Sophie Oak - Found in Bliss

Nell’s finger wagged his way. “You don’t like the idea, do you? Well, I don’t like my best friend crying over you. It’s time to decide if you’re in or you’re out, Caleb Burke. And if you’re out, you need to leave her alone. What you’ve done isn’t fair.”

“I never even asked her out.” He could hear the sullenness in his voice. He sounded like a fucking five-year-old. Why did that asshole have to come back? Why couldn’t he have just stayed in Florida? He was forcing Caleb to make decisions he didn’t want to make. Holly had been crying over him? God, he hated the thought.

“No, but you made her think you liked her,” Nell replied. “And I think she might hold back from Alexei if she hopes there’s a chance for the two of you. Let her go, Caleb. Let her be happy with Alexei. Unless, of course, you want to join them.”

“Fuck no.” He didn’t share. He wasn’t going to get involved in one of the crazy threesomes this town seemed to thrive on. Even if they did work out and everyone was happy and secure. Nope. Not going there. “Do you think he really cares about her?”

Nell’s eyes softened. “I think he was willing to die for her, and he barely knew her name. He’s been very reliable in communicating with her, and that can’t have been easy given what he’s been through. I think she’ll be safe with Alexei.”

Confusion was riding him hard. He didn’t want to think about the long letters Alexei had sent to him. They had been full of confessions and gratitude at first, and then he’d simply started telling Caleb about his life. As if Caleb wanted to know. He’d only read them because he’d had nothing better to do. “Then why the hell would you want me to be with her? If you think Alexei is so damn good for her?”

Nell didn’t react at all to his huffiness. She merely smiled, though it struck Caleb as a sad thing. “I thought Holly would be good for you, Caleb. In some ways, I think you need her more than Alexei does. But you don’t see it, and I can’t make you. You’re going to follow this path. I can see it plainly now.”

Caleb felt his chest tighten. She was really going to be with Alexei. Holly was really going to choose the Russian.

Choose? You never gave her a choice, and now it’s too late to force her into one. She would be miserable and possibly resent the hell out of whoever made her choose. Face it. You fucked up. It’s what you do.

Nell sighed. “No moving you, is there? I suppose the world needs its mountains like it needs the air. Well, since you’ve made your decision, you should know that if you screw up Holly’s new relationship and her happiness, then I will do very terrible things to you.”

It was like Snow White threatening to kill him. “Terrible things?”

She nodded primly. “Yes. I don’t know what those things are yet, but I have a very good imagination. And I have years of pent-up rage. Oh, I lock it away because I believe anger is useless, but I swear on the god of your choosing and whom I honor because I honor all religions, that I will find a use for all that rage. I will direct it at you, and it won’t be pleasant. You like to be alone, don’t you?”

He was pretty much always alone. Even in a crowd of people. “Yep. So don’t think that turning the town against me will hurt too much.”

Nell’s brown hair shook. “Oh, I would never do that. Bad, bad karma. It does strike me, though, that a man of your persuasion needs a friend. You know, someone who would just be around you all the time, talking to you, keeping you company. Yes, someone who talks as little as you do probably wants to listen to someone like me talk a lot. I can talk for hours, Caleb. I never let up. I can talk about everything. Ask Henry.”

It put a chill through him. She would do it, too. Nell Flanders, twenty-four-seven. “Well played, Nell. I’ll consider it.”

Her chin came up, and she nodded shortly. “See that you do. I’ll make a list of the topics of our conversations so you’ll have a better idea of just how terrible this could be. In the meantime, I brought you a plant. Your office needs a softer touch. Even if no one ever sits in this waiting room, it would be better for you if you had something lovely and lively to call your own. I don’t even want to see your apartment, do I?”

His apartment had a leather recliner, a television, and a card table. It had a bed, but only because it came with the building. He’d never slept on it. There was nothing on the walls. No pictures of his family or knickknacks. Nothing at all that celebrated a life. Everything was utilitarian. And a little messy.

“I’ll find some more plants. You’ll see. The oxygen the plant gives off will make you feel better. You just have to water it once a day.” She stopped and stared at him. “I’ll take care of that. And maybe I’ll upgrade the waiting room a bit. You won’t mind. I know you won’t.”

He got the feeling that if he did mind, she would start talking. “Nope. Feel free to decorate to your heart’s content.”

