Chapter Six – Lilibeth #2
Glancing over to Mrs. Harper, I saw her looking formidable, with her hands on her hips and a scowl on her face.
I glanced back at Caden, who seemed embarrassed for half a second, and I smirked at him.
He narrowed one eye at me as he drew in a breath and slowly let it out. “I’m sorry, Flower— Lilibeth.”
“Apology accepted,” I replied in a sugary tone that made Caden’s eye twitch. If he was going to call me Tigger, in addition to the Flower Child, then I’d be a bouncy, happy, T. I. double grr Tigger.
Turning to Mrs. Harper, I answered her question more thoroughly. “Yes, we know each other. We met through Emeline. Remember I told you I was volunteering at the ranch last summer?”
Mrs. Harper touched her forehead. “That’s right. This memory, I swear.” Her smile appeared again. “Caden visits me once a week, usually Thursday mornings. He’s offered to put up my Christmas decorations on the front porch for me today.”
I looked back at Caden, who was still leaning against the doorjamb. I wish he wouldn’t do that. He looked so…so…ugh. Good.
Mrs. Harper walked out of the room, and I kept my eyes on Caden.
“How nice of you. I usually visit with Mrs. Harper once a week as well. Sometimes twice, when I can.”
He pushed off the jamb and walked into the kitchen. Picking up a cookie from a cooling rack on the counter, he bit into it. “Must be nice to have all that free time.”
I shrugged. “Some of us don’t drive to Granby each week to meet with our…friend.”
A brow rose. “Jealous, Flower Child?”
I huffed. “You wish.”
“Is that why you snuck away this morning?”
I shrugged. “Actually, if memory serves, I believe you told me you wanted me out of your house, so I left. Like I was told.”
Did he just flinch? No, I was imagining it. “How did you get home?”
“Why do you care?”
A voice cleared, and we both turned to see Mrs. Harper’s eyes bouncing between us. “It appears you know one another very well.”
“No!” we both said at the same time.
“It isn’t anything like that,” I quickly added.
Caden popped more of the cookie into his mouth, chewed and swallowed, then explained, “She got wasted at a bar in Granby last night, and I had to drive her, Ensley, and Moreen home. It was late, and I was tired, so Lilibeth slept in my guest bedroom.”
I scowled. Did he have to tell her I’d been drunk? “I wasn’t wasted, thank you very much.”
He smiled. “Oh, so you were sober? That’s why you threw up?”
I wanted to slap the smirk off of his stupid handsome face.
I lifted my hand and pointed at him, ready to lay into him, when Mrs. Harper stepped between us.
“Would you be able to help me with the decorations inside the house, sweetheart? I always put them up Thanksgiving weekend, and I’m a bit behind this year. ”
I pulled my gaze away from Caden and looked down into soft, sky-blue eyes. “Yes. I would love to help you.”
She clapped once. “Wonderful! Caden, the next batch of cookies are almost done. You take those out, and I’ll show Lilibeth where the decorations are.”
Mrs. Harper turned and headed out of the kitchen, toward the stairs. As I walked by Caden, he purposely bumped into me.
I pushed him away, and he pushed me back.
“Grow up, will you!” I whisper-shouted.
Caden glared. “You pushed me!”
“That’s because you bumped into me on purpose!”
“I’m getting the cookies out of the oven and you walked right behind me. Where was I supposed to go?”
“How about to he—”
“Lilibeth! Are you coming?”
Caden grinned. “What were you just about to say, Flower Child?”
“Ugh!” I breathed, as I rolled my eyes and quickly caught up to Mrs. Harper.
Once we got to the second floor, she pointed to a door at the end of the hallway. “The decorations are in the attic.”
I’d been up in her attic before. It was heaven on Earth up there. So many old pieces of furniture and pictures. I could get lost for hours just looking at everything.
Once she showed me where all the decorations were, I started hauling the boxes down.
According to Mrs. Harper, every bedroom would have a tree, along with two trees down in the living room, and one in the family room.
She had decorations for every bathroom, the kitchen, the living and dining rooms, as well as the breakfast nook.
Caden ended up having to help me bring everything out of the attic and put the boxes in their corresponding rooms, since there were so many.
Apparently, Mrs. Harper’s daughter and son-in-law were usually here for Thanksgiving, and helped decorate afterward, but they couldn’t make it this year.
On the last trip up to the attic, I sat down on an old settee. I’d thought I was pretty fit, but all the multiple trips up and down the various flights of stairs told me I wasn’t in as good of shape as I could be.
“What’s wrong? Tired, Flower Child?”
I sat back. “I’m exhausted, and we still haven’t brought down the trees. She has a tree for every single bedroom! Plus, three downstairs.”
“Oh, she doesn’t have fake trees. She prefers real.”
My eyes widened. “Real trees?”
He chuckled. “Yep. I’ll leave here in a bit to go buy them.”
I tilted my head. “Do you do this every year for her?”
His cheeks flushed. “I do. Ever since Mr. Harper died. Lisa, Mrs. Harper’s daughter, tells me every year not to buy the trees, that they can buy them, but I enjoy it.”
I nodded. “It’s sweet of you to do this for her.”
He shrugged. “Don’t get too sappy about it, because with you showing up today, you’ve pretty much volunteered yourself to do it again next year.”
I chuckled. “I don’t mind at all. I adore Mrs. Harper, and it feels good to help out people in the community I’ve fallen in love with.”
Something moved across his face, but with the darkness of the attic, I couldn’t really read what it was.
“Did you do volunteer work where you grew up?” he asked, when the silence became awkward.
“Oh yeah. My mom and dad were big supporters of the community. I can remember being as young as eight and helping on Thanksgiving Day at the church in our neighborhood. My first-ever job there was putting a scoop of mashed potatoes onto the plates of the unhoused people who would come to eat.”
A soft smile played across his face. “It’s great that your parents taught you about volunteering at an early age. Mine did as well.”
I stood and did a three-sixty turn. “So…there’s nothing left to bring down then?”
He shook his head. “No. I’m going to head out and get the trees. If you can stay here and make sure she doesn’t climb any ladders or anything, I’d appreciate it. Unless you have to leave.”
Shaking my head, I replied, “I don’t have anywhere to be.”
When he didn’t say anything else, I started toward the attic door.
“Lilibeth?”
I glanced over my shoulder. “Yes?”
“Why did you leave this morning without telling me?”
I frowned. “Like I said earlier, you said you wanted me out of your house, Caden. So, I called Ensley and asked her to pick me up. Just doing what I was told.”
His hand went to the back of his neck and he rubbed, as if it was aching him. “I’m sorry about that. It’s just… I don’t like talking about my past, or about…” His voice trailed off.
I shook my head. “It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have been snooping into your life.”
When he didn’t say anything else, I turned and walked down the steps and out of the attic. The urge to turn around, run back up the stairs, and tell him he deserved someone who would love and cherish him was so strong, but I ignored it.
Caden Wilde was a broken man, and I clearly wasn’t the person to help heal him, no matter how much I wanted to be.