One Step Closer(20)

If it were possible, he’d have preferred to keep them eternally separate. Not because of Macy, but because of Wren. Their history was long and involved, and despite Macy, Sam, and the nameless guy he’d seen her with in New York, Caleb was in the dark about her feelings. Maybe she’d gotten over her hero worship, maybe she hated him; maybe she’d never forgive him… or, maybe she had residual feelings, as he did. Too bad she had no clue how he felt. His gut tightened. What a f*cked up mess.

He’d deliberately kept his relationship with Macy on the back burner, and because he told her next to nothing, she wouldn’t understand the complexity of his situation with Wren.

At least, from Caleb’s point of view they were casually dating, though he realized Macy might not agree.

“Fuck.” Caleb groaned and pulled out his phone. Maybe he could cut Macy off at the pass, though he knew a call would give her too many opportunities to ask questions that he didn’t want to answer. Instead, his thumbs began typing out a text.

Hey. I’ve gotta stay a few days to sort things out.

No need for you to fly in.

Even in his mind, the words were cold and emotionless. Last week, he was all over this woman; hot as hell for her body, but now her presence would bring about a whole shit storm of implications. He didn’t have the energy to answer an inquisition about his childhood, or Wren. And maybe, he didn’t want Wren asking questions about Macy, either.

He shook his head at himself. He was emotionally closer to Wren, but given the state of his relationship with her, she had no right to question him about Macy. He also knew that he needed to keep Macy out of his decision about his father’s estate. He was fairly sure doing so would scream he didn’t have serious intentions about her, but the fact was, he hadn’t spent more than a couple of minutes ever contemplating more than “fun-for-the-moment” with Macy. Maybe he could be ready for more in the future, but this thing with Wren had to be dealt with first.

“Ugh!” he groaned, wishing his head would shut the f*ck up. “What a cluster f*ck!”

He glanced down at the screen of his phone again and after another second’s pause; Caleb sent the text, praying to God Macy would get it in time to stop her from getting on a plane.

Afterward, he got up to start stripping off his clothes. He needed a shower, and maybe he’d try to take a nap. God knew; he was tired. His eyes were burning and he was in desperate need of a reprieve from his overactive brain.

The white envelope containing his father’s letter glared at him from atop the two other larger, manila ones; conspicuously sitting there, sucking at him like a black hole he had no hope of escaping.

Caleb pushed it from his thoughts. He got up off the bed and crossed his strong arms, curling his fingers around the hem of his T-shirt, he started to pull it over his head with both hands. His belt was barely unbuckled, and he was kicking off his shoes when his phone started ringing. He knew without looking that it was Macy. Reluctantly, he reached for the phone, which was still on the bed where he left it.

“Yeah?”

“Babe, you don’t want me to come?” Her voice held a slight whine.

Caleb winced slightly at the endearment. He’d never thought about it before, but now it seemed awkward and uncomfortable. He closed his eyes at the same time he began to rub them both with his thumb and index finger of the hand not holding the phone.

“Well,” Caleb began; searching for the words that would accomplish the two things he wanted; to keep her from showing up and keep from hurting her feelings. “There’s just a lot of mundane paperwork to deal with that will take longer than I expected, and I see no point in you wasting a week of your time, too.”

“Caleb,” she sounded bored and annoyed, now. “We knew you’d have the will and properties to deal with, besides the funeral. So, why are you changing your mind now? I want to be there for you.”

He finished pushing his jeans down with one hand, and then kicked out of them, awkwardly, while still keeping hold on the phone. “I’m not changing my mind. I told you that you didn’t need to come in the first place, remember?”

“But you shouldn’t be there alone.”

Caleb’s instincts told him to tell her he wasn’t going to be alone, but he clamped his mouth shut, not ready to get into a “Wren” discussion. He felt irritated that Macy didn’t listen to what he needed from her. She was just another thing weighing him down at a time when he had too much other shit to handle.

Macy continued when he didn’t speak. “I can help you, and besides, I’m already on my way to the airport. I’ll get in late tonight.”

Well, that’s that, he thought cynically. Great.

He’d met Macy in a bar not long after his failed trip to New York for Wren’s birthday, and you could say she’d been a useful diversion for a while. They went out a few times, and he genuinely liked her; she was smart, sexy, and in San Francisco. Macy worked for a venture capitalist, so it wasn’t long before Caleb had spilled all of his dreams of starting the automotive firm, and then, Macy was plotting how she could help him. But, Caleb didn’t just want to design cars, he wanted to build and sell them; that would take a lot of green, as in millions or billions of dollars, and he would need some major investors to partner with him. It seemed like fate that he’d met her.

That changed after Macy found out that Caleb was sole heir to Lux Cosmetics. She wanted to stop working on the business plan they were putting together for the pitch to her firm, thinking it would be a piece of cake for Caleb to simply ask dear-old dad for the cash.