Page 75 of Make it Real
“That’s perfect, Callie,” June called. “You’re spacing the lights exactly right. I can’t thank you enough for helping today.”
“I’m just glad to be here.”
I really was. Maybe that sounded funny, but I liked being part of their celebrations and happiness. I liked being part of a big event like this. The real trouble was, I liked being part of theirfamily. The camaraderie and the teasing, the way they all lent a hand when needed.
The only thing I didn’t like was the thought that wiggled like a worm in my brain, reminding me this would all be over in another week. Maybe sooner. Once Gran was gone, Jed and I wouldn’t need to fake anymore.
She hadn’t said anything to me about it, but she’d started packing in earnest again. I’d found more boxes neatly taped up and labeled stacked along one living room wall. Her bedroom looked like a tornado had hit it, but she had fresh boxes packed up in there, too. The kitchen was missing everyday utensils she’d squirreled away, but I’d never dare complain. She was working like a woman who’d decided to be ready for the movers on Monday.
Monday. Five more days, and my relationship with Jed would crumble away.
That reminder curled my stomach in on itself. As much as I liked to think maybe this wasn’t all fake, that maybe something real was building here, too, I couldn’t forget how he’d said marriage wasn’t in the cards for him. Like a chicken, I’d never asked why. And even if I didn’t need it immediately, I’d like to know that marriage might happen someday down the line.
I wasn’t sure I could date Jed in earnest for only a little while. Chances were good I’d want forever.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa.”
I looked down to see he had returned with the water bottles and stood at the bottom of my ladder. He frowned up at me, a little storm cloud brewing behind his eyes.
“I’m gone five minutes, and you guys send Callie up into the rafters? Come down.”
“What? No, I’m putting lights up.” I shook the spool of lights, but that made him grab hold of my ladder as if it might fall down.
“Hardy can do this, he shouldn’t be asking you to do it.”
I didn’t like the edge to his voice. He sounded even more upset than he’d been with Greg, because this time, there was no pretending at friendliness, just pure irritation on display.
“I didn’t ask her to do it.” Ty stood on another ladder on the other side of the barn, drilling holes into the ceiling to hold the fabric swags June wanted. “She volunteered.”
“Because she’s too nice to say no.”
Jed’s dismissive tone surprised me, not just for its fierceness, but for how it grated. I liked him protective of me, but this skated too close to patronizing, like I couldn’t possibly have made this decision on my own.
“I volunteered because I wanted to,” I said, glaring down at him. “It’s not a big deal.”
“It’s a big deal to me. Come down.”
“Not until I’m done.”
“If June wants lights up there so bad, she can do it, andyoucan sweep the floor.”
My warm, cozy feelings for this man iced over as my frustration reached its peak.
“Jed Evans, I am climbing down, and then you and I are going to have a talk.”
Just inside the door, Wade whistled low. Jed whipped his head around to him, but Wade was smart enough to find something useful to do before he got involved here.
I climbed down the tall ladder, silently fuming as my foot hit every rung. Everyone else stayed completely still while my heart raced and my face had probably gone beet red. When I got to the floor, I passed June and walked out the big barn doors without even checking to see if Jed came with me. If he had any sense at all, he would.
I found a shady spot beneath an oak tree, far enough from the barn we wouldn’t be overheard, before I turned to face him. “What is your problem?”
He looked marginally less mutinous than he had in the barn, but no closer to giving in. “My problem is them sending you up that ladder.”
“They didn’t send me, I offered to do it.”
“It’s not safe up there.”
“You climb ladders every damn day!”
