“You have asbestos.”
Oh, no.
“You’re kidding me.” Cal frowns.
“It’s pretty typical in homes of this age. We need to contact an asbestos abatement contractor who works with us to come out and carefully remove the mineral fiber from the walls, floors, and insulation.”
Cal pulls out his phone and gets to researching, completely tuning out my panicked gasp.
“They’re going to have to rip out walls?”
“Potentially. I’m not going to open up any more holes without the proper equipment.”
“What’s the good news?” I rub my temple.
“It shouldn’t take longer than three weeks, give or take how soon someone can come out here to clear it out. By the time you come back, all of it should be removed and we can get started on the demo. It will set us behind a bit with our timeline, but you can spend the time picking out the finishes.”
My world spins around me like I just stepped off a tilt-a-whirl. “Whoa. Wait. What do you mean come back? Where are we going?”
Ryder frowns. “Now that we found asbestos, I don’t recommend you stay here until we have professionals remove it.”
“Why not?”
Cal speaks up, his jaw working. “Because there is no way I’m letting you live around something that could cause you cancer.”
“Cancer?” My eyes widen.
“Pack your bags because you and Cami are staying with me at the guesthouse.”
After Ryder leaves, I do my own thorough search about what kind of health risks asbestos poses while Cal takes the initiative and books an abatement team to get started on Friday once I pack up the rest of the house.
I only have two options for a temporary living situation, one of which is automatically a no-go because Violet has two roommates right now and no guest bedroom for me and a small child. Delilah and Wyatt’s two-bedroom starter home is my only other option. I just need to call Delilah once she gets off work and ask her first.
Cal doesn’t seem to like me evading his order to stay at the guesthouse. He hasn’t stopped following me around all afternoon, which has been both annoying and useful when I need to reach tall items.
I navigate my way through the garage, careful not to run into any of the stacks of boxes Cal lined up for the moving company.
I get distracted by his presence and trip. He catches my elbow before I fall face-first into a row of boxes.
“Will you stop following me around everywhere?” I rip my hand out of his grasp.
“Not until you agree to not staying here tonight.”
“Fine!” I throw my hands in the air. “I didn’t plan on sleeping here anyway.”
His brows pull together. “So, you’re staying at the guesthouse?”
“No.” I struggle to reach for the luggage on the top shelf despite balancing on the tips of my toes.
Cal reaches around my body and grabs the suitcase off the shelf for me. The brush of his chest against my back has me suppressing a shiver, a fact that doesn’t seem to go unnoticed based on the way he trails a single digit down my spine.
“Where are you going to go then?” His question has a certain edge to it.
Oh, that’s it.
I turn on my heels, and our chests brush. “I don’t know, but there is no way in hell I’m sharing the guesthouse with you.”
“Why not?”
I throw my hands in the air. “Because it’s a terrible idea!”
“Afraid you can’t control yourself around me?” His signature smile comes back at full force, turning my whole world upside down.
My scoff lacks its usual bravado. “I can control myself.”
“Is that so?” The pad of his thumb follows the curve of my bottom lip, sending a zip of energy down my spine. My head pathetically tilts closer to him.
Emphasis on pathetic.
I shove him away, although the push is weak at best. My fingers itch to dig themselves into his shirt and pull him back, solely so I can feel the rush his touch provides.
That right there is why you can’t live with him.
I slip out of his cage and charge away, dragging the suitcases behind me to the soundtrack of Cal’s laugh.
I spend the rest of the day packing up the necessities for Cami and myself, which is an exhausting endeavor in itself. I’m not looking forward to packing everything else away before the asbestos abatement team comes.
I don’t have a lot of keepsakes. The most important thing I own happens to be a shoebox crammed full of memories. I climb the ladder in my closet and search for the box. It’s kept out of reach, hidden behind an old Santa gift I forgot to put under the tree a couple of years ago.
I brush a shaky hand across the dusty shoebox top before removing it. My hand trembles as I sift through the countless photos, tickets, a few of Cal’s hospital bands from all the times he got injured because of me, Cami’s favorite pacifier, and other memorabilia from my entire life. It’s bittersweet how years of memories can fit in a single shoebox. There was once a time I dreamed of more for myself than this town. I love Lake Wisteria—I really do—but it was never meant to be the adventure.
It was supposed to be the final destination.
Now you will finally have a chance to make your dreams come true.
With the money I’m bound to get from the selling the house, there isn’t anything stopping me anymore from traveling around the world and opening my own bakery here.
Well, nothing except for myself. Self-doubt always rears its ugly head at the worst times, making me wonder if I really have what it takes to be successful.
You’ll never know if you don’t try.
“Mommy!” Cami runs into the closet.
My grip on the shoebox slips and falls against the floor, bottom side up.
“Oh, no! I’m sorry!” Cami gets on her knees and lifts the box, proceeding to dump all the contents.
“I got it. Don’t worry about it.” I climb down the ladder.
She holds up a photo with a big smile. “Look! It’s you and Cow-l holding hands!”
Of all the photos she found, it had to be the one of him and me at the Strawberry Festival six summers ago.
“Mm-hm.” I pluck the photo from her hands and drop it into the box.
Her head tilts. “Do you like him, Mommy?”
“We were friends.”
“Like kissing friends or friends friends?”
Por el amor de Dios. “Just friends.”
A rare frown crosses her face.
“What?”
“Nothing,” she replies with a tone that says the opposite.
You need to be more careful with him when you’re around her.
Cami is the last person who should be getting her hopes up about us. Whatever happened in the past between Cal and me is just that.
The past.
26
ALANA
“I was wondering how long it would take you to come to the right decision.” Cal holds open the door with a grin.
My eyes turn into slits. “I have one condition.”
“Name it.”
“No drinking in front of Cami.”
His smile slips. “Of course not.”
I release a breath. “Thank you.”
“Hi!” Cami pops out from behind me.
“What’s up, kiddo?” He kneels to Cami’s eye level. His eyes widen when she throws her arms around his neck and squeezes until his skin turns red.