Chapter 27
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Jaeger calls and texts several more times after I return home from my interview. I delete his number from my phone.
Why wouldn’t he tell me what was going on? Didn’t I deserve to know he’d gotten back together with his girlfriend before she moved in? What is wrong with men?
Over the next couple of days, I stay busy in classes and at my new job, but it hurts. It hurts so badly. It’s like the knowledge of Jaeger and Kate together has charred my heart and left an ugly, thick scar in its place.
My first day of work, I met all the guys at Sallee Construction. That’s what my workplace consists of—a bunch of dudes, the middle-aged receptionist, and me. I get lots of attention. And I can’t appreciate any of it because my heart doesn’t feel anymore.
The older men treat me like I’m their daughter, and the younger ones check me out when they think I’m not looking. The architect and civil engineer are among the older pack, and keep me busy on various projects.
I worried I’d be fetching coffee and donuts until I learned CAD, but that hasn’t happened.
Bill, the architect, saw my drawings the first day and immediately asked me to produce an artist’s rendition of an upscale strip mall for a project south of the casinos, complete with landscape specifications.
I’ve had to look up various regional flora, which has given me ideas for new sketches in my free time.
I’m taking one morning and one evening class and squeezing work in between. I haven’t figured out how I’ll manage to get to and from either place on a regular basis without a car, but between lifts from Gen and Tyler and the bus, I’ve managed so far.
Almost everyone in my morning art class is female, while everyone in my evening CAD class is male.
I’ve talked to a couple of people from both courses and find each group vastly different, yet equally nerdy in their own right.
I’m the biggest nerd of all, because I’m in both classes. My geekiness spans the spectrum.
The evening CAD course is the most difficult to get to because Gen has to work, and Tyler wants a social life.
I asked around on the first day, and one of the guys in my class was willing to carpool.
He lives close to the chalet and doesn’t seem to mind picking me up and dropping me off three nights a week.
It’s Wednesday, and Leo, the CAD guy, is driving me home tonight.
“Are you hungry?” he asks on our way to his car after class.
Leo’s been sweet, and I’ve wondered on more than one occasion if he’s looking for more than a carpool buddy. Particularly given that I can offer nothing in the way of reciprocation without a vehicle.
“No, I’d better get home. There’s a project I need to put a few hours into.” It’s really just a sketch of the cascades Jaeger and I hiked to at Fallen Leaf Lake.
Why I’m torturing myself with a drawing that brings only bittersweet memories makes no sense. Despite having deleted his number from my phone, my feelings for Jaeger haven’t faded or changed. They are as stubborn as I am.
He glances over with a smile. “Maybe some other time.”
Leo’s cute, with a week’s worth of stubble and shaggy blond hair.
His eyes are a warm brown and he’s on the tall side, if a bit skinny.
When I’m with him, I feel nothing. No zing, no spark.
Between my new job and classes, I’m surrounded by available men, and I can’t appreciate any of them.
It’s like Jaeger sapped me of the chemicals needed for attraction.
Leo pulls into my driveway and I reach for my book bag on the floor, shoving in a pencil that’s sticking out of the side pocket.
“You expecting someone?” Leo says.
I look up and my heart does this weird throb thing that’s so powerful, I feel it in my throat. Because Jaeger is waiting at the front door.
“No,” I say shakily.
Leo glances from me to Jaeger, his expression hesitant as he takes in Jaeger’s size. “You want me to stick around? I could—”
“It’s okay. He’s a friend.”
For some reason, I feel guilty calling Jaeger a friend, like I’m betraying him with another guy when that’s not the case. I can’t call Jaeger my boyfriend after his ex-girlfriend has moved in. For all I know, Jaeger is here to downgrade me to friend status in person.
Leo nods. “Okay, well, have a good evening. Pick you up same time Friday?”
“That’d be great. I really appreciate the rides, Leo.” He smiles.
I step out and close the car door behind me, waiting for Leo to reverse. He holds up his hand briefly before pulling out onto the street.
I slowly shift, shoulders, then feet, then my eyes from the gravel to the house, and to Jaeger with his hands shoved in his jean pockets.
His elbows are bent the way they do to accommodate the length of his arms when he has his hands in his pockets, the muscles below the sleeves of his T-shirt tensed and corded.
His mouth is tight and twisted to the side in a concerned, edgy expression.
I make my way over, passing him as I approach the front door.
