Well…yes. He’d closed himself off from any kind of love or romance. He didn’t trust anything. But was that fair? He was right to guard his heart, but he hadn’t realized the degree to which he’d locked himself up.
Lauren had tried to pry him back open, and he hadn’t let her.
But he wanted to. Was he really denying himself happiness because of some principle? Wouldn’t it be better to see how things with Lauren went? Maybe it would implode, but wasn’t it better to try than to become some hermit who cut himself off from everything? Because that wasn’t working. He was lonely.
He went to sleep that night feeling resolved. Lauren was unlikely to just forgive him after everything he’d said and done, but he wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he didn’t try to win her back. To give her a real chance this time. To trust her in a way Kara hadn’t trusted him.
When Caleb rounded the corner to go to work the following Monday, Evan was leaning against the café window talking to a guy with dark hair. Evan appeared to be flirting heavily. It occurred to Caleb that, of Lauren’s friends, Evan was the one she talked about the most and was probably closest to, so if anyone knew how to win her back, it was this man.
Caleb stalled in front of the yarn store and pretended to look at the display in the window, which, now that he looked at it, was pretty interesting. Someone had knit little dolls in sweaters who were settled on an orange sofa. It seemed to be a diorama showing a scene from Friends. And, okay, that was pretty darn cute.
When Caleb turned back, the dark-haired guy was walking away and Evan was watching him go. When the guy went into the bookstore, Evan sighed and looked around. His gaze settled on Caleb approaching.
“Hi,” Caleb said.
“Hello. You should know, I’m contractually obligated to hate you. It’s part of the best friend agreement.”
Caleb’s heart sank. This would be a challenge. “So she told you what happened.”
“She did.”
“That does put me at a disadvantage.”
“You broke her heart, you know.”
That was something Caleb had been afraid of. Even though she’d been surprisingly glib about it, her anger every time they ran into each other indicated that he’d hurt her more than he’d initially realized. This might mean she wasn’t reachable anymore, that she was too angry to forgive him. “I do know. I regret that.”
Evan narrowed his eyes at Caleb. “Why are you talking to me?”
His tone wasn’t accusatory so much as curious. Caleb decided to interpret that as a door opening.
“Well, you were standing here, for one thing,” said Caleb. “But I do want to talk to you.”
“All right. About?”
“I think I made a mistake.”
“A mistake?”
“I shouldn’t have let her go.”
A smile spread slowly across Evan’s lips. He looked like a child who just caught on that his mother had bought him that candy bar after all. “So what I hear you saying is you want to make a big romantic gesture to win back Lauren’s heart, and you would like my help to do it.”
Evan’s enthusiasm was startling. “Yes. But if you’re contractually obligated to hate me, why are you being so nice?”
Evan waved his hand dismissively. “You and Lauren are meant to be. I could tell all along. I would be happy to help you. Do you have time right now?”
“Well…I am a little early for work. I can give you maybe twenty minutes.”
“That’s not much time. Hmm.” Evan looked up and down the block. “Obviously, we can’t do our plotting in the Cat Café. But there’s an evil chain coffee place on Bergen, a few blocks south of here, if you don’t mind walking a little.”
“Lead the way.”
***
After he had a rough plan, Caleb walked back to work, swinging by the big chain pharmacy on the corner down the block from the vet clinic. He was full of caffeine, but he wanted some candy or something, a high-calorie way to calm his nerves.
He mulled over his choices and thought about what Evan had said. The trick would be for Caleb to demonstrate he’d been an idiot, and that he cared for Lauren and wanted to be with her and was willing to see where this led.
There’d been a moment early in his relationship with Kara, back in vet school. They’d had to spend the day at a horse farm, tending to a horse whose owner was convinced the horse had colic and would need to be put down. Caleb was quickly able to determine it was just indigestion because the owner’s kids had been feeding the poor horse all manner of junk when the owner wasn’t looking. And once that puzzle was solved and Caleb had saved the day, he and Kara had waited in the stall for the bad food to pass to make sure he was right.
Sitting around a stall waiting for a horse to poop was not exactly the most romantic of settings, but they’d gotten to talking.
“What do you see yourself doing after graduation?” Caleb had asked.
“Not sure. What do you see yourself doing?”
“I figured I’d open a practice somewhere. Maybe in Boston, or in the suburbs. Or I could go back to Maine. Lots of retirees are moving into the area outside Portland where my parents live, I bet a lot of them have pets.”
Kara had given him a scathing look. “Really? Taking care of the pets of the elderly? Gee, that sounds exciting.”
“What would you do?”
“Oh, I don’t know. I could see myself opening a practice in Manhattan and taking care of the purse dogs of the rich and famous. Or I’d travel. I don’t want kids, just so you know, but I would like to see the world.”
It was an odd thing to think about. Kara had been right on the phone the other day.
