Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
Caleb
“Samantha is so annoying,” I said to my friends Gabe and Brax as we checked out our cabin. I should have kept that to myself, but worry about this weekend was making my irritation spill out. I had two days to fix things with Lilly. To get to know her again. To resolve my what-ifs and see if we had a chance. I did not need interference from Sam, no matter how intriguing—and aggravating—she was.
“Sam annoys you?” Brax, who dated and adored my sister Mia, asked, exchanged knowing glances with Gabe. They knew all about our difficult relationship. And they knew about Lilly too. The guys started out as Mia’s friends, meeting during pediatric residency, but when I came over to Children’s to do pediatric ortho rotations, I started hanging out with them too. Now Brax and Gabe were done with residency and out working in the real world.
“She’s so stubborn,” I said as I paced the small sitting room, which had a couch, two chairs, a corner electric fireplace, and a killer view of the lake right in front of us. “She won’t ever accept any help. And she refuses to listen to me when I say I don’t need any help with Lilly.”
“That’s our Sam,” Gabe said. “Determined and independent. And maybe you do need help. Once-in-a-lifetime chance and all that.” Gabe had a charismatic personality that nearly everyone took to and an opinion about just about everything, which made him a great negotiator. His new job as part of the hospital administration was perfect for him. And his job as officiant of Ani and Tyler’s wedding had landed him here.
“She wouldn’t let me carry her duffel bag, and I was playing tug of war with her, and Lilly thought we were holding hands just now. I mean, Sam says she wants to help me, but she’s already making everything worse, and we just got here!”
“Sounds passionate,” Gabe said. “But typical. There are always fireworks where you and Sam are involved.”
“The bad kind. Sam’s the whole reason Lilly doesn’t trust me.” My friends knew about that too. I thought about the fireworks comment. When Sam was around, I felt that my whole body was on edge. I had nerves about Lilly, but this was different. With Sam, I felt this weird kind of anticipation. Like, I never knew what she was going to say next, but I was eager to hear what it was—probably so that I could hit her with a comeback. To be fair, she’d tried hard to make me look good in front of Lilly. Then, in the next breath, she let me have it about me flaking out on her that New Year’s Eve. Which I admit, I totally deserved.
“Relax.” Brax slapped me on the back. “This weekend will be a great opportunity for you to figure it all out.”
“Sorry,” I said, raking a hand through my hair. “Guess I’m a little tense.” I made an effort to calm down by sitting down and checking out the great view. “How’re you guys doing?”
“I’m fantastic,” Gabe said, plopping down on the couch. “Now that Jason’s coming.”
“Here? This weekend?” Brax asked. “Isn’t he about to defend his dissertation?” Gabe’s fiancé was about to finish his PhD in literature, his dissertation being about female voices in Shakespeare’s plays. He was a great guy, and he always gave us science nerds a mind-widening humanities perspective on life.
“Ani thought that some change of scenery might do him good.”
“Better not tell Sam,” I said in a warning tone. “She was hoping you’d be her square dance partner tonight.”
“ I’ll be her partner,” Quinn said, suddenly appearing at the door with Tyler, our esteemed groom. “She’s really cute. And funny.”
His words churned my stomach, mostly because he was so… all out there. He seemed to be one of those people where you could read all his emotions on his face. Still crushed by his breakup but trying to prove that he was over it. And putting Sam in his sights. Scary.
Not that she couldn’t handle him herself. So why did I want to take care of him myself?
Tyler walked through the door, looking a little agitated himself. He was tall to Ani’s petite frame, with curly hair and fashionable glasses. He sneezed violently. “Bollocks. I forgot my allergy pills and my bug spray.”
We laughed, but honestly, Tyler was the anti-Ani. Those two were absolute proof that opposites attracted. While Ani was bubbly, fun, and easygoing, Tyler was straitlaced, high-maintenance and very intellectual—he’d scored higher than any of us on all the standardized tests we were required to take in med school and beyond. He was from Connecticut, but he talked like an aged actor from an aristocratic family. Privately I thought that all he needed was a cigar and a smoking jacket to complete this persona.
