Back to You by Natalie-Nicole Bates Read Free Book Online Page A

was a light sleeper. Besides not wanting to wake him, she really didn’t want to talk about anything personal around him.
    Caleb handed her a mug of coffee. “What’s wrong?”
    “Owen is asleep.” Her voice hushed to a whisper. “I just don’t feel comfortable speaking around him.”
    “Watch this.” Caleb walked to the couch. He clapped his hands together loudly a few mere inches from Owen’s ear.
    The sleeping man didn’t so much as stir.
    “I used to believe that something was wrong with him, or that maybe he was going deaf. But after seeing him like this so many times, I realize that he’s just an extremely deep sleeper. I wish I could sleep that deep. Maybe if I had a beautiful woman wrapped around me all night on a permanent basis, I just might someday.” His eyes took on a dream-like quality. “But I get your point.” He took her by the hand and helped her to her feet. “Let’s go to my study. We can close the door and speak in private.”
    Lynsey followed him to a nice-sized downstairs room that served as a study. “Oh, I love these big leather chairs,” she remarked, and sunk into one.
    He sat on the edge of the desk. “Thanks. So, what were you going to tell me?”
    She didn’t want to dwell on the past, but she had felt so much guilt for the way she had just stopped corresponding with Caleb when she had been in Switzerland. “I just want to apologize for the way things ended between us all those years ago. You were really good to me, and I stopped writing to you without any explanation.”
    “Oh, forget it, Lynsey,” he said. “I’m the one who is sorry about all of that. You were still a kid, much too young for me to be pressuring you for a commitment. But I have to admit that I sometimes wish that I would have followed you to Switzerland and begged you to marry me.”
    She was glad he hadn’t harbored any ill will toward her. Now she wished that she and Nick could put some closure on their past as well. But he didn’t seem to want to dredge up the memories.
    Now she had a question for Caleb that could no longer be put off. “Caleb, are you still married?”
    He exhaled deeply. “Lynsey, promise me that you’ll hear me out before you rush to judgment,” he began.
    He’s married! Why were so many men she was interested in already or soon-to-be married? She was a magnet for men who were spoken for. She didn’t answer him, but simply nodded.
    “I’m not married anymore, but I have been—twice.”
    She breathed a mental sigh of relief.
    “I was married the first time when I was in my early twenties. It didn’t last long. I was a fool who thought he was in love, and then a quickie ninety-day, no-fault divorce ended all of that nonsense.”
    She raised an eyebrow. “Are you saying you were married when we first met?”
    “I’m saying that I was already divorced when we met. It’s not something I really wanted to discuss with a young lady who I was just getting to know. I didn’t think you would understand. I was married for quite a few years to my second wife, Debbie. She’s an architect. I divorced her last year.”
    “What happened? I mean, if you don’t mind me asking.”
    “She was very career and money-oriented. She pressured me to move to the city. She even took an apartment in Mount Pleasant and commuted to Unity on the weekends.
    “I woke up one morning and realized I was over forty. I wanted a steady, committed marriage, and children. She didn’t—it was never the right time for her. I don’t think it was ever going to be the right time—not with me, anyway. I did her a favor by filing for the divorce. She wasn’t happy either, she was just making do. Divorce isn’t exactly pleasant, but one of us had to initiate it sooner or later.”
    “I’m sorry, Caleb,” she said softly.
    He shrugged, casually lit a cigarette, and offered it to her.
    “No thanks, I don’t smoke.”
    “Does this bother you?” He held the lit cigarette away from her.
    “Not