12. Willow

TWELVE

Willow

Caleb was insane. He had to be. No one suggested that, did they? The problem was, I knew he wasn’t joking, and I knew in his own weird way, he thought that threatening to kidnap me would help me.

I was going to pass out again.

“I’m going to faint.”

Caleb pierced me with a stare. “Seriously?” His eyes ran over me briefly in a cold clinical manner. “For dramatic purposes or your ME?”

“Drama, obviously,” I snapped at him. I never considered myself a violent person until I met Caleb, but since meeting him, and talking to him, I’d had the urge to punch him more than once. I was sure I heard him mumble a curse under his breath, and I almost, almost made him repeat it, but instead, he pointed to one of the stools.

“Sit there, hold on, and just direct me, okay? I can’t have you passing out. I have a lot to do, and you slowing me down isn’t going to help. ”

I knew my eyes were wide with disbelief. “I’m sorry, did you just say that your plan to kidnap me needs to be on your schedule?”

“Definitely dramatic,” he muttered. “Willow, we both need this done. Remember”—he reached out and started taking art off the wall—“this is for you.”

“Am I supposed to say thanks?” I retorted waspishly.

“Some gratitude would be nice.” He wasn’t looking at me, too busy removing my carefully hung paintings with zero consideration. He missed me flipping him off, but even so, the pettiness inside of me, which seemed to show up whenever he was near, was satisfied.

“Could you be more careful?” He was stacking up the pieces like they were building bricks or something equally as sturdy, and his carelessness was making me anxious.

“They’re fine.”

“They’re not fine!” Getting off the stool, I went over and picked the first piece up. Carrying it over to the counter, I started to wrap it.

“Are you doing that for them all?” Caleb looked between me and the pile, his mouth a thin firm line. “Do we have time for that?”

“Make time.”

“You’re being unreasonable. These are never coming back here,” he told me. When he saw my look, he sighed. “Willow, what did I just say? We need to take these to the people I know, and they won’t care if they’re bubble-wrapped. You’re being unreasonable.”

I stopped what I was doing and turned to look at him. “Do you have kids? ”

Caleb’s jaw clenched. “No.”

“Me neither, but what I have is my paintings. These are my babies.”

“That’s not only stupid, it makes you sound like a crazy person.”

“I don’t care. I had a friend at college who was doing English Lit, and she wanted to be an author. She said every book she wrote would be her baby. Her characters were her children, and that’s how she would treat them. With the care, love, and attention that each book, each character, deserves. Like a child. Her child.” I pointed at my painting in front of me. “This is exactly the same, my heart and soul are in this painting, in everything that I create, so I don’t give a damn if your friend doesn’t care what condition my artwork reaches him in. I do. Until they are paid for, they are mine .” Caleb’s arms were folded across his chest, his face impassive. “Do you understand?”

Once more, those dark eyes swept over me. “Yeah, I understand that both you and your friend from college need therapy.”

Dick. “The more I get to know you, Caleb, the more I don’t like you.”

He shrugged. “Not here to be popular.”

Oh my God, I can’t even…argh! I will not scream. “I’m not going until they are all wrapped.” Stubbornness was a failing, they may say, but good grief, he made me this way.

“Fuck me.” When he started wrapping them two at a time, I almost objected, but the look he gave me made it clear it was this way or no way.

I knew when to pick my battles. This wasn’t the hill I would die on. He was wrapping them at least, and that was a small win in itself.

Caleb stood back when he was finished. “Do you have a car?”

“Did you see a car?”

“A simple no would have sufficed.”

I was annoying him as much as he was annoying me. Good .

“I need a truck.” Caleb looked out the store window with a speculative look in his eye.

“You’re thinking of stealing a car, aren’t you?” Why was I surprised? “You are not stealing from my friends and neighbors!”

Caleb looked at me as if I was an idiot. Which I must have been as I was still standing here when he quite clearly told me he was going to kidnap me later. “Why the hell would I steal a car? I don’t need the police tailing our asses for theft.”

Valid point. I didn’t tell him that, of course.

“You got anyone you can ask to borrow one?”

“No.”

He nodded. “Uh-huh, so your friend Lily, her truck can’t be borrowed?”

I hate you . “She needs it for work,” I lied.

“Really?” He smiled and it held no warmth. “Willow Harper, you are a shit liar.”

“Caleb Foster, you are a shit person.”

“Never said I wasn’t. Phone Lily.”

“No.” It was my turn to cross my arms and stand my ground. “What would I say? Can I get your vehicle to aid in my kidnapping?”

Caleb was not impressed. “If you think that will work, sure. Or tell her you have a potential buyer who wants to see all your artwork, you’re very excited, but you have to go to them, and you need a mode of transport to do it.” He smirked. “It’s not even a lie.”

“I’m not excited about this.”

“So a small white lie in a whole lot of truth.” He walked past me to the kitchen. “Don’t sweat the details too much.”

“You’re relentless, you know that, don’t you?” I didn’t receive an answer and, honestly, I didn’t expect one. He came back with a bottle of water for me.

“Drink, you need fluids.”

