Chapter Fourteen
Caitlin had a blast taking the photos, but the last one had hung her up. She paced hers and Taylor’s small cabin, reading the caption over and over.
Something important to you.
As she’d struggled with how to capture that phrase, it struck her how dramatically what was important to her had changed. If someone had asked her five, four, heck, even two years ago, what was important, she would have said making Gary happy—something she’d never been able to do. Now, her answer would be to make herself happy, which begged the question: what did that entail, exactly? Fortunately, she only had to take a picture of something important, not the most important thing.
It wasn’t until the whistle blew to end the contest that she decided on her answer, snapping the shot on her phone before heading back to the main cabin.
As she climbed the steps to the porch, she was hit by a tinge of melancholy. It was sad to think that the most fun she’d had in recent memory resulted from perpetuating a complete and total fabrication. At least Taylor’s family had bought their act and hadn’t pushed her for more information. They all seemed to simply and completely accept her. The only time she’d even felt uncomfortable around them was when they’d glanced at the gorgeous ring on her finger. The discomfort hadn’t come from them, though. It had come from inside, knowing this whole thing was a farce—or maybe it was because more and more, she wished it wasn’t one.
No. That was absurd. She was totally out of the relationship business. She took a deep breath and entered the main cabin.
“Sit by me, Caitlin,” Bethany said, patting the sofa next to her.
“How’d the picture taking go?” Caitlin asked, sitting in the center of the sofa next to her, scanning the room for Taylor.
“Okay. Nothing inventive, so Grams is gonna call me lame again.” She grinned. “She’s a harsh critic. I thought about mooning the camera to surprise her, but decided not to because she shows the photos to everyone.”
Caitlin swallowed hard, thinking about the last picture she took and how it might be perceived. Better than a mooning pic, at least.
Attie sat down on the other side of her on the sofa and Caitlin felt a tinge of disappointment knowing she wouldn’t be thigh-to-thigh with Taylor. Her heart kicked up a notch as she wondered where he was.
“Okay, let’s get this party started,” Grams said as she came in from the back hallway. “Since the snowmen met untimely ends, we’ll call it a tie with both teams getting a point for each member.” She brandished a handful of broom straws. “We’re drawing to see who goes first. Shortest is last.”
“Taylor’s not here yet,” Bethany said.
“Well, then, he gets whatever straw is left.”
Caitlin pulled a broom straw out of Grams’ fist, as did Bethany and Uncle Rock.
“Hold ’em up,” Grams said. After glancing at all the straws, she announced, “Order is Bethany, Caitlin, Rock, Taylor.” She handed off a tiny straw to Taylor as he passed her on his way to the stuffed armchair facing the sofa. “You’re late.”
“Yeah. Sorry. Beauregard went AWOL.” Nails clicking on the wood floor, Beau lumbered in and tried to climb on the sofa between Bethany and Caitlin, but gave up when he met resistance and lay across their feet instead. His entire muzzle was coated with something blue and sticky looking. “Play Doh from the survival kit,” Taylor said in response to Caitlin’s curious stare.
“Oh, you used to eat Play Doh, too, Taylor,” his mother said with a grin. “You did it all the time in kindergarten.”
“And Silly Putty,” his father added, “but you only did that once because you said it tasted worse than broccoli.”
Grams was clearly enjoying herself as she cleared her throat theatrically and took a spot near the fireplace where everyone could see her. “First photo is captioned I’d tap that.”
Bethany presented a photo of a tree. “Maple!” she said with a grin.
All eyes turned to Caitlin, and she swallowed hard, selecting her photo of the bathtub water faucet. “A bath tap.” Again, everyone made sounds of approval, and she relaxed a little. These people were so unlike her family, who found fault with every little thing she did. Even when they’d kidded Taylor about eating Play Doh, they were loving and kind.
Rock presented a photo of a bottle of beer and everyone laughed. “I’d tap that!” he said.
Taylor gave a sly grin and made a show of selecting a photo, then turned it around, and his family cheered. A furious hot blush raged up Caitlin’s neck and face as he displayed a photo of Caitlin from behind as she leaned down to take the picture of the tub faucet.
“Well, that one wins for sure,” Grams said. “Taylor scores.”
The double entendre sent his family into guffaws and cheers again and Caitlin found it impossible to not laugh along with them.
“Next caption, ‘I have a rack, but don’t wear a bra.’”
Bethany showed off a picture of elk antlers hanging on the outside of the main cabin, Caitlin shared the photo of the hat rack near the front door, and with a toothy grin, Rock waved his phone around with a flourish. “Attie!” he shouted. He winced when she punched him in the shoulder. Taylor’s entry was a picture of the rack on top of Rock’s SUV parked outside.
