Love Inspired August 2014 – Bundle 1 of 2 (60 page)

“I need a mirror.” Shoving off blankets, she started to get up. Caleb’s shoulders
slumped. The drain of color in his face spoke volumes about her appearance, but she
needed to see. He helped her stand and shuffle to the mirror on the wall.

Ugly black thread weaved across her chin. She turned her head right before her vision
clouded. “I look like the bride of Frankenstein.”

“Come on. Don’t say that. You’re beau—”

Paige stopped him with a firm hand to his chest. “Don’t. Please. Just don’t right
now.” She shoved past him. “I don’t even know why you’re here.”

He tilted his head. “Of course I’m here. I came the second I heard.”

A handsome man with a five-o’clock shadow cleared his throat in the doorway. The badge
on his uniform glistened under the artificially bright lights in her room. He hooked
his hands on his gun belt.

“I’m Officer Reid. You can call me Miles. The doctor says you’re going to be okay.
Head wounds just bleed a lot. Even the minor ones.” The officer’s voice was a balm.
Strong and reassuring. He was well trained.

Miles stepped farther into the room. “I’d like to ask you a couple questions about
what happened tonight.”

Any energy she had drained away. Sleep. She wanted sleep.

“I didn’t see anything.”

He pulled out a note-card-size spiral book from his front shirt pocket. “Unfortunately
I still need to get some information so I can start a report and hopefully catch the
responsible party.”

Caleb stepped in the way, stopping Miles from moving closer. “Can you do this another
time? She probably has a concussion and can’t think straight right now. We can call
you or come to the station once she’s feeling up to it if you want, but let’s not
do this right now.”

Miles peeked around Caleb and looked Paige over. Then he nodded once, sharply, but
with the trace of a smile on his lips. “My card.” He pulled a business card from his
pocket. Then he pointed at Caleb. “Take good care of her.”

When the doctor released her to go, Caleb drove his truck up to the front circle and
a nurse pushed her out to meet him in a wheelchair. He hopped out, helped her up into
the passenger seat and closed the door.

For the first few minutes into the drive home, tension stacked between them like a
tangible wall.

Staring out the front window at the black curtain of night, Caleb worked his jaw back
and forth. “Paige, I—”

“I don’t want to talk to you.” Eyes trained out the passenger window, she didn’t trust
herself to look at him.

“I just wanted to say that I’m glad you’re okay.” His hand brushed against hers on
the bench seat.

She moved her hand into her lap, away from him. Of course he would act like they were
still seeing each other. How could he know she’d seen him and Amy together? But she
didn’t want to talk about it. Not now. This terrible night didn’t need to be made
worse by enduring a drawn-out relationship conversation.

“Paige,” he started again.

“Please. My head is pounding like a rock concert. Just. Don’t talk,” she whispered
and bit her lip.

Don’t cry.

Don’t cry over another disappointing, cheating man.

Chapter Fifteen

A
quick glance in his side mirror said he should have shaved and taken a nap, but Caleb
needed to get over to Maggie’s and see Paige. She’d acted strange last night. Different
and more closed off from him than before.

When he arrived home he’d spent the night combing through paperwork in Sarah’s old
office, looking for the charter papers for Sarah’s Home. She might have left the board
in charge, but there had to be a loophole to supersede the board’s decisions. And
if he couldn’t find a way, at the least, he and Paige were done serving there. Maybe
it was time to let go of one of his last connections to Sarah in order to keep Paige
safe.

After locating the paperwork, the fine print and lawyer talk had given him a good
headache, but he’d found the information he’d been looking for. She might have left
the board in charge of Sarah’s Home, but only Caleb’s named appeared on the bank account
that paid for the nonprofit. The answer had been in front of him all the time.

So, he might not have the power to declare the nonprofit was done, but he could stop
paying the bills. Without the lease, insurance and utilities paid for, the place would
have to shut down. So it was settled. As horrible as it made him feel to play the
money card, he was closing Sarah’s Home. That’s all there was to it.

Caleb parked his truck and made his way to the West Oak Inn’s blue front steps, where
Ida and Maggie sat. “How’s our patient?”

Ida reached over to pump his hand once. “Nothing a little love can’t fix.”

Leave it to Ida, the town romantic, to say something like that.

He fought the smile tugging at his lips. “And how are you two?”

“Beat.” Maggie yawned. “This concussion stuff is murder on the sleep cycle.”

“How about you both go rest for a while and I’ll keep an eye on her?” He helped Ida
hobble back to her cottage next door.

“Aren’t you supposed to be teaching?” Ida poked him in the ribs.

“Timmons gave me the day off.” He made certain Ida was settled in her house before
going back to the inn.

He found Paige with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders in Maggie’s living room.
A scowl on her face announced that she must not be feeling well yet. The stitches
on her chin screamed at him—he couldn’t keep her safe. Had failed to protect her.
Would never be able to take care of her like she needed.

They needed to talk. He had to know why she’d gone to Sarah’s Home when he asked her
not to.