“I’m fine.”

“Drink the water, Willow. Hurting yourself to be a stubborn ass doesn’t make this easier for either of us.” He watched me take a sip, then another drink. “Phone your friend. We still have your house to do.”

“There has to be another way.”

“Do you have a license?” he asked me.

“No. Why?”

“The other way was hiring a truck. You don’t have a license, so we can’t.”

“Then we use yours.”

“Don’t have one.”

He was piling the paintings for easier transportation, I assumed. “Then how are you going to drive a truck!”

Caleb glanced up at me. “I can drive; I just don’t have a license.”

“Who doesn’t have a license?” I demanded.

“You, apparently.”

When he handed me my phone, I snatched it out of his hand. “You’re going to regret this,” I told him as I pressed call on Lily’s number.

“I already do.”

He was saved from my scathing reply when Lily answered the phone.

“Willow! Hi, are you okay, do you need me?” I felt worse than I already had for what I was about to lie about.

“Hi,” I started. Conscious of Caleb watching and listening, I turned my back. “I’m good,” I lied. Rolling my head from side to side, I stretched my neck, trying to loosen the knot of tension at the base of my skull. “I need a favor.”

“Anything, you know that.”

I startled when Caleb reached around and took the phone from me, pressing the speaker icon and holding the phone in his hand as he stood behind me. I could feel the heat from his body, his front almost touching my back. I quickly stepped away from him, turning to face him, and I saw how easily my reaction had amused him.

“Willow?” Lily’s voice snapped my attention back to the phone. “What’s the favor?”

“I need a car.” I hesitated when Caleb made a hand motion to suggest bigger. “A truck maybe?” He nodded. “I need to borrow a truck.”

“Um…why? You can’t drive.”

“I know, I have a…” I couldn’t say friend when it came to Caleb; the word would choke me first. He saw me struggle and rubbed his finger and thumb together. “Buyer. I have a buyer for some artwork. He?—”

“ Oh my God, Willow, that’s amazing!”

Caleb winced at Lily’s shriek, and I couldn’t stop my smile. “ Yeah, it’s really exciting.” The lie tasted like ash on my tongue. “But he’s?” Caleb nodded quickly, confirming the sex of my buyer . “He’s not from here and wants to see the paintings and a few drawings and things first before he commits. So I said I would take them to him.”

“But you can’t drive! And I just started my new job!” Lily wailed, and Caleb was too slow to hide his smug look. He knew she couldn’t take me? How? He pointed to himself and then made a talking motion with his hand, pointing at the phone.

Asshole.

“I, well, um…” As I watched him, he raised an eyebrow, and I shook my head at his shit-eating grin. “I have someone who can help.”

“You do? Who?”

“Well…remember the guy?”

“Hotcakes?” Lily was shrieking again, and this time, it was me who winced.

“Caleb,” I stressed. “His name is Caleb.”

“Oh my God, is it like a date? Wait! Are you dating? How could you be dating and not tell me !” I knew my face was on fire, and Caleb was struggling to hide his amusement as Lily went on…and on. “Have you kissed him? Was it good? I bet it was good. I bet he knows what he’s doing.”

“Lily! Can you please stop?” I had to shout to be heard. When I had silence, I continued. “It is not a date. We have not kissed. It’s just that he knows the situation and offered to drive.”

Lily was now quiet for so long it was unsettling. “Lil?”

“Is he kidnapping you?” Caleb failed to smother his laughter, and I heard Lily’s gasp. “Is he there with you now? Oh my God, are you okay? I’m coming!”

She hung up on me, and Caleb burst out laughing as I looked at him helplessly. “I…I’ve got nothing.” He was still laughing, and I could admit it was a little bit funny.

“She doesn’t even know where to go,” Caleb said, still chuckling. “Hopefully, she brings a truck with her.”

I tried to call her back, but Lily didn’t answer. With a frustrated sigh, I turned my attention back to Caleb. “We should start walking. Whispering Pines is small; if she misses us at the house or here, she’ll pick us up halfway.”

“Or we wait here. We need the truck. We don’t need your friend, as amusing as she is, to overreact completely when she can’t find you here or at home.” He tried to keep a straight face, but I could see the amusement dancing in his eyes. “She seems the kind of woman to blow things out of proportion, and we don’t need the cops’ attention on us.”

“We don’t, or you don’t?”

He gave me a level look, and I saw him assess me one more time. “You can’t walk back anyway. You look ready to drop.”

He was right. I was exhausted. I didn’t have the kind of healthy body that coped well with a mixture of excitement and adrenaline, and since I went home today, my body had been in one mode or the other. Leaning against the counter, I watched as Caleb stacked everything for loading into the truck or car, or whatever Lily brought, and I prepared myself for that conversation with her.

It wouldn’t be easy. She knew me well and could read me like a book. A really simple book, with pictures. “We need a lie,” I blurted to Caleb .

“For someone so high and mighty about the moral high ground, you surprise me,” he quipped, looking over his shoulder at me.

