Authors: Ashley Blake
“Jean do you want me to look
somewhere else besides the kitchen? Maybe someone put it in an office or
something. If you tell me where to go, I can go look for you.”
“Thanks Emma, I appreciate that but
I just remembered that no one picked the cake up from the bakery! Can you
believe that? We’ve been so crazy busy around here that is just slipped our
minds!”
“What slipped your mind?” I knew
that voice but I couldn’t quite place it. As I turned in the direction of
where it was coming from, I could not believe my eyes.
“Oh Caleb, thank goodness you’re
here! We forgot to pick up Mary’s cake from the bakery! Can you believe
that? Oh, I’ve been so crazed around here! Can you be a dear and go pick it
up? Mary will have a fit if we don’t have her strawberry whipped cream cake
for her.”
“Of course Jean, no problem at
all.” Caleb stood looking at me with a slight smirk on his face as his eyes
held mine.
You have got to be kidding me,
there is no way this is really happening. I cannot believe that he is here!
“Oh, how rude of me! Caleb this is
our newest volunteer Emma. Well, I guess you’re not really new Emma, right?
You have been providing your support for the past few months.”
“Oh Jean, Emma and I go way back.”
Once again there was that sexy little smirk of his.
“Oh how nice, actually, Emma, if you
could go with Caleb to pick up the cake that would be wonderful because there
isn’t any parking around the bakery and he will probably have to double park,
so one of you will have to stay in the car. It will just be much faster this
way, I hope you don’t mind.”
“Oh no Jean, I don’t mind at all.”
“Oh my goodness, where are my
manners? Caleb I hope this is okay with you as well.”
“Of course Jean, you know I would do
anything for you.”
He winked at her and I saw her blush
like a teenager and Jean had to have been at least 60 years old. He was very
charming and it was obvious that he had an effect on all women, no matter their
age.
“Oh, thank you dear, now you two
hurry along because everyone will be here in about 40 minutes.”
It all happened so fast that I
barely had time to let it register that Caleb Morgan was a volunteer at the
same place I was now a volunteer, and not only that, we were about to be alone
together in his car. This was crazy, stuff like this did not happen to me. I
tried to contain my excitement and act as nonchalant as possible as we walked
to his car. I didn’t want him to see that I was jumping up and down inside
like an excited child.
We walked to his SUV in silence and
once inside, Caleb put the keys in the ignition but did not turn the car on and
turned to look at me.
“How is it that you keep popping up
in my life?” His sexy smile nearly made me tongue-tied and I began to feel
uncomfortable under his gorgeous, but intense, gaze.
“I think you have that backwards, it
appears that
you
keep popping up in
my
life.” I attempted a
flirtatious smile, but I feared that it looked more like a panicked strained
look as I found myself in completely unfamiliar territory with this absolutely
gorgeous man.
“You know, we never formally
introduced ourselves to each other. Hi, I am Caleb Morgan. And what is your
name?”
I thought it was cute that he wanted
to formally meet each other, so I played along. “It is very nice to meet you
Caleb, my name is Emma Blakely.”
“Very nice to meet you as well,
Emma. Okay, so now that we have the formalities out of the way, what do you say
we go pick up Mary’s cake?”
“Sounds good.”
Is this really my
life right now?
“So, Emma, tell me about your
hometown. Where exactly are you from? Where did you go to college? Any
brothers, sisters, are your parents still married? Tell me, I want to know
everything.”
He wants to know everything?
About me? I am so in heaven right now.
“I am from New Holstein, Wisconsin
which is a small town not too far from Appleton, Wisconsin. I went to college
in Appleton and I am the oldest of four girls, and yes, our parents are still
married.”
“New Holstein, Wisconsin? I’ve never
heard of it. How big is it?”
“It’s pretty small, we have around
4,000 people in our town.”
Caleb raised his eyebrows and I
could tell that he looked shocked. “Four thousand people! Well moving here
must have been a huge culture shock for you, I can’t imagine what that must be
like. Do you think you are adjusting okay?”
“Oh yeah, absolutely. I love it
here, I really do. My aunt and uncle used to live here so I’ve been here before
and I kind of knew what to expect. It wasn’t that much of a culture shock,
believe it or not. And what about you? Same questions for you.”
“I am from New York City, born and
bred, I went to Yale and I have one younger brother. Parents are also still
married and living in New York.”
“Yale? Wow, how impressive.”
“Really? Why?”
From what I had been told about him,
I just did not imagine that he was the type who would have an Ivy League
education. It was another pleasant surprise that quashed my preconceived
notions about him.
“You strike me as a free spirit and
I just don’t see you as the buttoned up, Ivy League type, that’s all. You must
be very smart.”
“You should never judge a book by
its cover because you never know what’s inside. Yale was a perfect place
for me believe it or not.”
I decided that I wanted
to ask him about his parents, to find out what kind of people they were. I had
been told at the party that they were hedge fund managers, but I wanted to know
from him who they were as parents and what his relationship was like with them.
“So are you close with your parents
Caleb?”
I saw him set and then clench his
jaw and it seemed as if I had hit a nerve, which was not my intention.
“My mother and I are very close, and
my father and I have a complicated relationship but I love him very much. He’s
not very supportive of my love of art, he would prefer that I work with him.
He doesn’t understand my need to be artistically free and that art is my
passion.”
“You may not believe me, but I can
kind of relate to that. My mother and I are pretty close and my father and I,
not so much. I love him but we also have a complicated relationship as well.
