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Never underestimate an enemy or a girl’s overprotective brother. Caleb took the blow to the jaw in stride, surprised but accepting of Jack’s anger all the same.
He rubbed the side of his face and worked his jaw side to side until the sting subsided.
“I did not and I will not sleep with your sister, man.”
“What? She’s not good enough for you?”
Caleb wanted to laugh, but held it back. “She’s the best person I know. She’s smart and kind and cares about everyone around her.”
“So all you want to do is sleep with her.”
Anger flared, but he kept it in check. “You’re my best friend. I’ll forgive and forget the punch and that remark about my character. Let this go. I’m leaving day after next and how I feel about Summer won’t matter.”
“You can forget her that easily?”
“Man, what do you want from me? I’m trying to do the right thing here.”
Jack’s cell phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket and checked caller ID, smiling, but not in a good way.
“Sam,” he answered with his twin brother’s name, putting the call on speaker. “Guess what? I’m here with Caleb...”
“Did he and Summer set the forest on fire yet?” Sam asked without Jack having to say anything.
“What?” Jack asked, confused and suspicious.
“You saw the two of them at Thanksgiving. Seriously, how long can two people who want each other that bad stay apart? I mean, I’m surprised the whole ranch didn’t combust the moment those two met.”
Jack and Caleb stood not two feet apart staring at each other, the silence between them lengthening.
“Jack?” Sam’s voice broke the awkward silence.
“You’re my best friend,” Caleb said. “You saved my life and gave me this job when I needed something to do beside sink into nightmares. We stick together and work side by side to make this place better, just like we fought side by side against our enemy. I would never do anything to jeopardize the trust we share, or dishonor everything you’ve done and given me.”
“Caleb, man, is this why you’ve been so down? You want to be with Summer, but because of our friendship you’ve stayed away from her? You’re leaving because you can’t be here with her and, well, not be with her?”
“Duh,” Sam said. “I for one think the two of you would be great together, even if Jack is too dense to see it.”
How could two people who looked and acted exactly alike see things so differently? Sam saw what was between Caleb and Summer, but Jack refused to see it all these weeks when it was right in front of him.
“I always thought you two had a lot in common. You relate to each other so easily. When she’s around you always seem lighter, like whatever troubled you eased away,” Jack said.
“She makes him happy,” Sam said.
Caleb refused to answer, because despite Jack finally understanding how he felt, he still didn’t look happy about it. Jack also didn’t give any indication that he’d be okay with Caleb dating his sister.
“Are you in love with my sister?” Jack asked the bold question.
Caleb evaded. “It’s like you said, you don’t date your buddy’s sister.”
“Forget what I said.”
“Yeah, what the hell does he know,” Sam teased.
“Would you really leave this ranch, go back to Montana, live five hundred miles away from her just to save our friendship?”
Caleb didn’t answer. His bags were packed, and Jack knew it.
“You’d leave my sister, make her unhappy, just so nothing would change between us?”
