“I wasn’t sure what time you wanted me over, so I thought I’d grab some food before popping in on you. But…” He shot a look at the store and grimaced. “I arrived too late.”
She would have said just in time. What if the thing she’d seen had not run off at Caleb’s arrival? Would it have snatched her son like it had nabbed Melanie?
If it’s even the same thing, you ninny.
Still, what were the chances of two occurrences of supposed dinosaurs happening in the same day?
“I’ve got food in my trunk. If you want to follow me,” she offered.
“I don’t suppose I could ask for a ride. My brother dropped me off because he needed his truck tonight.”
“Sure.” She could handle the short ride from here to her place. This was a chance to prove Caleb’s proximity didn’t bother her. She could handle it.
Liar.
As soon as she slid behind the wheel, she noted her hands were shaking. Caleb noticed, too. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Fine. Just fine.” She sighed. “No. No, I’m not. Do you mind driving?”
He didn’t question her shakiness. Probably blamed it on her recent fright, and yet the truth was, she felt like a teenager all over again around him. Tongue-tied, hyper aware, and high-strung. She didn’t know if she’d scream if he touched her or would melt into a puddle.
Either way, was it perverse to want to find out?
As she switched sides, she peeked in to see Luke buckled in his booster seat, his gaze intent on Caleb.
Apparently, her son’s little mind had been churning with questions because one popped free. “Are you really a soldier?”
“I was.” Caleb glanced into the rearview mirror to look at their son. “I left Bitten Point a long time ago and fought in a war overseas.”
“Did you kill people?”
“Luke! That is not an appropriate question.” While Renny didn’t mind a healthy curiosity, she drew the line at morbid.
Caleb placed a hand on her knee, an intimate gesture that sucked away any further protest, especially once she realized Caleb wasn’t bothered. “I don’t mind answering. I did kill some people. It’s what soldiers do. We go to war and do what we’re told.” So grimly said.
“Is the war how you got hurt?”
Renny could have moaned in embarrassment. “Luke, you shouldn’t pry like that.” Even if he asked some of the questions she’d wondered.
“It happened during my last mission. I got burned in a fire, a big one in a place where I was held prisoner.”
“Someone captured you?” It was her turn to blurt out a query.
For a moment, she thought he wouldn’t answer. His jaw locked, and his fingers gripped the wheel of her steering column so tightly his knuckles turned white. “Yes. I was a slave for a while to a…” Caleb trailed off as his eyes noted Luke’s intent gaze in the mirror. “A really bad person.”
“Did you kill them?”
“No.” Stark. Flat. “But fear not, that person won’t be bothering anyone else ever again. The good guys won the day.”
The building Renny called home loomed, and she derailed the serious talk by pointing and saying, “This is our place.” She waited for his derision, but Caleb simply pulled to the curb and turned off the motor.
Luke led the way up the outside steps to the apartment they had over the store.
Renny was empty-handed but for her keys, Caleb having insisted on bringing the groceries in. How domestic of him.
As a matter of fact, the next few hours were a surreal vision of what kind of life they could have had if he’d not abruptly left her.
While not a cook—unless catching a bass and spitting it over a fire in the bayou counted—Caleb was helpful in chopping up vegetables while answering questions from Luke, who it seemed had suddenly turned into a chatterbox.
“What’s your favorite color?”
“Black.”
“Mine is blue. What’s your favorite chip? I like ketchup.”
“Barbecue.”
And on it went. Nothing as intense as the questions in the car, and a good thing, too, because Renny was having a hard enough time keeping her balance without getting caught up in Caleb’s past.
Sitting at the small table as they ate almost choked her. This is what families do, eat together, talk, laugh.
She kept having to remind herself this wasn’t real. Not permanent. Caleb might be there for the moment, but there was no guarantee he would stay.
As the hour drew late, Luke couldn’t hide a yawn. Renny said, “Time for bed. Say goodnight to Caleb.”
Her son shook his head. “Don’t want to go. Wanna stay talking to my daddy.”
The moment froze. Renny couldn’t have said who was more stunned by Luke’s use of the word daddy. Actually, given the fact that Caleb’s eyes looked bright—is he crying?—she knew who.
It wasn’t easy—a part of her screamed, No, he’s mine, how can you waltz in and steal him from me?—but this wasn’t about her. “Caleb, why don’t you tuck Luke into bed? Make sure he brushes his teeth first, though.”