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“I’m visiting my friend Caitlin at her parents’ place. You remember Caitlin. She just got engaged, and her fiancée is here too. They surprised me with the news.” Jenni’s mouth felt dry.
She wanted to talk to him, but she wanted him to disappear. She was still angry about the infamous “plus-one.” How dare he just appear like a magician?
She kept her composure.
“And…” asked Caleb, waiting for her to continue.
“And he’s been visiting with some friends of his, this morning and early afternoon, so Caitlin thought it’d be fun to zip over to Ocracoke for a few hours. We need to get back for her mom’s big holiday picnic. And you?”
“Strange, I did almost the same thing,” he said as he mopped some perspiration from his forehead. “I haven’t seen that place since I was a kid, and I thought earlier today might be a good chance to, as you say, zip over and back. I’ve been at my buddy’s place in Frisco, ‘The Tackle Box.’ It’s where we stay for the tournaments.”
They looked at each other, and there was an awkward silence.
“Look, Jenni,” Caleb began. “I tried to text you a couple of times after your event. Did you even read what I had to say? It was a great time. It was so successful. And my cousin really wanted to meet you.”
Jenni was taken aback. She hadn’t read any of his texts. She just deleted them when she saw his name. She couldn’t pretend that she had. But did he just saycousin?
“Cousin?” she repeated out loud. “I had no idea. She seemed so, well, so friendly with you.”
Caleb looked at her carefully, and then it dawned on him. “You thought she was my date!” he exclaimed. He wiped his forehead again. “She’s my first cousin. We grew up practically next door to one another when she still lived in Raleigh. She’s like a sister. She’s beautiful and crazy and she’s an influencer on social media.”
Jenni stood there dumbfounded. “An influencer?” She was starting to feel very foolish yet again.
“You know what an influencer is. Her name is Lacey Prescott. Look her up. She’s got a gazillion followers, and she wanted to giveRaleigh Winsa big shout-out. I thought it would be alright, but I wanted to check with you first,” he said, then paused for a moment. “Unfortunately, I never heard back.”
Jenni’s shoulders sagged. She didn’t know what to say.
But he wasn’t finished. “We tried to see you after the event, but you disappeared. She had a very early morning flight to catch to New York City, and she insisted we get her back to her hotel. She allowed me to wait for a few minutes, and then she just about dragged me out the door. I told Tory to let you know I wanted to see you.”
Jenni took a deep breath.
“Caleb, I guess I owe you an apology,” she began. “I just assumed she was your girlfriend. I mean, she was very familiar with you, but now I understand that. I made a big mistake. I’m sorry.”
Caleb looked at her for a long time. Behind him, she could see Caitlin walk toward her, stop, and beat a hasty retreat when she realized that Caleb had somehow made an appearance on the ferry.
“Let me ask you something else, Jenni,” he said. “Was I seeing things? Or was that you out offshore fishing yesterday?”
Jenni nodded yes.
At least my eyes weren’t playing tricks on me,she thought.
“I thought I saw you too,” she admitted. “But I convinced myself I was the one seeing things.”
She realized she had just given away the fact that she thought of him more than her lack of responding to his texts might have implied. She looked away for a moment and then looked back at Caleb. He was frowning.
“I accept your apology for ignoring my texts,” he began seriously. “But I think it will take a bit more than that for me to completely forgive you.”
Jenni’s eyes widened. She thought being sorry would be enough. Then she saw him grinning.
“I know this is very last minute, but I’m leaving tomorrow morning as I have something I have to do this weekend,” he said quickly. “And I’m doing the fireworks thing tonight as well. But do you think we could maybe get an ice cream after your picnic and before everyone leaves for Avon?”
“I guess so,” she said. “I’m not sure where your cottage is, but since we’re both in Frisco, it wouldn’t be hard to come back here to that little place on the docks.”
“Good idea,” he agreed. “And I think there’s a walkway out to the beach we could check out. How about I meet you at five-thirty?”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Jenni thought ice cream sounded interesting. But by accepting his invitation, was she opening up another can of worms? She was thrilled with the invitation but very frightened about where this might all end up. With a big hurt for her, no doubt. She was about to decline when she heard Caitlin behind her, apparently deciding she wanted to hear what was going on after all. So, it was Caitlin who said, “I think that would work perfectly, Caleb.We’ll be done eating by then, and I’ll personally excuse Jenni from clean-up.”
