Candle In The Wind

Chapter Thirty Six

Perfect Present Continuous

I hummed a The Weeknd song as it played in the Barn—it wasn’t loud, just loud enough that you could choose to hear it or drown it out. I was oddly in a good mood since I woke up this morning.

I woke up in Cal’s arms.

I felt my cheeks flush as I recall the memory of the night before.

“Someone’s happy this morning.”

Ava smiled as she wiggled her eyebrows, “and you’re glowing too, what kind of afterglow is that?” she teased.

I glared at her across the kitchen.

“She’s been singing since we opened,”

Bailey chimed in with his negative attitude.

I curled my lip into a scowl and glared at him. He rolled his eyes and got back to the sandwich he was preparing.

“Why isn’t Ben-Ben making the sandwiches?”

I asked as it finally registered to me that Ben-Ben had been out of sight for the past thirty minutes.

“He lost a game of rock paper scissors so he’s outside breaking down boxes,”

Bailey said proudly as he smiled.

“If you guys would just follow the non-negotiables and break down every box you’ve opened there wouldn’t be a pile of them in the dumpster.” I sighed.

“Yeah, but you know…”

Ava finally chimed in, “we got carried away.”

“Carried away my foot,”

I mumbled under my breath as I made my way out of the kitchen and back to the front end.

There were a few customers inside, drinking coffee with friends, alone, or some people were even on their computers. We started having regulars too, so things were looking good for the barn.

The little bell at the top of the door rang and a man in a white jumper walked in with a bouquet in his hand. He looked around before looking at the tag that was in his other hand.

“Juliette?”

he called out in a flat tone.

I awkwardly raised my hand up like I was a schoolgirl, “I’m Juliette.”

He walked towards me and handed me the pink bouquet of lilies.

I smiled. “Thank you.”

The man nodded and walked away, leaving me behind to daydream about how sweet Callum w.as for sending me flowers, my favorites too. Lilies.

“So this is why you’re glowing,”

Ava whispered at my side, I nearly jumped, startled by her sudden presence. “Who’s it from?”

I tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear and smiled as I shrugged “I don’t know,”

I whispered, dragging the words. Like a foolish schoolgirl.

I pulled the note that was in the middle of the flower and started kicking my foot on the ground like I usually do when I get excited about liking someone or flirting in general.

See you soon, sweet pea.

I froze as my eyes glazed over the words again. Maybe I read it wrong.

Sweet pea.

I dropped the flowers on the ground.

As my head rang, Ava grumbled out a couple words as she picked up the flowers, but I was too far gone this time. My heart raced and my head started spinning, the world was closing all around me.

I was suffocating.

“Juliette?”

It was too soon.

Too soon.

I thought I would have more time…that it would be different this time. I wouldn’t watch him ruin everything I’ve worked so hard for. That he wouldn’t ruin my happiness this time.

His voice, his face, his cruelty, I can see it all through those five simple words. He was sending me a message—it wasn’t a warning because it was too late to try anything, and I knew paying that douchebag Derick wasn’t going to change anything. For all I knew he probably took my money and went to him anyway. He was a dog, just like him, they had no dreams—they were born to take and take simply because they’d never be able to create their own happiness, so they stole. They stole others happiness and relished in it.

What hurt the most was the fact that I didn’t want to run this time, I couldn’t. I was pregnant with someone else’s baby, a family who I owed everything to. All my achievements had been written in their names. I couldn’t do that to Ardley who was currently in the process of losing his wife.

I sighed as I placed a hand on my stomach, backing away, but really I was cornered in my own mind. My nose flared as I struggled to breathe, and I felt this intense pain in my stomach like the baby was trying to tell me something.

“Juliette are you alright?”

Ava’s voice echoed.

I blinked and tried to pull myself together with shaky hands.

I nodded, “yeah, I’m fine.”

“What does the note say?”

she asked because I was exactly subtle with the panic attack I just experienced.

I crumpled the note in my fist and held it tight. “Nothing, um, I don’t feel well, the baby’s kicking a lot or maybe it’s just pain, it’s a really intense pressure in my lower stomach,”

I said as I slowly walked to an empty chair.

Customers stared at me while I grimaced in pain, I couldn’t tell where this new sudden pain was coming from.

Ava dropped to my side. “Maybe you should head home, Jules.”

My brows furrowed as I shook my head, “if I can work with my back pain, then this is nothing.”

“Just go home, why are you so obsessed with this place?”

Bailey chimed in, his tone half-annoyed, half-worried.

