“Can you come down from there, please?” he asked.
“No, I’m using the phone,” I told him.
“You’re going to break your neck,” he scolded.
“See, I told you that,” Trina broke in. I made a shushing noise at her.
“I’m perfectly fine, Cole,” I called down to him. “This is not an elaborate scheme. I am not looking cute and trying to get someone to rescue me. I am not trying to figure out a way to perform Star Trek voodoo, as you so eloquently accused me earlier. I am not even casting a spell on your drinking water. I am just using the phone.”
“Camdyn, you are so weird,” Trina said with a laugh.
“Jedi mind tricks,” Cole yelled, “and Jedis are not on Star Trek, they’re on Star Wars.”
“Oh, what’s the difference?!” I exclaimed.
“There’s a huge difference, actually, beginning with… Oh, never mind. Would you just come down already? I don’t want to stand here all day.”
“Don’t stand there, then!” I stated, rising to my feet. “Feel free to move along!” I raised my hand in the air and moved my fingers back and forth as though they were walking, trying to get him to take the hint.
“That’s not going to happen,” he said, swatting at another bug. “I’m like that guy on Titanic. I’m involved now. I can’t walk away and let you fall to your death.”
“What’s he saying?” Trina wanted to know.
“He says he’s the guy from Titanic,” I told her.
“He thinks he’s Leonardo DiCaprio?” she asked.
“No, I think…” I let out a huge sigh. “Ugh, he’s just not going to leave until I come down.”
“Don’t do it. Force him to come up and get you,” she suggested. “Maybe he’ll carry you back to the car in his arms.”
“Trina!” I hissed into the phone.
“Don’t force me to come up to get you,” Cole yelled. Okay, that was a little creepy. I watched him for a minute, trying to decide whether he was serious. When he started wading through the grass towards the tower, I figured I needed to move.
“Sorry, Trina, he’s coming up here,” I told her. “I have to go.”
“Score!” she exclaimed as I hung up the phone. Her excitement made me want to laugh, but the sight of him coming closer provided a little more urgency. I hurriedly stuffed the phone into my pocket and started descending the ladder one rung at a time, keeping an eye on him. He reached the bottom of the ladder and stood there waiting for me. I was almost at the bottom myself when I stretched my foot down for the next rung while loosening my grip on the rung above. I realized I was already on the last rung a little too late, and I found myself staring at the sky as I tumbled backwards off the ladder, landing square in the middle of a gigantic bush. When I looked up, I could see nothing but the inside of the branches, as though the bush had swallowed me, and I could hear Cole laughing.
“Stop laughing and get me out of here!” I demanded. He pushed back some of the leaves and extended his hand, and I wrapped my fingers around his. He began to pull, and then reached out with his other hand to grab me by the elbow as I tripped out of the bush and fell to my knees.
Of course, now he smiles at me! Stupid cute smile!
I rose from my knees as quickly as possible, face hot as I feverishly brushed at my clothes in an attempt to get all the sticky debris off. Cole simply stood in front of me with his tantalizing smile, driving me crazy.
“You know, if you were such a great rescuer, you might have tried to catch me!” I told him, removing a leaf that had caught in the bottom of my jeans.
“Now hold on,” he said, “you told me you didn’t need rescuing, remember?”
Right now, all I know is that I hate the fact that I don’t hate you.
“Yes, I know I did!” I exclaimed as he smiled at me with those brown puppy dog eyes. “None of this would have happened if you hadn’t been standing here bothering me in the first place. Quit doing that smiling thing, and stop staring at me!”
“I will, if you get out of this tall grass. There could be a snake in here.”
Thank you Captain Obvious.
I picked my way through the grass and began walking back up the riverbank with Cole following me, still laughing. As I arrived at my car, I opened the door and set my phone on the driver’s seat. I felt Cole touch the back of my head, and I spun around to face him.