He was a character, but he was also a careful, compulsively dedicated doctor, who would stay late, lose sleep, anything to get patients the good care they needed—but he could also be a rigid pain in the butt. His saving grace was his self-awareness of his pain-in-the-butt-ness. And the fact that he attended therapy regularly.
Tyler walked over to the window and looked out at the lake, blowing his nose. “I absolutely despise the country. I have never square-danced, nor do I ever want to. And I hate hiking. But I love Ani. So thank you all for coming.” He pulled out his phone, checked it, and then tossed it to the couch, sneezing again. “Bloody hell. Why is the Wi-Fi not working?”
Brax held out his hand. “Let me enter the password for you.”
“I have. Three times.” He wiped his forehead on his sleeve. “It’s too hot in here.”
I exchanged glances with Gabe, who walked over to Tyler and sat down next to him. “Have this.” He handed him a beer. “And take a nap. Then we’re going to have a great time square-dancing and harvesting our own food and getting eaten alive by mosquitoes. And Ani will love you for every minute of it.”
He grunted. Brax passed out more beers, popped his open, and lifted it into the air. “To a weekend of friendship and fellowship.”
After we toasted, Quinn said, “I think I’ll take a little stroll and see if I can find Sam.”
The hair on my neck prickled, but I blocked out my agitation. Sam was not my concern, no matter how many emotions, positive and negative, she incited in me.
I suddenly had a plan—I would find Lilly and have a talk with her before Sam could wreak any more havoc. Why waste time? I’d see if there was still something between us once and for all.
* * *
Samantha
My head still spinning about the luggage fight and everything that had happened on the drive, I walked into the big white farmhouse, where I was greeted by a middle-aged woman with glasses, sitting behind a beadboard-paneled counter. The counter was part of a sitting room where a boy and a young dog played on a braided rug in front of a brick-lined fireplace. It looked tidy and bright and homey, and for the first time, my reservations about farm weekend lowered. A little.
The dog, a yellow Labrador retriever that looked not far beyond the puppy stage, came bounding toward me with a rag knot toy in its mouth.
I bristled but pretended not to. I was pretty good at hiding my fear of dogs—unless they jumped on me. I turned toward the desk, white-knuckling the counter, and tried ignoring the dog but he—she?—kept nudging the rag toy against my leg.
The boy stood up. “She wants you to play with her.” He was tanned and skinny-legged, his face full of freckles. He bent down and rubbed the dog’s head. “Don’tcha, girl? You want to play.”
The dog bounded from the boy to me, shaking its head with the toy in its mouth, giving me an expectant look.
“She won’t hurt ya,” the boy said.
I smiled, but there was no way I could bring myself to touch the saliva-covered toy in the dog’s teeth. “Cute dog,” I managed with a nervous laugh. I drew the line there—because there was no way I could force myself to actually pet it—her.
But the dog persisted, looking up at me with dark brown, expectant eyes.
Jeesh.
The woman smiled. “Tater, take the pup outside.” To me, she said in an apologetic tone, “She could play that game all day.”
“Come on, doggie,” the boy said as he ran toward the door. “Let’s go.”
The pup did not take the bait. Instead, she dropped the rag toy at my feet and thumped her tail.
Oh help.
The woman leaned over. “Tater, take this dog out right now. Not all our guests are dog people.”
“She just wants to play, Mom,” the boy said.
I decided it would be easier to scoop up the saliva-coated toy and toss it than to cause conflict between mother and son. So I did. Clear to the fireplace. The dog immediately scrambled after it.
I tried to give a dog-lover smile, but I was a dog-fearer, and if I didn’t get out of there soon, that was going to come across loud and clear.
The woman smiled as she watched her son playfully wrestle with the dog. “She’s a foster. Four months old and not potty-trained. Tater and I are training her.”
Poor puppy. No family. I immediately identified. “What’s her name?”
“Unbelievably, the people she was with called her Pup—I think that’s an indication right there that they never intended to keep her. We foster for the Humane Society. Some people sadly don’t understand that puppies require consistency and work. So she’s here to learn some manners.” She smiled and held out her hand. “I’m Marin Brown, by the way. That’s Tatum—he’s ten. We call him Tater.”
