Chapter 44
44
AUGUST 2023, PRESENT DAY
After dropping Belle off at Spirit, Caleb returned to Solace. He’d intended to work, but he found himself pacing up and down the sun-blasted terrace, unable to focus on anything apart from Belle and the image of her lying next to him, her hair golden on the pillow. He was desperate to tell someone, to talk through his feelings, to make sense of his emotions and to calm his racing heart. He didn’t want to confide in Diego and he couldn’t talk to Maria, not about something so intimate, however relieved she’d be that he’d found someone.
Shit. Had he found someone?
Cara was the only person he wanted to talk to.
Still pacing, he video called her.
Bleary eyed, Cara’s face appeared on the screen. ‘Hey, is everything okay?’ She yawned.
‘Oh shit, Cara,’ Caleb said as he headed inside to see her more clearly. ‘I totally forgot the time difference. I can call later once you’re up.’
‘No, it’s okay. I’m awake now.’ She flung a cover off. ‘Just going to go into another room so I don’t wake Naomi.’
Cara turned the phone towards the bed. Caleb could just make out long dark hair spilling over a pillow.
‘Oh, I see,’ Caleb said with a smile. ‘You’re not alone.’
‘No, I’m not.’ She closed the bedroom door and went downstairs into the snug off the living room. She turned on a light and sat in an armchair.
‘And your parents are fine about her staying over?’
‘You’re seriously asking me that?’ Cara shook her head. ‘I’m thirty-seven years old.’
‘Yeah, sorry, didn’t mean it quite like that.’
‘After the shit-show of my last relationship and me leaving the continent, I think they’re just glad I’m home and happy. But my love life is obviously not what you were calling about, so what’s up?’
Caleb sat on the edge of the sofa opposite the open doors where a light breeze drifted in. ‘Do you remember that conversation we had a few months after Paloma died? We sat here with our feet in the pool in the middle of winter and talked and drank pretty much all night. You told me that one day I’d find the strength to move on, to even find love again.’
‘Yeah, I remember. It was the day you were in absolute pieces.’
‘One of many,’ Caleb grunted. ‘I was in a bad place that night. You helped, but I didn’t truly believe what you said. I couldn’t even begin to understand how my heart wouldn’t constantly feel like it was breaking, let alone be in a good enough place to be able to love someone again, to find space for someone else in my heart as well as Paloma.’
‘Wait, wait, slow down.’ Cara rubbed her eyes and squinted at him. ‘I feel like I’ve missed a chunk of information here.’
Caleb ran his hot hand down the leg of his shorts. ‘I spent last night with Belle.’
‘You mean you went to Eddie’s together?’ Cara suddenly sat forward, her frown turning to open-mouthed surprise. ‘Oh, you actually mean you spent the night with her.’
‘It was late, Eddie invited us to stay over so we did in separate rooms, but Belle had a nightmare and I, um, suggested she might feel better if she wasn’t alone.’
Cara snorted. ‘Caleb Levine, that was a bold move.’
‘I honestly only meant for us to cuddle.’
‘But…’
‘It was Belle who instigated things and there was no fucking way in the world I could ignore how I felt once I’d touched her.’
Cara wafted a hand in front of her face. ‘You better go easy on the details or you’re going to get me all hot and bothered.’
‘I’ve only ever felt this way with one person before, Cara.’
‘Oh Caleb,’ she said gently.
‘It’s been so much to take in and process. I didn’t want to say goodbye when I dropped her off this morning yet I knew I needed to be alone to figure stuff out.’
‘You just need some time. It’s new and exciting and scary to open yourself up like this again – that’s the key thing, because you haven’t before now. It’s brave and fucking perfect, Caleb.’ Cara grinned at him. ‘So my advice from what, four years ago, was spot on then?’
‘Yes it was, because I think I love her.’ His heart dropped into his stomach at saying out loud what he’d realised that morning.
‘Oh my God, Caleb. I wish I was there to give you an almighty hug.’
‘You were right about me taking a chance and being open to the possibility of happiness again.’
‘Of course I was right.’ Cara grinned at him. ‘I was also right about Belle being perfect.’
‘You meant for the job though.’
‘Oh I’m not sure about that, I meant perfect . Looks, personality, experience, job-wise. The whole damn package.’
‘Oh, so you’re taking credit for this now, are you?’ He couldn’t help but smile.
‘Considering it was me who suggested that Belle went with you to Eddie’s, then hell yes am I taking full credit for you and Belle winding up together last night.’
‘And as Naomi’s in your bed, I assume things are going well with you two?’
‘Yeah, it’s a big step, but it feels right, you know?’
‘Cara?’ A voice in the background made her turn.
‘Oh bugger, think I woke Mum up.’ Cara stood and paced to the door.
‘Cara!’ The same voice, high pitched and more insistent.
‘I’m downstairs, Mum, what’s up?’
‘It’s your dad.’ Her mum’s voice was panicked and breathless. ‘He’s not breathing.’
‘Oh shit.’ Cara’s face reappeared on the screen. ‘Caleb, I’ve got to go.’