I started to tell her it wasn’t okay. It wasn’t okay at all. That I was the reason they were all here, but stopped myself.
“I didn’t know” I whispered “He was here more than two hours ago and I didn’t know. I should have been here with him.”
“Sweetheart, there’s nothing you could have done when they brought him in.” Debbie said gently, her eyes red from crying.
I nodded mutely again. Nate came through the doors looking pale and weary. “He wants to see Liya.”
“No. It should be Jeremy or Debbie who sees him next.” I protested softly.
But Debbie nudged me towards the door “Go. Make my boy happy by showing him you’re here for him.”
I walked through corridor and found the room Caleb was in. I managed to force my face into a fake smile to the nurse who was walking out of the room.
My breath caught in my chest when I saw Caleb’s bruised body with various butterfly bandages dotted on his ashen skin. His left arm was in a sling and I could see there was a large bandage wrapped around his left forearm where the injury from the fire was.
He opened his eyes and attempted a smile when he saw it was me, but the bruising to his jaw and cheek made it difficult. “Baby.” He croaked when he saw I was there “Come closer, I won’t bite… unless you want me to.”
I made a sound of disbelief. Humour? He was trying to be funny now?
I sat in the chair with a sigh and took his right hand gently. “Why so quiet?” he said hoarsely.
“No reason. I’m just glad you’re okay.” I said giving him a fake smile too.
His bruised face frowned “No. Don’t you dare go there. This isn’t because of you.”
Standing up I gently cupped the uninjured side of his jaw “Please don’t get worked up. I’m going to go so you can rest.”
“Liya.” He growled, attempting to sit up “No. Don’t you do this, when I can’t come after you. Don’t you do that to me, baby.” The machine monitoring his heartbeat showed an increase in his heartrate.
Tears filled my eyes again, and I sat on the edge of his bed to calm him. “Stop Caleb, stop. I’m here. I’m not going anywhere.” I pressed a kiss to his uninjured cheek.
“I love you, Angel.”
The words I knew he wanted to hear stuck in my throat. “Me too.” I managed to spit out.
He looked disappointed at my words. “Caleb, I really do have to go so everyone else out there can come see you, handsome. I promise I’ll come by again later tonight though.” I said placing a gentle kiss on his lips.
He didn’t look happy, but he nodded “We’re okay, right?”
I swallowed past the lump in my throat, as I nodded and lied to my boyfriend “Yes Caleb. We’re fine.”
Chapter 28
Maliya
It had been three weeks since the fire. Caleb had remained in the hospital for nearly a week before he was released.
As I stood anxiously on the steps at the house, I knew this was the right thing to do. The last couple of weeks, things between us had been painfully awkward and stilted. I was aware this was purely down to my behaviour.
Seeing him in the hospital bed had brought up all my old fears. I had said I loved him and he had gotten hurt a couple of days later. All I brought to the people I loved was pain and in return I would always end up getting hurt too.
He’s going to hate me…
I knew that it was better he hate me and be safe, than be with me and at risk.
I needed to cut myself off from Caleb and also cut ties from the rest of the Jamesons.
Cold turkey.
It would be too difficult to remain friends with all of them and to be able to remain emotionally detached. I had somehow managed to break all my rules about getting close other people when I moved to Starling Falls.
The fire and Caleb being injured reminded me exactly why I kept people at arm’s length.
You were always used to being alone; it shouldn’t be that difficult to get back to old habits.
I sighed as I put the key in the lock and called out as I walked through the house looking for him.
“In the kitchen.” Caleb was looking better as he sat at the kitchen table with a bowl in front of him.
“Morning, baby.” he said smiling and groaned slightly as he moved from the table to put the bowl in the sink “I missed you last night.”
“Sorry, I was tired after work. I just needed to go home to get some sleep.” I said softly but judging from the look on his face that he didn’t believe me.
“Alright, what’s going on? Just spit it out. I’m not an idiot, Liya.” he said angrily “We’ve barely touched each other in weeks, it’s like you can’t stand to even be around me anymore. You want to break up, don’t you?”
I took a deep breath and reminded myself to be strong “I didn’t want to do it like this, but it’s just not working out anymore.” I said lightly.
“For fuck’s sake. I knew it. I knew this was coming. Ever since that fucking fire you’ve been distant. You knew I was a firefighter when we got together, Maliya. Surely you must have realised the risks associated with my job?” he growled, leaning against the counter.
“Of course I did, but that was before…”
“Before you told me you loved me? Before we got serious? What? You’re never the type to be lost for words Liya. Finish your damn sentences.” He said bitterly.
“Caleb-” I started again softly.
“No. No to all this shit. Let’s act like adults, okay? The truth. Be brave enough to give me that at least.” he said mockingly.