He grabs my hand, but I slip it out of his grip. “Cali, please. We need to talk.”
“Tyler told me you’re living with Kate.”
Jaeger blinks, surprised, but not upset. He lets out a deep breath. “I wanted to tell you.”
“Does it matter how I found out? You’ve moved on. Obviously.” I unlock the front door and he follows me inside. No one’s home, and that makes me mad. I don’t want to be alone with him.
All those chemical reactions that hibernated around other guys flared up the second I saw Jaeger.
I walk straight to the backyard. At least out in the open I don’t smell him, feel him so close to me.
“I’m sorry it took me so long to call. I had a commission that was late, and then I went out of town for a couple of days.”
He went on vacation? With his ex? He thinks that’s an acceptable explanation for why he waited days to call me? “Whatever, Jaeger. Why are you here?”
He flexes his jaw. “I’m trying to tell you, Cali, but you’re making it difficult.”
“Difficult? I’m making it difficult? Do you want to know what sucks? Finding out your boyfriend has a child. Want to know what else blows? Having him leave you for his ex-girlfriend. Get out of my house, Jaeger!”
I’m hysterical. All that pent-up pain unleashing itself on him. At least it’s aimed in the right direction.
“I’m not leaving,” he says calmly. “We need to talk. You don’t underst—”
“What?” I hold up my hands. “That we’re over? Oh, I got that when Tyler told me you’re shacking up with your ex. Not much to misinterpret there.”
“Cali”—his eyes are warm and soft—“if I wasn’t so frustrated, I’d kiss you. I missed you, feisty.”
I squint. “Have you lost your mind?”
He lets out a loud sigh, walks over, and scoops me up. “Maybe. I feel a little crazed.”
I glance at the dirt I’m no longer standing on. “Put me the eff down, you giant lumberjack!”
“Done.” He swings around and stalks into the house.
“Wait, wait,” I say in a panic. Not the house! What asshole didn’t lock the back door? I wiggle to get loose. “Outside, Jaeger. Put me down outside.”
He looks back with a concerned expression. “You’re not really mad, are you?”
“I’m going to hoist your balls in a—”
“Okay, good. Just making sure.”
He shifts me over his shoulder, cups my ass with one hand, and opens the bedroom door.
“Not there! We need to stay in the living room. I’m not going near a bed with—”
I land on my back cockeyed, my breath rushing out in whoosh. “What. Are. You. Doing!”
“Trying to get my girlfriend to listen for a minute.” Jaeger leaps on top of me, bracing his weight on his arms on either side of my head.
He completely ignores my frown and pecks my lips before his gaze goes distracted, hovering above me like he’s going to camp out there for a while. “Kate’s up to something,” he says. “I can’t prove it yet. I drove up to North Shore, where she supposedly lived for a couple of years.”
He’s speaking as if we’re having a normal couple conversation, not like it’s been an entire week since we spoke to or saw each other, and I am incredibly furious with him.
Maybe he has lost his mind.
“I tried to track down her friends, an old employer—I found nothing. The woman I spoke to at the Chamber of Commerce said there’s never been a business by the name of the last employer she gave me.” He leans on his elbow and sweeps a lock of hair off my forehead.
I swat at his fingers.
Just because he explained that his trip wasn’t a vacation with his ex, it doesn’t justify his absence.
Jaeger’s lips quirk briefly, then turn down.
He plays with the collar of my shirt. “Kate showed me a picture of the child.” He lets out a puff of air.
Even his breath smells good and minty. I scowl.
“The girl looks like her, but I don’t know.
I can’t tell if she looks like me. Kerstin saw the picture, too, and thinks she could, but I don’t see it.
I’ve told Kate I want to take a paternity test. She raged, but finally agreed…
as long as we live together.” His gaze slides to mine and holds.
And that’s why this entire thing is messed up. This chick is living with him.
He’s not a bad guy, and that makes everything so much worse. It would be easier to hate him if he were selfish and terrible, but he’s trying to do the right thing. Plus, he’s extremely hot, and if I’m being honest with myself, I’m glad he’s here.
“She doesn’t have money and says they took her daughter away because she couldn’t provide.
The little girl lives with Kate’s sister and husband in Reno.
Kate refuses to give me her sister’s number for some reason, but I discovered the address through a mutual friend.
I’m driving up there tomorrow to hear her sister’s side of the story.
I’m positive there’s something Kate’s not telling me. ”