“Shut up.” Walking over to him, I grabbed his arm for support when I swayed. “Lily knows me. Really well. She won’t believe I’m just taking off with you, especially after I told her I thought you were watching me and it creeped me out.”

“So?” He didn’t seem bothered at all. “People’s opinions change all the time. Simply tell her we’ve had a chance to talk more and you like what you see. This trip will give you a chance to explore that further.”

“If I were interested in you, which I am not, I would have told her today.” I paused. “And I told her earlier that you left, without a goodbye, so there’s that.”

Caleb looked past me to the front door of the store just before it was hammered on.

“Shit. She’s here!” Hurrying over to open it before Lily drew too much attention to me that I didn’t need, I welcomed my best friend. “Hey.”

She brushed past me, stopping in the middle of the floor when she saw Caleb casually checking the wrapped paintings, and I saw her look at the empty wall behind him.

“Hi.” Caleb smiled as he straightened. “Lily, right? We haven’t been properly introduced, but I’ve heard so much about you.”

My best friend was stunned for a moment, and then she turned to look at me, mouthing what the heck? “Lily.” She told him, walking forward and extending her hand. “I’ve heard not much about you, and what I did hear wasn’t good. ”

Caleb looked at me and I looked down at my feet. “Well, that’s disappointing, Willow.”

Now they were both staring at me, and I would have liked very much just to leave. “Yeah, it’s…”

“Complicated?” Lily was drilling me with her stare, and I looked to Caleb for help.

“Not complicated,” Caleb assured her with a smile I’d never received from him. I hated that I noticed that, and I hated it worse that I felt a stab of jealousy. “Willow and I have been…testing the waters, would you say?” I caught myself from snorting and simply nodded. “It’s been a back and forth and all kind of new.” The smile he sent my way would make a girl’s knees weak.

Not my knees. I wasn’t stupid. Or that’s what I was telling myself.

“New?” Lily was laser-focused on my face now, and I had nowhere else to look. “I thought it was more complex .”

“Well, there’s that too,” Caleb admitted with a low laugh, but Lily was in seek-and-destroy mode. He could flash all the bashful smiles he wanted, but she had me in her sights now.

“Willow, can I talk to you?”

I flicked my eyes to Caleb, and his head dipped slightly. “Sure.”

“Would it be presumptuous to start loading the truck?” he asked Lily with all the charm of a trickster. Lily was caught off guard, and I watched in disbelief as he plucked the keys from her outstretched hand when she said sure. “Thanks.”

He came over to me and led me carefully to the stool I had been sitting on earlier. “Sit while you chat. You look worn out.” His look of concern was all for her benefit, but even knowing that, I would still be fooled. Lily was, and I saw the moment my friend softened and her guard dropped.

Manipulative bastard.

“Sooo…” Lily waited until the door was closed when Caleb left carrying some of my paintings. “What the hell, Willow?”

I needed to lie and lie well. “It’s all been a bit?—”

“Sudden? Yeah, you don’t say?” Lily pointed to the other stool across the room. “I sat there today and spoke to you about him, and you said hardly anything. You said that he left , and now it’s ‘I’m going on a road trip with the guy!’” Rubbing her temples, she looked at me. “Tell me straight, are you or are you not being kidnapped?”

The burst of hysteria escaped before I could control myself. Lily watched as I laughed, and I knew I needed to regain control, but I couldn’t. It was all too much. The door opened and Caleb walked in, looking between me and Lily.

“She’s tired,” he told her. “The ME has really been draining her lately, did she tell you?”

Lily shook her head, looking at me with concern. “She never mentioned it at all.”

“Yeah, she’s been working so hard on these paintings. It’s really one of the reasons I want to help her with this. She needs to rest, really rest, and I know a road trip sounds the exact opposite, but I think once we get there, it’ll be good for her.”

As my hysteria ebbed, I watched in fascination as Caleb wrapped my best friend around his finger.

“You know Willow’s been painting more?” Lily asked dubiously.

“Yeah, of course.” He flashed another smile. “She’s been through about a box of pencils, her studio at home is almost overflowing with work, and”—he shook his head as he looked over at me—“there’s hardly any food. Even her stash of candy has gone, and it’s not even Alistair’s fault.”

Lily looked at me, stupefied that he knew so much about me, and I couldn’t even tell her it wasn’t how it sounded. Because he made it sound so much more than it was, and I was simply lost on what to do next.

Caleb rubbed the back of his head as he looked at Lily, all shy and bashful, and I wanted to throat-punch him. “I know you’re worried I’m some mad stalker or something, but honestly, I’m just a guy who sees someone who needs a break and can help her with that. When Willow said she got a call from a buyer and didn’t have a way to make the meeting, how could I not offer to help her?”

Lily was nodding. “It’s really kind of you.” They both looked at me. One with concern, one with self-satisfied smugness. “And you’re okay with Caleb helping you out like this, Willow?”

I cleared my throat, forcing a wide smile. “I couldn’t be happier.”

Lily looked between the two of us. “Well okay, who am I to intervene in you getting some sales!”

Who indeed, I mused as I watched her high-five my self-proclaimed kidnapper. Who indeed.