by Coleen Kwan
“Today. I’m due at her place this afternoon after she gets back from work.”
“That should give us enough time to mulch the beds. I’ll get started now.”
Derek returned to the yard while Caleb straightened out the clutter of gardening tools. He had just about finished when footsteps sounded outside, and his dad entered the garage. The minor stroke he’d suffered had stripped the weight from him, but his face, though gaunt, was one of cheerful determination.
“Hey, just saw the front yard. It looks great, thanks to you two boys.”
“Anytime, Dad. You know we’re happy to help out.”
“Sorry I can’t offer you a beer. Rosalind won’t let me keep any in the house because of the warfarin I’m taking.”
“I’m good, thanks, Dad.” He didn’t want to drink alcohol before meeting Lily anyway.
Frank Willmett pulled a baseball out of his pocket. “Say, I don’t suppose you’d like to help me coach my Little League team this season? The kids want me back, but I need some backup. It’d only be a few hours one weeknight and a game on the weekend.”
Caleb thought rapidly. “I’d love to help you, Dad, but with my work schedule so uncertain at the moment, I can’t guarantee I’d be here.”
“Oh yeah. All that traveling you have to do.” His dad shook his head, looking crestfallen. “For some reason I thought it was coming to an end. Stupid me.”
“No, you’re not. And I’m glad you’re going back to Little League. Your team needs you.” His dad coached a bunch of kids who came from disadvantaged backgrounds. Often, he picked them up and dropped them home, paid for their equipment, and rallied others for donations.
“Well, don’t know if I can manage it this season. I can’t ask Derek; he’s got too much on his plate at the moment. I don’t feel up to asking one of the parents, either.” Frank sighed as he massaged his left arm, which hadn’t yet regained its former strength. He’d been dull and listless this past winter, Caleb knew, so the opportunity to get involved with Little League was an important step forward. But it seemed he wouldn’t be able to take up that chance without Caleb’s help.
“Hey, I’m sure I can swing it,” Caleb said. “I might be getting more work around Pine Falls.”
“Yeah?” His dad looked up, his brow smoothing. “That would be great. I don’t want to put any pressure on you, but it would mean a lot to me.”
“Sure. I just have to sort a few things out first.” Like getting a meeting with Bill Baker. And persuading him that Caleb was the best candidate for a partner. Yeah, just a few minor things.
“Great. Let me know when you’re ready.”
Caleb nodded, determined. He could make this work. Now there was even more reason to get Lily back into the dating game. If he helped her in her quest to find true love, then she’d help him with her dad, and that would mean he could make his dad happy. Win-win all round.
…
“Hi, come in.” Lily smiled warmly at Caleb as she waved him into her house.
“Thanks.” Caleb wiped his shoes before entering. He glanced at the large plastic bag in her hands. “What you got there?”
“Oh.” In her haste to get to the door, she’d forgotten about the bag. “I was just about to feed my bearded dragon.”
“You’ve got a pet dragon? Cool. Mind if I watch?”
“It’s not that pretty.”
“Table manners are overrated.”
She laughed. “All right, then, follow me.”
Lily led the way to her living room. All day she’d been aware of an undercurrent of quiet nervousness at the thought of this meeting. A couple of times she’d even considered calling the whole thing off. She still could, she supposed. But now that Caleb was here, she felt a little more optimistic.
“Here he is.” She gestured at the large wood-and-glass vivarium set up in the corner. She’d lined it with a special brown carpet and furnished it with rocks, driftwood, and plastic greenery, eager to create a calm and nurturing environment for her pet. “This is Noodles. Pogona vitticeps, or the central bearded dragon.”
Caleb bent down to inspect the brilliantly colored orange-and-red reptile. “He’s amazing. I’ve never seen one before. Is he fully grown?”
“Yes. He’s twenty-one inches long.” As Lily moved closer, Noodles stood on his hind legs and pressed his forelegs against the glass. “He knows it’s feeding time,” she said.
