42. Caleb
Chapter 42
Caleb
“ R eady?” Celeste weaves her fingers through mine.
Looking up at the tall building, I shake my head. “Not really, but I don’t want to postpone this one more minute.”
After the longest night and day yesterday, we slept like the dead, ignoring the rest of the world. I spoke with Mia twice, and I talked to Greta as well.
Dominic made sure the hospital report on Reese got lost somewhere at the police station. Nobody will bother her.
Mia confirmed Reese was awake and doing better, given the circumstances.
She’ll be visiting her mom after school, so we came a bit earlier to have the opportunity to talk .
Holding hands, we take the elevator in silence. Frankly, I can’t not touch Celeste every chance I get.
Funny how life so often gives us the exact opposite of what we’re asking. And it’s the best thing ever. She’s the best thing ever.
In front of Reese’s room, Celeste slips her hand from mine.
I frown. “What’s up?”
“I don’t think I should intrude. Mia is your daughter, and I don’t want to make Reese uncomfortable.”
“Mia is your stepdaughter, and this meeting probably will be all kinds of uncomfortable with or without you. I’d prefer you were there.”
A smile brightens her face, and it hits me in the chest. I don’t understand all the physical reactions I have in her company.
It used to be my cock reacting. Nowadays, my entire body reverberates at the sight of her.
“Okay. Let’s do this.” Celeste squares her shoulders.
I kiss her forehead. Another thing I can’t seem to get enough of. These simple displays of affection. This time, though, I might have done it to give myself courage, to feel her support.
Not feeling ready at all, I push the door open. Reese lies in the bed, her eyes focused on the large window. I paid for a private room for her, which Greta accepted only after a heated discussion.
“Reese,” I whisper. My throat is dry, and my voice is raspy, like I’ve just swallowed razors.
She turns her head and meets my eyes. Her skin is translucent, the deep circles under her sunken eyes giving it the only hint of color. Dark and unforgiving.
She sighs and lifts a corner of her lips slightly, but it drops back immediately like the tiny gesture exhausted her.
“Is it a good time?” I walk closer.
She nods, or rather, she blinks her answer. Maybe I was too hasty in pushing for a meeting this early after her incident.
“This is my wife, Celeste.” Fuck, I’m really glad she’s beside me. “I’m sorry we’re meeting under these circumstances.”
“Nice to meet you, Reese.” Celeste steps to the foot of the bed.
Reese answers with another almost unperceivable nod.
I had played this conversation out in my head several times since we arrived at the hospital two nights ago. To be honest, I imagined it a few times since Mia showed up.
Standing here now, in a room with the woman who brought up my amazing daughter, I’m not quite sure where to start.
“Greta told me you’d like shared custody…” Reese breaks the silence. “What about your father?”
The bitterness in her voice mirrors the bile rising in my stomach at the mere mention of him.
“We’re no longer teenagers. He doesn’t rule my life. I’m sorry for what he did to you and Mia.”
Reese snorts weakly. “It’s not like we would have driven into the sunset together. We were so young. At least he paid for my school and got me a head start.”
“He also robbed me of a decade with my daughter,” I snap.
Celeste puts her hand on my back, and my misplaced anger melts a little. But the idea of my father getting any credit, as Reese suggested, is nauseating.
“Look,” I say, hoping to redirect the conversation. “My father has no say in this. You don’t need to worry.”
“I don’t want Mia exposed to his brand of evil.”
She talks about my father, but she might be including me in his kind of evil. “She will never meet him if I have anything to say about it. And I hope I can prove to you I’m not him.”
She assesses me skeptically. “With money?”
“With actions.”
She looks away, seemingly searching for answers in the large window. Celeste gives me an encouraging nod. It helps a bit, but the heavy feeling that I’ve failed this conversation persists.
“Mia told me she’s been visiting you for months now. She seems happy to continue, so I’m not going to prevent that.”
“I appreciate that.”
“I’m not doing it for you, I’m doing it for Mia.” Reese doesn’t look at me, keeping her gaze on the window.
“I hope over time you can trust me more.” What else can I say at this point? “I’d like to help out financially. I’m starting a trust fund for Mia, and opening an account for you—”
“I don’t need your money.” She winces like she caught herself lying.
“Yes, you do, Reese. And you deserve it. For choosing to keep Mia when my father paid you to get an abortion. For bringing her up by yourself, and doing such an amazing job. For all the times I wasn’t there to help. We don’t really know each other, and I know this must feel like a power trip to you. But it’s not. Like you, I’m doing it for Mia.”
Reese studies me with a tired gaze. I can almost see how my words slowly make their way through her pride and independence, and she reluctantly accepts them at face value. Not trusting me yet, but giving our family a chance .
Instead of acknowledging her decision to accept directly, she shifts her eyes to Celeste. “I hear you’re a dancer, and you’ve been training with Mia.”
There’s a new softness in her face when she speaks about our daughter and her hobby.
“Yes, Mia is very talented and eager. I’m so glad she’s back with her hip-hop crew,” Celeste says.
“I have two left feet, so I’m not sure where she got it from.” Reese pushes up off her hands, making herself more comfortable.
“Oh, I have an idea.” Celeste grins and pulls out her phone.
She rounds the bed. Music starts playing, and she turns the screen to Reese, who plasters her hand against her mouth before she glances at me and back to the screen, giggling.
“What is that?” The music sounds familiar, and then it hits me. My impromptu street performance. “Where did you get that?”
Celeste didn’t pull out her phone during that dance.
“Mia got it from one of the onlookers before we left.” Celeste bites her lips.
“Mom, Dad.” Mia runs into the room.
She gives me a quick hug and goes to kiss her mom.
“Hi, Celeste.” She cranes her neck. “What are you watching?” She registers it quickly, though. “Oh, isn’t it great? Dad has moves.” She tuts.
All three of them laugh and restart the video, giggling. At my expense. Ganging up on me. The three women who have become a permanent part of my life.
And I hope to make them laugh—even at my expense—for as long as possible. Because this is love.
“Okay, put it away now,” I growl, and they all laugh again, but Celeste finally puts her phone away.
“Thank you.” Reese looks at me, surprising me with her words.
My throat clogs up, and I don’t know what to say, so I nod. I nod and hope she understands she can trust and rely on me. I nod to vow I will always take care of them.
Mia decides to stay longer, do her homework and keep Reese company, and we say our goodbyes.
“Oh, Celeste,” Mia calls before we leave. “Are you staying in New York?”
“Yes, I’m staying.”
“That’s good.” Mia beams.
Fuck, I love them.
We walk down the hallway, the harsh lights rendering everything into an artificial blue hue. I pull Celeste close to me, because it doesn’t matter where we are, my life is brighter with her in it.
I glimpse an empty exam room and pull her inside. She gasps as I pin her against the wall and lock the door.
In my peripheral vision, the life of the hospital continues behind the narrow glass pane in the door.
Here, only my need for this woman exists. I capture her lips, eating her protest and kissing her like a man possessed. Or obsessed. I’m both, and I don’t fucking care.
“Caleb, what are you doing?” she pants when we come up for air.
I lean down and find the hem of her dress. “What does it look like I’m doing?”
“Don’t you have to work? You already missed yesterday, and with Corm—”
“I sold my share.”