Read Back to You Online

Authors: Natalie-Nicole Bates

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Back to You (5 page)

BOOK: Back to You
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“I hope you don’t mind me asking, but what do your supervisors at work think about your teeth and your hair? I thought the police department had stiff rules about stuff like that. I know in some police departments even beards and tattoos are forbidden.”

He laughed, but it was more of a snort. “As long as I slick my hair back off my face they’re fine with it. I’m there to do a job—a job I’m very good at—and I am a professional. As far as I’m concerned, it shouldn’t have anything to do with the way I look or dress.”

She liked Owen Mitchell. He was cool and funky, and marched to the beat of his own drum. “So, you’re Logan’s partner?” she ventured a guess.

“No, Lo and Caleb are partners. They both smoke like chimneys so they’re very compatible. I used to worry that they both would develop lung cancer and die together, but they seem to thrive on cigarettes. Although I can’t fathom how Logan keeps from getting fired. He’s six feet eight, and the biggest, laziest, most inept detective that I know.

I suspect that they keep him on because he’s the best damned softball pitcher in the county, probably in the state,” he said. “No team can ever score against him when he pitches. As long as someone manages to haul their ass around the bases, Unity Police Department’s softball team never loses. Apparently, he was a minor league baseball pitcher who never got the call into the major league. Finally he gave up in his thirties and somehow became a cop, then—heaven help us all—a detective.

“Anyway, Evan Monroe was my partner until his accident. Since I exclusively work day shift, I really don’t need a partner, but the buzz is I will be getting one soon enough.”

A light. cool rain began to drizzle and Lynsey shivered. “I guess we should be getting back inside now,” she suggested. As she stood, her finger ran along the hard wood table and suddenly she felt a burning sting. “Ouch!” she yelped.

“What’s wrong?”

“I think have a splinter.”

He gently took her hand. “It’s too dark to tell. Let’s go inside and have a look.”

When they got back into Caleb’s house, the crowd of partygoers had begun to thin out, and the music lowered to a more acceptable level. It looked as if a bomb had exploded all over his kitchen. Discarded beer cans, empty wine and rum bottles, cigarette butts, and assorted trash were strewn around the kitchen, with Caleb standing in the middle of it, opening a bottle of beer.

“Where are your tweezers?” Owen asked.

“What?” Caleb asked with a blank stare on his face.

“Tweezers! I need a pair of tweezers! At what point tonight did you stop being able to hear and process questions, you moron? Did the cigarettes finally fry your brain? Lynsey has a splinter from your stupid table outside.”

“Oh, upstairs in the en suite bathroom.”

Lynsey followed Owen up the stairs, down a hallway, and turned into Caleb’s bedroom. The bedroom had the biggest bed that she had ever seen in her lifetime. The en suite was also a large affair with a double sink and vanity lighting. There was a stylish corner bathtub and a separate shower enclosure.

Owen opened the mirrored cabinet above a sink, and out tumbled a box of condoms. “Do you want to have sex?” he asked.

Her long lashes flew upward. “Excuse me?”

“Look at this. How many condoms does one man need?”

She looked in the cabinet. Obviously a lot, was her thought. Multiple boxes of condoms in all colors and textures filled the shelf. “I guess Caleb practices safe sex.”

“That’s like a lifetime supply for me,” he remarked as he rummaged through the cabinet until he came across the tweezers. “Okay, let’s get that splinter out.”

As Owen gently extracted the splinter from her finger with a steady hand, she watched him. He was certainly a man who would have no problem finding a date whenever his mood beckoned. Yet, his remark about the condoms being a lifetime supply puzzled her. Perhaps his sex life wasn’t a priority as Caleb’s seemed to be. Oh well, it didn’t really matter. She had a hunch that Owen Mitchell could light the fire of many women.

“There you go, all better now,” he said with a smile.

***

Lynsey stayed around until the last guest had gone home. Well, almost the last. Owen was asleep, stretched out on the couch. She was perched on the arm, and let her shoes drop from her feet to the floor.

“Can I help you clean up?” she asked Caleb as he made a pot of coffee in the kitchen.

“No thanks. I’ll pick up the bulk of it in the morning. I have a housekeeper who comes in two mornings a week. I admit that I’m a lazy pig when it comes to housekeeping. Are you sure you don’t want anything stronger than coffee? I have some killer vodka hidden away in the freezer.”

“Coffee is great, thanks.” She reached into her handbag and retrieved the gift she had brought for him. “I nearly forgot; this is just a little something from me to celebrate your promotion. Congratulations, Caleb!”

