Page 36 of Holiday Wedding
10 days until the wedding
Gwen
Why hello, my beautiful future wife,” Caleb says as soon as he picks up my FaceTime call the next evening. I grin at his words. He’s sweaty and gorgeous in a slim fitted workout shirt with the sleeves cut off. He rubs a towel over the back of his neck as he walks out of his personal gym and up the stairs of the penthouse.
“Oh, sorry, am I interrupting?” I climb onto the bed in my hotel room. Alvina went downstairs to pick up dinner. I figured I’d get in a quick phone call to Caleb while she’s gone.
“No, John just left,” he says, referring to the trainer who helps him work out several times a week. Caleb takes a swig from his water bottle. For the millionth time, I’m captivated by the way his Adam’s apple bobs when he swallows. Such a simple thing, but I notice everything when it comes to him.
I miss him.
“What’s up with Alvina and Wayne? Any new developments?” he asks, his image on my phone screen bouncing as he walks up the steps.
“Same as the last couple of nights. Alvina creeps back into our room a few hours after she sneaks out, obviously trying not to wake me. I’ve been tempted to throw off my covers and yell “gotcha,” but I’m worried I’ll give her a heart attack.”
Caleb chuckles at that. “Did you ask her about it yet?”
“No.” I pull the bedsheet up to cover my legs, using the movement as an excuse to avoid making eye contact.
“Why not? It’s been a couple of days.” Caleb quirks his head to the side.
“I don’t want to make it weird. I still have to travel with them.” I sniff, not wanting to admit that my feelings are hurt.
Caleb’s mouth tightens like he wants to argue, but he holds himself back. He’s reached his bedroom now. He throws the towel into the laundry hamper and goes over to a yoga mat laid out on the floor in front of the large windows that overlook Central Park.
“Look,” he says, holding his phone up to the view. “It’s snowing. Started the day you left. I forgot to tell you.”
Sure enough, outside the window, fluffy white snowflakes drift slowly through the air. I’ve stood at that window before and watched as the park was magically transformed, like a sugar plum fairy flew over it waving her wand. Watched trees get frosty jackets of ice to coat their bare branches. Watched snow melt into the water of the serene pond across the street. I’m sad to not be there with Caleb. To miss out on the beauty unfolding in my adopted city.
“So pretty,” I croon, pressing my face to the phone.
“Yes, you are,” he sings back, and we both laugh. “Oh, you meant the snow,” he says with a rueful quirk of his lips. “It’s nice until the cars drive through it, and it turns into a gray mush that stains the bottom of your pants.”
“Shh,” I tell him, my eyes locked on the picture-perfect scene. “Don’t ruin this moment.”
He shoots an indulgent smile my way and says, “So easy to impress my little beach baby.”
I wrinkle my nose at that, which makes him laugh, that rumbly guffaw I like. I’d do anything to hear that sound.
He props the phone up on a nearby chair and starts his post-workout stretching, which is an even better view than the one outside the window.
“How’re the lectures going? Are you still loving it?”
“It’s great,” I say, grinning, excited to tell him all about the cancer conference.Caleb continues his routine and listens attentively as I fill him in on the presentations I attended and the interesting people I’ve met.
Once that’s done, he says, “I’m happy for you. Sounds like you’re getting a lot out of it.”
I nod in agreement. “I miss you, though.”
“I know. Me too.”
Finished with his routine, Caleb moves to a chair in the corner of the room in front of the window. He sits perched on the edge and tells me about his day. Rehearsals, lunch with a producer friend who’s trying to recruit him for an upcoming movie, a meeting with his manager, his workout.
Then he surprises me. He says, “Let’s play the game.”
I understand right away what he’s talking about. It started after we broke up and he came to New York to win me back. I used to ask him all kinds of random questions to get to know him better. The catch was that for every question I asked him, he got one in return. We’ve kept it going since we reunited. It’s entertained us during long walks or date nights.
“Yes,” I say and beam. “We haven’t played in a while.”
