Marianne were also there.
“Wow,” Marianne said. “You look terrible.”
Jonah laid a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t say that. We want him to let us in.”
Rhys sighed. “She’s right, not that I’ve actually looked.”
“You don’t smell good either,” Tessa said. “Go take a shower. We’ll wait.”
“I was taking a nap. I don’t want to talk to anybody.”
Tessa shook her head. “You’ve been hiding out here for long enough. From the looks of you, you haven’t had a shower in days. You’re certainly not feeling any better, so resting isn’t helping. Are you eating?”
“Enough.”
“That means no. Go take a shower, put on some fresh clothes, and come back out here. We’re going to fix this.”
“You can’t fix me. I’m just the way I am.”
She scowled at him. “I didn’t say anything about you needing to be fixed. This problem with Caleb needs to be fixed. There’s nothing wrong with you.”
“I don’t know how to do this.”
“Nobody knows how to fall in love.”
“But I’m not…”
“Shower.” Tessa pointed toward the bathroom, and Rhys decided that was his best option. It was easier than talking, but he knew they’d all sit there and talk about him until he returned.
When he got out of the shower, his friends had cleaned up the kitchen, and they were sitting in the living room, watching a hockey game. He was sure Marianne had turned it on. The rest of them could take or leave hockey, but Marianne always managed to pull them in with her enthusiasm.
They turned the TV off when he entered the room, and Tessa gestured for him to sit beside her. He flopped down on the couch, knowing if he stood for too long, he’d start to feel dizzy, especially after the heat of the shower.
Finn arrived with a takeout box as he was getting settled. He could tell before he opened it that it was his standard order from the pub.
“Thank you.” Rhys sat the box down on the coffee table.
“Eat now,” Tessa said.
He didn’t feel hungry, but she was right that he needed to eat.
He took a bite and then another and another and suddenly realized he was absolutely starving.
He had to force himself not to go too fast. Everyone else talked around him as he ate, but they didn’t address any questions directly at him.
They must’ve wanted him fueled up before their interrogation started.
When he set the empty box down, Tessa wrapped an arm around his shoulders, and Jonah scooted over and laid a hand on his leg.
“We all love you,” Jonah said. “We know you’re hurting, and we want to help.”
“I let you wallow for a few days,” Tessa said. “But that time is up. You’ve hardly ever missed a day at your shop, and now you’ve missed two in a row.”
“I’m sure everyone is talking about me now.”
“Everyone is worried about you,” she said.
“How much does everyone know?”
Tessa sighed. “We didn’t give any detail details, but of course, there’s speculation. There are some people who insist you’re just sick, probably with the flu. I’ve made sure everyone knows I’m checking on you and making sure you’re okay.”
“Thank you. For checking on me and keeping everybody away.”
She hugged him tighter. “Of course.”
“So we’re here to get you out of the house again,” Finn said.
Rhys shook his head. “I’m not ready for that. I don’t know when I’m ever going to be ready.”
Tessa ignored him. “We’re also here to help you figure out how to talk to Caleb again.”
“He probably hates me now.”
Marianne shook her head. “He doesn’t hate you. He misses you.”
“Why would he? I treated him like shit.”
“You treated him like someone who’s scared,” Marianne said. “You probably do need to apologize to him, but he doesn’t hate you.”
Tessa spoke next. “Caleb’s not been himself. He’s going to work, but he’s lost his sparkle.”
Rhys frowned, not wanting to believe her. “Maybe he was just having a bad day when you saw him.”
“No,” Jonah said. “I’ve never seen Caleb look so sad. Until a few days ago, he always had a smile on his face when I walked into Cloud Nine, but he no longer looks like he’s full of sunshine. He used to match the colorful walls and the brightly decorated menus, but now he’s like a rain cloud.”
The thought of Caleb being sad instead of full of sunshine made Rhys feel like his dinner might come back up. He lay back against the couch and tried to remember how to breathe.
“We’re not telling you this to make you feel worse,” Tessa said. “But we want you to understand that Caleb is affected by this. He wants to see you again, but he also knows that it needs to be you coming to him.”
Rhys was sure everything they said was true, but he wasn’t sure if he had the strength to do it, no matter how much he wanted to.
“What do you want, Rhys?” Jonah asked. “If you knew you could fix this, what would you want?”
“I want to be with Caleb, but I don’t want everybody watching us, talking about us, making us the center of attention.”
“Okay, now what do you want here in Frostwick Harbor without the ability to change everyone?”
Rhys took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and let himself imagine the different paths he could take. He could run away from Frostwick Harbor, but he didn’t want to do that, no matter how scared he was.
He could apologize to Caleb but say that it was just too hard to have a relationship, and they could go their separate ways. That might kill him, because no matter what, he was going to see Caleb all the time, and now all his friends and probably half the town knew there was something between them.
Or he could apologize to Caleb and tell him he didn’t care what anyone else said; he wanted to see what it was like to be together publicly, openly, for as long as they could make it last. Eventually, he would tell Caleb that he loved him.
Or maybe he should start there, but that was the scariest idea of all.
“I want to be with Caleb.”
“Good answer,” Marianne said.
Tessa had a huge smile on her face as she said, “Let’s figure out how to get you there. He deserves an apology and an explanation. He cares for you, but you’ve got to make him believe that this time, you’re not going to run.”
Rhys blew out a long breath. “Are you sure that’s even possible?”
“With all of us working together,” Finn said, “it’s absolutely possible.”