The Reaping (The Reapers Book 1) (16 page)

“Landon, I can’t help you if I’m exhausted.”

“Not my problem.” He leaned his head toward the window of the apartment, like he was listening. “I’ve gotta go. If anyone asks, this conversation never happened.”

Before I could say anything to that, he picked me up, carried me to the window, and threw me out of it. I felt the glass break and scratch me and then I was freefalling again.

I hopped out of bed, dressed quickly, and stepped out to the kitchen. I felt sore, but not as sore as I had after Landon pushed me off the side of a mountain, and I was determined to ignore any pain. It had been a dream, and dreams couldn’t really hurt me unless I let myself believe they could.

The kitchen was warmer than my bedroom. Cat was at the table, a full bowl of macaroni and cheese on the table in front of her. “Good morning, Cat.”

She lifted her head and smiled a slow smile. “Hello, sleepyhead. Happy Thanksgiving. Your mother has called three times today. Some guy named Bruce called once. They both want you to call back. I tried to wake you, but you were sleeping so soundly…” she said into her breakfast, looking like she was still drunk from the night before.

“Oh, no, it’s Thanksgiving. I’ve got to call my mom, I’ve got to shop, and I’ve got to cook. What time is it?”

“It’s only seven,” Cat said around a bite of macaroni. “What time is the big dinner?”

“I asked everyone to come over at five. I should have plenty of time to get everything done.”

“I can help, if you want. I don’t know much about cooking, but I’d be another pair of hands.”

Cat hadn’t impressed me with her intelligence before, but I really didn’t have much choice. Angelica had to work, and I was so tired, I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to get my eyes to focus to read the recipes. “Okay, that would be great.” I checked the refrigerator and found the turkey there already thawed. Thankfully, Angelica had remembered to take it out of the freezer. We’d bought it on sale a month ago. “The turkey doesn’t need to go in until 2:00. So we could do the shopping in an hour.”

“Aren’t you a vegetarian?” Cat asked.

“Yeah, but no one else is, so this is easier. Would you mind going to the store with me?”

Cat smiled like I’d just given her a fabulous gift. “If you give me your list, I’ll go for you.”

I poured myself a bowl of cereal and sat down next to her. I scribbled my list on the pad we kept by the phone.

“Who’s going to be here for dinner?” she asked.

“Just a couple of girls from work, Angelica, Caleb, and you, I guess.”

“Oh, god, Caleb is such a jerk.”

“Really?” I asked, trying not to sound as curious as I felt. “Angelica told me you guys went out to dinner last night. I take it you didn’t have fun.”

“Not at all. I thought I’d made it so obvious I couldn’t stand him and then he just kept sitting there, after we were done eating, chatting away. Like he wasn’t completely boring me.”

My good mood vanished. “How long did you hang out after dinner?” I stopped what I was doing and looked at Cat. Even in pajamas and without make-up on, she was undeniably gorgeous. Her huge blue eyes stood out against her dark hair, and her cheekbones just iced the cake of her beauty. Not to mention that she had a perfect, tall, thin body and good-sized breasts. Any guy would be crazy not to be at least physically attracted to her.

“It felt like hours, but I think it was just forty minutes. Then he wanted me to go back to his place and watch a movie with him. Can you believe it?”

“Huh,” I said as though his behavior completely bewildered me, but it seemed obvious that he really liked Cat. I finished the list and my breakfast, and I started on the biscuits since I had all of the ingredients for them. I made up the dough and put it in the refrigerator while Cat showered and got dressed.

Cat left for the store, with my money for groceries, and I sat down to make my calls.

I called Mom first, but I got her voice mail. “Hi, Mom,” I said as cheerily as possible. “Happy Thanksgiving. I love you. I won’t be around for the rest of the day, but I’ll try to catch you tomorrow.”

I felt a tiny bit bad about lying to my mom, but for all I knew, she would be relieved not to have to talk to me, either. Holidays had always been weird for us when I was at home, and they’d only gotten weirder since I left. Mom didn’t have much family other than me—not any that she talked to, anyway—and she used to try to make the holidays fun by inviting friends of hers and mine over. She usually succeeded only in making the holiday awkward and uncomfortable for everyone. Since I moved away, it had only gotten weirder with both of us trying to act like we really missed the other when I suspect what we both felt was relief.