“What does he eat?”
“Bearded dragons are omnivores, so he gets salad greens and fruit in the morning, and live crickets in the afternoon.”
“So live crickets now?” Caleb sat down on the nearby couch. “This I gotta see.”
Lily couldn’t help smiling at his interest. While he watched, she added a teaspoon of calcium powder into the large plastic bag she was carrying. Then she brought in her cricket keeper and tapped out several of the small black insects into the bag, tossing it to make sure the insects were thoroughly coated in the powder. She explained to Caleb about the mineral supplement.
Finally ready, she scooped Noodles up and placed him on the carpet. His bulbous eyes swiveled toward her as she plucked out a cricket and offered it to him. The dragon’s fleshy pink tongue flashed toward her and grabbed the wriggling insect. Sitting back, he proceeded to mash it to a pulp, chomping and chewing with great relish.
“Amazing,” Caleb said. “Any reason you call him Noodles?”
“Because I found him in a packet of ramen noodles about a year ago. Someone had dumped him and his tank by the side of the road.”
Caleb frowned. “That’s horrible.”
“Yeah, he’s lucky I stopped to look at a chair they’d also thrown out. It was getting dark and cold. He wouldn’t have survived outside in winter.”
“Good for you. I can’t stand people who dump pets when they become too much hassle.”
She fed Noodles another cricket. His wide-mouthed chomping and long, fleshy tongue were off-putting to some people, but to her this trait was endearing. Why shouldn’t he enjoy his food, even if it was a live cricket?
“Central bearded dragons originate from eastern and central Australia,” she said. “Although Noodles was probably bred here in the States. Did you know that you can estimate his age by the length of his tail?” She continued to chat about her favorite animal for several more minutes until she stopped short, realizing she was rambling. Caleb hadn’t come here to listen to her babble on about bearded dragons. “So, how is this dating coach thing going to happen? Is there anything I need to prepare beforehand, or…?”
“There’s no rush.”
Well, actually there was. She needed to find a real boyfriend in six weeks, or she’d have to confess her lie to everyone on Facebook and let her friend Maddie down. Not that she was going to tell any of this to Caleb. He didn’t need to know about her drunken social media bloopers.
“Right. Of course. So, what, then?”
“Maybe you could start by telling me about your dating history,” Caleb said. “I mean other than the…unfortunate dates you already mentioned, and the one I witnessed myself.”
“Oh. Do we have to? Can’t you just assume it was all dire?”
“But my assumption of what’s dire probably isn’t the same as yours.” He paused. “We don’t have to, though. I just thought it might help.”
It wasn’t a big deal telling him about her past, was it? Besides, she didn’t want him thinking she was hiding a secret trauma. “What do you want to know?”
“Start with high school. Did you date? Have a crush on any boys?”
“I didn’t go to a high school. My dad homeschooled me.”
He leaned forward, his eyes filled with curiosity. “Yeah? How come?”
She glanced down at Noodles and scratched the back of his knobbly head as she thought about Caleb’s question.
“It was just one of those things. High school wasn’t working out for me.”
No need to tell him about the bullying. She’d always been a
bit of an outsider. She’d managed to cope with the teasing in elementary school and junior high, but it got worse in high school. So much worse. By the time she finally told her dad, she was on the verge of a breakdown. Her dad had immediately pulled her out and homeschooled her himself.
“Okay.” Caleb had his full attention on her. “So homeschooling was better?”
“Absolutely.”
After a referral to a specialist, Lily had been diagnosed with mild dyslexia, something that hadn’t been picked up on for years because before high school she’d been adaptive enough to compensate for her difficulties. Plus the trauma of losing her mom at ten and the subsequent upheaval in her life had also contributed to her problem not being noticed.
