"No." I whip around to face him. "I already bought everything. I'm making spaghetti. You liked it, and I thought they would too."
"Isn't that a lot of work for lunch?"
"It's not a lot of work. I was just about to start the sauce."
"Callie, you really don't have to do this. We'll just go out."
"Please." I sound desperate, because I am. I like cooking for them. It gives me something to do. And I like having them around. Having his brothers here yesterday and today, I've felt like there's life around me again. I've felt like I have friends. Friends who don't know me as the Callie who lost her whole family. Those friends all abandoned me after it happened because no one knew what to say and nobody wanted to hang around a girl who's depressed all the time.
I know Nash's brothers aren't really my friends, but I can at least pretend they are for this weekend. I can pretend that Nash is my boyfriend and his brothers are my friends and we're all hanging out like normal people with normal lives.
"Okay," Nash says softly. "We'll have lunch here. Tell us when it's ready."
And then he walks out the door.
That's it. He's done with me. Whatever we started just ended. Between last night's crazy behavior and today's, he's not going to want to have anything to do with me. I don't blame him. He could have any girl, so why would he choose a crazy one?
At lunch, I serve everyone big piles of spaghetti on thick paper plates. We're eating outside on the folding table because the guys are too dirty and sweaty to eat inside.
"Freaking awesome meal, Callie," Bryce says, bunching up his napkin and dropping it on his plate.
"I told you she's a great cook," Nash says, slinging his arm along the back of my chair. "She made me chicken marsala that was better than you'd get at some fancy restaurant in Chicago."
"It wasn't that great," I say.
"It was better than great." He leans over and kisses my cheek, with his brothers watching.
They don't even react. I think they've all decided I'm dating Nash. But now I'm confused. Why did he kiss me? Did he decide he still wants to date me, knowing I'm crazy?
"I normally try to watch my carbs," Austin says, "but that was worth the splurge."
"We might have to come down here again just to eat," Jake kids.
"You can if you want," I say. "I'll make you guys dinner. I still feel like I owe you for doing all this work."
"It wasn't bad," Bryce says. "At least the weather cooperated."
It's been sunny and dry both days, and not too hot.
"And we had a fun night at the bar," Jake says, smiling.
"Did you even get her name?" Nash asks, annoyed with his brother.
"Of course I did. I'm not that big of an ass."
"Sleeping with a girl, then never talking to her again, makes you an ass," Nash points out.
"These girls are all willing partners. I tell her upfront I'm not looking for a relationship, and if she's not okay with that, then we don't continue."
"Sounds fair," I say.
"See?" He smiles at me. "Callie doesn't have a problem with it."
"Don't encourage him," Nash says. "He's gonna end up with a disease with all his random hookups."
"Nash, you worry too much." Jake checks his phone.
"So what was her name?" he asks.
"Katie something. I don't remember her last name."
"Another Katie, huh?" Nash drinks his pop. "The place must've been full of them last night."
"What do you mean?" Austin asks.
"Callie and I ran into this other girl named Katie at the bar last night. She's rich and spoiled. Her dad owns the country club."
Jake swipes his phone. "Yeah, that's her."
"Katie Kryer?" I bolt up in my chair. "You had sex with Katie Kryer?"
He nods. "Kryer. Yeah, that was her name."
Nash slams his hand on the table. "Why the hell would you sleep with her?"
"Because she's hot." Jake puts his phone away. "What's the problem? Am I missing something here?"
Nash sits back, folding his arms over his chest. "It's a long story, but basically I met Katie when I first got here and quickly learned she's a bitch who will do whatever it takes to get what she wants. She wanted to go out with me but I refused. Then last night, she came up and saw me with Callie and starting saying bad shit about her, with Callie sitting right there."
"Oh." Jake looks at me. "Sorry. I didn't know."
"It's not your fault," I say. "I'm guessing she didn't mention her boyfriend?"
"Shit. She's got a boyfriend?"
"Yeah. At least that's what I've heard."
"Then it's a good thing I'm leaving town today."
Nash shakes his head. "This is why you should get to know a girl before you sleep with her. Does she know we're brothers?"
"Yeah. I told her when she asked why I was here in town."
"And what did she say when you told her?"
"She said she'd met you, then she invited me back to her place."
"Hoping to make Nash pissed," Bryce says. "A revenge fuck."
Jake shrugs. "Whatever. I'll never see her again."
"But I will," Nash says. "Now she'll keep bothering me, asking me about you."
"So who'd you think I was with last night?" Jake asks Nash.
"The blonde you met when we first got there."
"She was hot, but she had an annoying laugh. Really high-pitched and it got worse when she drank. And when we kissed, she kept biting my lip, and not in a good way, but in a painful way. I tasted blood and that's when we parted ways. But she hooked up with someone else. I saw her leaving with a guy."
"Should we finish up?" Austin asks, yawning. "After that big lunch I'm gonna fall asleep if I sit here too long."
"Yeah, get back to work," Nash says. "I'll help Callie clean up."
The other guys leave as Nash and I pile up the plates.
"I don't need help," I tell him. "I got it."
"Nash," Bryce calls out, "Can you get the level?"