If I think back, really, really far back, I can remember a time when my mother and I laughed together, and I thought she was perfect and beautiful and genius. When she had time for me, she was more fun than any of my friends alive or dead. She would put on CDs of music from her childhood and we’d get dressed up in the prettiest dresses we had and dance and laugh. She was the one that started me cooking. She taught me the basics from how to make a perfect roux to the best seasons for fruits and vegetables. At some point, everything changed. The obvious moment would be when she discovered that I could see and talk to ghosts, but that wasn’t it. At that point, she just thought I had imaginary friends or some mild psychological disorder. She didn’t listen to me when I told her the shrink she was sending me to was horrible, but she still danced and laughed and cooked with me.

The moment when our relationship became tense and miserable was several years after my father left, when she finally accepted he probably wasn’t coming back, and I’ve always suspected that she blamed me for his leaving. To admit that it was my fault he left, though, she would have to admit he left and she wasn’t ready to do that, either. Instead, she created a mythical world for herself, where her husband had been kidnapped, her daughter was normal, and someday, her husband would return to her and her life would be perfect. My being so far away actually helped her maintain her myth, and I was happy to play along. For some reason, my mother found it most difficult to maintain her happy little pretend world around the holidays and she survived with distractions and by avoiding me.

As relieved as I was to escape having the usual uncomfortable conversation with Mom, I missed her. Not being able to have a pleasant chat with my mother on Thanksgiving made me feel like I had no family. I chugged a glass of wine and dialed Bruce’s number. I could hear the smile in his voice when he recognized mine, and it made me feel considerably better. He just wanted to let me know he’d make it for dinner and that he’d bring a couple of pies. I was surprised at how glad I was that he would be there.

After I hung up the phone, the apartment suddenly felt suffocatingly empty. Since Bruce was bringing dessert, I had time to get out and go for a run before I went crazy. With the holiday and dead Landon, the last thing I wanted to do was sit around and be alone with myself.

I left a note for Cat, pulled on leggings, a sweatshirt, hat, gloves, and shoes, and was out the door. Outside, the sun shone, making the snow that had fallen overnight sparkle so brightly I almost turned around and went back inside for my sunglasses. After a few moments, though, my eyes adjusted and my lungs were so full of sweet, cold air that the thought of returning to the apartment, even for a moment, became unthinkable. I popped in my ear buds and cranked up the latest
Rise Against
album. I’d only made it three blocks when I saw Caleb heading toward me. He was several yards ahead of me, and I thought about pretending that I hadn’t seen him and crossing the street, but he was already waving at me. I didn’t slow, hoping he’d just wave and let me go on by. I felt hurt that he seemed interested in Cat, but I didn’t understand why it hurt me. I’d felt a few flutters for the guy, but I wasn’t into him, and he’d given me no reason to think he was into me.

“So you and Cat, huh?” I said as soon as he was close enough to hear me. I slowed down to a walk and almost clapped my hands over my mouth, but it was too late. He’d heard, and he was starting to smile. I chuckled like it was a joke. “Why didn’t you tell me you had a thing for my roommate?” I asked, doing my best to sound like I was happy for him. His smile faded.

“Well, good morning to you, too.” He faced me. “I was just on my way to see if I could do anything to help with the dinner, but you must be doing all right if you’re out for a jog.” He didn’t mention anything about Cat, and I realized that I must have embarrassed him. He had a thing for Cat and she’d blown him off.

“So far, so good.” I hopped from foot to foot to keep my heart rate up. He looked past me, like he wanted to get away. “Um, you wanna go for a run with me?” I would have rather jogged alone, but I felt that I’d made a mistake and I wanted to right it.

Finally, he smiled at me. “I’d like that. Do you mind walking back to my place with me so I can change?”

“No, of course not.” I actually did mind, but I’d invited him, and it would look bad if I said I couldn’t wait for him to change. “Lead the way.”

“That’s right, you haven’t been to my place before, have you?”