He doesn’t really understand me and I know for a fact that he favors my younger
sister. But it’s fine, I know that he loves me and I do whatever I can so that
I don’t rock the boat. It just makes things easier for everyone.”
“You sound as if you are describing
my life. Maybe your father and my father should get together and talk and
figure out how to communicate with their children.” He chuckled after he said
that but I could tell that his relationship with his father was something that
weighed heavily on him.
I giggled to lighten the mood. “That
actually is something that might work!”
He smiled at me and then I noticed
that the car was slowing down. “Here’s the bakery. Do you want to go inside and
get the cake or do you want to stay in the car while I go inside?”
“Oh, I’ll just stay inside since
this is my first time actually volunteering with Friends of Seniors. You
probably know who to ask for and all of that stuff.”
“Okay, I will be right back.” He
hopped out of the car and once he closed the door and I sat there alone, I was
almost numb with shock that I was sitting in Caleb’s car.
We just had an
awesome little chat and he opened up to me.
This cannot really be my
life!
I had to admit to myself that I was
surprised that we were able to talk to each other so easily. I didn’t feel
weird at all telling him about my dad and I hoped that he didn’t feel weird
telling me about his dad. It felt very natural to talk to him and I really
liked getting to know him. He was much different than I originally thought he
would be and it was refreshing.
A few minutes later Caleb was back
in the car with the cake and we headed back to the center.
“Caleb, how many people do you think
will be there today?”
“We usually have around 40 or 50
people show up for the birthday parties and it’s a lot of fun. You’ll see how
awesome the energy in the room is because these are people who are just happy
to have someone to talk to, and they really appreciate everything that we do
for them. It’s so nice to be around people that don’t want anything from you,
they just want your company.”
“How long have you been volunteering
there?”
“Four years. What made
you decide to volunteer there? I heard Jean say that you have been
contributing for a few months, how did you pick this place?”
“I decided a while ago that I wanted
to volunteer and give financial support somewhere and I wanted to spend my time
and money helping a hands on organization that fulfilled a need for people. I
have always had an affection for elderly people and when I found out about this
organization, it seemed like a perfect fit for me. Then, when I found out it
was so close to my apartment, it was a no-brainer for me to volunteer.”
When I glanced over at Caleb he had
a look of appreciation in his eyes but also a puzzled look on his face and I
don’t think he expected me to give that kind of answer. I raised an eyebrow at
him and had to ask him why he looked so confused.
“Is there something wrong with my
answer?”
“No, not at all, I have completely
misjudged you. You have more layers than I expected Emma Blakely. When I saw
you at the party I thought you were the kind of girl who just wanted to have a
few drinks and have fun. But then I see you here and I find out about your
dedication to this organization and it is a nice surprise. You are just out of
college and, according to Jean, you've been sending money to support the
facility for a few months, I can't imagine what that does to a college girl’s
budget but that is so impressive that you would want to give in that way, and
then continue to give by actually volunteering. It’s not often that I am wrong
about people, but in this case it looks like I was wrong about you and that is
a good thing.”
I didn’t want to give him the
impression that I was a poor, struggling college student who sacrificed money
for this charity because, if and when he found out the truth about my family, I
didn’t want him to think that I had lied to him. So I decided to tell him about
my parent’s business.
“Hmmm, judgmental. I think someone
just scolded me about not judging a book by its cover.” I gave him a sly smile
and he chuckled.
“You’re right, you’re right, my
apologies.”
“Um, about your comment about a
college student’s budget. I don’t usually talk about this, but I don’t want
you to think that I was portraying myself to be someone I’m not. My parents
own a bunch of car dealerships throughout Wisconsin so donating money to
Friends of Seniors wasn’t a hardship for me. I’m only telling you this because
I don’t want you to think I was hiding something from you.”
He turned to me and the look of
appreciation on his face was priceless. He stared at me for a few seconds and
it seemed as if he was trying to figure me out.
“Thank you for sharing that with me
Emma.”
We pulled up to the parking lot and
I was a little bummed that our alone time was over but we had to get the cake
inside before Mary arrived. Caleb turned off the car and looked at me for a
few seconds with his hand on the door.
“You intrigue me Emma
Blakely.” Then he opened the door and went around to get the cake out of the
back seat.
I sat there, stunned,
with butterflies fluttering in my belly trying to process what had just happened.
I intrigued him.
Are you kidding me?
I felt like I was on cloud nine
and I was caught up in my fog of giddiness when he tapped on my window and
startled me. I jumped and then felt really embarrassed that I was still
sitting in the car as he stood waiting for me, holding the cake. I quickly
opened the door, and I’m sure my cheeks were bright red as I tried to compose
myself.
“What, were you
daydreaming in there? We are going to have a very feisty older woman very
upset with us if this cake is not in that party by the time she arrives, so we
better get in there.”
I didn’t say anything. I
just followed behind him as he went inside, and I felt so silly for losing
myself in my thoughts while I was in the car, but knew that I had to shake it
off.
When we walked into the
party room, all of the decorations were done and Jean quickly ushered us over
to the table where we could put the cake. She then took me around and
introduced me to all of the people who had arrived for the party. They were
all sitting at tables waiting for the party to start and they were all so
sweet. I sat at a table with five people and started chatting with them. Their
stories were so interesting and I could tell that they appreciated having
someone who took the time to really listen to what they had to say. I enjoyed
talking with everyone at my table, but I absolutely fell in love with the man
who was sitting to my immediate right. Jack was 76 years old, a war veteran
with kids and grandchildren who lived clear across the country, and was the
funniest, sweetest man I had ever met.