Page 18 of The Way Home

Caleb was uncharacteristicallynervous for this date.

He didn’t usually get ready an hour early or put much care into what he wore. Dating had always come easily to him. It was fun and straightforward.

Go out for a meal or some coffee. Talk. If he liked the guy, he’d ask him out again. If not, they’d go their separate ways. Simple.

But as he sifted through the few collared shirts hanging in his closet and sent photos of them to Tay, his emotions were anything but simple.

It had been over a month since he and Jamie first met. The exhibit Jamie was working on at the library went so well that they decided to extend it, which meant Jamie hadn’t been free to meet up all month. Which was fine—Caleb didn’t mind waiting. There was no doubt in his mind that he wanted to see Jamie again.

In fact, he couldn’t seem to stop thinking about him. His bright green eyes. His dimples. The way he didn’t have any control over his facial expressions, every emotion written plainly across his face.

Adorable. The man was just…adorable.And Caleb couldn’t fucking wait to see him again. Hopefully, if he got lucky, kiss him a little more, too.

Thisthingbetween them—if hooking up a little and then texting for a month could be considered a “thing”—was so new and fragile, Caleb didn’t want it to end before it began.

He wasn’t used to feeling this desperate to prove himself to someone. Desperate for Jamie not to forget about him and, instead, go out with another guy vying for his attention. The thought made Caleb feel so jealous that he’d set an alarm for six in the morning, hopped on the Tube, and hauled a cup of coffee across the city for Jamie.

The coffee made Jamie so happy—if his texts were anything to go by—that Caleb smiled like a goofy idiot at his phone for a solid hour.

After that, he just kept showing up. Always getting to the library before Jamie, Caleb would be led into the back offices by a French man named Jean-Baptiste. The guy dressed extremely well and looked Caleb up and down like he was something interesting in an art gallery. Skin a few shades darker than Caleb’s, the Frenchman had an allure to him, and Caleb couldn’t help but wonder if he and Jamie had ever—

His phone buzzed in his hand.

Tay

Wear the red one.

Caleb plucked the red shirt off the hanger and tugged it over his head, giving himself another once-over in the mirror. He felt tempted to wear shorts with how damn hot it had gotten this summer, but trousers looked nicer, and he didn’t want to look like a bum when picking Jamie up.

Checking the time, he saw he still had over thirty minutes before he needed to catch the train to Islington. He grabbed his keys from the bowl on the counter and headed out. Fuck it. He might as well stop by the shops on the way to the station and pick up flowers. If it came off as desperate or cheesy, he didn’t really care.

He wanted Jamie. And he wanted Jamie to know it.

After what felt like a million years in Poppy’s Petals, Caleb balanced his phone between his ear and shoulder as he exited the Tube. The woman at the shop, Poppy presumably, talked him into an enormous bouquet of flowers—which took both arms to hold—andhe was doing his best to protect it from the chaos of people around him.

“Dude, I don’t know,” he said into the phone. “I’m so nervous for this date that I’m like… early.”

“Wow.” Tay snorted on the other end of the line. “You’re never early.”

“Okay, that’snottrue,” Caleb said, doing his best to maneuver around a group of older women gathered right in front of the exit.

“Yeah, it is. You always made us late for church growing up.”

“I was ateenager.I’m an adult now, Tay.”

“An adult who watches anime?”

“You love anime.”

“I never pretended to be an adult.”

He finally made it around the group. One of the women turned and smiled at him. “Beautiful flowers. She’s one lucky lady!”

“They’re for a guy, actually,” he called over his shoulder as he jogged up the steps.

“You got this dudeflowers?”Tay asked. He could hear the ocean in the background, and Caleb felt a stab of guilt for not making it out to California to visit her yet.

“Yep.”