Chapter 30
Rae
Iheard Caleb walkingaround his room, opening and closing drawers, to find clothes to wear after his shower. We both desperately needed to clean up after working outside.
Since the rain hadn’t come, we’d hung out in the barn after finishing up the chores until the sun went down. I realized I hadn’t thought of anything besides Caleb and being here with him while we were out there. It was nice.
I had showered, dressed, and was searching for my extra toothpaste in my bag on the counter. I had only found travel sizes of my toothpaste before coming to stay with Caleb and hadn’t remembered to order it online yet.
I heard Caleb open his bedroom door and walk past the guest bathroom. Duke sniffed at the guest bathroom door and the sound made me laugh. I love that dog and his silly personality.
“Come on, boy. Give her time. She’ll be out with us soon...Good boy, Duke.” The way he spoke to Duke, praising him when he listened and speaking kindly even when he didn’t, it made me smile. I always loved how sweet Caleb was with animals.
I froze, realizing something that made me happy and scared me at the same time. I also loved how he was with me. His gentle words and how patient he was with me—was I falling for Caleb? I mean, I’d always liked him, maybe even loved him, but was it too soon after everything that happened?
When I kissed him earlier, it was like nothing I had ever experienced.
I finished looking through my bag and still hadn’t found my extra toothpaste. Frustrated, I left the bathroom and walked into my room. Maybe I threw it into the wrong bag while I was packing at my parents’ house.
“Ugh I am such an idiot. Where did I put it?” I grumbled to myself as I shoved the bag back onto the bed and knelt to search under the bed.
“I can promise you, there are no monsters allowed under the beds in this house,” I heard Caleb’s voice at the door. I looked up at him and realized how silly I must look. I stood up quickly and felt dizzy. I started to stumble and Caleb crossed the room in a couple of steps, grabbing my elbow to support me. Duke ran to us and sat at our feet.
“Easy, Sunshine. You okay?”
The spinning feeling finally stopped. “Yeah, sorry. I must have just stood up too fast. Thank you for helping. I was trying to find my other toothpaste since I ran out of the one in the bathroom. I can’t seem to find it, though.”
“Why don’t you use mine until we can get you some more?” he said as he let go of my elbow.
“You want to share toothpaste with me?” I asked, figuring I misunderstood what he meant.
The look on my face must have shown how confused I was because Caleb laughed. “I can run to the store, if you’re opposed to that, and we can order more. However, in the meantime, yes. Just use mine.”
“You...don’t mind?” I waited for him to say he was just kidding, but he didn’t.
“Nah. We’ve kissed a couple of times, and I would gladly kiss you again, if you let me. It wouldn’t have bothered me before, and it bothers me even less now.” He winked at me, knowing the mention of our kiss and the wink combined would cause me to blush. He wasn’t wrong.
“I’ll go get it for—” a deep roll of thunder cut Caleb off. “Hold on. I have to take Duke out before it starts raining really bad. You can get it if you want, or I can when I come back inside.”
I smiled at him as he left the room, appreciating his kindness. I headed to his room and walked past the windows where lightning streaked across the sky. Thunder boomed loudly, shaking the entire house and causing me to jump.
“I’m okay,” I kept telling myself as lightning flashed and booms of thunder made the walls shake. I hate storms. Ethan always...
No. I’m not thinking about that right now. I am safe with Caleb.
I forced myself to start looking for his toothpaste and not stand there, frozen. I heard the front door open, and Caleb laughed as Duke shook, probably trying to shake all the water off his fur.