“Mom!” the boy protested.
“Hi,” I said to them both, carefully omitting the “Tater.” I offered my hand to Marin. “Samantha. I’m with the wedding party.”
“I have your key right here. The bride’s already in your cabin.”
As Marin explained how to put the farm app on my phone, which had a map and info, I felt another nudge. Another solemn, expectant gaze met mine as the pup dropped the soggy toy onto my sandal.
I couldn’t suppress a chuckle. “You really are persistent, aren’t you?” This time I did a sneak attack, quickly snatching the knot and tossing it as far as I could. The dog flew after it, grabbed it, lay down, and play-growled with it.
“She’s really a nice dog,” Marin said, peering over the counter. “Labs are high energy. I don’t think those people had a clue what they were in for.”
I couldn’t imagine, but I just smiled.
After giving me directions to the cabin, she added, “Hope you brought some tennies.” She gave a chuckle. “It’s an active weekend. The square dance tonight, hunt your own breakfast first thing in the morning, then a long hike. You’re gonna love it.”
Ani, Ani, Ani. The things we endured for friends’ weddings. Square-dancing? And did she just say hunt ? That would be a hard pass. I hoped there was a vegetarian breakfast option, because I absolutely was not hunting anything more animal than milk for my coffee.
“Don’t worry if you don’t know how to square-dance,” Marin said. “Ted, our caller, is great with beginners. My husband Brent and I usually come too.”
Okay, great. I thanked her, waved goodbye to boy and dog, and began my trek on a winding path that led down a rolling hill toward a necklace string of log cabins surrounding a little oval lake. I counted two down as Marin had instructed and walked up a few concrete stairs onto a porch with blue ceramic pots overflowing with red flowers.
The main room had a little sitting area and a kitchenette. There were potted plants near a big window and the same clean white decor as the main farmhouse. Cute. I found Ani in one of the two bedrooms, lying on a twin bed, scrolling on her phone. She was wearing a white sweatshirt that said Bride . Mia sat across from her on the other twin bed. She gave me a weak smile as I dropped my duffel and jumped into bed next to Ani, giving her a giant hug. “Hi, bride. Nice place.”
Her smile seemed a little weak too. The fact that she was lying down seemed strange too—I wouldn’t have been surprised if I’d walked in to see her practicing her do-si-dos. “It’s a great farm, isn’t it?” she asked in a lukewarm tone.
“Yeeees,” I said, literally knowing nothing about farms. Ani usually didn’t ask basic questions, and she looked a little off.
“How was the drive with my brother?” Mia asked.
“Great.” You know the first thing I thought of? Not the luggage fight. Not the dumb answers to art questions. But rather the apology.
I never thought of Caleb as someone who would apologize, and it had thrown me. It did more than that. It had dissolved the grudge I’d carried for years.
Uh-oh. That was not a good thing, I realized.
“That good, huh?” Mia said. “I hope you two can keep it together this weekend.”
I was a little offended. “Of course we will. We worked it out.”
“You and Caleb actually talked about getting along?”
“We actually did.” Sort of. Somehow, I knew that we both understood that this wedding wasn’t about us. Besides, I was committed to getting Lilly on his side.
Wasn’t I?
Yes, of course I was.
Maybe I needed to lie down too.
I was pulled out of this inner turmoil by Ani holding out her hands and wiggling her fingers (including the one with the honking huge emerald-cut diamond that was glinting in our eyes) for both of us to hold her hands in support. “I’m so glad you both are here.”
Mia and I grasped her hands. “Me too.” I glanced at Mia. Was something wrong? I telegraphed. She gave a tiny shrug in return.
“Where’s Lilly?” Ani asked.
“She went out on a hunt to find some flowers to sketch,” Mia said.
I found it a little odd that she wasn’t with Ani having some bonding time, but art was calling, I guess. Historically, Lilly was Ani’s best friend through grade school and high school. I knew they often saw each other when Ani went home, but my sense was that they weren’t quite as close as Ani, Mia, and I were.
