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Caleb pulled her to the opposite end of the hall, near the living room, then gently eased her up against the wall. His big body hovered over hers. She swallowed hard.
“You don’t want Da
“He lost his father five years ago and even though Mike and he are pals, what Da
“You think Da
Oh, great! Hunky-dory great! Typical man, he’d misunderstood.
“I don’t approve or disapprove of you. That’s not what I was trying to say.”
“Then maybe you’d better spell it out for me.”
“All right.” She squared her shoulders and glared directly into his dark brown eyes. “I don’t want you hanging around so much that Da
Caleb took a step backward, putting a couple of feet between them and allowing Sheila to move into the living room. He stood there in the hallway and thought about what she’d just told him. If for one minute he’d ever really thought about Da
Da
Caleb ruffled Da
“Da
Da
Caleb glanced over Da
“I want us to be friends and. . . well, after I leave town, I’ll keep in touch. But. . .I, er. . .”
Da
Caleb gripped Da
He thought their little talk had gone well, that he’d set the record straight and eased Sheila’s mind. Da
He could be Da
Caleb waited on the front porch while Sheila checked to make sure Da
“This is the last thing, I promise, Mom,” the boy had said ten minutes ago. “Caleb, would you come and watch us practice tomorrow? We’ll be over behind the grammar school, in Old Man Pickens’s field. That’s where the Bulldogs always practice.”
“Da
“I might drop by for a few minutes,” Caleb had replied. “But don’t mention it to any of the other guys just in case I don’t make it.”
Sheila swung open the front door and joined Caleb on the porch.
“He’s down for the count,” she said. “He’s asleep and this time he isn’t faking it.”
Caleb sat in the porch swing. He knew he should get in his car and drive home instead of lingering, trying to prolong the evening. He dreaded going back to the old homestead alone. He was a man accustomed to company, to being around teammates and fans and—until this past year when he’d been recuperating from the accident—he’d seldom been without a female companion.
“I hope you don’t mind that I told Da
She hesitated a couple of seconds before she replied, “No, I don’t mind. He would have been terribly disappointed if you’d said no. I think he’d already told Devin and Ta
“I promise to play it cool with him,” Caleb said. “He’s a pretty smart boy. He understands that my stay in Crooked Oak is only temporary.”
Feeling a sudden chill at his words, Sheila rubbed her hands up and down her arms. “It’s cool, isn’t it, for springtime?”
“Come sit by me and I’ll warm you up,” he said, his tone teasing.
He’d like to warm her up, melt that frosty exterior and see just how hot Sheila could get He remembered a passionate young girl who had come alive in his arms. Was that fire and passion still alive in her, just waiting to be unleashed? She had told him there was no one special in her life, so that had to mean she was celibate because unless Sheila had changed a great deal, she’d never indulge in casual sex.
“Aren’t you leaving?” she asked. “It’s ten-thirty. Past my bedtime. We’re early risers around here.”
He patted the wood slat bottom of the swing. “Come sit with me before I go home. It’s a beautiful spring night. Stars and moon and fresh country air.”
“You don’t want to go home, do you?”
“What?”
“I said, you don’t want to go home. You don’t want to be alone.”
“Smart lady.”
“Why didn’t you go to Nashville and stay with Tallie and Peyton instead of coming back to Crooked Oak if you hate being alone?”
“I thought I wanted a quiet, isolated place to hide away,” he admitted. “But I’ve discovered that I’m not a loner. I like contact with other people far too much. Especially certain old friends.”
Sheila laughed. Dear Lord, he was such a flirt. Such a charmer. Those things about Caleb hadn’t changed. “Oh, all right, I’ll sit in the swing with you for fifteen minutes and then you’ll go home and I’ll go in to bed.”
“Mmm.” He gri
She knew he was joking, or at least halfway joking, and wondered how long it had been since he’d laughed and kidded around since the accident.
She sat with him, their side-by-side bodies filling the narrow swing. He slid his arm around her shoulders. She allowed him to touch her, to bring her body close to his, and for a moment she closed her eyes and pretended that there was more than loneliness prompting his actions.