Chapter Seven
Caleb
“Did I just hear you say you dropped out of school?” My brother Eric’s voice echoed through our parents’ living room as he arrived with Jamie and their girls in tow. “Please tell me I heard that wrong.”
“You didn’t.” I scooped up my niece Mia before she could launch herself at my legs, and she giggled wildly as I tickled her.
Brooklyn hopped up and down in front of me. “Uncy Caleb! Me, me, me!” she demanded, and I lifted her in my other arm, wrestling them both into hysterics.
“Where’s Grandma’s love?” Mom complained, disappointed the girls hadn’t run to her first.
“So.” Eric folded his arms after I’d sent the girls over to hug our mother. “You dropped out.”
“It’s not a big deal.” I shrugged.
It was a huge deal. Not because of the decision itself—that was already done. Dealing with my family was the hard part.
“When did this happen?” Jamie asked, lowering herself into a chair like it was a military operation. Eric reached for her arm, but she shut him down with a single look.
Six months pregnant with her fourth child, Jamie was still the most beautiful sister-in-law in the world, and the most stubborn woman I’d ever met. And I loved the hell out of her.
“Three days ago,” I admitted.
“Three days, and you’re just telling us now?” Eric’s jaw tightened.
“I needed to figure out how to say it.” I wasn’t about to apologize for that. I’d earned the right to take my damn time. “And it deserved to be said in person.”
“Okay, so you’re done with school.” Jamie smiled, always the diplomat. “You can regroup here at home, figure out your next step—”
“I’m not moving back in with Mom and Dad.”
The room went quiet. Even Brooklyn and Mia paused their play.
“What do you mean?” Mom’s eyes widened, her Quebecois accent thickening the way it always did when she was upset. “Of course you’re coming home. Where else would you go?”
“Chantel’s. She’s got a spare room, and I need some space to figure things out on my own terms.”
“At Chantel’s.” Dad pushed his glasses up his nose. His voice was calm, but the vein in his temple told a different story. “And what exactly are your terms?”
“I don’t have a list. But I know school’s not the place for me right now. And I can’t stay here to be watched over like I’m one wrong move from breaking.”
Mom flinched. It was small, not much more than a ripple across her features, but I caught it. I always caught it. Years of watching my mother try not to look terrified had made me an expert in reading her face.
“Mon ange, we don’t think you’re going to break.”
“Yeah, you do.” I kept my voice steady even though my chest ached. “I cough and you assume the worst. I miss your call, you panic. I know you can’t help it, but it’s suffocating.”
Jamie’s hand drifted to her round belly, her eyes flicking to Eric. He answered with a subtle but firm shake of his head.
“Your mother and I have tried to give you space,” Dad said carefully. “We let you go off to Toronto on your own, despite our reservations, because it was building toward something. Now you’re telling us the direction is gone and you still don’t want to come home.”
“Dad, I love and respect you both but listen to what you just said. You let me go? You’re proving my point.”
Eric shifted against the doorframe, arms crossed, jaw working. He was biting back whatever he wanted to say. Hell, I could practically hear his teeth grinding.
“Caleb, this is ridiculous.” Mom’s voice rose. “You have no plan, no job. What are you going to do at Chantel’s that you can’t do here?”
“Breathe.”
The word hung in the air between us. Mom’s mouth opened, then closed. Dad’s hand found her hand. Across the room, Jamie wiped at her eyes and looked away.
“I’m not rejecting you.” Fuck, why was it so hard to explain this? “And I’m not saying you did anything wrong. But I need to figure out what comes next. On my own.”
In the silence, my heartbeat slammed against my ribs.
Until finally, Dad broke it. “We just want to know you’re not giving up.”
“Giving up? You know I’d never do that.” I held his gaze. “This is just a recalibration. I might not have a detailed plan yet, but I’ll figure it out. Just give me some time.”
The furrow in Mom’s brow was still tight. “And what will you do while you’re figuring it out?”
“I’ll find a job. I’ll keep busy. And if anything goes sideways, I’m living with the toughest doctor in the province. Pretty sure she’d have me stabilized before the ambulance even got the call.”
The corner of Dad’s mouth twitched. “Don’t be a smart-ass, son. It’s not all that endearing.”
“I’ll check in. I’ll come for dinner. I’ll answer my phone when Mom calls at eight in the morning on a Saturday.” I looked at her. “Which I know you will.”
“Fine.” She pressed her lips together, fighting a smile she didn’t want to give me. “But I expect you to be making a real plan. Not just partying at Zane’s.”