“Fine.” I said, my voice getting progressively louder “You want to know the truth jackass, I’m not willing to do this again. Yes there are two of us in this thing, but I’m doing this for the both of us you idiot! To keep us both from getting hurt, so stop being such a dickhead and just let me go!”
I was shocked when Caleb smiled “There she is. My Liya. I was wondering when she’d be making an appearance. This quiet, meek Stepford girlfriend act you’ve put on for the past couple of weeks has been annoying as hell.”
My mouth dropped open “You arse. You were provoking me on purpose?”
He had the audacity to chuckle “Apparently you don’t need that much provoking.”
I rolled my eyes and placed the key on the table “Here. I’ll bring your stuff by later on this week or you can come collect it from the house.”
“Sure, I’ll get right on that baby.” he said sarcastically and chuckled to himself again.
“Caleb! I’m serious about this!” I said slightly outraged that he seemed to be taking this lightly.
“I know you are. You. Me. Broken up. Got it.” He grinned at me.
My mouth dropped open again. “Caleb… oh forget it.” I growled as I turned and stormed out of the house.
As I was leaving, I heard a cheerful “Bye Liya!” being called out from the kitchen.
I dragged my hand down my face with a groan.
Getting rid of Caleb may be harder than I thought.
Caleb
It’s cute that she thinks she can get rid of me that easily.
Apparently she’d forgotten what I had told her the first time I kissed in the bakery.
It looked like a new plan was needed.
Plan ‘Convince Liya that we belong together and she is not cursed’ is a go.
Maybe Niki is right. My plans really do need better names.
I realised this time round, I would have a bigger problem on my hands. Seeing me in a hospital bed had probably triggered all of Liya’s worries about someone she loves leaving her again.
But as far as I was concerned, the time we spent with each other was just the start of what would be our journey together. I wouldn’t just let her run away without putting up a hell of a fight, but my girl was stubborn to the core, it would take a lot of persuading for her give us another chance.
She was definitely seemed happy with her life here; she loved her work, prior to th
e accident she had been happy with our relationship, and she definitely seemed to enjoy being with friends here, most of who consisted of my family or colleagues from the hospital.
I paused wondering what my next plan of action should be and grinned madly when it came to me.
People always say there is strength in numbers.
I took out my phone and sent each of my family members, Patrick and Niki a text.
Me: I need your help.
------------------------------------
Maliya
Three weeks later…
No…It’s definitely not just in my head…
Everywhere I went, I was surrounded by Jamesons. And I do mean everywhere I went.
I had mentally prepared myself to bump into them from time to time; it was after all, not that big of a town. But it was beyond weird that any time I was about town, I ended up running into one of them.
One time, I had been at the pharmacy and Debbie appeared (the interaction somehow ended with me driving her to the garden centre and picking out several new potted plants for her house).
The following day, I was at the pet store and Jeremy popped up next to me asking me if I had ever thought about getting a dog (we proceeded to spend an hour there playing with puppies and kittens and after a conversation with Jeremy about Trudy’s demon-fish, I ended up taking home a comet-tailed goldfish buddy for him to play with).
A couple of days later I was browsing the shelves in the bookshop and Josh (yes, Josh in a store that sold books) turned up asking me about book recommendations (he left with copies of The Scarlet Letter, Pride and Prejudice, The Feminine Mystique, Where’s Waldo: The Deluxe Edition and 101 Amazing Card Tricks for Kids. We had also discussed the possibility of starting a book club).
I went grocery shopping ridiculously early one morning after a night shift and Jake was there wandering the aisles, saw me and proceeded to follow me around the store giving me tips for making the perfect fluffy omelette (a couple of tablespoons of water into the beaten eggs apparently. I tried it. It fucking worked).
On a day off, I decided to go for a walk through the park to clear my head and found Alex sat on a bench sketching in the cold (I somehow ended up leaving that conversation with an appointment to get a tattoo of a lotus on my back).
Needing to get some new clothes, I drove to the neighbouring town of Smithsville which had a small mall, only to find Addie waiting for me near the entrance, with two lattes in her hands and massive grin (we ended up spending the entire day together, with our time being split between the shops and the food court).
I had even seen Caleb coming out of the nursing home once when I had gone to visit Aunt Trudy, who proceeded to give me a long lecture on ‘the importance of knowing when to admit that you’re wrong about something and acknowledge the fact that you’re acting like an idiot’.
Since we had broken up, I think I had spent more time alone with Caleb’s family (with the exception of Nate), than I had when we were actually dating.
Is there such a thing as mass family stalking? If so, I’m sure it must be illegal.
