“I can call and ask,” she said. “What did you have in mind?”
He explained about all the old decorations going up at Jenny’s mom’s, what a downer that had been for Jenny, and about their shopping binge for new ones. “I have some ideas for how the house should look, but not a lot of practical experience at hanging lights.”
A smile spread across Bree’s face. “What a great idea! Jenny will love it. And you’re so sweet to want to surprise her by having it all done when she gets home tonight.”
“Ulterior motive,” he confessed.
“Of course,” Bree said knowingly. “But it’s a good motive, I think.” Her smile spread. “You’re starting to grow on me, Caleb. I can see now why Jenny fell so hard for you. At heart you’re a pretty thoughtful guy.”
He shook his head. “You’re seeing the new and improved me. I’m not so sure the old Caleb had a lot to recommend him aside from some hit songs and a loyal fan following.”
“No way,” Bree contradicted. “Jenny could have had her pick of sexy country superstars. She chose you because of what she saw in you. She believed in you, Caleb, not just in your talent, but in you.”
He was touched by her comment. “If that’s true, I hope I don’t let her down this time.”
“You won’t,” she said with surprising conviction, then gave him a stern look. “You know the consequences if you do.”
“I’ll have O’Briens chasing me from here to Kingdom Come,” he said. “I get it. Now, do you think Jake would be willing to help me this afternoon, or am I still his sworn enemy? If he’s as protective of Jenny as I’ve been led to believe, I doubt he’s mellowed half as much as you have.”
“You leave my husband to me,” she said confidently. “Head on over to the house. I’ll have help there within the hour. You might pick up some barbecue—a lot of it, in fact—and some sodas.” She handed him a note with directions to a barbecue place on the outskirts of town.
He took the directions, but regarded her with suspicion. There was a worrisome glint in her eyes. “You sending an army?”
“Something like that.”
An hour later Caleb wasn’t all that surprised when pickups started arriving at Jenny’s. His head swam as he tried to keep not only the O’Briens straight, but several others who’d apparently married into the family. The one person he had no trouble identifying was Jake Collins. Despite Bree’s assurances, Jenny’s uncle was regarding him as if he’d been personally responsible for spreading a plague.
“I don’t much like you,” Jake said by way of introduction.
Caleb nodded and stood his ground. “Understandable.”
“I’m only here because my wife insisted on it.” Jake’s scowl deepened. “And because I don’t trust you. I intend to keep a very close eye on you while you’re in town.”
“Also understandable,” Caleb told him.
“Back off and leave the man alone,” the man who’d identified himself as Mick O’Brien told Jake. “He’s here trying to do a nice thing for Jenny. You should be thanking him.”
“It’s not what he wants to do this afternoon that worries me,” Jake said, his scowl firmly in place. “It’s what he has in mind for later tonight and tomorrow and the next day.”
“Then you can come back later and keep a close eye on him then,” Mick said. “I’ll be right here beside you, if you want. There’s not an O’Brien here right now who won’t do the same if we feel it’s necessary to protect Jenny. We all know the story, Jake. None of us want to see Jenny hurt again. I’m just thinking that maybe the man deserves a second chance to get it right. We’ve all had our share of those.”
“You especially,” an older man commented, slapping Mick on the back. “I’m Jenny’s stepfather, by the way. Thomas O’Brien.” He held out his hand and shook Caleb’s, a hard look leveled directly into Caleb’s eyes. “Don’t let Mick’s soft attitude fool you. He’ll be the first one in line to punch you out if he doesn’t like what he sees or hears about the way you’re treating Jenny.”
“Got it,” Caleb said. “I’m glad to know so many people have her back.” He regarded Thomas curiously. “Jenny’s mentioned you. I didn’t get the impression you were close.”
Thomas flushed. “We didn’t get off to the best start. In fact, it’s certainly likely that you didn’t get a glowing endorsement of me from Jenny. I’m working to rectify that.”
