“We’ll see you next week?” my mom asks, gathering more information to hold over my head. “At the Noel Night in town?”
His eyes dart to me. “Summer hasn’t given me the full holiday schedule yet, but that sounds fun. Let’s plan on it.”
The way my mom smiles back at Caleb breaks my heart. She’s cautiously opening up to a lie, and it’s all my fault. But this situation is just temporary, a means to an end. She can feel that way about Justin too.
“Okay, well. We’ll see you then.” I loop my hand through Caleb’s arm, letting him escort me down the walk. I glance behind my shoulder, seeing one of my mother’s brown eyes as the door shuts. Her hawk-eye treatment is getting creepy.
“Is everything okay?” Caleb asks at my side.
“Uh, yeah.” I flip my focus forward and gasp at the exhaust billowing out the back of his car. “Did we leave your car on this whole time?”
“No, I came out here a few minutes ago and turned it on so it would be warm for you.” He opens my door, waiting beside it for me to get in.
Caleb’s sweet and simple gestures keep piling up.
“You did that for me?”
“Not really. I did it for myself. I hate to be cold.” The teasing in his eyes says differently.
I drop into my seat and watch as he walks around to his side of the car.
“We did it,” he says as he backs out of my parents’ driveway. “Another successful holiday party without anyone knowing I’m not actually your boyfriend.”
“Thanks for coming. I know it’s a lot. I owe you big time. Whatever you want.”
“Whatever I want?” Caleb eyes me with a smirk that’s so irresistibly charming I wish I could take back my words like a shopping spree at Target when you don’t have any money. Why is his smile so gosh darn attractive?
“Okay, notwhateveryou want.”
“That’s not what you said. You said, ‘Whatever I want.’” His smile tilts, and his eyes dart to me. Even in the darkness, I can see the gleam behind his stare. “I’ll have to think long and hard. Make it something really good.”
I playfully narrow my gaze. He matches my stare as best he can while driving. Our smiles hold as we study each other.
“I’m low-key scared to find out what you want as payback.” My phone buzzes in my purse, and I dig through, trying to find it. The light from the home screen brightens with the beginnings of a text.
“It’s from Justin.” I go quiet as I read the whole message.
Justin:I think I’m getting a cold or the flu. Can you stop at the store on your way home and get me some NyQuil and decongestant with an antihistamine?
“Oh, no.”
Caleb looks over at me. “What is it?”
“Justin doesn’t feel well. He wants us to stop at the store and get some medicine.”
“Medi-sinny?”
My mouth falls open. “See? You do remember everything from that night.”
“Not true.” He shakes his head, returning his gaze back to the road. “I have a vague memory of saying that one word wrong. Everything else is foggy.”
He might be teasing me right now, but I’m not in a power position to question it.
It’s not like I want Caleb to remember, with perfect recollection, the kiss we shared. It’s better if he doesn’t remember it. But up until the moment I realized he wasn’t Justin, it was probably the best kiss of my life—like, drive-me-insane-with-desire, destroy-every-other-kiss-after-it kind of connection. So it’s annoying that he acts like he doesn’t remember any of it. Not to mention offensive. I’m offended the best kiss of my life doesn’t live rent-free in his mind. Because it has put down a deposit, moved in furniture, and repainted the walls in my head.
“So, go to the store?” His question pulls me back to the moment.
“Yeah, if you don’t mind.”
