CHAPTER TEN
‘Caleb?’
‘Hi, Katja. Listen, I’m so, so sorry. I don’t know how, but it totally slipped my mind that today is your birthday.’ He gave a groan. ‘Was your birthday. It’s actually tomorrow now. If you know what I mean.’
‘Hey, don’t worry about it. These things happen,’ I said, aiming for cool and casual.
So he had forgotten. It was silly, really, but I felt like crying.
Whatever was happening in my life, however busy I was at work, I’d never forget Caleb’s birthday. So what did that say about how he felt about me?
I swallowed hard. ‘Actually, I’ve had a really lovely day,’ I told him breezily. ‘In fact, it’s been one of my best birthdays ever.’
‘Oh. Well, that’s great. I’m so pleased. Look, I’m actually parked outside your flat.’
‘Are you?’ I feigned huge surprise.
‘Yes. I’ve got something for you. I actually bought it ages ago for your birthday and then things just . . . well, I’m an idiot for having forgotten . . .’
‘Well, you’d better come up, then.’
‘Is that okay? You weren’t in bed asleep or anything?’
‘No, no. It’s fine. Just close the downstairs door quietly behind you, will you? When you just let it go, it –’
‘It bangs and wakes the neighbours up. I remember.’
‘Of course you do.’
I sprang out of bed, pulled on my dressing gown and dived into the bathroom, and in the time it took for Caleb to bound up the stairs, I’d managed to pull a comb through my hair, give my teeth another quick brush and pinch some colour into my cheeks.
I was in the process of discarding my comfy old towelling dressing gown in favour of the skimpy, summery one in the wardrobe when I heard his knock.
‘Hi.’ He smiled at me as I opened the door. ‘I . . . it’s good to see you.’ He gave a rueful shrug. ‘Sorry for forgetting your special day. I’ve . . . had things on my mind, which I know is no excuse.’
I felt my heart melt at his words. He looked genuinely sorry.
‘Come in,’ I said softly, and he stepped over the threshold with a rather goofy smile.
I closed the door and when I turned, Caleb took me in his arms and kissed me deeply and passionately until my head was spinning with ecstasy. We were both quite breathless when we finally parted, both of us chuckling a little, I suppose out of a mixture of relief and slight awkwardness.
For my part, kissing him was like coming home and the relief I felt was huge after all the time I’d spent worrying that day that he might be going off me.
I would have liked to drag him straight through to the bedroom, although I doubted much force would be needed.
But instead, I offered him coffee, which he accepted eagerly, and we went through to the kitchen, still smiling and wrapped in the glow of that passionate kiss.
As I filled the kettle, I could feel him behind me, his eyes drinking me in, and I felt very glad of my last-minute change of dressing gown.
‘Happy birthday,’ he said softly, holding out a small, glossy white bag with black ribbon for handles and the name of a local jewellers in fancy script on the side. ‘Hope you like it. The very helpful shop assistant assured me that we can exchange it if it’s not right.’
I smiled at him, my heart beating ridiculously fast as I drew out the small package wrapped in white tissue paper. ‘I’m sure I’ll love it.’
Even if it was ghastly, I would love it because Caleb had bought it, thinking of me!
It wasn’t ghastly. Not in the least. In fact, it was the most beautiful, delicate, gorgeous bracelet I’d ever seen in my life and my heart was beating like crazy as Caleb offered to fasten the silver clasp for me.
A series of leaf-shaped links circled my wrist, enamelled in a beautiful forget-me-not blue, my favourite colour.
‘It’s gorgeous. Thank you,’ I whispered, holding out my arm to admire it.
‘I’m glad you like it. I thought it was your colour as soon as I saw it.’
I nodded, we smiled at each other, and as I melted into him again, holding up my face to his for another kiss, his arms slipped around me again and he pulled me against him.
His mobile rang right then, cutting rudely into the moment.
He hesitated for a second, then he let me go and drew the phone from his pocket. One glimpse of the screen and I saw how his expression changed . . . the way the notch between his eyebrows deepened.
He rejected the call, thrust the phone back in his pocket and reached for me again.
‘Who was that?’ I whispered.
He shook his head. ‘No one.’ He smiled down at me. ‘Now, where were we?’
The phone rang again and this time, he cursed under his breath and instantly rejected the call without looking at the screen.
I looked at him, puzzled. ‘Someone’s keen to get hold of you.’
‘It’s nobody. Really.’
‘Maybe it’s urgent?’
He shook his head. ‘It’s not. I’ll call them back later.’ A muscle was twitching in his jawline as he switched the phone off and pushed it back into his pocket.
He turned away from me then and clicked the kettle back on. And as he made the coffee, I sat down at the table, shivering a little in my skimpy attire, missing the warmth of his arms around me.
‘No sugar in mine,’ I warned him, a little too late.
‘Damn!’ He shook his head impatiently. ‘I don’t know why I did that. I know you don’t take sugar.’
‘Never mind. It’s fine. I sometimes do take sugar if I need the energy,’ I assured him.
But he ignored me and threw the contents of the mug impatiently down the sink, and he proceeded to make me a fresh one.
‘No sugar.’ Turning, he presented the drink to me with a sheepish smile.
‘Are you okay?’ I asked, feeling a little alarmed.
Caleb was usually so calm and laid-back.
He had to be, being the boss of a building company, where deliveries were sometimes late and bad weather could stall work at the site for days on end.
He was one of the most even-tempered people I’d ever met.
He sighed and ran a hand through his dark brown hair, making it stick up a little. ‘Yes. Yes, I’m fine. Just tired.’
I nodded. He did seem exhausted. His eyes had that slightly puffy look, as if he desperately needed to catch up on some sleep.
Who had been trying to contact him just then? Not Amanda, surely? You’d hardly be phoning your boss about something to do with work at gone midnight!
A cold hand squeezed my heart.
Unless . . . maybe she hadn’t been calling about work at all. Maybe she’d called for a late-night chat the way lovers liked to do . . . just to hear their partner’s voice?
I shivered as I took a sip of my coffee.
Caleb sat down opposite and we drank in silence, and I knew I’d lost him again. He was still distracted after those phone calls, I could tell. And when at last he smiled at me and said he should be going because it was getting late, I didn’t try to persuade him to stay.
‘Thank you so much for the bracelet. I love it,’ I told him at the door.
‘You’re welcome.’ He leaned forward and kissed me on the lips. ‘I’m sorry it was late.’
I shook my head and smiled at him. Then I remembered we were having dinner the following night. He hadn’t mentioned it. Maybe he’d forgotten about it?
I opened my mouth to ask him, but at that moment, he reached for my hand, squeezed it hard and murmured, ‘Take care of yourself, Katja.’ Then he turned and walked away to his car.
The smile froze on my face, but I held it in place as I watched him drive away.
But as I closed the door, a feeling of nausea settled inside me.
And as I discarded the flimsy dressing gown and wrapped myself in my comforting towelling one instead, I knew that it wasn’t only the freezing temperature that had sent a chill through me as I’d stood at the door, waving him off.
There had been something so unsettling and final about Caleb’s last words to me.
Take care of yourself, Katja . . .