He took the thin box from her, removed the blue ribbon, and lifted the lid. “Ah, Lynsey, thank you so much! It’s great.” He dropped a quick, friendly kiss on her cheek. “All of my so-called friends came here tonight to drink my booze and eat my food, and no one even said congratulations to me.”

“Well, I care. I’m very happy to celebrate your success with you,” she said sincerely. “Listen, Caleb, all those years ago…” her voice trailed off when she heard Owen begin to snore just a few feet from her. She didn’t know if he was a light sleeper. Besides not wanting to wake him, she really didn’t want to talk about anything personal around him.

Caleb handed her a mug of coffee. “What’s wrong?”

“Owen is asleep.” Her voice hushed to a whisper. “I just don’t feel comfortable speaking around him.”

“Watch this.” Caleb walked to the couch. He clapped his hands together loudly a few mere inches from Owen’s ear.

The sleeping man didn’t so much as stir.

“I used to believe that something was wrong with him, or that maybe he was going deaf. But after seeing him like this so many times, I realize that he’s just an extremely deep sleeper. I wish I could sleep that deep. Maybe if I had a beautiful woman wrapped around me all night on a permanent basis, I just might someday.” His eyes took on a dream-like quality. “But I get your point.” He took her by the hand and helped her to her feet. “Let’s go to my study. We can close the door and speak in private.”

Lynsey followed him to a nice-sized downstairs room that served as a study. “Oh, I love these big leather chairs,” she remarked, and sunk into one.

He sat on the edge of the desk. “Thanks. So, what were you going to tell me?”

She didn’t want to dwell on the past, but she had felt so much guilt for the way she had just stopped corresponding with Caleb when she had been in Switzerland. “I just want to apologize for the way things ended between us all those years ago. You were really good to me, and I stopped writing to you without any explanation.”

“Oh, forget it, Lynsey,” he said. “I’m the one who is sorry about all of that. You were still a kid, much too young for me to be pressuring you for a commitment. But I have to admit that I sometimes wish that I would have followed you to Switzerland and begged you to marry me.”

She was glad he hadn’t harbored any ill will toward her. Now she wished that she and Nick could put some closure on their past as well. But he didn’t seem to want to dredge up the memories.

Now she had a question for Caleb that could no longer be put off. “Caleb, are you still married?”

He exhaled deeply. “Lynsey, promise me that you’ll hear me out before you rush to judgment,” he began.

He’s married! Why were so many men she was interested in already or soon-to-be married? She was a magnet for men who were spoken for. She didn’t answer him, but simply nodded.

“I’m not married anymore, but I have been—twice.”

She breathed a mental sigh of relief.

“I was married the first time when I was in my early twenties. It didn’t last long. I was a fool who thought he was in love, and then a quickie ninety-day, no-fault divorce ended all of that nonsense.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Are you saying you were married when we first met?”

“I’m saying that I was already divorced when we met. It’s not something I really wanted to discuss with a young lady who I was just getting to know. I didn’t think you would understand. I was married for quite a few years to my second wife, Debbie. She’s an architect. I divorced her last year.”

“What happened? I mean, if you don’t mind me asking.”

“She was very career and money-oriented. She pressured me to move to the city. She even took an apartment in Mount Pleasant and commuted to Unity on the weekends.

“I woke up one morning and realized I was over forty. I wanted a steady, committed marriage, and children. She didn’t—it was never the right time for her. I don’t think it was ever going to be the right time—not with me, anyway. I did her a favor by filing for the divorce. She wasn’t happy either, she was just making do. Divorce isn’t exactly pleasant, but one of us had to initiate it sooner or later.”

“I’m sorry, Caleb,” she said softly.

He shrugged, casually lit a cigarette, and offered it to her.

“No thanks, I don’t smoke.”

“Does this bother you?” He held the lit cigarette away from her.

“Not particularly,” she answered.

“I’ve been smoking for twenty-five years. I find it just about impossible to quit, especially when I don’t have any incentive. I have made myself a promise, though—as soon as I become a father, my smoking days are over.”

“That’s a noble goal, and I wish you the best of luck with it.” She smiled. Well, they both wanted to be parents. That was something they had in common.

“Lynsey, would you stay with me tonight?”

There was an intensity in his gray eyes that caused her to quiver just a bit. Before she could answer, her cell phone began to ring inside her handbag. She dug it out and looked at the incoming number. It was Nick. “Excuse me for one minute, Caleb. I need to take this call.”

“Hi Nicky, what’s up?” she asked cheerfully.

“Hey, Lynsey. I just got in from work. I was wondering if you plan on coming home tonight? I don’t want to throw the deadbolt on the inside of the front door and lock you out if you’re coming back.”

