Candle In The Wind

Chapter Eight

The First Hangout

“Hello?”

A voice echoed through the walls. “Callum, are you still here?”

My brows furrowed as I pushed a torn bag of cement up against a wall. The voice sounded familiar. Light and sweet, in other words it sounded like kindness.

“Callum?”

I picked up another bag of cement and piled it on top of the unopened ones. One of our Clawer tore open about a dozen bags of cement. We were wrapping everything up last-minute so I sent everyone home and stayed back to take care of it myself. I still had to drag out the blue tarp to cover up the hole we made at the back of the building. I groaned as I pushed up another bag of cement against the wall. Any open bag I could save I pushed it against the wall, and the untouched ones are stacked on top of each other and as for the ones that were spilled all over the floor would get replaced tomorrow.

“Callum?”

The voice sounded closer.

I looked up and found Juliette standing in the ruins. This place was a hazard, every step she took to get to where I’m at was dangerous.

I looked down at her feet, she wore a pair of black New Balance sneakers, and she stood on top of broken bricks.

My jaw hardened. “Don’t move,”

I commanded. I quickly went to her side and offered her a hand, “let’s go inside, on less dangerous grounds.”

Her brows dipped as she frowned, she didn’t take my hand. Instead, she stared at it. I looked at my hand and it was covered in cement, the gray substance reaching my forearm. I tried to dust my hand off, but it didn’t work. They were still dirty.

I moved and stood next to her, “wrap your arm around my waist then.”

“What?”

“I want to get you inside,”

I explained, “it’s dangerous.”

“Why?”

she paused, “because I’m pregnant?” she fired back.

“Well, yeah.”

She started walking back by herself.

“Juliette,”

I called, voice tight with stress, “Juliette, be careful.”

I followed her until we reached flat ground.

“What brings you here? If it’s about progress, Juliette, we just started—”

“I brought you food.”

She smiled, a warm inviting smile.

After finding the courage to finally tear my eyes off of her I noticed the brown paper bag in her hand.

“That’s very sweet of you.”

Lately, since I met Juliette, I’ve been calling her sweet. It feels like it’s all I’ve done so far. It’s starting to feel like if she slapped me in the face I’d still say it.

Oh, thanks. That’s very sweet of you.

“Well, I got food too, but it was the end of the day, and I thought of you, you’ve been working hard all day—”

“Do you want to eat here, or?”

“Where would we go?”

she asked as she looked around. It was like her voice shrunk, it got really small.

“Right, you’re right, here’s fine, there’s one room that’s untouched, even the flooring is still intact,”

I said as I started walking, her light footsteps following behind me.

“Wow, you guys did a lot today.”

“We just took off the flooring and put a hole in the back,”

I said over my shoulder.

“Yeah, that’s a lot.”

I walked in the room, the only room that’s left untouched, and that’s only because all we would be doing was expanding the other side of the building so there was no use to demolishing the room.

“I think you said this was going to be the lesson room, right? Your office is what’s being built in the back?”

I turned to look at her.

She nodded with a small smile on her lips.

“Here’s okay?” I asked.

She nodded again.

I walked towards her and grabbed the brown bag so she could take a seat on the floor—and she did—and it was painful to witness. It looked like she was going through a lot of joint pain. She held her bag and finally reached the floor with a muffled groan.

I took a seat on the floor in front of her. “What is this?”

I tried to take a look in the bag, “Chinese takeout?”

Her eyes widened, “there’s a Chinese spot in town?”

I slowly shook my head. “There’s one in the next town over.”

“Of course,”

she sighed, “this is just Bailey’s signature sandwich,” she said as she pointed at the bag.

I nodded.

“What are you gonna do about your hands?”

She pointed it out with a frown. “you can’t eat like this.”

“Oh.” Oh.

I quickly stood. “There’s a hose out back, give me a couple minutes.”

I felt stuffed all over suddenly, and I felt like I was all over the place.

How could I have not noticed my hands?

I grabbed the hose then turned on the water and started washing my hands.

Her presence was unexpected, leaving me almost speechless. I tried not to think the most of the situation. But it wasn’t something that ever happened to me before. This was a first. And with the role I was supposed to be playing in her life, I didn’t know how to react.

I mean, what do I even say to the woman carrying my brother’s child?

Nothing, right?

I should’ve just tried to make it through a conversation.

Or we could just talk about the baby, when’s her next appointment, when’s her due date, what’s her birthing plan—which she still hadn’t shared with me yet.

The name, the baby’s name. I wasn’t sure who got to decide on that matter—maybe my brother? He wasn’t conscious enough to pick a baby name.

I walked back into the room and Juliette immediately handed me a couple paper napkins, it was like she could read my mind.

“Thanks,”

I said as I slowly grabbed the napkins from her hand and wiped my hands. I sat down again and dropped the used napkin on the ground next to me.

“How was your day—?”

“When’s the baby’s due date?”

We spoke at the same time.

Well, she spoke and I just blurted out my question.

“My day was fine—”

“August twenty-first.”

We spoke at the same time again.

I rubbed the back of my neck as she smiled.

“So, August twenty-first, huh?”

She nodded as she opened the brown bag, “yeah, he’ll be a Fall baby.”

“Well, no, fall starts in September.”

Juliette sent me a cold glare.

“August is also my birthday month anyway,”

I mumbled quietly.

“I don’t think I’ll be able to attend your birthday party then,”

she said in silence as she took out a to-go plate and a few pastries that seemed to come in pairs.

“My party?”

She looked at me. “I was joking.”