Caleb took pity on him, since he was so obviously troubled by the bad blood between them. He knew better than most that there were two sides to every story.
“I doubt anyone who married her mom would have fared any better,” he told Thomas. “I’m just starting to figure out all these complex family dynamics.”
Mick interrupted. “Okay, enough chitchat,” he announced. “Jake, you, Mack, Will, Matthew, Luke and I can start stringing lights on the eaves. Thomas, you and Caleb can open boxes and figure out where you want the lawn display, then Jake and I will hook things up.” He turned to a younger man. “Connor, why don’t you run to the hardware store and buy some outdoor extension cords?”
Connor frowned at that. “You don’t need my help here?”
Jake laughed. “Connor, listen to Mick. Your father has a lifetime of experience with your construction skills or lack thereof. We want this display to work, not cause a neighborhood blackout.”
Connor scowled at him. “Thanks, pal. I’ll remember that next time you call and need an extra pair of hands to assemble something.”
“Stick to law,” Jake taunted. “That’s where your real skill lies. Let the rest of us do the manly things.”
“Oh, brother,” Mack muttered under his breath, stepping between the outraged Connor and Jake.
“Settle down,” Will said quietly, clearly in peacemaker mode. “Connor, you know perfectly well Jake is just trying to yank your chain. Don’t let him goad you into brawling with him. We have a lot to do. It requires teamwork.”
Connor and Jake exchanged a malevolent look, then chuckled.
“Spoken exactly like a shrink in that soothing, professional tone that sets my teeth on edge,” Jake said.
“Bite me,” Will retorted, but he was grinning.
Caleb listened to the teasing, amazed by the affection behind even the sharpest barbs. No wonder Jenny had been in love with this family. He’d never known a tight-knit group like them himself. Even his old band, as well as they’d known each other, hadn’t been this free and easy. Nor had they been as deeply committed to one another. He’d been as much to blame for that as any of them. He’d tested the limits of the friendship too many times.
With peace restored, Will, Mack, Matthew, Luke, Mick and Jake went to work hanging the lights.
Thomas led the way onto the porch, then pulled a box cutter from his pocket and handed it to Caleb. He opened a second one for himself. “Let’s get busy. Bree’s going to do her best to keep Jenny at the theater until after dark, but if I know Jenny and she starts getting suspicious, there won’t be a thing short of tying her down that Bree will be able to do to keep her there.”
“You’ve got that right,” Caleb said. “Hey, I thought you were supposed to be putting up decorations at home today.”
Thomas nodded. “Connie thought my time would be better spent over here. She heard the disappointment in Jenny’s voice when she found out we’d claimed the old decorations.” As they started up the porch steps, Thomas stared in amazement at the boxes piled up. “Do you think you two might have gone a little overboard?”
Caleb shrugged. “As her mom said, Jenny was a little bummed out about the old decorations. Finding all this stuff cheered her up. And, I have to admit, I was having a little trouble controlling myself, too. I never lived in a house with outdoor decorations for Christmas. I always envied the families who had them.”
Thomas nodded. “Welcome
to Chesapeake Shores. This time of year I feel as if I’ve made a wrong turn and landed at the North Pole. My parents didn’t waste money or electricity on outside lights back in the day, though Ma has recently become a convert. Wait till you see her cottage. It’s like an enchanted gingerbread house on the cliff overlooking the bay.”
“You’re talking about Nell, right?”
“That’s right,” Thomas confirmed. “She’s still going strong. She had this same crew over at her place last weekend climbing on ladders while she supervised the placement of every strand of lights. Jake took it in stride, but Mick almost had a coronary trying to keep his temper under control. He loves her to pieces, but he likes doing things his own way.”
“I take it you’re almost as new to the tradition as I am,” Caleb said.
“Absolutely. After living in an apartment with an artificial tree as my only concession to the season, it was a tough transition for me when I married Connie. She wanted every tree in the yard dripping with lights. And that train...” He glanced at Caleb. “I imagine Jenny told you about the train.”