She turned on her Birkenstocks just as the door opened again. “Hello, Alexei.”

And, of course, Alexei smiled and reached for her hand. Charm seeped from the asshole’s pores. “Ms. Nell, it is so good to see you. You look very lovely this morning.”

Nell blushed. “Thank you, Alexei. That is very kind of you to say.”

“I only to speak the truths.” The bastard smiled widely, taking both of Nell’s hands in his. “I am going to be dating Holly. I would love to do the double with you and Henry.”

Nell’s eyes went wide. “Oh, no. Despite his very open mind, Henry isn’t into sharing or swapping or any of that stuff.”

Alexei’s confused face turned toward him. It was blatantly obvious to Caleb that he had no idea what Nell thought he’d said. He thought briefly about letting the fucker hang, but the words came out before he could stop them. “Nell, he was talking about a double date, not a foursome. But I find it interesting that your mind goes there.”

He was deeply satisfied by her flushed face and completely silent mouth. Oh, it opened, but nothing came out for a moment. He’d finally found a way to silence Nell Flanders. Maybe this little war she’d started wasn’t over yet.

Alexei, ever the gentleman, stepped in. “So sorry. Many, many apologies. I am not interested in the swappings of wives, merely in sharing a meal.”

“Of course. Henry and I would love that. Thank you, Alexei.” Nell hurried out.

Unfortunately, Caleb had the feeling she’d be back.

Alexei turned to him, bowing slightly. “Thank you for the translation, my friend. My words are still very muddled. I do not always understand English sayings. And they change so quickly. Now that I am back here, I think I will watch more of the MTVs so I can speak more like an American.”

Dear god, he would sound like he was straight off the Jersey shore. “All I know is that if you’re reliant on me as a translator, you’re in serious trouble. I almost let Nell believe you wanted an orgy.”

“No orgies. Just a very happy relationship. One where Holly gets everything she needs. If that comes from me, then good, but I think she is so much womans, she might require more.” He said it with a deeply serious expression on his face.

Caleb wasn’t sure how to take that. Yep. If Alexei needed him to translate, they were all in trouble. He didn’t understand the guy at all.

Good thing he understood his job and his duty to his patients. A deep sense of joy lodged in Caleb’s heart. Alexei might waltz away with the girl, but not until he’d been thoroughly examined. Thoroughly. After all, that was a doctor’s job.

He felt a little smile cross his face. He was pretty sure it wasn’t reassuring. He pulled on his latex gloves. “So, do you want to start with the blood work or the prostate exam?”

Alexei went a little white. “I am being sure I do not know what this prostate is. Well, I have suspicion.”

Now Caleb grinned widely and held up a tube of lube. “Don’t worry about it, buddy. It’s all a part of the service. You need a prostate check every year.”

“But I promise not to use prostate in making the love with Holly. I will keep her far away from prostate.” Alexei backed up a little, his eyes going to the lube.

Nope. He wasn’t getting out of this so easily. “Sorry, buddy, it’s this or a full colonoscopy. Welcome to America. Now please bend over.”

Holly pulled her car into the parking lot in front of Caleb’s office. It was located at the end of Main Street, but she’d never made it past the front door. In the year Caleb had been in town, she’d never been sick enough to come into the tiny clinic. The one cold she’d come down with had been dealt with in Caleb’s ruthlessly precise fashion. She’d sniffled at the café one morning and found herself at home in bed with a neti pot, chicken soup, and a ton of orange juice. She hadn’t even felt that bad.

And yet it was a sweet memory.

She got out and closed the door to her tiny piece-of-crap vehicle. She was lucky she’d been able to afford the sucker, but sometimes it made her depressed. The same way Caleb did.

What was she doing? She was about to walk into Caleb’s office and take a blood test to prove she was a healthy sex partner to a twenty-eight-year-old god of a man.

She opened the door to his small clinic. It didn’t even have a nameplate, just a simple red cross and stenciled black letters proclaiming it to be Bliss County Clinic.

Caleb had done a lot for her. She hadn’t even thought to get him a nameplate. He wouldn’t think of that. He never thought about things like that, but he did think to make sure she was safe. He just didn’t want her the way she wanted him. Did that mean she didn’t owe him? He’d been a good, if odd, friend to her. She hadn’t been the same to him.