Page 2 of Well That Happened

Caleb chuckles. “I thought that was you. You look… different.”

“Probably because I’m not covered in someone else’s bodily fluids today.”

He blinks, his eyes impossibly blue. “I’m sorry?”

“Remember, nursing student?” I say, and he nods. “You’d be surprised how often I come home with someone’s vomit on my shoes.”

His eyebrows lift. “Charming.”

“I aim to please.”

He pauses, then asks, “How’s Fletch doing?”

The question throws me for a second. Most of the guys act like my brother disappeared off the face of the earth once he got hurt. But not Caleb.

“Fletcher is well,Fletcher. He’s doing okay,” I say, surprised by how much that answer catches in my throat. “In rehab. Still trying to boss me around from two hundred miles away.”

Caleb’s smile softens. “That sounds like him.”

He steps back, tipping an invisible hat. “Well, good to see you.” Then he’s gone, disappearing back into the hockey-guy booth.

Lexi fans herself. “That boy was looking at you like you were dessert and he skipped dinner.”

I shrug, trying to ignore the way my skin still tingles where his voice touched it.

Lexi stands, checking her phone. “Hey—I’m catching a ride with Maddie. You good to walk?”

“It’s two blocks. I’ll survive.”

She kisses my cheek and disappears.

I toss back the last of my drink, grab my bag, and step out into the night air.

The sidewalk is cold and quiet, the late October wind biting through my coat. I’m halfway down the block when I hear footsteps behind me.

“Hey.”

I turn.

It’s Caleb.

He jogs up beside me. “Are you headed out?”

I nod once.

“Let me walk you.” His voice is low, sending a shock of warmth through me.

“I’m not helpless, you know.” I raise an eyebrow.

His expression is amused. “I didn’t say you were. But it’s dark. And you’ve had whiskey.”

I sigh. “Fine. But only because I’m tired and you’re pretty.”

He laughs, and damn if it isn’t warm, low, anddangerous.

The silence stretches comfortably as we walk. He doesn’t crowd me. Doesn’t push. Just exists beside me in this weird, gentle way that makes me feel seen and unsettled.

And also possibly a little horny, which is deeply inconvenient. But it’s not like I have time to date with my schedule.

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