Page 34 of Hidden Truths

“It’s going to be okay, Cal. No one in this house is going to hurt her. She’s as safe as she’ll ever be here with you.”

“And you,” he says, placing his hand over mine where it’s still resting on his arm.

“Family meeting time!” Belle’s voice calls from the bottom of the stairs.

Cal sighs and kisses the top of Cora’s head. “I’ll put her down for her nap and meet you in the living room.” He turns and makes his way into Cora’s room, not waiting for me to respond.

“Do you think you can talk Cal into making Midnight Macaroni?” Belle asks from where she’s sitting at the kitchen island.

I look at the clock on the stove. “It’s one in the afternoon.”

“It’s more of a stress thing than a time thing,” Willa says from behind me, making me jump.

“Maybe we can watch Practical Magic. It’s my comfort movie,” Belle says.

“Mine too,” Willa agrees.

“Where are Kai and Mav?” I ask, looking around and not seeing them.

“Kai went to get Mav. He’s uh . . . not doing so hot after finding out what his dad did to you yesterday,” Belle says, her shoulders slumped.

“I was just freaked out. He didn’t touch me or anything.” I don’t know why I’m defending the asshole. Probably because I hate when people are upset.

“Doesn’t really matter, considering the snowball he set in motion,” Willa says with a shrug.

“What’s Cal’s comfort movie?” I ask, circling back to Belle’s comment. For some reason, it bothers me more than it should.

“I don’t think he has one. Never really needed one.” Belle says, her face scrunched as she thinks.

“Yeah. Cal is never really stressed. He just lets things roll off his shoulders. Always admired that about him,” Willa adds.

I just blink at the two of them. “What do you mean? Everyone needs comfort sometimes.”

“Not Cal. Don’t get me wrong, he gets frazzled when he’s stressed, but that passes pretty quickly,” Willa says.

Are they talking about the same person? The man I know has been in a constant state of stress since I met him. Kai and Mav arrive with my dad right behind them before I can open my mouth to argue.

“Do either of you know Cal’s comfort movie?” I ask the guys. They both look at me, confused. I don’t know if they’re confused about why I’m asking or if they don’t know. There’s no way he doesn’t have a comfort movie.

Apparently, this is a hill I’m willing to die on.

“Talladega Nights.”

I smile but don’t bother turning around. I can feel Cal’s presence. I probably didn’t even need him to speak to know he was in the room.

“Told you,” I say to everyone in the room. They all just shrug.

“How come you didn’t jump?” Willa asks.

“I knew he was there. I could smell him,” I joke. Well, mostly. I can smell his clean, woodsy scent from where he’s standing behind me. Is it weird that I kind of want to stick my face in his chest and just smell him?

Yeah. Definitely weird.

“I’m not sharing my popcorn with you tonight,” Cal huffs in mock outrage. I turn around to see him frowning at me, but then he winks. I know what he’s doing. He’s breaking the tension in the room. I’ve seen him do it a million times over the weeks I’ve been living here.

“You’re the one who steals my popcorn! We went through a whole box last night! That’s eight bags, Cal! You ate eight bags of popcorn!” I shout playfully, going along with him. I think he needs to break the heaviness in the room more than anyone else that’s here right now.

He smiles at me appreciatively, knowing full well he only ate two bags.

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