Page 46 of Take Me to the Wedding

I tried to think of a snappy comeback, something about all my bones being intact and not stepped on or something, but my mind was blank, dead as my uncharged phone. I felt flushed and hot, and my knees felt wobbly, like I might collapse in a heap if I didn’t reach our table ASAP. Yet we both stayed rooted to the spot.

I steeled myself away from all that feeling. It wasnothing. Just a fun, unexpected moment. Nothing more.

Tell that to my heart, which was beating more rapidly than during a decent round of cardio.

Every time we promenaded, held hands, swung our partner, or had a reason to touch, it was electric. Call it a square dance high. Make that aCalebhigh. As we’d learned the age-old dances, his eyes sparkled, he smiled, and we’d both let loose. We’d laughed and squawked like chickens and do-si-doed and had a great time.

He didn’t even step on my feet, I thought with pride, even though they were a lot bigger than Lilly’s.

Dancing, the music, the moves, the fun. And something more that I did not want to admit even to myself. I thought about what Mia had said. That I tended to run from relationships. What would it be like if I didn’t run? If I took a chance?

The caller thanked everyone for coming, and the fiddlers began packing away their fiddles. Somehow we were still standing there, connected in some unspoken way. I knew that once one of us moved, it would be broken forever.

Across the barn, Quinn spotted us and started walking toward us.

Gonow, I told myself.

“Thanks for dancing,” I said, tearing my gaze away. I couldn’t keep looking into Caleb’s eyes. I was losing my sense, my direction.

With this crazy energy, if it were another time, another guy, I’d expect an invite. Or give one. To get a drink. To go out. To go to bed.

But this was not the time, and this was definitely not the guy.

How could we have barely touched, not even have kissed, and yet I felt this way?

This was a man who, until three days ago, was on my most unlikeable persons list. Who believed in romantic fairy tales. Who was here to discover if he was truly still in love with his first love.

Remembering that woke me from my stupor. I was not going to—could not—interfere with his plan. It would only lead to heartache. And I would never, ever do anything to endanger my friendship with Mia.

“I’m going to cut out now,” I said at the same time that he said, “I’m going to head back to the cabin.”

“Let me walk you back,” he said.

“No, I’m fine. Thanks. See you in the morning. You still want to meet before breakfast and discuss some strategy about Lilly for the hike?” I couldn’t believe I’d just said that. As if I could offer a useful strategy to use with Lilly. As if I wanted to! That was laughable, really.

Considering the fact that Lilly had shown up at the last minute, complained about being bored, and then left, it didn’t seem like things were going that well. And that didn’t even count the french fry fiasco. I wasn’t sure what else I could do to turn that tide, especially with all the emotions churning inside me. But I’d put it out there, and I was nothing but good on my word.

“Yeah, sure,” he said. “Thanks.”

Great. I was thinking what an idiot I was as I turned and started walking toward the path. What was I doing? Not what I was supposed to be doing. I was muddying the waters. Interfering in decisions Caleb had to make all by himself. Suddenly I turned around and called his name.

I was surprised to find him still standing there, watching me.

That threw me a little, but I focused on what I wanted to say. “The matchmaker test—you and Lilly passed with flying colors.” That seemed to catch him by surprise. “Just wanted you to know.”

Then I left before Quinn could figure out where I’d gone. But I didn’t really care about Quinn. I had to get away before I could think any more about what the hell had just happened.

Mia was right. Iwasrunning away. But I had no choice.

ChapterThirteen

Caleb

At around six forty-five the next morning, Brax and Gabe spied me outside the barn. They caught me carrying a cup of coffee with a lid on it that I’d gotten from a coffee station near the front desk. I was on my way to meet Sam to supposedly talk about a good plan for Lilly, as we’d all be spending the entire day together.

After a restless night, I’d already come to a few conclusions. One was that the Lilly of now was definitely not the Lilly in my imagination. The real Lilly was not who I’d thought and dreamed she was. And the Samantha of now was not my enemy. Far from it. But that was as far as I got, and I decided that the safest plan for the weekend was just to survive it and to go home and try to process everything then.

I had to admit something that I never dreamed I’d think, that Samantha was fun. She was friendly and kind and open to new experiences. And she’d gone over and above for me and Lilly. Even worse, something between us was building—make that threatening to bowl me over—and it was nowhere near friendly in nature. It made me question myself—how was it possible to fall for someone so quickly? I never really fell for anybody. I didn’t have infatuations. I’d clung onto my vision of Lilly, my regrets, my what-ifs, for all these years.

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