Page 67 of Bittersweet Legacy

I chuckled “I’m sure you have. Well, thank you for doing it.”

“Don’t mention it.”

The rest of the drive was done in quite a companionable silence, which I only broke to sing along with the radio.

“Why don’t you sing with me?” I asked as we got closer to Port Harbour andSomeone You Lovedby Lewis Capaldi started.

“I don't sing,” he replied looking at me as if I'd lost my mind.

“Caleb Astor doesn’t, but Cal is funny and he enjoys humoring me. Come on, sing with me – I’m sure you know it.”

He sighed but started to sing low, unsure, but as we reached the chorus, his voice was strong, gravelly, beautiful. I stopped singing and just listened to him, singing it like he meant it, like he felt it.

He was mesmerizing, I finally understood my mother’s words about James Astor, his magnetism, his charm.

Looking at Caleb, his smile was like staring at the sun and when he looked at you, really looked at you, he could make you feel special, like you were the only person in the world.

Caleb stopped signing abruptly, turned to me with a glare. “You stopped,” he chastised.

“I know,” I replied breathlessly not realizing how much these few minutes had affected me. I shook my head looking away.It’s all an act, Esme, he is pretending – don’t let this fake version of him make its way into your heart. You’ll leave and never see him again.

I closed my eyes, it had been a mistake, a big mistake. I’d been with him for an hour and I was already confused, I couldn’t add any more ‘what could have been’ to the equation.

“Esme?” He asked resting his hand on my shoulder.

I jerked up, turning toward him.

“We’re here.”

I turned toward the quaint little harbour with small shops. It wasn’t very busy, probably because it was a weekday and I liked that, I liked the intimacy of walking around close to Cal.

“Is there anything special you want to do?” he asked, taking his hands out of his pockets.

I shrugged. “A bit of window shopping.” I stopped in front of a small piece of jewellery. “Don’t you think it’s pretty?” I asked Cal grabbing his hand.

He tensed for a minute looking at our fingers intertwined together. I knew boys were not especially big fans of PDA but Caleb was shying from any kind of touch.

“Umm?” He asked, squeezing my hand a bit tighter as if to see if he liked it.

I pointed to the Angel wing collections in the window and to the necklace which had angel wings in the form of a heart.

He leaned closer to the window and wrinkled his nose. “It’s awfully cheap,” he commented. “Probably only silver sterling.” He snorted. “Who would buy that?”

“Normal people who aren’t friends with diamond dealers,” I teased. “I happen to love it.” I pulled him away. “Come on,” I pointed to the shop called ‘Oceanview’ “I like the dress in the window, I want to try it.”

Caleb sighed and rolled his eyes. “Did you just want a day out to go shopping?”

I shrugged, trying to hide my apprehension with humor. “No, not particularly, but no girl passes up a chance to do it.” There were so many variables in this plan, so many unknowns, so many things that could go wrong. What if Caleb found out what I was planning? I quickly glanced at him. Maybe he’d be happy. Maybe he would even help me run if it got him his freedom back. A freedom he hated me for stealing even if it had been against my will.

As expected, except for a couple of old ladies rummaging around, the store was pretty much empty. I sighed with relief when a girl with long dark hair like Ben’s walked up to us with a ‘commercial’ smile on her face.

“May I help you?”

My eyes connected with her gold name tag ‘Alice’ and my smile widened. I didn’t even take that variable into account when I asked Caleb to take me to Port Harbour – it was a possibility she wasn’t even working that day, and then what?

Caleb took the lead, probably seeing how I just stood there like a weirdo.

“Hi, yes,” He pointed at the mannequin in the window wearing a red corduroy button-front skirtall. “My fiancée would like to try this dress please,” he added bringing my hand up and kissing the back of it.

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