No Love Allowed(8)

“But—”

“Do you want this gap year or not?” He interrupted Caleb’s interruption.

Backed into a corner, all Caleb could do was nod.

“Good.” A predatory glimmer crossed his father’s icy gaze. “Along with the internship, I want you to attend all the firm’s summer events and be on your best behavior.”

Caleb swallowed. His carefree summer spent planning a European adventure slipped through his fingers like sand. “Is that all?” The question tasted bitter on his tongue.

“If I hear even a hint of inappropriate behavior, our deal is off.” JJ’s features hardened. “Am I making myself clear?”

Biting back a curse, Caleb felt the muscles in his neck strain as he nodded. Then he turned on his heel and walked out of the office.

“Oh, and Caleb,” his father called out after him. “You start Monday.”

The smugness in JJ’s tone frayed his nerves. Something had to be done. He pulled his phone out from his back pocket and dialed Nathan. It took his cousin a couple of rings before picking up.

“Nate,” he said into the receiver. “Meet me at the gazebo in half an hour. Bring Preston.”





Four


DIDI CLOSED THE front door and leaned heavily against the wood. The silence in the house confirmed what she already knew: Her mother was nowhere on the premises. Probably took another shift at the diner or the grocery store. She hated how much her mother had to work, but after everything that had happened today, her not being home was what Didi needed. The last thing she wanted was to explain herself.

On the walk back from Coward’s Cliff, while her socks squished inside her boots, her clothes slowly dried, and her hair frizzed, she thought of Caleb. She imagined him sprawled on the dock, resting on his elbows. The hem of his shirt rode up slightly to reveal an inch of what promised to be a taut stomach. Abs? She hoped so. Beads of water clung to his gorgeous hair. Really, the image was photo-shoot ready. A smile stretched across her lips. She couldn’t wait to start painting him.

She had seen her share of good-looking guys while working at the club, but how could she have missed someone like Caleb Parker? He had a face made for canvas. Then she sighed when the reality of her life came crashing back.

Because of him she had lost her job.

No.

Not because of him.

She had lost her job because she let her emotions get the better of her control. Hindsight is twenty-twenty. Nothing she could do now. And it wasn’t like she would see Caleb again, so it was a good thing she had left him there on the dock.

A shiver ran down her spine. She hadn’t dried completely. First things first, meds. That was the most important item on the long to-do list she had compiled on her walk home. Maybe if she had remembered to take them that morning, she’d still have a job. She reached for the switch by her shoulder and by some miracle the light in the hallway turned on. Hallelujah! Her mother had paid the power bill after all.

She pushed away from the door and pulled off her boots. They fell to their sides with a thunk. Leftover seawater streamed from the inside. Her socks followed. She wiggled her toes, savoring the feel of the hardwood beneath her pruned skin.

The door to the second-floor bedroom opened, freezing her on the way to the kitchen. “Didi? That you?”

She didn’t have to wait long for Angela Alexander’s thin frame to fill the top of the stairs. Her mother had been beautiful once. Before Didi’s diagnosis. Now, while she buttoned her store clerk uniform, she looked . . . tired. The lines on her face seemed to deepen with each month that passed. The brown hair she tied in a ponytail was ratty and badly in need of conditioner, maybe even a trim to get rid of the split ends. They had been living on generic shampoo for months. In order to pay the bills and buy meds, her mom juggled multiple jobs, and the stress had taken its toll on her body. A good, strong wind would blow her over.

Guilt sank like a boulder in Didi’s stomach. Her job at the country club had helped ease some of the burden her condition put on their family. Without that money, they would have to choose between paying utilities and buying meds. The meds always won out. She sagged against the door again.

“Why are you wet?”

The apprehension in her mother’s tone, more so than the question, whipped Didi’s head up. Her mother jogged down the stairs and headed straight for her.

“I got fired today,” Didi said. No use hiding the truth when she didn’t know how long it would take to find another job.

Concern manifested as brackets on each side of her mother’s mouth as she asked, “Why weren’t you answering your phone?”

Thumping the back of her head against the door, Didi reached into her pocket and retrieved a battered flip phone held together by duct tape. It dripped. “I forgot I had it on me when I jumped off Coward’s Cliff.”

“What?” Her mother took Didi’s face in both hands, searching for the breakdown that usually followed . . . an episode. “You didn’t take your meds again. I checked.”

Of course she had. She was the one who placed each pill into the daily organizer. The portion marked SATURDAY AM was still full.

“I’m fine, Mom,” she said, yet the words sounded hollow to her ears. “There wasn’t any power, so the alarm didn’t go off, and I woke up late. And no hot water.” She sighed again. “Basically everything went downhill from there. I promise I didn’t intentionally forget to take my meds. I was just about to take them when you came out of your room.”