When her dad had learned of it, he’d leaped into major protection mode, shocked and remorseful that he’d missed all the signs. Naturally she’d never blamed him; he was a widower still mourning the loss of his beloved wife, trying to raise a daughter on his own and run a demanding construction business all by himself. But he’d been determined to do his best and had taken his homeschooling duties very seriously. She’d also received the special attention she needed, and that, together with being freed from bullying, meant her grades had rapidly improved, so much so that she’d had her pick of colleges to attend.
“I liked being homeschooled,” she said to Caleb. “I wasn’t always on my own, you know. I got to go on field trips with other homeschoolers.”
“So did you meet any cute boys? Go out with any of them?”
“Uh, not really. I was awkward and shy. I could talk about math and science, but I’d also blurt out some weird stuff and start blushing and stammering. I don’t know what it is about my mouth, but sometimes I just can’t control it.”
His gaze dropped to her mouth, and for a second something flickered in his eyes. It vanished in a beat, but it left her with a slight tingling in the base of her neck and a strange urge to lick her lips. She pressed them together, and Caleb glanced away.
Just as the silence between them was treading toward awkward, she glanced down and realized the bag of crickets was open and empty.
“Oh no!” Four or five crickets were hopping about on the carpet. “They escaped!”
Noodles scuttled after one that appeared to be making a break for it. Lily grabbed another in her palm and tried to get it back in the bag. Caleb dived behind an armchair. He reappeared holding a squirming insect between his fingers.
“Here’s one.” He passed it to her for safekeeping.
For the next few minutes they scrambled around the living room, catching the high-strung crickets.
“Thanks,” Lily murmured when Caleb gave her what she hoped was the last escapee. “Sorry about that.” People often said she was absent-minded; she didn’t disagree with that, but this was the first time she’d lost a bagful of crickets. And it had to happen in front of Caleb.
“Don’t worry about it. It’s good catching practice.”
“Where’s Noodles?” Peering around the room, she saw him near the fireplace, looking unfazed by the commotion. “Poor boy. You’ve only had half your meal.” She scooped him up, resting his belly in her palm, and gently placed him back in his glass tank. She emptied out the bag of remaining crickets into the tank and shut the door, leaving her pet free to hunt his prey.
“Guess it’s a good thing you don’t have a pet anteater that you feed with live ants, huh?”
“Oh, a pet anteater! Wouldn’t that be great? I love those long, bizarre snouts of theirs.”
Caleb chuckled. “Of course you do.”
The amusement in his deep blue eyes was doing strange things to her, but instead of feeling awkward, she felt more at ease with him.
“You know,” she said, “what just happened with the escaping crickets is a good example of what happens on my dates. If it’s not wearing the wrong clothes, then it’s spilling food, or snorting while I’m drinking, or tripping over my heels. Then the embarrassment takes hold of me, and all I can think is how silly I must look, and nothing I say sounds right.”
“You handled the crickets just fine.”
“Hmm, maybe, but this isn’t a date.”
“You could pretend it is.”
“Impossible. I can’t imagine going on a date with you.”
“Why not?” He sounded amused.
She glanced away, avoiding his eyes. “The only reason I can actually talk to you is because I know there’s no possibility of us ever going on a date.”
He gave a short bark of laughter. “You’re right. About having no control over that mouth of yours.” He reached out and touched her on the elbow. “You’re funny, though, you know that?”
It was the briefest of contacts, his fingers brushing over her arm, but it felt like a burst of bubbles shooting through her veins.
“Yes, I’ve heard that before,” she said. “Funny weird.”
“No. Funny, funny. Who called you funny weird?”
After a brief debate, Lily decided on the truth. “My ex-boyfriend.”
“Ah. So there’s an ex-boyfriend, not just ex-dates. You want to tell me about him?”
“Nothing much to tell.” She shrugged. “His name was Justin. I met him when I was a sophomore in college. We dated for about six months, and then we broke up.” Just a few days before finals week. Not the greatest of timings, but Justin had never been known for his consideration.
“Is that all?” Caleb asked.
“What else do you want to know?”
“Was he a nice guy? What kinds of things did you do together? Why did you break up?”