“That’s what set her off,” he confirmed. “She loved that train.”
“Everybody loves that train,” Thomas said, “except for the poor soul stuck with trying to get the blasted track together and keeping the thing from derailing every twenty minutes and tossing Santa out on his behind. That poor soul would be me, by the way. Jake and Mick and the rest of these guys may have a knack for assembling things, but I do not. Connie didn’t want to ask for their help. She said it should be our family tradition. I think she just didn’t want to expose me to their ridicule.”
“I’m confused,” Caleb said. “Didn’t you, Mick and your other brother build Chesapeake Shores?”
Thomas immediately shook his head. “We had a partnership, that’s true, but Mick built it. Jeff sold the properties as we developed the town. My task was to keep as many trees in place as humanly possible, to keep the whole thing environmentally friendly. That put me and Mick at odds more than once.”
“Ah, now I remember,” Caleb said. “You have a foundation that works to protect the bay.”
Thomas nodded. “And Mick, for all his grumbling back then, finally gets how important it was that I stuck to my guns, even when it was a major inconvenience to his plans. His son, Kevin, is working with me now. Kevin would be here today, but he’s giving a speech to a civic group. We never miss a chance to spread the message.”
Caleb thought of the brief glimpses he’d had of the bay’s beauty in just the past few days. “I don’t suppose you’d want to do a benefit concert sometime,” he suggested. “I could probably enlist a few of my buddies in Nashville and put something together.”
Thomas regarded him incredulously. “Seriously? You think you could pull that off?”
“I don’t see why not,” Caleb told him, warming to the idea.
“Just how long are you planning to stick around?”
Caleb smiled. “As long as it takes.”
“Well, to be honest, I don’t care if your motive has more to do with Jenny than it does with protecting the bay, I’ll accept your offer. Connie’s been coordinating a lot of special events for us. Would you mind sitting down with her to work things out?”
Caleb regarded him skeptically. He had a hunch Jenny’s mom wouldn’t be all that thrilled about working with him. “Are you sure that’s a good idea? She might drive a stake through my heart instead.”
Thomas laughed. “She might,” he admitted. “But I’ll see that she doesn’t do it till after this concert you just suggested. That’ll buy you some time to win her over.”
In Caleb’s experience, mothers were sometimes easier to win over than their daughters. He suspected that might be the case with Connie O’Brien and Jenny. Since he needed both of them on his side, he accepted Thomas’s terms.
By now they’d opened all the boxes and haphazardly set the multiple Santas, a gingerbread house, a few giant candy canes and a family of elves on the lawn.
“There’s one more thing,” Caleb said. “It’s still in my truck. I went back for it after I dropped Jenny off last night.”
Thomas followed him over to the pickup, then chuckled when he saw the boxes. “You found her a train.”
Caleb nodded. “I’ve never seen the old one, so I don’t know how this compares, but it does have Santa riding in the caboose. She said the old one did, too.”
Thomas clapped a hand on his shoulder. “Son, even if this one weren’t a new and improved version of the one she remembers, the fact that you found it for her will go a long way toward making her happy.”
Caleb couldn’t seem to keep the hope from his voice when he asked, “You think so?”
Jake wandered over just then, his eyes widening when he saw the train. He shook his head. “Ah, man, just when I really wanted to hate your guts, you had to go and do this.”
Caleb looked from Thomas to Jake and back again. “Then you’re agreed the train will be a hit?”
“It’s going to knock her socks off,” Thomas confirmed.
Jake’s gaze narrowed at that. “But that’s all. Only her socks. Understood?”
Caleb laughed. “No promises, but I’ll keep your warning in mind.”
In the end, though, it was going to be up to Jenny just how far things went between them, not only tonight, but in the future. He understood that, even though it grated on him that this was one time when he wasn’t guaranteed he’d get what he wanted.