"Yeah. Just a minute." He looks at me. "You sure you don't want some help?"
"I'm good. Go ahead and finish up. I'm sure these guys want to get home."
A few hours later, the new walkway is done. It looks really good. Smooth and level, like it should be, but it can't be walked on until it cures.
Nash's brothers are now on their way home, but before they left, they each gave me a hug goodbye and told me to have Nash bring me to Chicago some weekend so we could all go out. That'll never happen, but I just went along with it and said that I would.
Now it's five-fifteen and Nash is over at his house, cleaning up. We haven't made plans for dinner, but if he invites me over I'll turn him down. I don't want him asking about what happened earlier. I'm hoping in a few days he'll have forgotten about it.
As expected, he shows up at my door just after six with the assumption that we're having dinner.
"I'm not hungry," I tell him as I stand at the door.
"You will be after you try this." He holds up a paper sack.
"What is it?"
"A burger from the place down the street. I had one for lunch last Friday. They're really good."
"I've been to that place. Their burgers aren't that good."
"It has new owners as of three weeks ago. That's why they added breakfast." He holds up another paper sack, a smaller one. "I also got you a chocolate milkshake."
"Thanks, but I'm really not hungry."
"Will you at least try it?"
Knowing him, he'll stay at my door until I say yes, so I agree to it. "Okay. I'll try it."
"Here." He hands me the sacks. "This is yours. Mine's over at the house. I'll see you tomorrow. Have a good night." He turns and walks off.
"Wait. You're not staying?"
He turns back. "I made you eat dinner with me every night last week. I figured you could use a break from me."
Is he saying that because he wants to end whatever this is going on between us? Or
is he mad at me for yelling at him earlier?
"But you don't like to eat alone."
"That's true." He laughs a little. "You know I only told you that because I needed an excuse to spend time with you, right? I haven't exactly been subtle about how much I like you."
"Still?" I look down at the ground. "Even after..." I'm too embarrassed to say it.
"Everyone has issues, Callie. I've got plenty of them." He pauses. "Anyway, I should go. Have a good night."
As he's walking away, I get this desperate urge to follow after him. I don't want him to go.
"Nash?" I call out when he's halfway to his house.
"Yeah?" he calls back.
I hesitate, but then just say it. "I don't like to eat alone either."
He smiles. "Then get your ass over here. We're eating at my place tonight."
I smile back. "I'll grab some pop and be right over."
This is not what I planned. I was going to spend the evening alone. But when I saw Nash leaving, I felt like that sliver of hope I've had since the day he arrived was slipping away. And I want it back. I need it. I need to have hope. And I think I've found it with Nash.
Chapter Eighteen
Nash
"Ready to get to work?" I ask Callie.
We just finished dinner. I thought I'd be eating alone tonight, but then she invited herself over, which surprised me. After she yelled at me earlier, I thought maybe she needed a break from me. We've been spending a lot of time together and I thought maybe it was getting to be too much for her.
Unlike me, Callie seems like someone who likes being alone. She never goes out with friends and I've never seen any friends come to her house. Maybe she doesn't have any here, but if that's true, I don't know why she'd want to spend her summer here.
During dinner, I considered asking her about that book. I wanted to, but then I didn't, and I don't think I will. The way she yelled at me for touching it was strange. Why would she get so upset about that? Asking her about it would make her even more upset so I'm not going to.
Since she never tells me anything about herself, I looked her up online but couldn't find anything. No Facebook page or Twitter account or any other social media presence.
"We're working?" she asks. "Tonight?"
"I need to do some work on the kitchen since I wasn't able to do any this weekend. I thought maybe you could go through some more boxes, unless you have plans."
"I could work for an hour or two." She drinks the last of her milkshake. She ate all of her burger too, which is unusual because she normally just picks at her food and doesn't eat much. "You're not going to blast your country music, are you?"
"Hell, yeah, I am." I smile. "I want to hear you sing again."
"I'm not going to sing."
I pull her chair out for her. "We'll see about that."
As she gets up and goes around me, I'm tempted to grab her and kiss her, but I think I should hold back on that. Things are moving a little too fast for us and I feel like I should slow it down.
Two hours later, we've got the music blasting and we're both lost in our work, me in the kitchen and her in the living room. Every time I go in there to check on her, I find her either shaking her hips to the song or mouthing the words. God, it's funny. She doesn't even know she's doing it, so I recorded a few seconds of it on my phone to show her later.
To me, this is a perfect night. Eating burgers out on the deck, then doing some work while listening to music, with Callie in the next room over. Most people would say the work part isn't any fun, but to me it is. I like working on houses, seeing them transform before my eyes. And I like the feel of hard physical labor, using my body as one of the many tools that help get the job done. I'm always tired after a day of work, but it's a good tired. A tired that proves I accomplished something.
I grab a bottle of beer from the cooler and pop the cap off and take a swig. "Callie, you want a beer?" I yell over the music.
She pushes through the plastic that sections off my work zone. "Sure, I'll take one."
I give her mine and grab another one from the cooler.
She holds the bottle up. "Did you already drink out of this?"
"Does it matter?" I pop the cap off the one in my hand.
