Page 70 of Until We Break

I was too surprised to follow him out. I sat in the kitchen with my coffee as his car sped out of the parking lot. I didn’t know what I was going to do, I only knew I didn’t want Dean’s help. I didn’t like obligations. I didn’t want to owe him anything other than the hourly rate for his legal services. That was it. What he offered had too many strings attached, he just hadn’t named them out loud. I shivered thinking about it. Unnamed strings were the most dangerous ones.

THIRTY-FIVE

Margot

Ididn’t know where we were going. The text from Caleb said to wear something pretty for dinner. I had smiled at the message. Caleb thought my cotton sundress was pretty. The simplistic and breezy fashion I was now used to on Marshoak Island wouldn’t pass for an evening out for drinks and dinner in New York. I tried not to compare his taste to Ethan’s. It wasn’t fair. They couldn’t be more different. Neither could my feelings.

I flipped through the clothes in my cramped closet. It would have helped if I had a clue what Caleb planned for tonight. There was a black cocktail dress wedged in between a jumpsuit. I wasn’t sure why I had packed it. When I left New York, I threw everything I had in the car. I didn’t spend time sorting clothes or making a donate pile. I could have sold some of these dresses and made money for the trip. None of that was a consideration. There wasn’t enough time to think through the next steps and I had to vacate the apartment. Thinking back to the beginning of the summer was a blur.

The dress reminded me of dates with Ethan. I didn’t want it. I didn’t want to relive the memories of feeling small and lessimportant. I didn’t want to remember how invisible I felt around his friends. How I had to fight for the oxygen in their space. I ripped it off the hanged and balled it up. I’d start a new donation pile. I shoved it in a plastic bag. Before I knew it, I had emptied half the clothes in my closet. The clothes I’d bought for the tour. The cocktail dresses Ethan insisted I needed for client dinners. They were gone. I surveyed the mess I’d made. It was a good mess though. It was exactly the kind of cleanse I needed.

I scrunched my nose. There weren’t a lot of options to choose from anymore after decimating my closet. I had to do what I could to make a sundress look more like a dinner dress. Shit. I only had thirty minutes before Caleb would be here to pick me up. I grabbed one and got to work.

The look in Caleb’s eyes was all I needed when I held open the screen door. His gaze followed every inch of my body from my ankles, along my legs, over my hips and waist, all the way to the gloss on my lips. It was as if each part of my body reacted with shivers when he focused on it. I felt my nipples perk with the heat of his stare.

“Is this okay?” I asked, playing up an innocent coquettish mood. “I don’t know where we’re going. So mysterious.”

I’d never seen Caleb dressed up before. As he approached, I was intoxicated by his scent. I loved how he smelled after his shower when his face was clean-shaven. He wore a blue button-down shirt and khaki pants. It wasn’t New York dressy, but he might as well have been wearing a tuxedo by Marshoak dress codes. He was sexy and I thought a little off-balance in the clothes, in a cute endearing way. The truth was he could never look bad.

I walked into his arms, inhaling him. His hands folded along my lower back.

“You look amazing,” he whispered in my ear.

“So do you. I like this look on you.”

He chuckled. “You making fun?”

“No way.” I stood back, keeping a hold on his hands. “I’d never make fun of this.” I smiled, admiring how his broad chest looked in the shirt. His biceps were unmistakably sculpted in the sleeves. “Not when you are this hot.” I waggled my eyebrows.

He grabbed my ass playfully, pulling me quickly to his body. “Stop making me feel like you’re going to stand here and objectify me all night.”

I laughed. “I take it all back.”

He opened the passenger side door for me, and I slid in. “Are you going to tell me where we’re going?”

“You’ll see.” He started the car and we drove away from the marina.

The only thing I wasn’t surprised about was when Caleb drove us onto the ferry. He cut the ignition and slid his palm to my knee.

“I guess you knew we had to go to Harbor Pointe.”

“That was the only thing I had figured out.” I leaned toward him, catching his lips in a kiss. We were startled when one of the ferry workers tapped on the hood.

“Parking break,” he reminded Caleb.

“Right. Sorry.” He sighed pressing the break in place. The water was choppier than usual. I felt the car sway with the ferry. I was worried it was already making me queasy.

Caleb must have seen the expression on my face. “Hey, let’s walk out and get some fresh air.”

I nodded. I wanted this date to go well. Not just well, I wanted it to be part of us. One of the nights we created together. It already felt as if there was anticipation between us for what was going to unfold. It wasn’t nerves or anxiety. It was the promise of this night. I didn’t want it ruined because I was nauseated before we even arrived at our reservation. I stepped out of the car and inhaled the salt air. After three more big breaths, I started to feel better.

“Just keep looking at the horizon,” Caleb advised. His hands moved up and down my arms reassuringly. “Breathe with your eyes set right over there. It will pass.”

We began to pull into the docks. “I think I’m better.” I smiled up at him. “We can get back in the car.”

Caleb waved at the guys on the ferry as we drove over the ramp and onto the mainland. We drove past the street to Carrie and Lucas’s house.

“How do you think he’s doing?” I asked. I didn’t have to say his name. Caleb knew.

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