Ava
Caleb’s place was just as spectacular as Amanda’s had been. There was something to be said about Tampa’s neighborhoods – they were beautiful.
Caleb’s place was a house situated in the corner of a large garden. A path led to the front door with water features on both sides. Tall trees made me forget we were in a city. I rang the doorbell and waited. The front door was carved with intricate floral designs.
A woman opened the door. She smiled when she saw me. Her gray hair was tied in a bun in her neck and she was hunched over a little bit. She wore a blue cardigan and glasses.
“Mr. Thompson was expecting you.” She turned around and walked into the house. I assumed I had to follow her, so I did.
The house was as beautiful on the inside as it was on the outside – minimalistic and modern, with abstract paintings on the wall and monochrome furniture. Splashes of color were added for decoration.
“This is a beautiful house,” I said.
The old lady nodded. “Mr. Thompson is a collector.”
I wasn’t sure of what. She led me through doors that opened onto a patio. Outdoor furniture was arranged around a fire pit that cracked with new flames. There were bowls of snacks on the low coffee table and music playing from a hi-fi in the corner.
“This looks like a party,” I said.
“It is,” Caleb said, emerging from another door with a drink in his hand. “You’re just in time.”
I smiled and walked to him to hug him. “This is a lot of stuff,” I said. Gesturing toward the table.
Caleb shrugged. “If you can, why not entertain in style?”
I nodded and chuckled. “I guess you’re right.”
I felt better already. The whole day I had felt like my insides had been ripped apart like I had done this damage to myself by letting James in. I didn’t know why something like his fraud – if that was what this was – got to me so much when we were nothing serious.
When we had never been anything serious.
The music, the snacks and Caleb’s humor cleared the mess of emotions up a little, though. It was a great distraction. I sat down on the couch.
“Can I get you something to drink?” he asked.
I nodded. “Something alcoholic, if you have. Anything will do. A beer, even.”
Caleb grinned. “I’ll see what I can find.”
He disappeared back through the door he had emerged from. Through the open door, I peeked a bar, a lush carpet, and some sports’ team poster. That was his man cave.
I leaned forward and took a pretzel. Nibbling on it, I looked out over the garden. Tropical plants grew in beautifully shaped beds, with a swimming pool to the side and a pool house that looked inviting. The sun was starting to set, coloring the sky with splashes of orange and pink, making everything seem surreal.
“Here you go,” Caleb said, joining me again. He handed me a pink drink in a tall glass. When I sipped it, I frowned.
“You made me a Strawberry Daiquiri?”
Caleb shrugged and sat down next to me. “You said anything will do.”
I chuckled. “I meant I didn’t want you to go through the effort of getting me something specific.”
Caleb shrugged. “I had it lying around.”
“Right,” I said, still laughing. I sipped it and looked back out over the garden.
“It’s beautiful out here,” I said.
Caleb nodded. “It is. The garden is the reason I bought this house.
“I can imagine you never get tired of looking at it.”
We sat side by side for a while, sipping our drinks in silence, nibbling on the snacks. Being with Caleb was comfortable even though he’d kissed me. He was just Caleb – a man that respected who I was no matter where I came from. I never felt lacking when I was around him.
“Do you want to tell me what happened with James?” Caleb asked after a while.
I sighed. I didn’t want to be reminded of everything, but that was what I was here for. I nodded and put my drink down on the coffee table. I kicked off my shoes and turned to the side, tucking my feet underneath me on the couch. Caleb glanced down at my position and smiled.
“Is this okay?” I asked.
Caleb nodded. “Of course. I just don’t usually see people making themselves comfortable. Stiff upper lip kind of people in my circles.”
Right.
“I showed you that document I found. When I left your office, he wanted to see me so we met up for lunch. He kept insisting he hadn’t done anything and challenged me on what I felt about it to the point of aggression.”
I took a deep breath, the feelings returning now that I was talking about it.
“And that worries you?” Caleb asked. “His aggression?”
“Oh, no. I doubt he’ll do anything stupid. I’m worried about his reaction. He was so adamant that he had done nothing, repeating it repeatedly, insisting I tell him what I think about it… I’m worried it means that he is behind it. If he’s going on like this, doesn’t he have something to hide?”
Caleb nodded. “I see where you’re coming from. And it’s the same reason I suspected Amanda.”
He took a deep breath, looking at the bowls with snacks on the coffee table as if they contained the answers. “If this is true, though, James is a man I don’t know.”
I nodded slowly. That was exactly what I had been worried about. His company was one thing, but his character?
“How can we find out something like this?” I asked. “How do we know what’s real and what isn’t?”
