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“Nothing. Just a couple of splinters.”
“A couple?” He grabs my hand and flips it palm side up.
I snatch it back. “Stop!”
“I’m just trying to check out the damage.”
I can either choose to be difficult or allow him to help me, solely because I have no chance of pulling the splinters out without any assistance.
“Fine.” I hold out my hand for him to assess the splinters.
He pulls out his phone and turns on the flashlight. “Hmm.” He delicately traces over the soft skin of my palm, sending a wave of goose bumps across my arms. At least ten splinters are poking through my skin at different angles.
He accidentally brushes over a splinter, and I suck in a breath.
“Sorry. What did your mom used to say? Sana, sana, colita de rana?”
“Si no sanas hoy, sanarás mañana,” I finish for him with a small smile.
My mom always made any injury feel ten times better with a single little song. Cal remembering that…
It makes my chest feel all warm and tingly.
He looks up from my hand. “Do you have tweezers and a needle inside?”
I do not like the sound of that whatsoever. “Nope.”
He grins as his hand reaches out to trace the slope of my scrunched nose, drawing a sharp breath from me. “Liar,” he whispers close enough for me to smell his aftershave. His proximity sends my every cell into hyperdrive, making me feel as if my body was plugged into an electric socket.
He gives his head a shake and pulls away. “Let’s get those splinters out before you chicken out and end up with an infection.”
I cross my arms and lift my chin. “I’m not a chicken.”
“You cried once because of apapercut.”
The tips of my ears heat. “To be fair, it was a really deep cut.”
“You’re right. It was nearly fatal, if my memory serves me right. I’m almost positive if it weren’t for that Hello Kitty Band-Aid, you might have not made it.”
I flip him off, although my lower belly warms at him remembering the tiniest details like what kind of Band-Aid I had on.
“Does that count for the swear jar?” His wide grin makes my heart jolt in my chest.
“Jerk,” I mutter under my breath as I walk around Cal and into the house.
“I’ll be waiting in the kitchen.” He disappears around the corner, leaving me to gather the supplies. I find everything I need in my bathroom. My mom took enough splinters out of my hands for me to know the drill.
I return to the kitchen to find Cal sitting at the island, completely unaware of my presence as he watches a YouTube video describing how to remove splinters as painlessly as possible. He pauses and replays a specific part twice before moving on with a satisfied nod.
My chest clenches at the intense look of concentration on his face.Thisis the reason why I want to create distance between us. Because it’s the little things Cal does—the things that most people might not even notice or care much about—that get me every single time.
Sober Cal is a dream. He is witty, charming, and nearly impossible to resist. It’s the drunk version of himself that I have a hard time accepting. That version is depressing, angry, and extremely difficult to love.
And it’s the version of him that I still resent years later.
I drop all the supplies on the counter.
“Ready?” He looks up with a smile.
