Page 12 of Holiday Star
Caleb peers at them. “Two.”
“Where do you live?”
He hesitates, “Um…everywhere?”
Okay, maybe that’s a bad question for someone who travels so much.
I try again. “What city are you in now?”
“L.A.” His gaze is clearing.
Good. So, just a mild concussion. I didn’t give him permanent brain damage.
He touches his scalp. When he brings blood-stained fingers to his face, his eyes go wide. “What?” He struggles to sit up, and this time I let him. Hooking an arm around his shoulder, I haul him into a sitting position.
“What happened?” he asks.
“I hit you.”
Caleb’s brow furrows. “Hit me? Why?” He touches his head again and grits his teeth against the pain. “With what?”
“I thought you were a robber breaking into the house. I hit you,” I wince as I say it, “with a wrench.”
His voice rises in alarm. “A wrench!”
“Yeah.” I bite my lip. “About that... Sorry.”
Confusion hardens into outrage. “I can’t believe you hit me.” He clasps his head, blood seeping through his fingers. “Is this how you treat all of your house guests?”
“House guest,” I scoff, adrenaline still pumping through my veins. The aftermath of fear leaves me shaky, ready to lash out. “More like a midnight murderer. Who the hell breaks into someone’s house in the middle of the night like this?”
“Uncle Seth gave me a key. He said I could come anytime.”
He’s bleeding more briskly now that he’s sitting. I jump up and grab a handful of paper towels off the counter. Crushing them into a ball, I knock his hand aside and press the wad of towels against the gash, using my other hand braced on the back of his head to hold him in place. His hair is silky soft against my palm.
“To most people, anytime means daytime. Not 3:00 a.m.” I hurl an outraged glare at him.
“Well, excuse me. I just got off a flight from Paris, so I’m not exactly sure what time it is.” He’s all sarcasm and anger, like he has the right to be offended.
I press harder, putting pressure on the wound to stop the bleeding. I mimic his snark, matching it with my own. “We can’t all be world travelers like you, but there is this new invention, it’s called a clock. They even put it on the front of your phone for extra convenience. Maybe you should try looking at it next time. You know, before you break into a house in the middle of the night and scare the bejesus out of someone.”
His face flushes red to match the blood that stains the paper towel. Furious, slowly enunciating each word, he grits out, “I didn’t break in. I told you Uncle Seth gave me the key.”
Annoyed, I press harder.
“Ouch.” Caleb grabs my arm as if he wants to pull me away. He doesn’t, though, just holds his position. His hand is so big that it completely encircles my wrist, his thumb and middle finger overlapping.
We sit in silence like that for a few minutes. Him on the floor and me kneeling next to him.
The quiet gives me time to calm down. “Don’t you know? Seth and my mom are gone. They left for Japan yesterday.”
“What?” His head jerks back, and I chase it with the paper towels. “I didn’t know that. Why didn’t anyone tell me?”
A bitter laugh leaks out of me. “Don’t feel too bad. I just found out about it two days ago. It was all very quick. I’m staying here for the next month to watch the house and make sure the construction goes to plan.”
“That’s awfully nice of you.”
I shrug. “I was supposed to be here anyway. There’s this big research paper I’ve been working on. I’ve got time off from the hospital to finish it. I already have all the data gathered. I just need to do some analysis and write it up.”