I laughed. “Are you concerned for my health, Bailey?”

I must be in really bad shape.

I clenched my jaw as I groaned, feeling another wave of this intense pressure that I’d never felt before.

“Is the baby coming?”

Ben-Ben asked, popping his head through the doorway, his body in the kitchen and his round head poking out to look at me fuss and moan.

I kissed my teeth. “Don’t be silly, Benny, my due date is August twenty-first,”

Ava looked at me like I was crazy. “It’s highly possible that the baby could come a couple weeks early.”

Bailey and Ben-Ben both nodded, agreeing with Ava.

I groaned, “fine, I’ll go home, who wants to close?”

“I’ll close,” Ava said.

“I have homework to do, but I can stay a couple hours.”

Bailey shrugged.

I smiled, tears welding into my eyes from the pain and because of how sweet they were all being to me.

“Thank you, guys.”

I opened my arms widely as I felt the baby move, “group hug!” I smiled.

“No,”

Bailey said firmly as he walked away.

The place wasn’t on the verge of burning when I arrived this time.

I’m sure I would’ve come up with a joke about it to tease Cal since he was already home, but I was sweating, and trying to keep myself from screaming. It seems like the pain wasn’t going away. My inner thighs, my back, my lower stomach, it was all hurting and cramping.

I dropped my shoulder bag on the table near the front door. Along with my keys, I took off my boots, and used the sleeves of my cardigan to wipe the sweat off my forehead. The AC in my car was still in fact broken but unfortunately, I couldn’t blame my car for this kind of sweating. I was sweating from pain and from being too uncomfortable.

I sighed loudly and wobbled my way to the living room.

Cal was already there sitting, and when he looked up at me it felt like he was waiting for me. He stood up and shoved something in his pocket.

“You’re home early today,”

Cal said as he pushed his hand into his hair.

I nodded. “They kicked me out because I wasn’t feeling too well.”

His brows furrowed and in a beat he was at my side. “Are you alright?”

I almost let out a scream feeling a hollow blow in my stomach, but I forced my lips into a thin line as I nodded. “Yeah, my back is hurting is all.”

I nervously laughed, then paused as I hummed to let the feeling pass. “I think they just wanted me to rest.”

Cal nodded as he helped me take a seat on the couch.

He took a seat next to me and awkwardly smiled.

I looked at him up and down. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, um, have you ever lived here before?”

he asked carefully.

I sighed. I felt cold and hot at the same time. I was comfortable and jittery.

I looked down at my feet and shook my head.

I placed my hand at my side and curled my hands into fists.

“Is this about Juliette Simons?”

“I never told you her last name,”

he quickly replied.

“Really?”

I chuckled nervously. “I thought you did.”

No, I swear he did.

“I didn’t.”

“What’s this about, Cal?”

I asked with shallow breath feeling like I was going to lose consciousness soon.

“I guess…I’m just trying to wrap my head around it.”

He turned to face me completely.

“Can I have some tea?”

I interrupted him with my lips pulled into a thin line.

He looked at me like I was unbelievable.

I pouted as I sighed. “I barely have any energy to get scolded right now.”

He nodded like he really couldn’t believe what was happening right now, but he stood and went to the kitchen anyway.

Even at times like this he’d still do as I asked.

I smiled then groaned as I tried to adjust myself to feel a lot more comfortable, but I was still in so much pain.

I had my eyes closed and didn’t even realize when Cal was back until he gently placed a hand on my thigh. I opened my eyes and smiled.

I reached for the cup of tea, but he placed it on the coffee table.

“It’s hot,” he said.

I nodded, staring at the familiar-looking mug until I realized it was one of the mugs I made. I didn’t even know when he bought it.

“Thank you,”

I whispered.

“Why did you lie to me?”

My shoulders dropped. “Some grapes? Can I have some grapes please?”

He sighed as he stood up, making his way back to the kitchen again. “Is this your way of defusing the situation?”

he asked as he opened the fridge. I remained quiet because clearly, I’d already incriminated myself enough.

“I’m not mad at you.”

“I already told you,”

I raised my voice enough for him to hear me from the kitchen, “I don’t have any energy to get scolded right now.”

Right when I finished my sentence, he appeared in the living room again with a plate of washed green grapes. He handed me the plate and sat down. But he also had something else in his hand, a box— a really old box that looked very familiar.

“That hairpin—your hairpin—has my mother’s initials engraved on it.”

I froze, with a grape in my mouth, sweat rolling down the side of my head.

Our eyes locked and by the look on my face, he got all the confirmations he needed.

