Page 39 of The Way Home

“Also, those flowers were for you, but…” He waved vaguely in the direction of where Pip had disappeared with the bouquet.

“Thank you.” Jamie felt his ears heat up. It was so bloody stupid, getting all giddy over flowers when he was literally leaving to golivewith the man.

An amused twinkle appeared in Caleb’s eyes as he sniffed the air around Jamie. “Maggie saged you, didn’t she?”

Jamie palmed the back of his neck awkwardly. “Erm, yeah.”

“Classic Maggie.”

“Right. Classic.” Jamie noticed Caleb’s smile slip a bit, a tiny crease twitching between his brows.

“Ready to go?”

The car ride to London was really bloody awkward. Jamie already hated being in cars—he much preferred public transport or his bike—and he had no ideas for conversation. Every few minutes, Caleb would ask a random question to fill the silence.

“Music okay?”

“Uh, yeah. Fine.”

“Is it too cold in here? I can turn the heat up.”

“I’m really fine.”

Jamie studied Caleb’s hands gripping the steering wheel. The sleeves of his jumper were pushed up to his forearms, revealing muscular, veiny forearms that flexed when he made a turn or adjusted the gear. His fingers were long and slender, and Jamie wondered what it felt like to be touched by them.

He reminded himself that hehadbeen held by Caleb. Probably many, many times. They’d been engaged, right? That meant that this extremely sexy man had… done things to him. Things Jamie didn’t remember. But was now getting very flustered thinking about…

He tore his gaze away from Caleb’s hands and stared out the window. Christ. He needed to pull himself together.

After an internal pep talk, he mustered up the courage to ask, “So, what type of car is this?”

“A Golf GTI.”

“Oh. I thought I saw a Volkswagen emblem.”

“Yep.” Caleb’s handsome face lit up, eyes on the road. “It’s a Volkswagen Golf.”

“Oh. Very cool. When did you, uh, get it?”

Caleb bit his plump lip, and Jamie found that fascinating, for some reason. It was a nice lip. “Two-ish years ago? Whenever I got promoted to Head Athletic Trainer. It came with a nice pay raise.” He glanced at Jamie and smiled. “You gave me a really hard time for using my raise for a car. I know you hate them.” His smilefell. “Or… youdid.I don’t want to assume how you feel now.” His thick eyebrows tugged together uncertainly. “Fuck, I’m sorry. I’m not really sure how to act about all of this.”

Jamie’s hands relaxed from where he was squeezing the tops of his thighs. “Me either, if it helps. But, yeah, I mean, I don’t hate cars. I just prefer—”

“Public transportation or bikes,” they said in unison.

After another awkward silence, Jamie said, “You know, I am a bit chilly. Could we turn up the heat?”

“Yeah, totally.” Caleb rushed to crank the dial. He seemed eager to have something to do other than awkwardly talk to Jamie.

As the rolling hills gave way to distant skylines, Jamie felt the tension in his chest begin to soften. He couldn’t wait to be back home in London. The city he loved. London would fix his broken mind, he was sure of it.

It wasn’t until they turned onto an unfamiliar street that Jamie’s heart dropped, and anxiety flooded right back in.

He realized he didn’t even know the way home.

“Make yourself athome.” Caleb winced the second the words left his mouth. “I mean, obviously. Itisyour home. I just mean—”

“I get it. Thanks,” Jamie said with a kind smile. They’d arrived after a ridiculously uncomfortable car ride where Caleb asked about the car temperature nineteen times because, apparently, he was a fumbling idiot.