Love Inspired August 2014 – Bundle 1 of 2 (56 page)

Caleb fiddled with the magazines on a side table in the closet-size room. “There’s
a Bible here.” He offered her the worn book. When she didn’t take it right away, he
sat back down and leafed through the pages. “It might help take your mind off your
foot.”

Paige bit her lip. “Honestly? I have the hardest time reading the Bible sometimes.
Don’t get me wrong, I want to be good at it, but I feel like it’s this impossible
puzzle that doesn’t even make sense.”

“It doesn’t have to be that way.” His fingers moved over the Bible in a light caress.
“For a time...I used to hate reading it. Then one day it hit me.” He closed the book.
“Do you like to get letters in the mail?”

“I’ve always wanted one—a real one.” She shifted on the exam table, making the white
cover paper crinkle. “My whole life I’ve never gotten a letter.”

“You’re kidding me.”

“I got junk mail and bills and everything like that. But a handwritten note addressed
to me? Nope.”

“Really? Well, I promise I’ll send you one someday.” He tapped the Bible again, back
on track. “If you had gotten one, wouldn’t you have treasured it? You wouldn’t have
gone to your mailbox only to decide not to open it or said ‘I’ll read that later.’
Am I right?”

“Are you kidding me?” She sat up a little straighter. “I would have run with it to
my bedroom and ripped the envelope open and savored every word. Back in the day, I
would have tacked it to the board above my desk.”

He laughed, his eyes lighting up. “Okay, and it probably would have been tenfold that
if it was a love letter.”

She nodded. Yes, it would have been nice to receive a real love letter. Maybe someday.

“Here’s the kicker—this book here, this is a letter that God wrote to you. It’s a
love letter. I figure each day I choose not to spend time reading what He’s written
me would be like getting a letter in the mail and deciding not to open it.”

“That’s a neat way to look at it.” Paige reached for the Bible and flipped the pages
so it fanned out in her lap. “I like it.”

“No charge. That one’s free today.”

Their gazes met and held.

Wrong move.

She shoved her hands under her thighs to keep them from reaching out for his hand.

Despite the confusion slowly creeping into her heart, she couldn’t risk falling for
another man again. Even a seemingly nice one whose voice calmed her and who treated
her gently was out of the question. Because when push came to shove, even though he
was nice about it, Caleb was just one more controlling man. He could say he was keeping
her from danger, but overreacting about the cut reminded her of the truth. She wasn’t
about to chance another man making her feel like Bryan had, which is why she’d constructed
such a stronghold over her heart.

So much for impenetrable.

All it had taken was a kind man with warm eyes and a determined will to swoop right
on in. She had to protect her heart better. Fairy tales that involve handsome and
gallant men like Caleb didn’t last long in real life.

She turned her head to shoo away the buzzing thoughts.

A soft knock at the door saved her from any more conversation. An older doctor looked
over her foot before starting a slow process of dabbing at the cut to clean it. “You’re
fortunate—the glass didn’t cut you deep at all. In fact, this doesn’t need stitches.
Looks like I can apply antibacterial cream and a bandage and you’ll be right as rain.”

Paige shot Caleb a told-you-so look.

The doctor opened a drawer and pulled out a sample tube of cream. He handed it to
Paige. “The foot has a lot of capillaries in it so any sort of cut will bleed a lot.
Just keep it clean for the next few days. I’d say no socks until Wednesday. Other
than that, you can use it as normal.”

“So I can go running?” Paige gingerly slipped her tennis shoe onto the injured foot
and then stuffed her socks in her pocket.

The doctor nodded. “It’s a basic surface cut. Let pain be your guide, but I’d say
by Wednesday you’ll be fine to jog on it.” He touched the screen of a computer tablet
he carried and looked over the information. “Looks like you had a tetanus booster
not that long ago, so we don’t even need to do that. If you don’t have any questions
you’re good to go.”

Caleb didn’t offer to carry her out to the truck, but he did hold open every door
along the way. Without his assistance, Paige climbed into the truck’s cab, albeit,
quite ungracefully.

With the keys still dangling from his hand, Caleb stared out the window, a glazed-over
look in his eyes.

He cleared his throat. “I need to get better at this.”

“At what?” Paige buckled her seat belt.

Caleb adjusted to face her. She swallowed hard, biting the edge of her lip, trying
to focus on anything but tumbling headfirst into that delicious liquid-chocolate stare.

“You were right—what you said about the people in town. They coddle me. I don’t like
it. I’ve noticed that they treat me differently, but I never could pinpoint the right
word for it.”