“Look, it was just your average college relationship. Nice, but nothing spectacular. We just…drifted apart.” That was one way of putting it.
“And since then? Any other boyfriends?”
Lily shook her head. “After Justin, I was burned off dating for a while.” Though that hadn’t stopped her from a couple of awkward, fumbling one-night stands, her usual reserve overwhelmed by a driving urge to obliterate all memory of Justin. The encounters had helped her get over him, which was all she’d expected. “When I did start dating, it was like learning to drive all over again—with manual gear shift instead of automatic. I can’t seem to get my brain and my body into synch. There’s always something going wrong.” She sighed and gave him a rueful smile. “Maybe you’re having second thoughts about what you’ve got yourself into, hmm?”
“No way. You just haven’t been dating the right kind of men. But I’m going to help you pick a keeper.”
“I hope so.” And soon.
“I know so,” he said. “Show me this dating site you’ve been using.”
…
After Lily had replenished Noodles’s water and she and Caleb had washed up, they sat in the kitchen with coffee, a plate of homemade peanut butter cookies, and Lily’s laptop, opened to the eCherish website.
“I’ve never used a dating site,” Caleb said as Lily shifted her chair closer to him and angled the laptop so they could both view the screen.
“Not even out of curiosity?”
“No. That’s not to say I wouldn’t in the future. I’d use one if I thought it would get me a better date.” Not that dating was a priority at this stage of his life, but who knew what might happen in the future? “So this eCherish site is for people serious about looking for a relationship, right?”
“Right. Each member is allowed four daisies, or tokens, that they can offer to a person they’re interested in, and each member is only allowed to accept up to four flowers. That’s supposed to eliminate people who are just cruising for casual sex.”
At the word “sex” he experienced a tiny jolt of heat, which he quickly suppressed. Christ, he’d never viewed Lily as a flirtatious woman, but there was something provocative about the matter-of-fact way she said “sex.”
“But not dirtbags like Nick from the festival. What do you do when dates go sour? Do you get to shred their daisy? Vote a ‘thumbs down’ on their profile?”
It still sounded like a crapshoot to Caleb, but he wasn’t here to criticize her choices. “Mind if I look at your profile?”
“Sure.” She clicked the mouse and nudged the laptop an inch toward him. “Here it is. I’m not much of a wordsmith, so Dolores, a friend from work, helped me write it.”
Caleb ran his gaze over the screen. Apparently, Lily liked crocheting, making things from recycled materials, and bearded dragons. Her favorite vacation was winter in Yellowstone. She described herself as 68% introvert, 32% extrovert. Very precise. She was also a volunteer math coach to local school kids. In her profile photo, she looked slightly nervous, her smile a bit forced, her shoulders too tight.
“Winter in Yellowstone?” he asked. “That was your favorite vacation?”
Her face lit up. “Oh, it was a wonderful trip. The snow, the wilderness, the incredible night skies. The bison were like these huge shaggy mountains, their breath steaming in the cold. And we saw wolves, too.”
“Go with anyone special?”
“Yeah, my dad.”
He stopped himself from chuckling. Lily was different, that was for sure. Her profile didn’t do her justice; she was a lot livelier and funnier in person. Also, although her looks hadn’t grabbed him initially, the more time he spent with her, the more attractive she became to him.
“Mind if I make a few changes to your profile?” he asked.
“Well…okay.” She slid the keyboard toward him.
“All right.” He rubbed his hands, hoping to spark his creative juices. “How about this?” He started typing, fast, with two fingers. “To some he’s weird and ugly, but to me he’s cute and cuddly. Who is he? He’s Noodles, my pet bearded dragon, and he’s the sweetest little guy in my life. Besides bearded dragons, I’m also into handicrafts, like crocheting and sewing, wearing quirky clothing, and helping kids with their math homework. So if you appreciate a girl who thinks outside the box, offer me a daisy, and maybe we could chat.” He glanced up at her. “This okay with you?”