“You were all boring,” Grams shot a look at Rock, “or predictable. Nobody gets a point.”
When the boos died down, she said, “Caption three, ‘Something important to you.’”
Caitlin’s heart sped up and she took a deep, calming breath.
Bethany showed her picture. It was her driver’s license. “Look, I know driving isn’t a big deal to you guys because you’ve been doing it forever, but it’s a big deal to me. It’s like I’m credible now. You know?”
“I think it’s awesome,” Taylor said, with no sarcasm at all. Pride was written all over him, and his little sister beamed.
Caitlin squirmed as all eyes fell on her. “Oh. My turn.” She took a deep breath and rotated her screen. Taylor’s eyes flicked from her phone to her face, and she had to look away. She cleared her throat and tried to swallow. “I, um…” She turned the screen toward her and studied the photo of the ring. “The ring is important because it represents love and commitment that this family shares. This ring…” Is a total lie. “Brought me here and gave me one of the best weekends of my life.” Which was not a lie.
There was a collective aww in the room, and she intentionally didn’t look at Taylor.
Rock broke the spell by sharing his picture of beer, of course.
Caitlin flicked a glance over when it was Taylor’s turn, and he appeared as uncomfortable as she had been.
“Come on, let’s see it,” his grandmother pushed. When he hesitated, she said, “You can’t possibly top your fiancée, so get it over with. She’s already won this point.”
With a deep breath, he flipped his phone around and his family gasped and clapped. Caitlin simply stared. It was a photo of her laughing over waffles this morning. She looked happy and carefree. She looked like someone else. Her eyes met his and he stared at her with a questioning half smile. Her heart did a somersault—or at least it felt like it did. Then, it stilled when reality set in. She closed her open jaw, but found it impossible to smile back. This isn’t real. When she thought about it, she shouldn’t have been surprised at his photo. He was determined to pull this ruse off. And he had. Heck, he’d almost fooled her.
“No explanation needed,” he said, closing his camera app, face neutral.
All eyes fell on Grams. “Well,” she said, looking from Caitlin to Taylor and back again. “I’m gonna have to call that one a tie, which still makes Taylor the winner by a point. The team shares the golden staff, but Taylor gets the donation for his charity.”
“We won!” Taylor said, crossing the room to pull Caitlin to her feet and into a bear hug. “You were fantastic,” he whispered in her ear.
She smiled against his chest and breathed in the clean, pine and soap smell of him. “We were fantastic,” she whispered back.
Bethany grabbed the staff from the corner of the room and handed it to Caitlin. It was a gaudy, glitter-covered pole with multi-colored satin ribbons hot glued to one end.
“You have to bring it back next year,” Bethany explained. “But you get to keep it for the whole year.”
All her joy melted to a puddle at her feet. There wouldn’t be a next year. Smile frozen on her face, she nodded, clutching the pole so tight the glitter bit into her hand. On stiff legs, she returned to the sofa. Taylor followed and took the seat next to Caitlin’s left. She took a deep breath through her nose and leaned back against the cushions, chastising herself internally for being such a dope. Of course she wouldn’t be here next year. This isn’t real. None of it was real, and that suited her. It did. Really.
It’s all for show, she told herself when Taylor placed his big, warm palm on her thigh, rubbing his thumb lightly on the inseam of her jeans—like a reminder of what he’d done earlier on the log. But that hadn’t been for show. Nobody had been around to see. She cleared her throat and balled her fingers to keep from touching him back.
“Let’s see what charities everyone picked,” Grams said, holding up the envelopes they’d filled earlier. She opened the first one. “Bethany chose the Food Bank.”
“I volunteered there for school extra credit,” she said. “It’s a cool place.”
Grams read the second. “Caitlin chose the new shelter sponsored by Animal Attraction.”
Caitlin felt a bit of disappointment at not winning. The shelter was a cause close to her heart. They were partnering with a main facility in New Jersey that helped livestock and large animals. The new partnership would add pocket pets and dogs and cats to the existing facility, with Animal Attraction servicing Manhattan. A robust online adoption site would include pick up and drop off located in the Animal Attraction main office. With the help of some key donors, they’d raised most of the money to make the New Jersey property equipped for domestic pets, but were still thousands of dollars short of their start-up goal to buy new crates and supplies for the adoption animals to be housed at Animal Attraction. Winning would have helped.
Another envelope was ripped open. “Rock’s charity was the Arthritis Foundation of America.”
Attie gave her husband a big hug.
Grams shot Taylor a look. “This is where the money is going,” she said, opening the last envelope. She scanned it, and then smiled. The smile turned into a bark of laughter.
“What is it?” Bethany said.
Grams turned the paper around.
Whatever charity Caitlin picks.