Caleb had his back to her, an obvious pretense of giving her some privacy while he read the news from the internet.

She didn’t need to debate long about staying with Caleb or returning back to Nick’s house. “I’ll be back. See you later, then.”

She disconnected the call and considered that Nick had never been concerned before about locking the deadbolt. As a matter of fact, she didn’t even remember there being a deadbolt on the front door. Was it at all possible that Nick was simply calling to check on her, or perhaps he was hoping to break up an intimate moment?

“I swear that tightly-wound pain in the ass has radar. Whether it’s twenty years ago or tonight, he’s still trying to step in between us,” said Caleb.

“No, no, Nicky is just protective of me…like a big brother,” she explained.

“I don’t think he’s ever spoken more than two sentences to me at any one time. The boy sure knows how to hold a grudge.”

Lynsey didn’t want to tell him that Nick had only recently described him as a sleazy whore. Some things were better left unsaid.

“Well, whether you realize it or not, he’s in love with you. Either that or he’s obsessed. Personally, I’m leaning towards obsessed. Because of that, you might be the only one who can talk some sense into him.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, Nick is in the process of committing career suicide.”

Her brow furrowed. “What are you talking about, Caleb? Nicky loves his job. From my understanding, he’s very good at it as well.”

“I do not doubt his ability, Lynsey. It’s his drive.”

“I don’t understand.”

“There are two positions opening up at the precinct. One is a sergeant position—exclusive daylight hours to boot. The other is a detective position, also straight daylight. He hasn’t applied for either, and he has so much seniority that he can have his pick. People are just starting to wonder…and talk.”

“I can’t say what Nick thinks, Caleb,” she said with a shrug. “I do know that if Nick isn’t interested, then he has his reasons, and everyone should respect his privacy.”

“Well, with all of the new housing and businesses springing up all over Unity, along with the influx of people who will be moving in, there is to be a huge hiring soon. Nicholas is going to very soon find himself being bossed around by some snot-nosed little brat.”

“Dominick. His name is Dominick, not Nicholas,” she told him, all the while thinking that the subject of Nick’s job wasn’t something she wanted to discuss with Caleb. If the opportunity presented itself, she might casually mention something to Nick.

“So, do you want to go upstairs and get out of that dress?” He turned on a devilish smile and rubbed his hands together. “I can promise that you won’t regret it.”

She was thrown by the sudden change of subject. “I’m sorry, Caleb. As flattered as I am by the offer—and by the way, I am flattered—it’s way too soon. You see, I’ve reached a time in my life where I’m ready to settle down and have children. I don’t want a fling, and I don’t want meaningless sex…not that it would be a fling with you, Caleb…or meaningless…” She squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head. The words weren’t coming out right, and now she felt like a stammering fool.

“I totally understand where you’re coming from, babe, and I have enormous respect for you.” He caressed her cheek with the back of his hand. “I want everything that you want, Lynsey. I’m prepared to wait for as long as it takes.”

***

Lynsey arrived home after midnight to a darkened house. She looked closely at the inside of the front door. There actually was a deadbolt. Who knew?

As she passed through the kitchen, she noticed that the door to the porch was still open. Was Nick still awake? She peeked outside. He was sitting on the swing with a few lit candles burning on the small table nearby.

“Well, hello there,” she said brightly.

“Hi, angel, how was the party?”

She wondered if he really wanted to know, or was just making polite conversation. After all, he never hid the fact that he despised Caleb Smith.

“It was good. I met some new people, and reacquainted with some I already knew.” She took a seat beside him on the swing and remembered the last time they spent together on this very swing. It was the night of Kelly’s funeral, and she had held Nick in her arms. It was the first and only night he was entirely hers.

“So, were you dancing on the tables at Caleb’s house? I imagine he would enjoy that.”

“In these shoes? No way.” She chuckled.

“There won’t be many more warm nights like this one. I wasn’t really tired after work so I thought I’d enjoy sitting outside for a while,” he commented.

“I love autumn. I’m looking forward to the change of season, and to Halloween.”

“You look beautiful, by the way. If it were earlier, I’d take you somewhere to show you off.”

A smile formed on her face. She didn’t think he had noticed her new dress. “Well, we could drive for the next two hours or so and maybe find an open coffee shop…or we could just stay here and enjoy this lovely night.”

When he slipped an arm around her shoulder, she took the unexpected opportunity to snuggle closer to him. Although she had just spent the evening in the company of some of Unity’s finest eligible bachelors, this innocent time with Nick far surpassed any of it.

BOOK: Back to You
11.37Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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