She smiled.

I broke out a smile of my own.

“Shoot, I forgot to bring us drinks.”

“I have a cooler full of beer.”

Her brows furrowed as my gaze dropped to her pregnant stomach, “and water. A cooler full of beer and water,” I said as I stood up, “I’ll grab us some water.”

I came back with two water bottles in less than a couple of minutes.

I loosened the cap of one of the bottles and handed it to her.

“I got two of each because I wasn’t sure what you liked,”

she explained, “I recently tried tres leches, and I think I’m growing an obsession.”

I nodded, completely unsure of what to say.

“Have you tried it before?”

I blinked. “Tres leches?”

She looked at me like it was a simple question.

“I mean yeah I’ve tried it before,”

I said. Juliette still stared at me, like she wanted to hear more about my experience.

“It was really good, I liked it,”

I said flatly.

She didn’t say anything after that, she just opened the box and took out a sandwich and slid the box with the other sandwich to me.

“Bailey said he added extra bacon for me,”

she said as she took a bite.

“Why?”

She shrugged.

I could tell Juliette really loved Bailey’s sandwiches, so far during all our encounters it was all she’d ever had, and all she’d ever expressed she wanted.

Maybe it had something to do with the baby—she was pregnant. I heard that some pregnant women get really strong cravings. Maybe this was the case.

“How’s Ardley doing?”

The question took me by surprise, so much so, I stopped chewing.

“He regained consciousness, I don’t remember if I told you that or not.”

“Callum, that’s wonderful news!”

she said in a cheery tone as she covered her mouth with a hand, still eating.

I nodded as I continued chewing.

“When can I see him?”

I swallowed. “We can see him right now—after this.”

Juliette sighed, “why do you always do this?”

“Do what?”

“You always invite me at the last minute, after I mentioned it.”

I sighed, “yeah, I’m sorry, I’ll fix you guys for a meeting soon, now that he is awake and talking.”

Her gaze softened, “I didn’t mean to grill you about it, it’s just I want to see how he’s doing to at least talk to him too.”

I nodded.

I finished my sandwich before Juliette, it wasn’t too hard, I suppose. She was eating like a baby, taking small bites, and it took her a while to swallow. I grabbed the water and drained half of it in one go.

“He’s doing a lot better.”

Juliette hummed and she took another bite of her sandwich, she might finally finish it after all. She sat with her legs crossed which looked impressive to do in her state—she wore another long floral dress. Her braids were in a ponytail again and her skin glowed. Her brown eyes were dark since the sun was setting and it was getting darker and darker. The light in the room was low and the constant twitch wasn’t helping at all.

“And Celeste? How is she doing? I want to see her too.”

Instead of answering her question I just nodded, “yeah, you’ll see her soon.”

I swallowed thickly.

In just a few minutes Juliette finished her sandwich and wiped her hands with a small napkin then started sorting the pastries.

“I didn’t know what you’d like,”

she explained. “Everyone likes chocolate.” She mumbled the last part and handed me the slice of chocolate cake.

I nodded and settled it at my side, next to the tres leches cake.

“Can I ask you something?”

She looked up at me in the process of opening her tres leches.

She was hesitant, I could tell but she still smiled when she said, “sure.”

“How did it—how did it happen? How did—?”

“I don’t feel comfortable sharing that information…”

she quickly explained, “maybe you can ask Ardley.”

I nodded like an idiot, “yeah, of course.”

Instead of letting things get awkward between us because of my stupid question I opened the tres leches cake—I grabbed a spoon from the bag.

Last time I had a tres leches cake was probably in my adolescent years, during a vacation in the islands with my family.

That was when we were all close and it didn’t feel like we were suffocating each other.

I took a bite of the cake and nodded with satisfaction, “not bad.”

Juliette seemed to agree with my statement after taking another bite of the cake.

We ate in silence, and I didn’t attempt to try to ask any questions, even if it was out of curiosity. It was already getting late, and my body was exhausted. Usually today would’ve been a walk in the park but it’s been a whole month since I worked. These past few weeks I’d only been home or the hospital, and occasionally the office. I was still working but I wasn’t getting my hands dirty, I was just dealing with papers and meetings which somehow was more stressful than lifting heavy stuff around all day.

I think I’m so exhausted I might finally get a full night’s sleep tonight.

And maybe, if I feel up to it tomorrow, I could finally shave my stubble as well—I wasn’t sure if it could even count as a stubble anymore. It was growing way longer than usual. I was starting to look a little bit older than twenty-eight.

Juliette was the first to break our silence streak, “do you always work on your project, like physically?”

My eyes met her soft ones, “no, not every time, that wouldn’t be possible.”

I chuckled.

She grinned brightly, like I said something very sweet, “does this make me special?”

Her nose scrunched up.

“No,”

I quickly cleared my throat once I realized the full meaning of my answer. “No, no, no, I meant it like—”

She playfully smiled, “no, that’s still very sweet to hear, don’t go making me feel too nice, Callum.”

“We’re just a really big company and I can’t physically be present at every site, is all.”

“I was just messing with you, Callum,”

she mumbled.

Oh.

“Thank you for the food,”

I said as we reached her truck. I had offered to walk her back to her truck because it was just about eight, and it was really dark out.

She looked at me over her shoulder. “I should thank you,”

she whispered, “for getting your hands dirty.”

I chuckled, “just doing my job.”

I closed the door for her and waited for her to pull up her windows once she started the car, but she never did.

“Goodnight, Callum.”

I took a step back. “Goodnight.”