Well, someone has a big fucking mouth.
“I promise once I figure out what I’m doing with my life, you’ll be the first to know.”
Dad smiled, and I could see something that looked like pride fighting through the worry in his eyes.
“Okay, problem solved.” Eric straightened. “Caleb, give me a hand in the kitchen.”
I followed him, mentally bracing for whatever lecture he was about to deliver. He’d been too fucking quiet with Mom and Dad, which meant whatever he had to say wasn’t fit for their consumption.
The second we were alone he spun on me. “Tell me what’s really going on.”
“I told you—”
“Come on,” he interrupted. “I know there’s something more to this story. Something you’re not telling us. You’re not acting like yourself.”
“I’m never myself around Mom and Dad. I’m always putting on a show, and I’m tired of it.”
“For fuck’s sake, you little shit. Tell me what the real fucking problem is now, or I swear to Christ…” Only Eric could say I love you with unspoken threats of bodily harm and a string of F-bombs.
He really was my hero. Not because he cared for me like I was one of his kids or because he loved me unconditionally. Not even because he’d put his own life on hold to help save mine. It was the honest way he treated me—there wasn’t an ounce of bullshit between us.
“I met a woman,” I said, my grin giving me away.
The pinch between his brows faded. “Another one?”
“No, this one’s different. She’s beautiful, funny, and incredibly bold. And she kissed me.”
His hand landed on my shoulder, squeezed, then fell away. “That’s fantastic, but please don’t tell me you quit school so you could move closer to a pretty girl.”
I laughed. “I was thinking about making a change before I met her. She’s just an added bonus.”
“So, you made plans to see her again?”
“No plans, but I know I’ll see her again. She’s Chantel’s best friend—”
“Chantel’s friend?” Eric barked a loud laugh, and my smile grew even wider. “Guess that shouldn’t surprise me. You always were infatuated with older women.”
“Yeah, yeah. You know your wife loved me first.”
“Keep your mind on your own woman,” he growled.
Like I was ever a threat. He knew if it weren’t for me, they’d have never met. Sure, I still got a brief pang every time I saw them together, but it wasn’t jealousy. Not anymore.
I’d been fourteen, sick, possibly dying, and Jamie had been the first person outside my family who’d treated me like I was more than a diagnosis. I’d confused that for love. Took two years to figure out it wasn’t her I wanted. It was what she and Eric had.
And three weeks ago, standing beside Zadie at that party, her laugh vibrating through me, I’d felt the first real pull toward having it for myself.
“Zadie’s not mine. Not yet. And I’m not sure she wants to be anyone’s. She told me she doesn’t believe in love.”
“Was that before or after you kissed her? I told you, little bro—practice. You can’t just dream about kissing girls to be good at it.” He smirked.
Fucking ass.
“You’re not as funny as you think you are.” I shook my head but couldn’t stop smiling. “I told you, she kissed me, and it was phenomenal.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
My shoulders tensed. “The timing sucks. She’s at Chantel’s because her last relationship ended badly. Fuck, the whole thing sounded like a goddamn nightmare—”
“Wait.” Eric’s hand shot up as he paused, putting the pieces together. “She’s living with Chantel, too? Don’t you think moving in with her might be a little fucking transparent?”
“I don’t care.”
He laughed again, quieter this time. “All right. But what if you’re uprooting your life for a woman who doesn’t want you there?”
“I’m not doing it all for her. But I’m also not going stay in Toronto, wondering if she does.”
“And what about her ex?”
“What about him? He’s a piece of shit who left her twice. He’s not a factor.”
“The ex is always a factor. Until he’s not.” Eric’s voice dropped, serious now. “Trust me on that one.”
“Noted.” I swallowed the lump suddenly stuck in my throat. “What if you’re right and I mess it all up?”
“We all fuck up at least once in life. You’re overdue.” He clamped his hand on my shoulder again, and this time it stayed. “But you’ll also figure it out. Fear’s an asshole. You’ve got to put it behind you—you’re the one who taught me that.”
I smiled, forcing back the ridiculous fucking emotion. “You still haven’t learned. You can’t live without fear. You’ve got to live despite it.”
“Yes, you do.” He pulled me into a rough hug, smacking me hard on the back before letting go. “So, you’re moving into Chantel’s house with the woman you’re obsessed with.”
“I’m not obsessed.”
“Caleb, you dropped out of school, drove home, and told our mother you’re moving into the same house as a woman you’ve met once. You’re obsessed.”
Okay, so I was fucking obsessed.