Chapter 31 #2
After we reached Elle’s house, I thanked her and promised I would call her when I got home. I got into my car and started the journey back to Cowichan Bay. The hum of the engine filled the space around me, but the silence inside the car pressed in from all sides.
As the road stretched out before me, I felt grateful that I had worn the sunglasses and scarf.
It had been such a close call.
What if he had recognized me? What would I have said to him? What would he have said to me? My chest tightened again when I thought about the faint scent of his aftershave. The fact that he still sprayed the same one I had given him made something inside me ache. Does he miss me?
Before I rushed into Elle’s car, I had glanced back once.
That single look had been enough to see the woman standing beside him.
His new girlfriend.
The sight of her standing there next to him had sent another sting through my chest. Even after a year and a half, my heart still hurt when I thought about his betrayal.
I had convinced myself that I had moved past it.
I had told myself that time had healed the wounds.
I had believed I was finally getting over it.
But fate, in its cruel and unpredictable way, had decided to bring him back into my life again.
Right in front of me.
I had tried so hard to move on. Yet I had not dated anyone since then. The truth was that I was not even open to the idea. My life was already full of responsibilities. I had the children to care for, the restaurant to manage, and the cafés to run, all demanding so much of my time and energy.
There was simply no space for anything else.
Or so I kept telling myself.
My thoughts drifted to Cole.
The moments we shared lately left me feeling conflicted. His presence often stirred emotions in me that I didn’t quite know how to interpret. There had been glances, conversations, and subtle moments that seemed to carry meanings neither of us had spoken aloud.
Even at the wedding and during the days after that, he had not said very much to me. Yet something in the way his eyes held mine sometimes made my heart skip.
Maybe it had just been the wine that night. Maybe I didn’t need anyone in my life. Or maybe, in quiet moments like this, when the past appeared without warning, I realized that I simply wished someone was there beside me.
Someone constant.
Someone safe.
Someone who could hold the weight of the silence with me.
My phone vibrated in my hand, pulling me out of my thoughts. When I unlocked the screen, I noticed that I had missed several messages and calls from Cole.
A small flutter stirred in my chest.
I typed a quick reply telling him that I would update him once I got back home.
After sending the message, I immediately called Geeta to check on the children.
“Don’t worry, Didi,” Geeta said reassuringly when she answered. “They are fine. They ate and had their naps in the afternoon, and they are outside playing with Oreo. I will bring them inside soon and give them their bath and dinner.”
“Thank you, Geeta,” I said.
After I ended the call, I leaned back in my seat and let out a slow sigh.
Despite the heavy sadness lingering in my chest, I felt a small sense of comfort knowing that I was heading back to Cowichan Bay.
Back home.
To follow Caleb’s experience during Patty’s funeral, read the third chapter in his Bonus Chapters.
Arriving at my house, I sat in the driveway for a couple of seconds before heading inside.
I kept my hands on the steering wheel, staring at the front door of the house as if I needed to gather the strength to walk through it.
The quiet street around me felt heavy, and I stayed there, letting the silence comfort me after the long drive.
It was eight in the evening, and I knew the children were probably in bed. The thought brought me a small sense of relief. I wasn’t sure I had the energy to explain anything or pretend that everything was fine.
I stepped out of the car and walked up the short path to the front door. When I entered the house quietly, I heard the television playing softly in the living room.
Geeta is still up, I thought to myself. Probably working on the laptop.
Closing the door behind me gently, I slipped off my shoes and lowered myself onto the small bench just in front of the entrance. The exhaustion from the day crashed over me all at once. I leaned forward, resting my elbows on my knees, and buried my face in my hands.
For several minutes, I simply sat there without moving.
The events of the day replayed in my mind again and again.
Patty’s funeral.
Her still face in the casket.
The coldness of her hand when I touched it.
My eyes began to burn as tears gathered in them. Patty’s voice echoed faintly in my memories. The way she used to talk about Caleb, how she always said he was good for me, how she believed he was the man I was meant to be with.
But those words now brought back something else entirely.
Flashes of Caleb and Caroline in bed together.
The memory hit me like a sudden punch to the stomach. My throat constricted, and I pressed my palms harder against my eyes as if I could force the images away.
Just as a tear was about to roll down my cheek, I felt a warm hand rest gently on my shoulder.
Startled, I quickly brushed away the tear before it could fall. Then I lifted my head.
Cole stood in front of me, looking down at me with his eyebrows drawn together.
“Are you all right?” he asked softly.
The gentleness in his voice stirred something fragile inside my chest.
Without saying a word, I stood up and stepped forward. Before I could second-guess myself, I wrapped my arms around him and held on.
I didn’t want to answer any questions. I didn’t want to explain anything. I didn’t have the strength to open the floodgates of emotion that were barely being held back inside me.
All I wanted, in that moment, was silence.
Cole didn’t move away.
Instead, his arms wrapped around me. He held me without hesitation, without asking anything of me, and that simple gesture made something deep inside my chest loosen like a knot being untangled.
I had come back to my house, to the place that had slowly become my safe space. Yet standing there in the arms of someone new, someone who was not Caleb, I felt a sense of safety wash over me.
Cole’s embrace was different.
It didn’t carry the edges of my past.
It didn’t carry the weight of betrayal or heartbreak.
It simply felt… solid.
Safe.
For the first time that entire day, my breathing finally began to slow.
With no questions asked and no answers given, and neither of us saying a single word yet again, I realized I had come home.
I had come home to Cole.