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have—”

“But you’re right. They watch me like I’m a dormant volcano that could come to life
at any moment.” He braced a hand on his head. “I’m not an angry person...I’ve never
been someone like that. So if they’re not worried about an eruption, then it’s that
they’re worried I’m going to fall apart, and that’s worse. Much worse.”

“Hey,” Paige whispered, and instinctively rested her hand on his knee. “You’ve been
through a lot. I don’t think anyone blames you for acting like that.”

His hand dropped so it covered hers. The touch seemed to ground him. With their hands
still touching, he leaned his head back on the seat rest. “I need to stop trying to
control outcomes for the people I care about.”

She straightened up in her seat. It was like he’d been listening in on her thoughts.

“I’m not good at talking about spiritual stuff, but the way I see it is that God cares
about those people way more than you do, and they’re in His hands. You have to trust
them to His care.”

“And if they die?” He turned his head her way.

“Then you keep on trusting them to His care.”

They drove back to the inn without turning on the radio.

Caleb glanced at her, almost as if he was nervous to talk. “You go on inside and I’ll
take care of your boxes. I know you and the doctor think I’m overreacting, but I’d
feel better if you didn’t put extra weight on that foot tonight.”

“Actually, I’m tired, so I’m going to take you up on that offer.”

He put the car in Park and relaxed his hold on the wheel as she opened the passenger-side
door. “I just wanted to say that even though we haven’t known each other long, I’m
thankful to have you in my life.”

Paige nodded and took a step back into the shadows to mask the grateful tears that
threatened to fall. “I’m thankful for you, too.”

And she was.

Chapter Eleven

C
aleb watched the steam rise from his coffee mug and caught Maggie staring at him from
the other side of the booth. After running into her at church, they’d decided to stop
by Cherry Top for lunch together.

“I know that expression, Mags.” He gripped the coffee mug. Too hot. “What are you
cooking up in that mind of yours?”

She dabbed her mouth with one of the thin napkins from the small box on the table.
“I’m thinking I know you too well.”

He blew on his coffee before taking a sip. “And what’s that supposed to mean?”

Maggie leaned forward. “It means I know you like Paige, so don’t you go trying to
deny it.”

Like Paige? He hadn’t considered feelings until now.

Okay, that wasn’t true. He’d known yesterday when he held her in his arms outside
her childhood home that he was already in deep. Feelings had grown before he’d known
they were there. Hearing about her past hurts when they were at the beach had only
served to further strengthen the bond he felt with her.

With her clean girl-next-door looks and bright blue eyes, it would have been difficult
not to like Paige. His mind leafed through files of images in his head—the first day
he met her, tearstained and helpless, to her refusing to back down to him about Sarah’s
Home. The picture shouldn’t fit, but maybe that’s why she appealed to him. There was
more to her than a need for a man. Paige had an independence that allowed Caleb to
let down his guard around her. Besides yesterday with her ex-fiancé, he didn’t
have
to protect her or do anything for her. She didn’t need him, but somehow that made
him like her more.

Caleb glanced at the ceiling. The spackle looked like white measles. Then he met Maggie’s
eyes and let out a long, deep breath. “Sure I like her. What’s not to like?”

“Do you really mean that?” Maggie wore a goofy grin and bounced in her seat.

Caleb rested his hand on the back of the booth cushion. “She’s great with the students,
and even though I don’t want her coming to Sarah’s Home, when she’s there and at the
high school, she’s always willing to pitch in with any type of work. She’s thoughtful
and doesn’t just talk for the sake of talking.” He paused.

“Like how I do all the time?” Maggie laughed.

Maggie and Shelby both talked a mile a minute and often for no other benefit than
to fill the airspace and avoid silence. As much as he loved them both, the constant
chatter sometimes wore on him. However, Paige seemed comfortable with silence. Which
was refreshing.

He ignored Maggie. “Know what else I appreciate about Paige? When she talks to me
she’s not worried about hurting my feelings and there’s no pity in her actions.”

Maggie’s smile fell. “I don’t—”

“You do.”

Maggie snaked a hand toward his and covered it for a moment on the table. “I’m sorry.
Truly. It’s just...when it first happened, I didn’t know what to say, and it kept
being like that.”

“I know you don’t do it on purpose.” Caleb slipped his hand away and leaned back against
the booth. “Everyone in town does it. To them, I’m defined by what happened on one
day of my life. There is nothing else they think when they look at me.”

“I don’t know if that’s true.” Even as she spoke, Maggie gave him the look a person
gives an old dog with an under bite who’s just been surrendered to an animal shelter.