“I know you’re tired, and you’ve been through a lot, but we really need to talk.”
He snagged a seat on the armrest near her.

She shifted away from him. “I don’t want to talk to you.”

Deep breath. “That was fine last night, but not today.”

Didn’t she realize how much it bothered him that she went to Sarah’s Home? She’d promised
not to. He deserved to know why she’d gone.

“You don’t get to decide that.” She crossed her arms.

“Listen.” He modulated his voice. “I’m really frustrated with you. I asked one small
thing of you and you couldn’t—”

Paige exploded to her feet. “You’re frustrated with me?” Her voiced reached a level
he hadn’t heard before. “Well, know what, I’m angry at you. Downright angry. I thought
you were someone you’re not, and I want nothing to do with you anymore.”

He reeled back as if she’d struck him. “What are you talking about?”

She stalked toward him. “I saw you with Amy. Don’t act like you weren’t with her yesterday.”

When had he been with Amy? Only when... “You were at the high school? I never saw
you.”

“Of course you didn’t see me.” Her laugh held no humor. “You wouldn’t have gotten
all cozy with her if you’d known—”

Paige had a history of men cheating on her. Of course her seeing him talking to Amy
would have pressed that button. It bothered him that she didn’t trust him to be faithful,
but hopefully that would come with time.

He raised his hands in a stop motion. “I didn’t do anything with her.”

“I saw you.”

“What? You saw me hug her?” He shrugged. “Yeah, I hugged her. She was there to apologize
for how she’s acted toward me the last couple years. Seems she had a conversation
with you that is making her rethink the way she’s been behaving.”

Paige stopped pacing “A conversation...with me?”

“Yes.”

“I didn’t know if she’d taken it to heart or not.”

“Evidently she did, because she asked me to forgive her. I’m sorry if offering her
a hug hurt you. At the time I thought it was appropriate.”

So she watched him interact with Amy and went to Sarah’s Home to get at him? He sure
hoped not.

Give me patience. I need it.

* * *

“So you weren’t...?” The fire inside of her defused instantly and she wanted to apologize.

“I would never cheat on someone. Ever.” Caleb’s voice was low, laced with hurt. “Is
that why you went to Sarah’s Home?”

“Partially.” And because one of the students needed her.

Caleb got to his feet and took her hands. “I get that you were upset, but next time
talk to me about it, okay? You can’t do things like that when you’re not thinking
straight. You put yourself in danger and got hurt.”

“Right. And that was my choice. Remember, if I get hurt, that’s my choice.” She tugged
on his hands lightly.

He let go of one of them and ran his hand through his hair as he released a stream
of air. “But that’s the problem. That choice still affects me. Do you understand what
you put me through last night? Paige, I was out of my mind when I got the call from
Miles. I thought....I thought... My mind went straight there. It was happening all
over again.”

Her stomach corkscrewed. She really had put him through a lot. Then again, what’s
to say someone he cared about wouldn’t get hurt doing something mundane tomorrow?
She could get in a car wreck on the way to the post office. It didn’t take going into
an urban part of Brookside to be in danger. Why couldn’t he understand that?

“I’m sorry you had to relive that. It must have been horrible.” She tried to meet
his eyes.

“It’s okay. We just need to do better at keeping you safe in the future—for both our
sakes.” His shoulders visibly relaxed. “I found Sarah’s paperwork last night and realized
there’s a way I can shut Sarah’s Home down for good.”

Paige dropped his hand. “You want to do what?”

“That place was never my dream or passion, and it holds too many bad memories for
me now. I just—I want it gone.”

“So step down. You can leave.” They didn’t need him with that sort of attitude anyway.
“Don’t ruin it for everyone.”

“No.” He shook his head. “The only way to make the place safe is to close the doors
for good.”

“Safe for whom? For you? Maybe. But I always thought you cared about more than yourself.
Those kids deserve an uplifting place in that town.”

He started to pace. “But it’s not safe for any of them, and I’m done worrying about
what’s going to happen there.”

“So that means you just need to walk away from it.” Paige fisted her hands to keep
from shaking. “Leave Sarah’s Home to the people who care about it.”

“I may have to do that if they open a new account and can raise enough money to keep
the doors open. If they do, then I still want you and me to stop working there. We’re
done.”

She rounded toward him, almost coming nose to nose. “You can’t tell me what to do.
Even though I know you think you’re doing the right thing to keep me safe, all you’re
really doing is keeping yourself safe. Don’t you see that? In the end, it still feels
an awful lot like control.”

“This is important to me, Paige.” He rested his hands on her shoulders. “If you want
to be with me, I don’t want you at Sarah’s Home. It’s that simple. I’ve worried even
when I’ve been there and been able to protect you. But now what I’ve feared happening
has come true, so I was right about the danger. Let’s just be done.”

“Let me get this straight—it’s stay at Sarah’s Home and lose you, or stay with you
and never go back to Sarah’s Home?”

He nodded.

She shrugged out of his hold. “That’s ridiculous.”

