Caleb

Chapter Four

"You can't be comfortable," she said, hearing the loud creaks from the wood beneath his large frame.

"I'm not here, remember," he answered without moving or opening his eyes.

Lifting one of his arms, he put a hand behind his head, using it as a makeshift pillow.

"Seriously, you don't look comfortable at all. You can use one of these cushions you know."

"Lainey would you mind being a little quieter, you're kinda ruining this for me," he said unmoved with his eye still closed.

An uncontrollable smile spread across his face when he opened one eye  and peeked over only to see Lainey with her jaw slacked open at his statement. But even then, that tiny smile was still residing in the corner of her wide open mouth and he was slowly becoming addicted to it, trying to find ways to make it spread across her face and up to her eyes.

Silence filled the space between them before her angelic voice found its way to his ears.

"Poetry," she said.

He raised up onto his elbows at her words, thrilled that she actually wanted to engage in conversation.

"What?"

"You asked what I was reading...it's a book of poetry...my mom's favorite book actually."

"Yeah?" He desperately wanted to hear more and pulled himself back up to a seated position beside her.

"I never really liked it when I was younger, but now...when I've had a really bad day and I wish I could talk to her, I just grab one of her books and I read."

Lainey's words tugged at Caleb's heart strings in a way that he was extremely familiar with. He was no stranger to loss and hated to see anyone fight that battle alone.

Planting his hands down on the wood floor he scooted his large body a few inches closer to her, not touching her and leaving a small amount of space between them, but hoping to comfort her through proximity.

"I'm not a huge fan of poetry, but this was my mom's favorite book to read to me. Probably because it put me to sleep. It's just a book of classics - Dickinson, Whitman, Lord Byron..." her voice trailed off as if she were lost in thought.

Her smile was so genuine, but her words were laced with so much pain, it took every ounce of Caleb's self control not to scoop her up and hold her, but he knew better than that. In the short amount of time he had spent with Elaina, it was obvious that she needed to warm up to him on her own time and she was well worth the wait.

"I never really could get on board with poetry either. I think it was all the rhyming. You know...one fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish and all that."

Lainey's smile spread all the way across her face and up to her eyes, wrinkling her nose and causing Caleb's breath to catch in his throat.

"Did you just compare Emily Dickinson to Dr. Seuss?" Her shoulders bounced with laughter as she pressed her lips into a line that curled up on both ends in an attempt to stifle it.

"Yeah I guess." he confirmed, scratching the back of his head.

Tilting her head back as she laughed, she brought her eyes back down to meet Caleb's and held them there, studying him as if she was trying to read him like one of her books.

"Caleb, I don't know whether to hate you or to love you," she said playfully.

"Well I can tell you which one I prefer," he chuckled.

His response caused another ripple of laughter to emerge from her sweet lips.

He loved the genuine happiness on her face and tried his best to take a mental picture of how relaxed and happy she was in that moment.

There you are Lainey. Nice to finally meet you.

As her laughter subsided, one of her statements stuck out in his mind, one that he couldn't ignore and wanted to ask her about.

"Can I ask you somethin?"

"Sure," she said with a smile.

"You said you come up here to read after you've had a bad day. What was so bad about today?" he asked with genuine curiosity, hoping that she would confide in him, but fully prepared for her to shut down.

She let out a sigh and repositioned herself, but this time she turned to face him before curling herself back into her neat little ball with her knees pulled to her chest, which had to be a good sign.

"I'm just...tired." she admitted, resting her chin on her forearms.

Caleb cocked his head to the side, wanting her to elaborate, because he knew there was more to it than being physically tired. 

Closing her eyes, she sat there for a second or two as if she were trying to find the right words to describe how she felt and what was bothering her. She opened her eyes, having found the words she wanted to use, but her expression was pained and sad. It was a defeated look and he absolutely hated it. 

"The more time you spend with me Caleb, the more you are going to see that everyone wants something from me. Everyone has ulterior motives, all revolving around money and power, and I am so tired of having to decipher everyone's intentions. It's exhausting to not be able to trust anyone and even more exhausting to have everyone's eyes on me all the time."

She let out a sigh and folded further into herself, squeezing her legs tighter against her chest as she stared at the floor.

No wonder she reacted the way she did today. Right now I'm just one more set of eyes on her and one more person she can't trust.

He wished like hell he could wrap his arms around her, but restrained himself, trying to respect her need for space. 

"Why are you looking at me like that?" she asked, bringing her gaze from the floor up to his eyes.

"No reason, I just think I understand you a little better now," he said genuinely.

Rewarding him with a half smile she held his gaze, with her sleepy blinks getting slower and slower.

"You know you can trust me Lainey." he soothed.

A sarcastic grin spread across her face at his words.

"That still remains to be seen," she said playfully.

I know you don't trust me now, but I'm gonna fight like hell to show you that you're safe with me. I'm gonna win you over Lainey Flores.