Page 74 of Miss Fortune

“All right, give it to me. What are we walking into today?” I cracked open a water bottle I’d brought and took a sip.

He glanced over, blowing out a long breath. “I’m afraid if I tell you, you’ll throw yourself out of this moving car and onto the freeway.”

“Wow, toss-myself-from-a-moving-vehicle bad, huh?” A ball of dread started to form in my stomach, but I willed it away. I could make the best of any situation, including this one. “Can I ask a silly question, like why we’re going?”

“I wouldn’t have, but my sister Brooke roped me into it. She works at the hospital with my mother, so she doesn’t have a lot of choices when it comes to attending.”

“I see.” I was getting an impression of his parents, and it wasn’t the warm and fuzzy kind.

He reached over and took my hand. “Don’t be surprised if everyone but Brooke ignores you. My father will have something passive-aggressive to say about my job and not concern himself with anything else. My mother will be interested in one-upping whoever arrives, and my youngest sister will probably be too wrapped up in herself to notice my presence, let alone me bringing a date.”

“Man, and here I wore my best Spanx for this party. Had I known, I wouldn’t have bothered.”

Instead of smiling, he shook his head. “I don’t understand why you’d wear something to hide your curves.”

“Not hide. Smooth. But I like that you like my curves.”

“I love your curves.”

And I loved him. Ugh. Careful, or I might accidently blurt out the words and then really have to contemplate how I’d jump from a moving car.

“In fact, I wish I was reacquainting myself with them right now.”

Damn. When Caleb Morrison flirted, my entire body took notice. “Yeah, is there a childhood bedroom with all of your trophies in it you can sneak me off to during the party?”

The horror reflected in his expression was laughable.

“Okay, I’m going to take the absolute revulsion in your expression to mean you have an aversion to your bedroom and not to me.”

“Sorry. It’s definitely not you. And I never had trophies to display or a bedroom to come home to. My parents move every couple years.”

“You didn’t have a room? What do you mean?”

He shrugged, but his locked jaw told me it mattered more than he let on. “I was shipped off to boarding school when I was ten. When I came home for my first winter break, they’d moved to another house, and I was given a guest room. Next time I came home, I was put in a different guest room. The only things I kept were things I could pack in a suitcase.”

My parents kept my bedroom exactly the same as the day I’d left for college, down to the Snoopy sheets on my bed. I couldn’t imagine being ten and not feeling as though I had a home.

Chapter Thirty-One

Caleb

With each mile bringing us closer to my parents’ home in the Laguna Beach gated community, I felt my anxiety grow. It was selfish to bring Daisy today, but I’d needed the moral support. She made things better simply by being there. Yet the moment we pulled into the large circular driveway with a valet waiting to park my car, I turned to her.

“On second thought, my sister Brooke will forgive me for not showing up. How about we drive back up to my place, and I’ll cook dinner for you instead?” We’d hit traffic and didn’t have the time to stop on the way down.

Her brows jumped up while, behind her, the valet opened her door. “Or we could go inside, get it over with, and then drive home. I’m looking forward to meeting your sister.”

I sighed. “Yeah, okay. But don’t say I didn’t give you a shot at escaping.”

“Can’t be worse than my mom grilling me about my poor life choices over brunch, right?”

Wrong. Her mom at least showed love and concern in her voice. Mine not so much.

As we stepped inside the front door, nothing struck me as familiar. My parents’ home was a lavish estate overlooking the ocean. It was house number eleven by my count, which only went back to the first I could remember. My parents liked to trade up to bigger and better every few years. The moment a house was completely remodeled and decorated, my mother grew bored with it and started over again.

I could feel my entire body tense with each step toward the party. Although I was a successful man in my thirties and no longer intimidated by my parents, I still found our encounters less than pleasant.

As if sensing my unease, Daisy took my hand and squeezed. I’d never been more grateful to have her by my side.