“It’s fair. And it’s only if I can’t close Sarah’s Home, which I’m pretty certain
that I can.”

“I was so wrong about you.” She stepped away from him and turned her back. “You know,
I somehow fooled myself into thinking you were this caring guy, but you’re not. You’re
just as controlling as Bryan was.”

“Don’t compare me to him.” He raised his voice slightly.

“I guess I don’t want to be with you, then. I choose Sarah’s Home.” She grabbed the
door handle and flung open the door. “You can leave.”

Caleb walked through the doorway, but when he reached the porch he turned back to
face her. “Are you sure that’s what you want?”

“Positive. And if you try to close it, you better be ready for my fight. My dad’s
a lawyer after all, and his counsel’s only a call away.” She quickly turned and shut
the door.

At least with the door closed she couldn’t see the hurt look in his eyes anymore.
The one that made her want to cry uncle and tell him she wanted to be with him and
they could work this out.

A moment later, she leaned against the thick door and slid down to the ground. It
was better this way. Better without Caleb in her life. Better alone.

Right?

* * *

Saturday morning, Caleb sat at the kitchen table letting his cereal get soggy.

His normal routine would include stopping by the farmer’s market with Shelby and then
heading over to Maggie’s to see if she needed anything, or if he could catch Paige.

Not today.

“Are you sure you won’t come with me?” Shelby bumped her elbow to his.

He scrubbed his hand over the stubble on his chin. Maybe he should shave. No, he’d
wait until Sunday night. “I need some time to myself. You know how I am.”

“You aren’t going to eat this, are you?” She grabbed his bowl and dumped it into the
sink. Shelby kept her back to him for a moment, and then she whirled around, her eyes
bright. “Know what? I do know you, and sometimes you need to be alone, but other times
you need to hear it like it is. Most of the time, you don’t get that second part because
everyone’s afraid to say anything challenging to you.”

“Oh, really?” Caleb leaned back in his chair. This ought to be interesting.

Always a stream of constant movement, Shelby straightened a pile of mail while she
talked. “You’ve got to stop blaming yourself for everything that happens to people.
You assume too much responsibility.”

Caleb splayed his hands out on the table and stared at his work-worn fingers.

Next she conquered the trash can, yanking out the bag as she spoke and putting in
a new lining without skipping a word. “Here’s the thing. You can’t change what happens
to people, but you can change your response.”

Great.
Something else he’d been doing wrong. Not trusting God, assuming and something about
how he responded to things. Pile it on.

“For example.” She grabbed the dishrag and washed down the counter. “When I got hurt
you said it was your fault.”

Resting his elbows on his knees, Caleb put his head in his hands. Why would she bring
that up? “Because it
was
my fault. I pushed you out when you wanted to talk that day. If I hadn’t you wouldn’t—”

She clunked plates together loudly, making it impossible to speak for a moment.

He raised his eyebrows to her, trying to convey a brotherly knock-that-off cue.

Jutting the dish towel in his direction, she let out a huff. “Unless you have a time
machine you’re not telling me about, you have absolutely no clue what could have happened
had something gone differently. We can’t change the past, but you do get a chance
to shape the present. But, bro, you’ve been living in the past a long time—and not
just since Sarah. This problem started years before that.”

Shelby dropped the rag into the sink then crossed back to her vacated chair. She laid
her hand on top of his, and her voice grew quiet. “It was my choice—not yours—to go
to the church the night we found out Dad was leaving. Just like it was Sarah’s choice
that night to go to Brookside and Paige’s choice the other night.”

Then why did he feel like he’d failed them?

Emotions clogged his speech and burned the back of his eyes.

He cleared his throat. “Tell me what’s so bad about not wanting people to get hurt.”

“Nothing...except that the pain-free life you want everyone to have would be one without
growth.” She squeezed his hand.

“So you’re saying it’s a good thing that you got burned? Because that’s ludicrous,
Shelby.” He pulled his hand gently away so hers thudded on the table. “You should
have never had to endure that.”

She pulled her sleeves so they rode low on her wrists. “But I did. So instead of saying
it shouldn’t have happened, you need to accept that it happened and decide what that
means and how that circumstance will shape you moving forward. I did. But you don’t
do that. You stay rooted in the past and focus on what could have been.”

Caleb braced his elbows on the table and stared at her. “You’ve been wanting to say
that for a long time, haven’t you?”

Rising from the table, Shelby smoothed out her hair in the hallway mirror and grabbed
her canvas bag for the market. “Today seemed like the right time.”

With her hand on the knob, she looked at him over her shoulder. “Good talk?”

“I guess.”

Flashing a smile, she left out the front door. Caleb cradled his forehead in his hand.
So much to consider. Why hadn’t he processed through these issues before now? Because
no one thought to confront him.

The front door swung back open. “Oh, and Caleb, go win Paige back.”

Right. Paige. Her ability to stand up to him had been the catalyst to so much introspection
lately. Good stuff. Things like what Shelby just said.

But Paige didn’t want to be with him. At least, not romantically. She’d made that
clear yesterday.