AllFreeNovel
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Didn’t want to wake you. Went home.
–Theresa.
No X’s and O’s, no smiley face, not a word about what they’d shared … nothing personal. Shit. He’d blown it. He’d planned to move slow, give her time and space, and then he’d let his need for her take control. What must she think of him? Caleb raked his fingers through his hair and paced in a tight circle. How could he fix this? He needed to fix this now.
He headed back to his room, grabbed his phone off the dresser, and hit Theresa’s speed dial number. Her phone rang and rang, and went to voice mail.
“Theresa … I …” He had no idea what to say. “I need to know you got home safely and that you’re all right. Call me,” he blurted. “I still owe you dinner. See you Wednesday.”
He ended the call and stared at his phone, waiting for her to call him back. Nothing. Maybe she’d left a short time ago, and she was still driving. Hopefully she’d call or text once she got home and they could talk.
He made himself a sandwich and grabbed an apple. Settling himself on the couch in his family room, he turned on the TV for background noise and waited to hear from Theresa. She never called or texted. His food sat untouched, and he worried about what must be going through her mind right now.
He should’ve stuck with his plan to take things slow. Instead, he’d succumbed to his desire. Yep. Lust had trumped his common sense.
Chapter Ten
Mortification had plagued Theresa since she’d left Caleb’s house Monday night. The fact that she hadn’t responded to Caleb’s numerous attempts to talk to her only made everything worse.
She’d almost texted him this morning to say she’d been delayed and had to drive to L.A. for rehearsal on her own, but she’d changed her mind. Instead, she intended to arrive early so they could talk. As difficult and embarrassing as facing Caleb might be, she needed to make things right.
Theresa pulled into Caleb’s driveway at twenty minutes to nine, which would give her time to apologize and explain. She gathered her purse and the gift bag for her pregnant backup singer and climbed out of her car. She strode to the front door and hit the doorbell. Her heart pounded, and her mouth went as dry as a saltine cracker while she waited.
The door opened, but it wasn’t Caleb who greeted her. “Good morning, Jeffery,” she greeted her band’s drummer while forcing a smile.
“Hey, come on in. Caleb’s in his studio. He shared the new song with me by the way.” He moved aside so she could enter. “It’s great.”
“Thanks. I’m glad you like it. You’re here early.”
“Yeah. Cal and I went out for breakfast this morning. We’ve been getting caught up.” Jeff jerked his thumb toward the kitchen. “There’s fresh coffee in the pot if you want some.”
“I’m good, thanks,” she managed to say. By catching up, did he mean Caleb had told him what had happened Monday night? No. He wouldn’t.
Caleb appeared then, laptop in hand, and she fell into one of those cinematic moments. Everything in the periphery of her vision blurred, and her entire focus centered on Caleb—who then stood out in sharp relief and larger than life. She swallowed against the tightness in her throat. His gaze met hers just long enough for her to catch a glimpse of his hurt and confusion, and then he turned away.
Oh God. She’d put that hurt and confusion there. “Caleb—”
“Hey, Theresa. Good to see you. Might as well hit the road now that we’re all here.” Caleb refused to look at her again. He grabbed his backpack from the floor and tucked his laptop inside. “We’re in the same soundstage for rehearsals we had before our last tour.”
“Are we going to debut the new song?” Jeff asked as the three of them headed out the door.
“I’d like to. I’ve finished the scores for all the instruments and the backup singers. I put a call in to Mary and sent her a digital recording. We just need to wait until we hear back from her with the go ahead. I’m sure she’ll talk with the people at Columbia, and they’ll want to release it as a single as soon as possible, maybe even before we begin the tour.”
“Thanks for taking care of that,” Theresa murmured. She hadn’t known he’d planned to do all the scores without her. She could’ve helped, and she would’ve appreciated having some input. If she hadn’t been such an immature coward, they probably could’ve worked on the music together, and they’d be fine right now. Instead, she’d been the one to create the very awkwardness she’d dreaded.
“You take the front seat, Theresa,” Jeff said.
“No, you can sit in front.” Her heart sank even lower. Sitting beside Caleb as he ignored her the entire ride … not good. Since she’d been the one who’d rejected all his attempts to talk to her, she could imagine how he must be feeling. “I don’t need as much leg room as you do.” True enough, since Jeff stood over six feet tall.
“If you insist.” Jeff opened the passenger door and climbed in. “What’s in the gift bag?”
“It’s a baby gift for Cookie and her husband.” She slid into the backseat and closed the door. “I knitted a sweater and blanket set and got them a gift card for baby stuff.”
“Nice.” Jeff twisted around to smile at her as he put on his seat belt, his shaggy dark hair falling over his eyes. “My wife knits. Lynn belongs to an online knitting club. If you want, I can text you the link to their group when I get home, and you can look into joining. They share patterns, deals on yarn, and help each other with difficult projects, stuff like that.”
“I’d like that.” Theresa settled back and stared out the window at the passing landscape as Caleb drove to L.A. He and Jeffery kept up a steady stream of conversation, and she was surprised to learn the two jogged together on a regular basis. She should take up jogging, maybe join a gym, or … just eat less.
Come to think of it, she hoped the same food truck that had been in the lot during their last rehearsals would be there this morning. They had the best old-fashioned cake doughnuts.