I would have been lying if I said that I didn’t enjoy the time I had spent with each of them or that I didn’t miss spending time together with all of them as a family.
So much for being able to go cold turkey…
Safe to say; my plan to cut ties and distance myself from all of them was not working. They were an endearing family, it was hard to be around them and not be charmed by all of them.
They were also making the process of getting over Caleb very difficult, which I suspected was their plan.
I had almost broken and gone to him on Valentine’s Day when a huge bouquet of Oreo cookies had been delivered to the house along with enlarged and framed picture of my parents on their wedding day, something I had been meaning to have done since our old one had broken during the move to Starling Falls, but hadn’t managed to find the time to get it done.
I had mentioned it once to him in passing and was very touched that he had remembered. That one gift held more significance to me than any amount of expensive jewellery or fancy flower arrangements could ever have had.
I was miserable without him, but I figured that was a normal part of a breaking up with someone. I missed the ridiculously hot sex, waking up next to him and pancakes in bed but more than anything I missed his friendship and his company.
My missing him certainly didn’t make sense, as he seemed to be everywhere I went too, but seeing him while not actually being with him was torture. It had been three long weeks, but he was showing no signs of giving up, I had to hand it to him, the man was persistent. He was also very tempting.
I was adamant to be more aloof, though how I was supposed to do that when I was being constantly ambushed I wasn’t sure.
When I loved, people got hurt. Whether it was physically or emotionally, eventually, they would get hurt. I refused to take that risk with anyone I cared about again.
Chapter 29
Maliya
Familiar laughter was the first thing I heard as I opened the door after a particularly long shift.
Walking into the living room I was faced by the sight of Caleb and Niki watching The Goonies. My heart warmed at the sight of him sat on our sofa, until I remembered he wasn’t supposed to be there.
“Hey babe” he said casually as if he had been sat there every day for the past three weeks.
Niki shoved a fistful of popcorn into her devious little mouth. “Hi Liya. Left you a bowl of the chowder I made in the microwave.”
“It was really fuckin’ good.” Caleb added earning a shy smile from Niki.
It suddenly hit me, there was a mole in the Team Liya half of this breakup; and that mole was my sister.
Wow, I feel stupid. So that’s how he knew exactly where I would be every day…
Come to think of it, even Patrick and Cindy at work had been more interested in finding out my precise details of my daily itineraries recently. And Mitchell. And Aunt Trudy. And the owners of the florist, bookshop, pet shop, pharmacist, butchers, gift shop and hairdressers.
Oh My God. Is no one on Team Liya?!
“Liya? You still with us? Why are just standing there like a numpty? You’re usually devouring dinner ten seconds after you enter the house.” Niki said sounding much too amused for my liking.
Turning to Niki with a forsaken look I said “Eh tu, Brute?” not at all impressed when she started chuckling.
Priorities: Food. Then Ice-cream. Then murder sister. Then a bath.
Wait. Niki may have made dessert… first find out if she made dessert, then make murder plans.
I looked at the beautiful man who still made my heart thump each time I looked at him. “What are you doing here Caleb?” I said trying my best to sound unaffected, but I suspect failed badly.
“Well, I’m watching The Goonies with Niki.” he said in an obvious tone. “I was invited, honest. I didn’t just turn up with a bag of caramel popcorn as a bribe to be let in or anything.”
I eyed the delicious looking caramel popcorn, which Niki was hogging, suspiciously with a raised eyebrow. “Am I going to have to report you to the police for stalking?” I asked firmly.
“You could do. But while you’re at it, could you do Uncle Jeremy a favour and remind Officer Turner that he still has his lawnmower and that it’s his turn to bring the beer to the poker game on Saturday. Oh, and tell him I’ll be round on Monday to help him put up that fence that fell.” he said smugly, taking a handful of popcorn from Niki’s bowl the earnt him a mini-glare from her.
Feeling very much like I was fighting a losing battle, I turned and walked into the kitchen with a sigh.
I started the microwave and resigned myself to spending an awkward evening with my ridiculously hot ex-boyfriend and traitor of a sister.
When I felt the aforementioned ex-boyfriend enter the kitchen, I rubbed a weary hand over tired eyes, determined to ignore his presence. That was until I felt two very large, ve
ry warm hands start to massage the muscles of my aching shoulders.
A moan slipped out before I could stop it and I found myself turned around and pressed into the cabinet behind me by Caleb’s solid body. His mouth found mine and I ignored the voice in the back of my mind telling me to push him away and allowed myself this small indulgence after three long weeks without him.
His mouth left mine all too soon, as he tilted my head to the side to suck his way down my neck, towards the cleavage exposed by my V-necked sweater.
Falling Completely (Starling Falls #1) Page 22