“You two should go check the place out too,” Ani said. “We have some time before the square dance.” She sat up and seemed to force a smile. “What did you think of Quinn?” she asked me. “He stopped by and said he’d love to be your partner tonight.”
My stomach did that queasy thing again. I decided to tell it like it was and prepare for the consequences. “He’s good-looking and he seems nice, but I’m not interested.” I pressed my lips together, prepared for what I knew was coming.
“Sam, you always scoff at nice guys,” Ani said. “You always pick the bad boys.”
“I pick bad boys because they’re fun. And fun is all I want right now.” And maybe ever. “Besides, there’s no shimmer.” Oma was a huge believer in shimmer.
She heaved a sigh. “Dating a nice guy might change your life.”
Mia nodded vehemently and grinned. “No pain, no gain.”
Pain being the key here. My friends were as persistent as that little dog up at the main house. I was used to this, but I was going to shut them down quick. “Thanks for thinking of me, but no, thanks.” I had a solid backup plan—I was going to pair up with Gabe, who would save me from Quinn for sure. “This weekend isn’t about me. How are you doing?”
Ani looked anything but relaxed and unstressed.
“Out with it,” Mia said.
She went quiet.
I put a hand on her arm. “Ani, what’s wrong?”
“Things just aren’t… going well.”
“Wedding planning is really stressful,” Mia said hurriedly. “That’s why Brax and I aren’t even attempting it this year, what with me starting my heme-onc fellowship and him starting practice.”
Ani’s clear blue eyes brimmed with tears. It was clear she took no comfort from Mia’s answer.
“You can tell us,” I said. The three of us had been through a lot together these past few years. Our friendship had been one of the best things to come out of residency.
Ani sat up and crossed her arms. “We’re just not on the same page about a lot of things. Tyler seems so frustrated with—well, everything. I’m worried he’s having second thoughts.”
Mia and I exchanged looks of hidden worry over Ani’s head. We both half believed what she’d just said. Of the two of them, it was no secret that Ani got along with everyone and found humor in nearly everything. Tyler was introverted, serious, and in general, uptight.
Ani attributed that to his tough childhood. But frankly, I had as tough a childhood as anyone, and I’d retained the ability to get a joke once in a while. But I guess I had different issues. I vowed to try harder not to judge.
We loved Ani, and she obviously loved Tyler, so we wrote it off as an opposites-attract thing and hoped for the best.
But there was a little wrench thrown into all this that also gave us cause for worry: Ani had been a nurse. She’d married young, at twenty-two, and was divorced by twenty-five. Anyone could forgive a youthful mistake—except for Ani herself. She seemed to think she was the difficult one in the relationship and seemed to us to go above and beyond to placate Tyler. In our opinion, she was the gem in the relationship.
It didn’t help that her parents helped to perpetuate her sense of failure, treating her divorce as an embarrassment. For a long time, they wouldn’t even tell their friends that it happened.
“This is a beautiful place,” I said, “and we’re all here to celebrate you guys. You have a whole weekend to unwind, relax, and have fun together.” That was the most positive spin I could think of.
Mia approved, telegraphing me a stealthy thumbs-up and mouthing Good job .
“That’s why I chose it,” Ani said. “But Tyler is already saying that the pollen is activating his allergies. He wants to stay in the air-conditioning.”
Of course he did.
“You guys should go explore the place,” Ani said, shooing us out. “Don’t let me stop you.”
“You want to come for a walk and explore with us?” Mia asked.
“It’s been a week,” Ani said. “I think I’m going to lie down for a while. Everything will look brighter after a nap, right?”
“Totally.” To Mia I said, “I think I’ll pass on the walk. I’ve got some work stuff I’ve got to take care of.”
“Okay then. I’m going to find Brax and see if he wants to find a place to fool around,” Mia said.
We both laughed, but Ani looked a little wistful. This might have been my imagination, but I wondered if she was thinking that Tyler was never spontaneous—or fun—like that.
I didn’t want to take a nap or explore the farm. I had other things on my mind. After the luggage fight, I didn’t want there to be any question—in anyone’s mind—that I was interested in Caleb. So I was going to repay my debt to him, the sooner the better. It was time to take matters into my own hands.