I swing the door open, shocked by more than the blast of frigid air that hits my face.
Caleb stands on my front steps, the porch light illuminating him like a personal halo. His gray long-sleeve shirt fits snuggly over his chest and arms, making me wonder if there’s a size at the store where he shops called let’s-make-women-notice-how-in-shape-we-are (it’s working, by the way). One curl from his wavy brown hair drops over his forehead, hanging above his dark brows and light-blue eyes. He smiles and shrugs, and that’s when I panic.
“What are you doing here?”
His smile wavers. “Didn’t Justin text you?”
“About what?”
“The swap.”
I blink back at him, confused. Caleb takes a step forward like he’s about to tell me a secret he doesn’t want anyone else to hear. I’m momentarily distracted by his manly aroma that smells like Justin’s body wash but with Caleb’s own personal twist on it. Luckily, I have enough sense to stop myself from closing my eyes and savoring the smell.
“You know, the swap.” His voice is low. “I’m impersonating Justin to make your family happy.”
“I said I didn’t want to do that.”
“Well, Justin thinks you do.”
“I don’t.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure.”
“Who’s there?” My mom is right behind me, causing my heart to bang with sheer terror.
I do the only thing I can think of. I slam the front door in Caleb’s face, then spin around to my mother, blocking the door from her reach.
“Salesman! Just like you said.” My arm wraps around her shoulder, trying to ease her back into the kitchen. But Janet Stanworth can’t beeased.
“Summer!” she scolds, wiggling out of my arm. And before I can stop her, she yanks the door open.
Caleb stands there in that awkward state ofShould I go or should I stay?
“Justin? How did you get here?” Her shock is warranted. He’s basically back from the dead—or at least back from his car accident that happened five minutes ago.
“Uh…” He looks at me, eyes asking what he should do.
Is he Justin?
Or is he Caleb?
Oh, for the love! We’re in too deep now. I guess he’s Justin. At least I won’t be alone the entire night.
I take a step forward in damage-control mode. “She means, how did you get here so fast after the car accident? You just called five minutes ago and said you weren’t going to make it.” There’s a secret message in my stare that I hope Caleb understands, a fill-in-the-blanks-as-best-as-you-can type code. But we’ve only spent ten minutes together with him being conscious, and I was groping his chest and mauling his lips for part of that time, so I wouldn’t say I know him well enough to know if he can read my mind.
“Yes, the car accident.” He points at me, not missing a beat. “My brother came and switched cars with me so I could hurry and come here.” Caleb’s light eyes turn to me. “I just knew how much this night meant to Summer, and I couldn’t leave her hanging.”
Now it’s his turn to have a hidden message—the reason he’s standing on my parents’ front porch, pretending to be my boyfriend.
“Well, that was so nice of your brother to do that.”
“We trade things all the time. Cars, girlfriends, you name it. Nothing’s off limits between us.”
I turn my head to Caleb with a warning glare tailor-made just for him.
My mom completely misses what he said, inviting him in with a smile, and it’s not even her fake, skeptic smile. She’s genuinely happy Justin is here. It’s amazing how far showing up one time goes with this woman. I’ve seen the flipside and whatnotshowing up does to her, so this is a nice change for once. “Come in where it’s warm.”