“Nope,” I said as I fell into step beside him. He walked pretty briskly, whether to help me keep my heart rate up or because he always walked that quickly, I didn’t know. His bare hand brushed my gloved one, and I jerked away in surprise. His touch had sent a jolt of something electric and unexpected through me. He stepped away from me and put his hands in his coat pockets.

“I’m actually just one street down. My condo is on Cherry.”

“Wow, you live in one of the Newton Village condos?” Newton Village was a pretty little area about a mile from the ski resort with incredibly expensive condos, town houses, and houses, the attraction being the views and the golf course. “You must have, like, sixteen roommates.”

“Jed was my only roommate.”

I whistled. “That’s gotta hurt. No wonder you’re working two jobs.”

He cleared his throat. “It’s not too bad. I like it there.”

I couldn’t continue the conversation without asking very personal questions about his finances, so I didn’t say anything at all as we walked toward the village of Newton. He led me to the first residential building, and I saw that his condo was one of the smaller and older condos in the place. He probably got a little bit of a discount on rent, but the location was too prime for him to live there cheaply. I glanced at him again, wishing I knew fashion as well as Jed did so I could get some idea of how much his wardrobe cost. Was he secretly rich?

He led me into his place and offered me a seat on an obviously second-hand couch. The living room was neat, clean, and sparsely furnished. He had about six paperbacks on the coffee table, and I was about to peruse the titles when Caleb grabbed them. “Sorry the place is such a mess. Would you like a drink?”

I shook my head. “No, I don’t usually drink in the middle of a run.” I smiled to let him know I was teasing, and he smiled back.

“I’ll change quickly.” He disappeared into the next room and shut the door. True to his word, he was back out in less than five minutes in sweats, sweatshirt, hat, gloves, and tennis shoes. “All set.”

I stood, and we set out. We started into a jog as soon as we were out the door. He let me set the pace, but he led the way and took me on a trail around the golf course. He kept up with me and didn’t try to make conversation. The path he took me on opened up to some incredible views of the mountains and the countryside extending past town. By the time we got back to his condo, about an hour and a half later, I was feeling really good. Inviting Caleb on my run had been one of the better ideas I’d had lately.

“You’re welcome to come in,” he said.

“No, thanks, I’ve got to get back.”

He nodded. “I’ll shower and come over to help you get ready.”

“You don’t have—” I started to say, but suddenly his lips were on mine, and he was kissing me. I kissed him back without thinking about what I was doing and just kind of sank into him. Kissing him felt like the most natural thing in the world, and I didn’t want to stop.

He pulled away first, but just far enough to be able to whisper against my cheek. “Sure you don’t want to come in?”

I really, really did want to go in, but if I went in, I was pretty sure I would forget all about dinner, and I’d have several unhappy guests. Plus there was the small matter of Cat. “I thought you liked Cat?”

He pulled away and laughed. “No, I can’t stand her, to be honest. I just didn’t want to eat alone.”

His hands were still on my waist, and I stepped away before he could do anything that would make it impossible for me to resist his invitation. “I have to get back.”

He released me and nodded. “I’ll be there in half an hour.” He gave me another quick kiss on the lips and went inside.

I was so high on that first kiss I practically skipped home. That kiss had erased any doubts I’d had about my feelings for Caleb. Well, it had at least established that I was physically attracted to him, and he felt the same. That was enough to make me happy, with the week I’d been having.

I picked up my pace and sprinted the last three blocks back to the flower shop. The owner, Nate, was on his way out, locking up the store, and I waved hello to him. He waved back, but didn’t look like he wanted to chat. I slowed and walked to the end of the block and back before I went inside and up the stairs to my apartment. Angelica was at the kitchen table with Cat, looking at something on Angelica’s laptop.

“How was your run?” Angelica asked.

“Great! I’m just gonna head back and take a shower and get changed.”

“Yeah, the store was totally dead, and we made small paper dolls of you and burned them in effigy for making us work today, thanks for asking.”

My good mood took an abrupt nose dive. “God, I’m sorry. Was it really awful?”

Angelica smiled. “It totally sucked, but it’s okay, Kels. Everything’s open at least half a day for the fifteen or so tourists here for early season skiing. No one blamed you. Well, they did, but that’s the way it is when you’re the boss. Don’t take it personally.”