“Easy,” he explained, “I’m just trying to get the leaves out of your hair.” I reached up then to explore the back of my head, feeling little twigs, crunchy leaves, and something fuzzy that I could only imagine was some sort of insect or spider. I let out a little scream and covered my face with my hands.
“Calm down, it’s fine,” he told me. I looked straight ahead at his neck and the curve of his jaw as he pulled the tips of his fingers through my hair, and I started studying the way his cap fell across the top of his ear, wisps of hair poking out underneath. My eyes moved across his cheekbone and over to his dark eyelashes, and then the corner of his mouth curved upward.
“Now who’s staring?” he chuckled, and I quickly looked down. “Your hair smells like flowers, and vanilla…and dirt, and tree sap...”
“Shut up,” I muttered, as he leaned in closer to reach the back of my hair.
“What do you need to say on the phone that is so important you would risk breaking your neck?” he asked.
“I needed to talk to Trina,” I explained. “She had been leaving me messages, and I didn’t want her to worry. That’s the first place anywhere near here that I’ve found a phone signal. We didn’t get to say much, though, because all of a sudden here you were bothering me.”
“Trying to make sure you didn’t kill yourself.”
“Like I said, bothering me.”
I heard an engine in the distance, and I glanced up to see Jake’s red truck bouncing toward us on the gravel bank.
“Oh, no,” I muttered, rolling my eyes, which prompted Cole to turn his head and look for himself. When he saw Jake, he attempted to jerk his hand out of my hair, but he caught on something stuck in one of the tangles. My head snapped forward with his hand still awkwardly hooked to me, and I instinctively let out a little shriek. He leaned closer to me and used his other hand to free the one held captive. I steadied myself by putting a hand on his chest so he didn’t knock me backward by his frantic actions.
“Sorry,” he whispered, finally getting loose, and turned around as Jake stepped out of his truck.
“Hey, heartbreaker,” Jake remarked with a smirk, walking toward us. “When you said you had to step out, you didn’t mention that it was with Parker. You look like you’ve been rolling around on the ground or something.”
“I fell in a bush, and…” I started, but Cole interrupted.
“We’re not together.”
“Whatever, I could see you two all pressed up against each other from the road. It was pretty obvious what you were doing,” Jake stated with a laugh. “You know me, Cole, normally I wouldn’t care who the other guy was when there’s a pretty girl involved, but you’re my friend and I wouldn’t do that to you. Why didn’t you tell me you were interested in her, man? You told me to go for it.”
Jake stuffed his hands into his jeans pockets as my brain started working in overdrive.
Wait a minute – this could actually work to my advantage. If Jake thinks that Cole and I…he can’t expect me to go out with him, can he?
“We had a fight the other day,” I interjected, “but it’s all good now.” Cole looked down at me and raised his eyebrows.
“It is?” he asked.
I nodded with a smile, hoping he would understand. He squinted his eyes at me, and then suddenly the corner of his mouth went up and he gave a slight nod of understanding.
“Yeah, it’s all good,” Cole said, slipping his arm around my shoulders. Ha, he’s going along with it!
We stood there for a couple minutes, Cole with his arm around me talking to Jake about some job they were get
ting ready to do. Finally, Jake said goodbye and started to walk away, but he stopped after a couple of steps and turned back toward us.
“I was looking forward to taking you to B’s Saturday night, heartbreaker,” he said with a smile. “It would have been fun. Oh well - you win some, you lose some.”
“I’m sorry,” I told him as he started to walk away again.
“Hey, Jake,” Cole called out to him, tightening his grip around my shoulders, “you know, I’ve got stuff going on Saturday, and I would hate to leave the little lady alone to fend for herself. Maybe you could go ahead and take her to B’s, as a favor to me?”
“Well, I guess so,” Jake replied, “as long as you’re okay with it.”
“Thanks buddy,” Cole stated as Jake waved and got back in his truck to head toward the bridge. We stood there watching Jake drive away, but as soon as he was out of our line of vision, I pulled away from Cole and his arm fell off my shoulders.