He figured it out.

I’m Juliette Simmons. The Juliette he knew from eighteen years ago. His inseparable friend.

I slowly started chewing the grape that was in my mouth. “You went through my stuff?”

“No.”

He smiled halfheartedly. “This was a test.” He opened the old box, “I dug up our time capsule, but it seemed like you dug it up first without me, the hairpin and your bear is gone.”.

I looked away shamelessly. “Well, I technically didn’t dig it up. I watched Junior Idig it up.”

He slowly shook his head. “Where’s the bear?”

“I washed it, it’s in one of Clay’s toy boxes.”

I glanced into the box and noticed his most-prized possession, the one thing that people could probably use against him was gone. “You read your note yet?”

I said with a teasing tone.

His ears reddened. “I have, and we’ll never see that note ever again.”

I made a move to laugh but my stomach dropped as I felt the pressure again, Callum was still looking at me—still waiting for my explanation.

I sighed. “Look, I didn’t know Ardley was your brother until after, I made the connection after I met you, and I just didn’t think—”

“We have the same last name, Juliette,”

he deadpanned.

“Yeah, but when I knew you, I didn’t know about Ardley— I thought you were an only child, and last names aren’t exactly copyrighted to one family, you know? Ardley didn’t tell me his life story when he offered me a hundred thousand.”

The pain in my stomach was fading slowly but the pain in my chest was replacing it.

“I was closer with Celeste,”

I continued talking, “and we never talked about family, we only talked about the baby. It’s an awful coincidence.” I pushed a couple grapes into my mouth and started chewing with a pout.

“Like I said,”

he placed a hand on the side of my face, “I’m not mad at you.” He gently rubbed his thumb against my cheek and as much as I wanted to enjoy the moment, I couldn’t. My cold sweats were back, and the pain came back tenfold.

“But why did you hide that from me?”

I groaned lowly. “I didn’t. I forgot honestly—when we finally met, I still didn’t remember, it was way after I finally made the connection, then I figured what was the point, you know? What difference did it make? We were just kids.”

“What difference did it make?”

he repeated the words with a flat tone, “Juliette, I’ve been looking for you for years!” he exasperated.

“Were you never curious?”

he asked after a beat, “about me?”

I released a heavy breath as I trained my eyes on the ground. “Since my parents died and social services took me away, I didn’t think about anything that was tied to those memories,”

I said truthfully.

I didn’t want to tell him I forgot about him, but in the beginning, I did.

I groaned again and this time Cal paced a hand down on my lower back and started to rub the spot. Maybe he thought this was a muscle ache, but this felt like more than a muscle ache.

I struggled to stand up with a hand on my stomach.

I finally let out a loud excruciating scream. “I can’t take it anymore!”

Cal’s brows furrowed as he stared at me with worries, he stood up at my side and instantly looked around me like something else other than the baby was causing me this pain.

“What’s wrong?”

he whispered frantically, “what happened?”

“The baby—”

The sound of water dripping caught our attention and we both slowly looked down in horror.

My water broke.

“Is coming,”

he finished my sentence.

I didn’t know who was more horrified. Cal looked like he wanted to scream himself, he looked more freaked out than I was, which somehow calmed me a little.

I slowly smiled but began to laugh.

He slowly looked up at me with a panicked expression. “Have you gone into shock?”

he asked as he gripped my shoulders, “does it hurt that much?”

My laugh turned into a scream and a groan. Cal quickly came to my side and wrapped his arm around my shoulders. “We have to go to the hospital.”

He helped me walk to his car but his truck was a monster, I couldn’t hop in it in this state—it felt like the baby could pop out at any second if I tried climbing the truck.

I turned around and leaned back against his truck. “I won’t make it,”

I said in horror, frantically breathing.

Cal raked his hand through his hair. “I know I should’ve gotten that SUV while I had time,”

he mumbled under his breath as he paced in front of me.

“Let’s take my truck, I have the go bag in there anyways.”

“Go bag?”

he questioned, but he was quick at my side again to help me walk to my rusty red truck.

“Hospital bag,”

I clarified as he helped me get into my truck.

He helped me sit down and for a brief second his eyes softened, and he looked almost apologetic—though this wasn’t anything to be sorry about. Whether it was going to be his brother’s baby or my baby, this was the only way the baby could come out. It was nature’s gift to motherhood.

I started practicing my breathing as Cal went to the driver’s seat and started the car. He twisted the AC dial, then glared at me.

“I was going to get it fixed, can we please goooooo!!!!”