* * *
Jenny’s lunch with Dillon had been surprisingly tense. She figured out right away that he was still upset about the encounter with Caleb earlier.
“I just don’t understand why he’s here, Jenny,” he said finally. “Okay, maybe I can see why Bree wants him around, but what about you? How can you even stand the sight of him after what he did to you?”
“Dillon, it’s not that big a deal. Caleb and I are over,” she said, even though a part of her knew that was a flat-out lie. “This is about work. Haven’t you ever had to work with someone you didn’t particularly get along with?”
“You’re the talented songwriter,” he argued, not giving her a direct answer. “Bree needs you. Shouldn’t you get to call the shots?”
“Bree needs my music,” Jenny agreed. “Or I should say she wants it. She could always hire another songwriter. What she can’t do is replace the kind of buzz that having Caleb in the play will create. His presence could help to take her career to a whole different level.”
“Never mind the strain it puts on you in the meantime,” he said bitterly.
“Dillon, she and I talked about this before she ever made an offer to Caleb,” Jenny explained, then added as she had to her uncle, “If I’d said no, she wouldn’t have asked him.”
“Then why didn’t you say no?” he asked, studying her. Understanding apparently dawned. “Oh, my God, you want him here, don’t you?” He sighed heavily. “I should have seen it right off. You’re not over him.”
“Yes, I am,” she insisted, refusing to acknowledge that Dillon might be right.
His smile was tinged with sorrow. “Give it up, Jenny. I could always tell when you were lying, even to yourself. Even though Caleb humiliated you and broke your heart, you still want him.”
She started to deny it yet again, then shrugged. “Okay, maybe there are some old feelings left, but I don’t want there to be.”
“That’s not quite the same thing as being over him, though, is it?”
“No, but I’m not going back there, Dillon. I’ve learned my lesson.”
He studied her, clearly unconvinced. “Good luck with that.”
Despite her very firm declaration that there would be no future with Caleb, she couldn’t help feeling that she owed Dillon an apology for the future that wasn’t in the cards for them,
either. “I’m sorry.”
“Why are you sorry?” he asked, though his expression was sad. “You broke up with me years ago.” He gave her a rueful look. “Unfortunately, that didn’t stop me from hoping that maybe we were going to have a second chance.”
“Dillon—”
“Stop. No need to be upset,” he told her. “It’s not as if you made me any promises. Heck, you didn’t even want to have dinner with me.”
“Only because I didn’t want anyone, least of all you, to get the wrong impression,” she said gently. “You were my best friend once. I’d like to think we’re still friends, but that’s all it will ever be. And despite what you think, that has nothing at all to do with Caleb. I know you probably don’t believe that, but it’s true.”
“You’re sure of that?” he asked, clearly disappointed.
“Afraid so.” She looked into his eyes. “I wish it were otherwise. I really do. This situation with Caleb would be a lot easier if I were falling madly in love with you.”
“You’re positive there’s no chance of that?” he asked.
“I’m sorry,” she said again.
He shrugged. “Getting rejected is not going to stop me from worrying about you, you know.”
“You don’t need to worry. I know exactly who Caleb is. He won’t get a second chance to break my heart.”
Dillon smiled at that. “Tough talk, Jenny, but something tells me it’s way too late. Despite everything, it’s evident to me that he already has a pretty solid grip on your heart again.”
Jenny knew she could deny it all she wanted, but the sad truth was that he might be right. That didn’t mean she had to listen to her heart, not when she knew so well how much pain could follow.
* * *
Dusk was falling when Jake and the rest of the extended O’Brien clan left Caleb alone on the porch to await Jenny’s arrival. He’d settled into an old swing hanging from the ceiling, the control for the lights in his hand. For now, though, the yard was in shadowy darkness. Bree had called fifteen minutes earlier to alert him that Jenny was leaving the theater and heading for the house.
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