He looked out the window at the ship masts bobbing in the marina. “It feels true.
But Paige doesn’t look at me that way. In fact, I think she’s the only one with the
gumption to go toe-to-toe with me. It’s refreshing.”

“Are you going to ask her out?”

“No. I couldn’t.” He straightened and looked back at Maggie. “It’s not like that.”

“Why not?”

“Paige deserves better, and besides, I don’t have the available time to give to a
relationship or a woman in order to make her a priority. A woman like Paige should
have that. Between my time at school and church and Sarah’s Home—I can’t give her
a relationship in the way she deserves.” Caleb shifted in his seat. He had said too
much already.

Shelby always told him that a person makes time for what they value. And she was right.
If Caleb looked honestly at his time, he’d already started placing value on the moments
spent with Paige. Between finding reasons to stop by her classroom, swinging by Maggie’s
on a daily basis and seeking her out at Sarah’s Home, Paige was already a priority
in his life.

Caleb had to face the facts—he
was
considering starting a new relationship. A month ago he would have said that would
never happen. How had Paige worked her way into his mind and heart in the past few
weeks without his permission?

“Listen.” He tossed a few bills on the table and scooted out of the booth. “Don’t
talk about this to anyone. Especially not to Paige. Okay, Mags...I know how you are.
I probably shouldn’t have said anything.”

Maggie walked out the front door with him and grabbed his elbow before they parted
ways for the day. “Paige has been through a lot, too. She’s broken like you are, but
I really believe you two would fit well together. Just be patient with her, okay?
She’s going to be really slow to trust a man and she needs time.”

He yanked the baseball hat out of his back pocket and put it on. “Like I said, I’m
not going to act on anything I just told you.”

“Trust me.” Maggie winked at him. “You will.”

Caleb jammed his hands into his pockets and took the long route home. Perhaps it was
time to date again. He’d made peace with Sarah’s memory a long time ago. He didn’t
believe dating meant he was betraying her memory—that was never how Sarah had been.
She would have encouraged him to find love and a family more than a year ago.

Okay. What if he let himself care about Paige? And what if something terrible happened?
It was safer—better—to stay in his house with Shelby and occasionally check on Maggie
and add no one else to his list of responsibilities. Although, love wasn’t a responsibility—it
was a gift. No one hems and haws over being given a gift.

He stopped in his tracks. Love? He didn’t love Paige—didn’t know her well enough for
a claim like that. It had taken him more than ten years of friendship with Sarah to
admit to loving her. Love happened slowly. But he couldn’t deny the pull he felt toward
Paige.

He needed to get home, change and go for a jog. That was the only possible way to
calm his thoughts and refocus on the normal rhythm of his life. He picked up his pace
to get home quicker.

Maggie had pressed his buttons, and he needed a reminder that he was better off alone.

* * *

Caleb worked the pen around and around between his fingers.

She showed up at Sarah’s Home, even after he told her she might not want to come with
a hurt foot. Paige told him earlier she’d been running on it and everything was healing,
but it didn’t stem his worry. The quarters were tight here and she might get stepped
on or jostled. What if the cut on her foot started bleeding again or became infected?

Stop controlling other people’s outcomes.

Setting down the pen, he willed his shoulders to relax by rolling them a couple of
times. He watched Paige perform a secret handshake with one of the students and high-five
the next three in the homework room. She walked without a limp.

Stop worrying. She’s fine.
Knowing Paige, she could dance on that foot.

Principal Timmons handed Caleb a stack of note cards. “She’s not half-bad at this,
is she?”

“As much as you know I don’t want to, I’m going to have to concede that you were right
about her. Paige has a way with these students.” Caleb shuffled through the note cards.
“Did you know she’s convinced four of them to apply for college and has helped two
of them fill out scholarship paperwork?”

What an amazing woman.

Timmons called for the close of the evening just as Caleb inched closer to where Paige
worked at a large table with three of the older teens. She didn’t rush the students
out. Instead she finished answering their questions, hugged each one goodbye and stayed
to clean up.

Noticing the computers on the edge of the room still glowed, Caleb used turning them
off as an excuse to stay in the room with her. For some reason lately, he found himself
gravitating to wherever she was. Whether at school functions, around town or at Sarah’s
Home—he just ended up in the same room with her.

Man, he was acting like a fifteen-year-old with a crush on the cute new transfer student.

His hand stilled over the computer mouse.

“Do you know his name is Albert?” Paige’s voice was a welcome interruption to his
thoughts.

“Who?” Caleb clicked the shutdown button on the last computer before joining her at
the table.

“Smalls.” She grinned.