"Well, yeah."
"We've kissed. Many times. And you're worried about my germs?"
"I guess you're right." She goes to drink it, but I take it from her and hand her the new one. "There. No germs on this one."
"Thanks." She takes a drink.
I sit down on the wooden crate I found in the garage. "You sticking around or heading home?"
"It's still early. I'll stick around for another hour or so."
"That reminds me." I yank my wallet out and hand her five twenty-dollar bills. "That's for the past couple days."
"This is too much. Here." She holds out two of the bills. "Take this."
"It's yours. I told you twenty bucks an hour and you worked almost five hours."
"You said fifteen originally. That's plenty. I'm just going through boxes. It's not that hard."
"You deserve twenty for putting up with me." I bring the beer to my mouth and take a long swig.
"You're not that bad," she says. "I'm getting used to you."
"That's good. Because I was thinking when you're done going through the boxes you could help with the renovation."
She laughs. "Yeah, right. I told you I don't even know how to use a hammer."
"Come here." I motion her toward me as I go over and grab the hammer.
"What are you doing?"
"You're going to learn how to use a hammer."
"Right now? There's nothing to hammer."
"Take this." I give her the hammer, then lead her to the wall where the cabinets used to be. "I'll be covering up this wall with the new cabinets so you can put as many nails in it as you want." I take a nail from the box and hand it to her. "Hold it against the wall, then line the hammer up and lightly tap the nail head."
"I don't want to do this. I'm going to end up hitting my fingers."
"Not if you focus on the head of the nail." I stand behind her. "We'll do it together first. Get the nail in position."
She holds it up against the wall. "Like this?"
"Make sure it's straight." I put my arms on each side of her and adjust the nail. "If it's not straight, it'll go in crooked or you'll nick the edge of it with the hammer and end up hitting your hand. Okay, ready? Just tap the head."
She taps it so light it doesn't move.
"A little harder than that," I tell her.
"I'm going to crush my fingers."
"You won't if you keep your eye on the nail." I put my hand over hers on the hammer. "Like this." I tap the nail in. "You feel the amount of pressure I used?"
"Yeah."
"So start like that, then once it's in position, you can hit it harder. Drive it right into the wall."
"Can you show me?"
I keep my hand over hers and pound the nail until it's all the way in the wall. Then I let go but remain behind her. "Now try it again." I hand her another nail.
She sets it up against the wall and lines up the hammer, but then taps too lightly again.
"Harder," I say. She hits it hard enough to get it in the wall. "Good. Now pound it all the way in."
She hits it with just slightly more force so it takes a while for her to pound it in, but eventually she does.
"You want to try another one?"
"Yeah." She turns around, smiling, as she takes the nail from me. "This is kind of fun."
Okay, I might've just fallen in love with her. She thinks hammering is fun? Hardly any girl would think that, especially Marissa. She'd never let me teach her this, or even tell her about my work. She had no interest in my job, unless she needed me to fix something. The more time I spend with Callie, the more I wonder why I ever went out with someone like Marissa.
"Can I try one more?" Callie asks, and I see that she's already pounded in the nail I
just gave her.
I hand her another one. "You're getting fast. Keep this up and I'll be hiring you for my next renovation."
She pounds the nail in, then flips around to face me. I still haven't moved, my body just inches from hers.
"Thanks for teaching me," she says, giving me the hammer.
"Any time." I start to step back but she grabs my t-shirt and yanks me down to her mouth and kisses me. I drop the hammer and kiss her back, my arms going around her and pulling her closer.
She kisses me harder, her tongue going in my mouth, tangling with mine. I had no plans to kiss her tonight, but now that she started this, I'm all in. My hands go under her thighs and I lift her up and against the wall. She wraps her legs around me and I almost lose it. I want her so bad. This past week, she's taken up permanent residence in my dreams, and when I'm awake, I find myself imagining what it'd be like to be with her. I've tried to keep those thoughts out of my head, but sometimes I just can't help it. Like right now, I'm imagining all the things we could do if we went up to the bedroom right now. Or the shower.
"Nash," she moans, as my lips slide down her neck. I bring my hand up and cup her breast. She moans again and lifts my head up and crashes her mouth against mine.
Fuck. She's killing me. We might just have to do this. The taking-it-slow plan isn't working out so well. We both want this, and waiting isn't making those urges go away.
Callie reaches down between us to undo my belt. And then the doorbell rings. Seriously? It's nine at night and I don't know anyone here. Who the hell would be coming over? It rings again.
"You better get that," Callie says.
I sigh as I lower her to the ground. "Wait here." I kiss her. "Don't leave."
She smiles. "I won't."
The doorbell rings again. "Yeah, I'm coming," I say as I walk to the door. I open it and see Katie there, in a short white sundress, her face coated in makeup and her hair styled like she just got back from the salon.
"What do you need?" I ask.
"That's a rude way to greet someone." She looks behind me. "Can I come in?"
"No. I'm busy. Why'd you come over here?"
"To give you this." She takes something out of her giant purse. It's a business card with her name and number on it. She holds it out to me. "I forgot to give Jake my number last night."
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