Chapter Four #2
“Dad? Why are you being mean?” Brody stops playing with the animal and asks me.
Caleb’s eyes narrow at my son before he addresses Cameron, signing, “I was wondering what was taking you so long to get your package, and then I saw Pepper got out. Is everything alright?”
Cameron’s brows knit in confusion. “Yeah, Dad. Everything’s fine. Pepper just made a new friend, that’s all.”
“Wait, hold up a damn minute. Did he just call you ‘Dad’?” I ask Caleb, my jaw nearly scraping the gravel in the driveway.
“Yes, because he’s my son,” Caleb notes, his expression unamused.
I scoff dramatically. “Oh, that’s rich! He’s what? Fifteen? Sixteen? You had a kid you never told me about?! Looks like I wasn’t the only one with secrets, now doesn’t it!”
“I don’t owe you an explanation, alright? That was years ago; let the past go. I didn’t keep secrets and that’s all you need to know.”
Ire nearly swallows me whole at the hypocrisy of it all.
He’s the one that tore into me about my need to always keep things on the down low, and here he had a whole ass kid he obviously hid from me.
The double standards are for fuckin’ real.
I’m about to light into him again, because I’m notoriously a bit of a grudge-master, but then it occurs to me: he knows I’m hearing…
“Why are you signing to me?” I suddenly blurt.
Caleb rolls his eyes, then tugs the collar of his polo shirt away from his neck, pointing to an angry looking, raised scar. “Because I can’t fucking speak.”
Oh, gosh. Immediately, I’m struck by the sight of the violent-looking line dividing the skin of his neck.
Then, a feeling of immense loss washes over me.
Caleb, the man who always had a way with words, without a voice.
Stripped away from him painfully too, by the looks of it.
I wonder what the fuck happened to him, but if the sour look on his face right now is any tell, asking him about it is likely not going to be well received.
“Stop looking at me like that,” he signs at me, scowling. “Sorry if it grosses you out, but it’s a part of who I am now. I have no voice anymore, and that’s that.”
It’s incredibly unfortunate, actually. I’m not grossed out, I’m just taken aback.
I can’t imagine what it must be like to suddenly have your voice taken from you.
That’s… wow. I feel bad for him. Like, bad enough that I think I could easily forget about all the hurt between us, but only until I get another flash of annoyance in his expression aimed at me.
“I’m not—fuck, your scar doesn’t gross me out. I’m just trying to understand, alright?”
“There’s nothing for you to understand,” he signs back. “I don’t need nor do I want your pity. In fact, the only thing I want from you right now is for you to leave because you’re going to make me late.”
Cameron’s brows furrow as his eyes flick between me and Caleb. “What’s going on?”
Caleb turns to him. “Why don’t you take Pepper and go on inside?
I was just coming out to tell you that I’m headed out for a little bit.
I might not be back before you leave for work, so I just wanted to touch base and make sure you were all set before taking off.
I ordered you some take-out, and it should be here any minute. ”
Brody hands the critter over to Cameron, politely saying, “Thank you for letting me play with him.”
Cameron nods. “I’d say you’re more than welcome to come over and visit with him again if you wanted, but I’m picking up some not-so-good vibes between our fathers.” Then, he turns towards Caleb, “Should I be concerned about bad blood with the next delivery driver as well?”
Caleb puffs out an angry breath through his flared nostrils. “No. You should be fine. This one is just leaving as well.”
“Hey, I am literally just the messenger. You think I wandered over to your place because I was hoping to see your face ever again?”
Caleb’s fiery hazel eyes dart over to Brody, and then his jaw ticks when they land back on me. “Though I wouldn’t put it past you, I’m not dredging up the past in front of a child. But mark my words, do not ever step foot on my property again.”
I scoff. “Don’t ever shop online again, then. This is my delivery route now.”
He rolls his eyes again. “Good to see you have grown up a ton. Should have known you never would.”
And fuck, I may not have changed much, but neither has he—appearance wise, anyway.
Why does he have to still look the way he does?
So stunningly hot. As for his attitude, however?
He’s still just as rotten as the day we parted ways.
Up until then? Total gentleman. After that point though? Total dickhead.
“Dad?” Brody asks, tugging on my shirt sleeve. “You guys look mad at each other. Can we go?”
“Absolutely, kiddo. Come on.”
As I back out of the driveway and onto the road, I catch sight of Caleb still standing there, hands on his hips, glowering at me. As is customary, I give the horn a quick toot as I take off. What isn’t customary is the bird I flip him as discreetly as possible so Brody doesn’t see.
Of course, my eagle-eyed son notices anyway. “Why did you have to be mean to them, Dad?” he asks, looking sad. “I don’t know anyone else in town that talks like we do at home. We coulda been friends.”
Yeah, you’re not wrong, my boy. Once upon a time, we could have been very good friends. Up until I fuckin’ blew it, anyway…
I sigh, maybe a touch too long and dramatic, but I need a second to come up with a Brody safe way to explain myself.
I mean, it’s been close to a decade since I’ve seen Caleb.
My issues with him should be ancient history by now, but the minute I laid eyes on him, it was like no time had passed at all.
My feelings got hurt, and I got defensive all over again.
Truly, it is my fault—mine and Caleb’s fallout.
He was absolutely right, back then, about how I was obnoxiously in my own way when it came to potentially being found out.
We had dated—on the side, of course—for two whole summers, and it was fun.
Real fun. Not just the sex either, even though that was fantastic.
Whereas I’m more reserved and not especially adventurous, Caleb was yin to my yang, the moon to my sun…
whatever you want to call it, being with him was just what I needed at the time.
He was always down to try something new, explore somewhere different, and truly make the most out of every experience.
He was bold and carefree, and though I knew our time would be fleeting, I kept clinging to those moments like a lifeline in a storm.
He got me out of my shell, up until he wanted to keep things going after that last summer ended.
I had thought I’d been pretty straightforward when I’d told him that we likely couldn’t continue to carry on with whatever it is you’d call a situationship like ours, but he got more attached, I guess.
He and his family didn’t live up here all year, residing in some frou-frou, ritzy people suburb down in Southern Maine.
I tried to casually break things off because I had no interest in carrying on something that far away when I have a life up here, and that’s where our animosity began.