“To be honest with you, I think we need to start bringing Amanda into this.”
“What?” I looked at him. “Wasn’t the point of all the lies and going behind her back because you didn’t want her to know?”
Caleb nodded. “It was, but at some point, we need to come clean. Especially if we want to know the full story. We can’t keep this a secret forever.”
I had hoped we could. I didn’t like Amanda – she was too emotionless. It made me nervous.
“I’ll have to think about how we’re going to approach this,” Caleb said. “Of course, you don’t have to worry about that. You’re leaving soon.”
I nodded. “Tomorrow evening. First home and then back to Chicago.”
Caleb nodded. “I miss Apalachicola. I haven’t been back there since my parents passed away.”
“I heard about that,” I said. “I’m sorry.”
Caleb shook his head. “It’s okay. It’s been a couple of years, now. Your parents are still happy there?”
I nodded. “I assume so. I don’t see them very often.”
“Chicago keeping you busy?”
I nodded. “Always something to do. It’s mostly my fault, though. I bring it on myself, working so hard. Look at me, I can’t even come on holiday to Florida without taking on another contract.” I chuckled.
Caleb smiled. “That was my fault, though.”
“I didn’t have to take it,” I said.
We sat in silence again. The night had fallen, stars stretching across the sky and the breeze was cool and pleasant.
“Are you happy in Chicago?” Caleb asked.
I nodded. “It’s my life, now. At first, it was hard adapting. Big city, so far from home… you know what I mean.”
“I do,” Caleb said.
“But I’ve lived there thirteen years now and I’m happy. I have friends, I know my neighborhood…”
“It will be sad when you leave. We can’t wait that long before we see each other again.”
“I agree,” I said. Spending time with Caleb again was a lot better than I had anticipated.
“I’ll keep you up to date with what’s going on this side, as well,” Caleb said. “And you never know, maybe I need to visit Chicago sometime soon.”
“Your business is local,” I said.
“But you’ll be in Chicago. That’s reason enough to fly over there.”
The way he looked at me made my heart flutter. The atmosphere changed, suddenly. It became electric.
“Seeing you again has been surreal,” Caleb said. His eyes were deep and dark.
“Everything about this trip has been a bit like a dream,” I agreed. Or a nightmare, in some cases. Caleb nodded. I was aware of how close he was sitting to me, of the smell of his cologne in my nostrils. He had slight stubble on his chin, proof of a long day behind him.
My breath hitched in my throat.
“Caleb,” I said when he inched closer to me. “We shouldn’t do this.”
His eyes slid down to my lips.
“I should have said something the first time…”
He was ignoring me. Or not hearing me. I swallowed, trying to think straight. He moved closer, still, and my eyes moved to his lips. He had good lips – not too plump like a woman’s, not too thin to feel anything. I knew.
His lips brushed against mine and I stopped breathing.
“What are you doing?” I whispered.
“Kissing you,” he answered. A fact.
I pulled back, shaking my head.
“We can’t do this,” I said.
Caleb looked at me. His eyes were drowning deep. He didn’t look disappointed or confused or in the least unsure of himself.
“Why not?”
I closed my eyes for a moment. When I opened them again I grabbed my cocktail and drank more of it, gulping it down like alcohol was a lifeline.
“I’m leaving tomorrow,” I said. “This is never going to work. I can’t see you all the time and we can’t do this thing over the phone where we live for each other and not ourselves…”
Caleb was shaking his head back and forth. He put his hand on my cheek to stop me from talking and finally my voice trailed off.
“Relax,” he said. “It’s okay. I’m not asking for a relationship. I just want to kiss you. You’re not like the rest of them. I just want to spend time with you.”
It was harmless, right? He didn’t want commitment. He wasn’t asking for something I couldn’t give him. God, if James had been this straight forward with me at any point in our history together, it would all have been easier on me and him both.
The thought of James shot a pang of guilt through my stomach. Was I doing something wrong by going behind his back and kissing another man? His best friend?
He had told me he loved me. But he hadn’t asked me to stay. He hadn’t done anything to make me feel like he wanted me in his life. Only when we’d been having sex had I felt like he wanted me at all. And now? Now he was possibly a villain as well.
Was it wrong to do something like this?
Caleb didn’t wait for me to figure it out in my mind. He leaned into me again, grabbing my head and kissing me like he meant it. His tongue slipped into my mouth and I stopped thinking, letting him make that decision for me. Caleb explored my mouth with his tongue, his hands in my hair and he shifted toward me so our legs touched. His breathing was getting harder and my body was responding to the attention.
Caleb leaned toward me even further and I let him press himself up against me. Who would know?