No Love Allowed(24)

He threw his head back and laughed before he said, “Come on, let’s introduce you to some people.”





Eleven


AS CALEB PARKED in front of her house, an overwhelming silence spread between them that Didi didn’t quite know the source of. She thought she had played her part well. She even thought she’d done the right thing by pissing off Amber. She had been happy to do it, owing the girl for all the harsh words she had thrown at her the day they’d met. Caleb had seemed okay with it. No admonishments had come from him. She had followed all his rules. Interacted politely. Her smile had come from a genuine place. So why the silence? He had been quiet since they left.

Wringing her hands on her lap, she finally said, “If I did something wrong, tell me so I can improve, change things.”

Caleb startled as if realizing she had been sitting beside him this whole time.

“Didi . . .” He whispered her name so softly she almost wouldn’t have caught it if not for the movement of his lips. He took a lock of her hair and twirled it between his fingers. “Did I get a chance to tell you how much I like your hair?”

Resisting the need to run her fingers through the strands, she clasped her hands together. “Why the sudden cold shoulder? I mean, I thought I did okay today. Is it the Ashley thing?” She shifted in her seat so she faced him. His hand fell away from her hair. “Please, you have to tell me. I don’t want this to end. I’m having way too much fun. Did you see how Mr. What’s His Name . . .” She snapped her fingers. “That bald guy.”

He laughed, breaking the uncomfortable tension that had built between them. “You mean Mr. Pritchard?”

“Yeah, him. When we talked about the Impressionists and how I believe the Expressionists were better?” She spoke with her hands, gesturing like she was picking words out of thin air.

Caleb slapped the steering wheel from laughing so hard. “And his face got all splotchy?”

She laughed too, feeling some of the icky tightness in the air ease. “Oh yeah!” She clapped her hands once. “I actually thought he would die on the spot.”

“I think he did just a little bit.” Breathing hard, he settled heavily against the seat.

“Then why so quiet?” Didi pushed her thumbs together.

Shaking his head, he sighed, then ran his fingers through his hair, further tousling the dark locks. It took all of her self-control not to follow the path of his fingers with her own. In her mind she convinced herself the touch would have been for research purposes. For her painting, so she could accurately capture him. But maybe he had reached his PDA limit for the day. Besides the few minutes with Amber, Caleb hadn’t stopped touching her.

“I really feel like I’m not doing enough to help you.”

“Hey, you picked me up, gave me a new look courtesy of the fabulous Nathan, and brought me to a party,” she said in all seriousness. “I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Especially during that bit where I thought Ashley’s head would explode.” When he gave her a bland smile, she sucked her lips into her mouth to keep from saying anything else.

Maybe because she was making a funny face, or maybe it was something else, but Caleb’s features softened. “I know you said no, but . . .” He reached into the backseat to retrieve a black box and handed it to her. “Here.”

She opened it and found a cell phone inside.

“What the hell is the meaning of this?”

“You said yours doesn’t work anymore and that you didn’t have money for a new one. This one is fully paid for the summer.”

She blinked fast to keep the tears from falling. If he had intended to keep her feelings for him nonexistent, he was succeeding. At the moment, she only had room for annoyance. Trust him to ruin a nearly perfect day.

“Growing up, my mom and I only had enough to get by. Sometimes not even that. Once in a while our electric bill goes unpaid, but we manage to survive. I don’t know what it means to grow up with money. I can’t go out and buy a new phone on a whim, but I’ve never felt as cheap as you’ve made me feel just now.” She threw the empty box at his head.

He raised his hands just in time to deflect the incoming missile. The box bounced off the dashboard and landed between them. Exhaling slowly, he thumped the back of his head against his seat.

“Please don’t make this an issue, Didi. My number is in the contacts,” he said. “The next event is next week. I will text you the details a day before.”

She went from frustrated straight to pissed. The tears receded like a well drying up. Not wanting to throw the phone itself at him, she opened the door and stepped out onto the sidewalk. The bastard was getting on her last nerve.

“Didi,” he called. “Didi, what the hell?”

Slamming the door, she leaned down and glared at him through the open car window. “Tell Nathan I will have Natasha’s dress dry-cleaned and sent back. Thank you for today. I had fun.” She said the last word with so much venom, Caleb’s mouth actually opened without anything coming out.

Satisfied, she turned on her heel and strode to her house without looking back. When she reached the front door, his car’s engine roared to life. The second she stuck the key into the lock he sped away.

Once she was inside the house she went straight to the kitchen and ran smack into her mother in her peach diner uniform. They collided with an oof, and she dropped the phone and her watermelon clutch while her mom braced herself against the kitchen table.