Chapter Thirty-Five

 

 

 

She teetered precariously on her tippy toes, doing some sort of unbalanced—and most definitely uncoordinated—dance as she tried to get Caleb’s attention. He ignored her at first, swinging a small duffel bag over his shoulder and grabbing his green hoodie. She slapped at him, twirled in circles, hopped on the spot before finally giving up and sitting on the floor, staring up at him with a somewhat pathetic, forlorn look in her eyes.

“I think someone’s going to miss you,” Syd said, smiling and nodding toward his feet.

Caleb grinned and sat on his haunches. “C’mere, sweetie,” he whispered, and the once-dejected Puff popped up again and placed her paws on his knee, seeking some love and cuddles. “I’m going to miss you too, fuzzy bear. Almost as much as I’m going to miss your mama.” She boinged up and down again, trying to get into his arms. CJ instantly dropped his belongings to scoop her up and let her get in some kisses.

“My God, you’re such a total suck with her,” Syd laughed. “It’s kind of adorable.”

He scowled at her over Puff’s golden fur. “First, two weeks ago you say I’m beautiful. Now you say I’m adorable. You do realize I’m a manly man, right?”

She leaned in to him and kissed him solidly on the mouth. “Mmm, well, I guess you’ll just have to show me how manly you are next time I see you.”

“I can do that.”

“Over and over again,” she added. “I will need loads of data to come to a proper conclusion, after all.”

“I’d be happy to assist in any and every way I can. For the sake of research, that is. Not that I’m a horn-dog or anything.”

“No, of course you’re not. You’re simply adorable,” she teased.

He gently put Puff back on the floor and she scampered away into the living room to attack a squeaky toy. CJ grabbed Syd by her waist and reeled her in for a long, hot, lingering kiss. “God,” he whispered, pulling away reluctantly. “How am I gonna survive without you?”

“It’s only five days,” she murmured against his lips. “I’ve cleared my schedule so we’ll have the whole weekend.” They had planned on meeting in Portland for the weekend to get away from their responsibilities in Vancouver and California, if only for a couple of days.

“Five days is too long. I want to stay.” He hugged her tightly.

“CJ, you’ve got to get to the airport. You’ve got to let me go,” she laughed, trying to wiggle away from him.

He groaned in resignation and checked his watch. “Oh, shit!” He let her go, grabbed his stuff, planted at least a dozen kisses on her face and turned to the door. “Love you, baby,” he called, running out to his car.

“Back atcha, Mr. Jones.” She waved goodbye, closed the door behind her and sighed.

She sank to the floor in the foyer and made kissy sounds, summoning Puff, who came bounding over with a small stuffed carrot in her mouth. Syd was positive she had a big, dopey, love-induced grin on her face, and wasn’t certain it was going to fade any time soon. She and Caleb had been spending as much time as humanly possible together since their declaration of love back in Toronto. Caleb had even returned to the house in California to make the distance between them more reasonable and, quite frankly, more bearable. Shocking was the fact that even though their desire was tangible, they weren’t tumbling around in bed the whole time they were together. They talked, saw stupid movies, played with Puff in the back yard—they were getting to know each other on a much deeper level and it made her love him even more. At this point he pretty well knew everything about her.

Not everything. Shut up!

She tossed the carrot into the hall and as Puff shot off after it, the smile left her lips. Her mind and heart were at war on a near-constant basis these days. She was happier than she’d been in, well, ever, and it was thanks to Caleb Jones. Unless a miracle happened—which was unlikely—she would have to say goodbye to him in something like eight months, given she was marrying Brett in April. There was no way she could carry on with this charade once she was living under the same roof as Brett. She despised herself for what she was doing—Caleb didn’t deserve the hurt that was surely coming his way, but still she couldn’t bring herself to believe her time with him was coming to an end.

Things will work out. I’ll be with Caleb in the end. I’ll be happy.

Flat out denial.

 

* * * *

 

That night, Syd was humming away happily as she dabbed at the canvas, putting the finishing touches to her painting of CJ. She was excited about how well it had turned out and was excited to show him. A few minutes later she was done and she gently removed it from the easel, leaning it against a kitchen chair while she started on cleanup. She was in the midst of washing a few paint brushes in the kitchen sink when the doorbell sounded. Wiping her hands on a rag as she moved toward the foyer she called out, “Who is it?”

“It’s me. Open up.”

