The next afternoon Delilah sat at her small dinette table surrounded by her workbooks, chewing on the end of her pencil, and thinking about Caleb Tasker. The conversation played over and over in her mind, like a broken record. She’d even dreamed of him and that was a little disconcerting since she’d never, ever, dreamed of a man before.
Shaking her head, she refocused on the page in front of her, rereading the question she’d already read several times.
“The very first successful colony to be created in the future Thirteen Colonies was blank and was founded by blank,” she read out.
Her mind raced trying to sort out the answer from all the knowledge she’d crammed into it yesterday. Today she was working in her American history workbook. Two other completed workbooks rested near her right hand on top of an old high school text book. Out of all the subjects she studied, she liked history the best. There weren’t any abstract formulas to memorize or sentence structure breakdowns to figure out. History was cold, hard facts put together in a linear timeline that led up to the present, and Delilah found that the easiest thing to memorize.
She looked down at the question again and thought back to yesterday, at the library. She’d been reading about the early American colonization knowing she’d be testing herself today. She smiled and filled in her answer.
“Why that first blank would-be Virginia and the second blank is London Company, thank you very much,” she said out loud. “Next question. In 1609, Lord De La Ware's deputy governor Thomas Gates was involved in a shipwreck near Bermuda on his way to fortifying the colony. The wreck of his ship, the Sea Venture, and the subsequent adventures of his crew became the inspiration for which famous play?”
She blinked and reread the question. What type of question was this in a high school practice book? This had nothing to do with linear timelines. Besides, she didn’t read about this yesterday.
Scowling she turned to the back of the book and found the answer.
“The Tempest by William Shakespeare,” she read. “Seems to me that question deserved to be in my literature workbook.”
As she turned back to the original page, she absently wondered if Caleb would have known the answer. He seemed well educated. College graduate, of course. He had to have learned all sorts of forest things. She wondered if he had been in a fraternity and tried to picture Caleb as a wild, party monger portrayed in the movies. He didn’t look the type, but one could never tell by the indiscretions of youth. Look at her, for example. Her momma would have laughed herself silly if Delilah had announced she wanted a high school diploma but here she sat, scowling over a William Shakespeare answer.
“Argh!” Delilah moaned and closed her book.
She was doing it again, thinking about him. Everything seemed to come back around to Caleb Tasker. Why? One night on a date shouldn’t have him lingering in her mind, shouldn’t put a smile on her face every time she thought of him, and it most definitely shouldn’t make her heart skip a beat with excitement knowing she’d see him soon.
She cradled her head in her hands. He was all kinds of wrong for her. He was leaving in a week. But damned if she could convince herself of that.
****
First thing in the morning, he was at Jake’s door, knocking hard. A sound from within had him pausing and he listened, trying to figure out if he needed to pound harder.
“Whoever the hell this is better be ready to meet fucking God!” Jake threatened. A second later he pulled the door open and glared at Caleb. “It’s eight in the morning, Caleb!”
Caleb grinned. He gave Jake a once over and then hastily diverted his eyes. The man was wearing Speedos and bunny slippers.
“What the hell are you wearing?”
“Dude, be glad I have the trunks on,” Jake mumbled. He leaned against the door and crossed his arms. “What do you want?”
“I need to borrow your car this evening.”
“And this request couldn’t have waited until a decent time of day?”
“Don’t you work?” Caleb asked.
Jake waved his hand in the air. “I’m due on set at noon.”
“So can I borrow your car?”
“When do you need it?”
“Now, but only for an hour or so. I have to pick a few things up. The actual date is at two in the morning.”
“’Da fuck? Two in the morning?”
“When she gets off work.”
“Caleb, there are only a handful of jobs that end at that time. Are you sure-”
“Not another word, Jake. I’m sure.”
Jake’s mouth pursed but he didn’t say anything. All he did was reach behind him for the keys and then opened the door to hand them over. “Be back before eleven so I can leave for the set and then come get it whenever you need it tonight. I should be home by midnight.”
“Thanks, Jake,” Caleb said. “I really appreciate it.”
“Thank me by never waking me up at the crack of dawn again,” Jake replied, pushing the door shut in Caleb’s face.
Caleb had to smile at Jake’s grumpy attitude. The man would never survive living in the Far North. Rushing to the car, Caleb unlocked the door and slid behind the wheel. He had to adjust the seat since he was taller than Jake, and though the little sports car was a vehicle that Caleb would never buy for himself, he had to admit that zipping along in it on the Pacific Coast Highway was pretty fun.
He didn’t want to waste time, so he headed toward Santa Monica. The Third Street Promenade would have much of what he had in mind plus a grocery store was right around the corner. He wanted to make sure Delilah experienced something completely different than other dates she’d had in the past.
An hour and a half later, he brought his bags into the house before driving the sports car back to Jake’s. Luckily, Jake was awake and came outside holding a newspaper.
“I thought you might want to take a look at this,” Jake said, holding the newspaper out.
Caleb noticed it was a gossip rag. “Did I make the front page?”
“We made the front page, my friend. Don’t we make a handsome couple?”
Caleb took the paper and looked at it with interest. The title asked if Jake Coolidge was gay and the picture they had used had been when Jake had put his hand on his shoulder. “Well, at least people will think I’m the top.”
“What? No way!” Jake said as he grabbed the paper, looking at it again. “I’m way more handsome which clearly makes me the male in this relationship.”
“No, that makes you the pretty face, like a girl. I’m taller and have more muscle definition than you,” Caleb pointed out.
“So?”
Caleb smiled and tossed him the keys. “So, I can hold you down and have my wicked way at any moment.”
Jake gave a disbelieving grunt before he folded the paper and stuck it in under his arm as he made his way to the car. “I never would’ve thought you had a devilish sense of humor, my virgin friend.”
“I’m not a virgin.”
“After three years, yes you are. The male hymen grows back.”
“Huh?”
Jake blew him a kiss. Caleb only shook his head. The man was definitely twisted.