Caleb dropped into a chair. “I’ve known him for four years and he wouldn’t tell me
or anyone his name. How’d you get him to do that?”

Paige shrugged. “I went to one of his slam-poetry sessions on Sunday.”

“Alone?” The word sprang out of his mouth before he could stop it.

She narrowed her eyes. “We talked about this, buster. You were going to cut the superman-slash-nosy-old-man
business. Remember, it’s God’s job to take care of people.”

He raised his hands in surrender. “Old habit. But do me a favor and tell me if you
go again—not for why you’re thinking. I’d actually really like to see Smalls in action.”
He gave her a smile he hoped exuded sincerity.

Paige beamed at him, causing his heart to pound against his rib cage like a hyper
dog stuck behind a fence.

Okay, he liked Paige. A lot. Suddenly, Principal Timmons’s order to chaperone the
Barn Dance didn’t sound all that bad. Not if he could convince Paige to attend with
him. Although, he didn’t know her well enough yet to know if she’d like something
like that.

Timmons popped his head in the room. “The front door is locked and I’m heading out
for the evening.”

They both waved goodbye. Paige started to gather her belongings, piling books and
notepads into a canvas bag. Next, she scooped up a couple of jump drives that held
a few of the students’ essays for their college applications. She’d offered to take
them home to read and edit their work.

Caleb held out his hand to carry her bag. “You’re great with these students.”

Paige slipped on her zip-up hooded sweatshirt and grabbed her car keys. “They’re fun
to work with.”

“They can be. Some of our old volunteers left because they said the students were
draining or unreachable. But for you it’s second nature. A lot of people who have
served here are doing it because they feel like they should, but you were born to
do this sort of thing. There’s a difference.”

“How about you, Caleb? Were you born to do this?”

As if his tongue had been coated in peanut butter, it stuck in his mouth.

Did he really care about these students in the same way Paige did?

Sarah had. They’d started Sarah’s Home because she’d wanted it—this had been her passion.
Not his. He’d loved seeing his wife excited, but without her, he would have never
ended up serving in the capacity he did now.

He enjoyed his students in Goose Harbor and seemed to have a much bigger impact with
them than those that filtered in and out of Sarah’s Home. Sure, he mentored students
at the nonprofit every year, but when he left Brookside all thoughts of the students
here left his mind, as well.

He’d stayed after Sarah’s death to honor her. She would have wanted to see the place
continue to flourish. When the mayor threatened to shut Sarah’s Home down, Caleb made
it his mission to convince city council otherwise. For Sarah. After he won, he had
to stay. How would it have looked if he walked away after that? Staying had been the
expected thing, and if there was one thing Caleb could be counted on for, it was to
do the expected.

Pursing her lips, Paige studied him. “That wasn’t supposed to be a trick question.”

“I know.” He locked the back door after they walked out. “But I can’t answer it in
a way that I’m comfortable with.”

She nodded. “It’s okay not to have all the answers.” Paige eased the bag off his shoulder—her
touch like sparklers all over his skin. “Sometimes it’s better that way.”

“Maybe.” He glanced back at the dark building.

Her Mazda chirped, letting him know she was about to leave, but then he felt her hand
on his wrist. He looked at her.

Paige’s smile was soft. “What you do here—it’s a good thing, Caleb. Don’t diminish
the impact you have—no matter what the reason.” She squeezed his arm before letting
go.

He swallowed hard, working up courage. “Do you want to go somewhere together? We could
grab some coffee and talk.”

“Not tonight.” She fought back a yawn. “I’m supposed to make a ton of scones for Maggie’s
inn. I should have done them early. I’m going to be up so late.”

Long after she left, he stayed, his arms crossed as he leaned against his truck. Should
he continue spending his time here? He’d never considered leaving before.

Maybe Sarah’s Home didn’t need him anymore.

* * *

Paige flipped the lights on in Maggie’s kitchen and pulled an apron over her head.
She went through the ritual of pulling out flour, eggs, butter. Good for Maggie, taking
the night off. If anyone deserved time off, it was her.

Tomorrow at school Paige would kick herself for being up this late, but she’d solve
that with copious amounts of coffee.

She began measuring out ingredients.

Ever since Paige had made a batch of her cranberry white chocolate scones her first
week in town for Maggie to serve to tourists staying at her inn, they had become one
of the most requested menu items. They were a lot of work to make, but Paige was happy
to be able to give back to Maggie in this small way. Hadn’t she opened up her home
and her heart to Paige? Maggie offered the branch of friendship when Paige had most
needed it. The least Paige could do was bake some of her secret-recipe scones.