Brett.

“Oh shit,” she mouthed. “Oh, um, one second… Be right there!”

She bolted into the kitchen and grabbed the painting of Caleb, searching frantically for somewhere to hide it. Why did Brett always have to show up unannounced? She skidded into the dining room and determined there was enough space to hide it behind the decorative wall unit without damaging the art. A second later she was back at the front door with a wriggling and jiggling Puff under her arm.

“Hi!” she said, cheerily. He wrinkled his nose and walked inside.

He remained silent and focused his attention on hunting around her place. He was poking at everything, checking between cushions and peering under the couches.

“Did you lose something, Brett?”

He whirled around to face her. “Who is he?” he demanded.

“Who is who?”

His eyes flashed. “Him,” he ground out. “The guy you’ve been seeing behind my back?”

Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit…

She pasted a calculated frown on her lips. “What on earth are you talking about?”

Brett pointed at her with his index finger. “Something is going with you, Nikoleta. I’m not stupid, you know.”

Debatable.

“Of course you’re not stupid, Brett. What in the world has got you in such a tizzy?”

“You’re fucking someone behind my back and you’re going to tell me who it is!” he yelled in her face.

Puff growled and started fighting to get out of Sydney’s arms, little paws flailing about. “Please, Brett, there’s no need to scream at me.” She turned her back to him. “Let me put Puff upstairs before she tries to eat you, okay?”

On the way up, her mind went into overdrive.

Why does he think I’m seeing someone, let alone fucking someone?

No way would Cara or Theo have let it slip…so who?

I’ve been careful about not going out with Caleb, not locally anyhow—no one would have seen us.

Unless he has someone spying on me…

That bastard!

Suddenly livid, she headed back downstairs and straight to him. He backed away from her as she stalked toward him, and she guessed her face displayed the fury she was feeling.

“After everything that’s gone on,” she ground out, “how dare you accuse me of anything? Do you think I don’t realize what’s at stake here? Do you think I would jeopardize my family for a fucking fling?”

I am, though.

Stop it!

Brett regained his composure. “Don’t try to twist this, Nikoleta,” he sneered. “I’m not blind to the change that’s happened with you over the last couple weeks, you know.”

She blinked. “W-what change?”

It was his turn to make her back away, and he advanced on her with a horrific smirk on his face. “You go from being miserable all the time, from picking fights, and never being polite to me unless your hand is forced…to, to…whatever that was!” He waved at her. “When you first opened the door you were polite and full of smiles. You were like this the last time I stopped by, too. It’s strange and feels like such an act. No one has an about-face with their personality like that. No one!”

She frowned up at him. “You did,” she said quietly. “All those years ago.”

He froze in stunned silence.

She slipped away from him and walked into the kitchen to continue cleaning her painting supplies, leaving him standing in the foyer. Her back was turned to him when he finally followed her. She glanced over her shoulder—his face was pale and drawn and his eyes were lowered, his lips tight.

“You okay?” she asked softly.

He twitched. “Fine.” His voice was stony, cold. He looked up at her. “Things are going to change now, Nikoleta.”

“Um, okay?”

“We’re not waiting for spring to get married.”

She thought she was going to throw up. “Wh-what do you mean?” she stammered. “You know I wanted a spring wedding.”

“What you want has never mattered. What matters is I absolutely do not trust you.”

She turned on her heel to face him. “I’m not doing anything I shouldn’t, Brett! First you’re mad because I’m not happy, then you’re mad I’m trying not to fight with you all the time. I can’t fucking win!” she yelled, throwing the paint brushes to the floor.

He shrugged. “But I can win. We’re getting married the first weekend of September.”

“What? But that’s only two and a half months away!”

Caleb…

“Exactly.”

“There’s too much to be done,” she said, frantic. “There’s not enough time!”

“I’ve taken care of everything. The invitations have already gone out.”

“I hate you for this,” she whispered. “How can you even live with yourself? If anyone found out…”

He guffawed. “Do you think they would believe the daughter of a wanted murderer? Or me?”

“Melanie would believe me.”

He glared at her. “If Melanie were to find out, there would be hell to pay, Nikoleta.” He stepped back toward the foyer and tossed one last comment over his shoulder before he left. “You better start looking for a dress, Nikki.”

She stared at him, shock having set in.

He opened the door and turned back to her, his face contorted by the evil grin on his lips. “You’re running out of time.”