Page 24 of Free to Dream
“To start with, the right to use your phone number, Cassidy, and not just because of this wedding.” His voice is quiet, almost a growl. He never loses eye contact with me. “Despite what Ry and Jared put in that contract, I’m not your damn client. They are. I’m only on there in the event of…problems they can’t handle without some intervention.”
My eyes briefly flit to the left as I think back to my conversation with Jason. Caleb notices and reads my face immediately. “You’ve talked with Jason, then.”
I nod.
He sighs, and suddenly there’s something deeper in his eyes. All traces of flirtation are replaced with regret. True regret. “I wasn’t planning on taking the misunderstanding that far, Cassidy. To be honest, when you assumed I was the groom…” He pauses, the silence flowing between us.
“One of three,” I correct him, breaking the silence. For some reason, I’m trying to make this easier, to ease his burden. To make him smile.
“One of three.” His lips quirk before he lifts his mug to them. “I thought I would let it go for a second and explain. Then you started cussing at your brother. Then the next thing I knew, you snapped into this professional and we had most of the wedding planned in one hour. I was caught between being impressed and in shock. I never had a chance to correct you before Ryan and Jared showed up.”
I notice we’ve both moved, unconsciously, leaning toward each other in the booth.
I frankly don’t know what to think. My head is spinning.
I gnaw on my lower lip. Caleb has no idea the storm he set off in the Freeman family with that little stunt. I nod slowly, and my concession seems to release him. Leaning back, he relaxes into his seat as I remain thoughtful, unable to break our détente to leave.
The silence starts to stretch out uncomfortably when Caleb admits wryly, “If it helps any, I think that little stunt might have saved my brother’s relationship with his best friend.”
With Jared? Had something else happened?
“What do you mean?” I ask cautiously. I hadn’t felt any discord between the grooms.
“I mean, Ryan ripped into me so hard for being a dumb shit, I think I’m still bleeding from the shots he took.” Caleb feigns being affronted. “As Ry tends to think that about me quite a bit, it was really Jared agreeing with him that drove home the point that I was a shit the first time I met with you.”
I knew I liked this particular set of grooms for more than their taste and decisiveness.
“Oh?” I smirk, feeling more in control again.
Caleb appears thoughtful, choosing his next words carefully. “After the yelling died down that night, Ry called Jason and apologized for his big brother being a douchebag. He used me to open the door for a much more difficult conversation that needed to happen years ago between him and Jason.”
My lips part as I let out a little puff of air.
Caleb chuckles softly. “I told him I could apologize for my own poor behavior, but Ry used it as an opportunity to apologize to Jason and Phil. Things didn’t end well with them despite their initial business discussions, and Ry hadn’t figured out a way to make it right.”
Caleb’s gaze drifts out the window. “Jason’s a good man. A terrific one, in fact. Ry was so confused back then and didn’t realize what he was feeling, or what Jason felt, until he met Jared. Hell, when I spoke with Jason yesterday—”
“You spoke with Jason?”
“Yes. He and your brother were generous enough to meet me in the city for lunch. I told Jason he could pretty much ask me for my life and I would give it to him. He took care of Ry while I was overseas in the Army.”
His jaw tics as I watch him become lost in his memories. I don’t interrupt. I give him a moment with his thoughts while I think back to what Jason told me last Monday evening.
“I’m glad they talked.” My words bring Caleb back to the here and now. His fathomless dark eyes bore into mine. Mine don’t break away. I’m captured, pulled under, and drowning.
“Have dinner with me,” he says abruptly. Before I can answer, he blurts, “No, I take that back.”
I feel the eruption of righteous indignation coming. Gee, that was quick. My brows, which had been rising, lower, but my eyes narrow at the man across the table. He merely grins.
“We’ll have dinner, and afterward, I want you to join Ry, Jared, and I at a wedding.”
I laugh outright. Because…a wedding?
“Seriously? You want to take a wedding planner to someone else’s wedding?” I raise my cappuccino to my lips. Caleb’s eyes dance over the cup.
“It’s not really the wedding as much as it is the party. The person who got married is someone Ry went to school with and our family knows very well. He used to date her.” Caleb winks and I shake my head. The irony is not lost on me. “It’s a destination wedding, and the bride and groom are throwing a country party at the Molly Darcy’s in Danbury. They rented the place out for the night, and we’re doing dinner before that.”
“Country night in an Irish bar?”