“What’s the problem?” he asked with a laugh, flashing one of his killer smiles. “I thought it was all good.”
“You’re the problem,” I replied. “You’ve thrown mud on me, caused me to fall into a bush, and ruined my Saturday night. Bravo, I give you a standing ovation – it’s been a banner day for you. I get it – you’re angry with me, and I don’t even care why. You have more than made your point, whatever it is.”
“Don’t get all dramatic on me,” he ordered. “You can’t just pretend to be my girlfriend and think I’m going to go along with it. I have to live here you know, long after you pick up and disappear.”
“Disappear?” I asked. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I was there when you told Aunt Rosalie you would stay until the end of the week, remember?” Cole said, walking over to his truck and standing by the door, resting one arm on the open window. “Isn’t that what brought you here anyway? A sudden mysterious disappearance?”
“I don’t disappear,” I stated, hands on my hips. “I move on when my work is done. Besides, Rosalie already told me I could stay as long as I wanted.”
“So you’ve charmed Aunt Rosalie into your corner, then,” he replied, pulling open his truck door. “I can’t say that I’m surprised, but your ‘work’ better not involve me.” He held up his fingers to put the air quotes around work, as though it wasn’t a real word.
“Why on earth would historical research or writing my book involve you, Cole Parker?” I asked him. He smiled and shook his head as he slid into the cab of his truck.
“Your book. Right,” he said with a smirk, shutting the door behind him and turning the key in the ignition.
“I guess you’re implying that my ‘work’ is casting spells, or doing…witchy…stuff,” I said to him using the air quotes, every ounce of eloquence I possessed rapidly fading from my custody.
“Goodnight,” he told me, giving me a fake smile.
“Don’t bother to do me any more favors!” I called to him through his open truck window. He laughed and held my gaze for a few seconds before he put the truck in reverse.
“Do yourself a favor, Camdyn,” he replied. “Go home and wash your hair.” With that he was backing up the drive, and I was left standing there watching him slowly go, resisting the urge to stomp my foot and scream at him. Instead of getting angry, though, I got in my car and drove the twenty miles to town, so I could call Trina back and tell her that the “hunky firefighter” she wanted to save me just sold me down the river.
Then, I hurried back to Rosalie’s, almost certain that my hair was crawling.
Chapter Eight
Friday morning I dreamt about Cole. I was wearing a white lace dress, and he had on a plain white t-shirt and faded blue jeans. We were sitting on the tailgate of his truck by the river, watching the sun disappear into a pink and purple mist on the horizon. He gently rubbed his thumb across the top of my hand where he held it on his knee.
“This is where you belong, Camdyn,” he said. “Everything about you was written into this place, and all my life I’ve been right here, waiting for you to find me.”
The moon was starting to peek out above us, and the last remains of the sunset spread a golden shimmer across the water. He stood up and pulled me to my feet, taking both my hands in his and staring into my eyes.
“Everything I’ve done in my life, every part of who I am, has brought me to this moment,” he continued. “The moment our souls met, suddenly everything became clear.”
Then, he reached into his pocket, bowed one knee low to the ground, and…
I sat straight up in bed, gasping for air as though I was having a panic attack.
Why would I dream of Cole proposing to me?
Maybe I really did do something subconsciously to try to get people to “pop the question” – why else would I have such a crazy dream? What if I truly am some kind of vixen and I didn’t know? What kind of horrible person would do a thing like that?
On the other hand, what if the only reason I had the dream was because Cole accused me of casting a spell on him? If that’s the case, he’s taking up residence in my head, and I have to figure out a way to evict him.
I got out of bed and pulled the Poison t-shirt from its location under my pillow, moving it safely to a dresser drawer. Maybe the real culprit was the fact that I felt guilty for taking the shirt in the first place.
I should give it back, really.
Maybe tomorrow.
I pulled the picture of Cole out of my planner and looked at him for a moment, and my eyes started to tear up. If he had been confrontational from the beginning, I would have thought he was just another good looking jerk, and God knows I had met countless dozens of those in my lifetime. I couldn’t believe that about Cole, though. We had such a lovely time that first rainy night, and I knew deep down he had to be that same awesome guy I believed he was then. Somewhere under his witch accusations and belief that I was out to get him, the person who helped me that night still existed.
So, why didn’t he see that with me? When he looked at me, all he saw was Trey and Peter and a news anchor saying, “Mothers, lock up your sons.”
He has to know that isn’t really me, doesn’t he?
-§-
Once I was up and moving, the day became far too busy to worry about Cole any further. Rosalie was not only catering the rehearsal dinner, but she was also baking the wedding cake. She had a paper sitting on the counter showing three tiers of the cake with a list of the flavors: devil’s food cake layered with fudge, vanilla cake with peaches and white chocolate mousse, and carrot cake with cream cheese filling and apricots. Also sitting nearby were several beautiful pink lilies made out of sugar.
I was floored when I asked her who made the lilies, and she said she had done them herself. I told her she should open a bakery, and that she was very talented, but she told me once again that she didn’t have time for such things. The aroma of the carrot cake baking in the oven was absolutely incredible. Suddenly fascinated with her cake-making process, I began asking so many questions that she finally put me to work. Of course, my portion of the work was mainly limited to mixing things and slicing fruit, but I didn’t mind. Rosalie didn’t get upset with me when I accidentally threw flour across the room, either, simply laughing and shaking her head at my clumsiness.
After working on the cakes for a while, she began preparing food for the dinner. I cut green beans while she worked on a marinade for the steaks and chicken. When she was finished, she began kneading the dough for dinner rolls and asked me to begin the salad. It reminded me of all those Thanksgiving dinners at Grandma’s house, with hours in the kitchen and not a single sigh of complaining. She hadn’t scolded me when I screwed things up then, which I was prone to do. She would just say that she would much rather love the people in the house than love the food. I always thought that was a strange thing to say, because I wanted to love the people and the food. I never doubted how she felt about me, though, and she always made me feel like I was somebody special, even
on the days when I was all thumbs.
“You look far away,” Rosalie said while she cut apart the rolls.
“I was just thinking about my grandma,” I told her. “She would always let me cook with her, even though she knew I was probably going to ruin the food.”
“Ruin the food?!” Rosalie asked with mock surprise, including a wink for good measure. “Why am I just now hearing about this?”
“Don’t let me near anything important,” I warned her with a smile.
“Well, Cole should be here soon to set up some tables outside,” she told me. “Maybe you can help him with that when he gets here.”
“I’m sure he would rather work by himself than have my help,” I laughed. “We ran into each other again last night, and I’m pretty certain he despises me.”
“That’s pretty dramatic!” she said. “I’m sure he doesn’t despise you.”
“Why does everyone accuse me of being dramatic?” I asked, throwing my hands up in the air. Rosalie mimicked me by throwing her own hands in the air, and then we both giggled.
We were interrupted by a knock on the door, and Cole stepped into the living room. He glanced over at me, and I dropped my gaze and went back to chopping vegetables for the salad.
“Cole, we were just talking about you!” Rosalie stated, wiping her flour-covered hands on her apron. I looked up in time to see Cole raise his eyebrows suspiciously.
“Was she trying to recruit you for her coven?” he asked Rosalie. My jaw dropped open and my knife clattered to the counter, accidentally flinging a piece of celery in his direction. He caught it midair and popped it into his mouth with a smirk.
“Rosalie, will you please inform your nephew that I am not a witch?” I pleaded as I began to chop another piece of celery.
“A witch?!” she exclaimed. “Cole, what on earth…”
“Calm down, Aunt Rosalie,” he said, stealing another piece of celery. “I know she’s not a witch, I’m just messing with her.”
“See there?” Rosalie turned to me. “He’s just teasing you.”
A Reason to Run (The Camdyn Series Book 1) Page 10
