Page 85 of Shattered Melodies

What if he hurt me again, broke me in ways that could never be healed?

I didn’t know if I could survive it. Didn’t know if I had the strength to pick up the pieces, to put myself back together and start all over again.

But as I looked at Caleb, as I saw the love and the longing and the quiet, steady certainty in his eyes I knew that I had to try. Knew that I couldn’t keep running, couldn’t keep hiding from the truth of what I felt for him.

So I took his hand. Let him pull me to my feet and lead me out of the music room, down the hall and into the bright, airy kitchen that smelled of coffee and bacon and the promise of a new day.

We sat at the table, Peanut curling up at my feet with a contented purr. And as Caleb served up plates of scrambled eggs and crispy potatoes, as he poured me a mug of steaming, fragrant coffee I felt a sense of peace wash over me. A sense of rightness, of belonging that I hadn’t felt in longer than I could remember.

“When did you learn to cook?” I asked, taking a bite of my eggs and savoring the way they melted on my tongue. “Last I checked, you could barely boil water without setting off the smoke alarm.”

Caleb chuckled, the sound warm and rich and achingly familiar. “Couple years ago,” he said, leaning back in his chair and taking a sip of his coffee. “When my mom got sick, I had to drop out of college to help my dad with the ranch. Learned a lot of things I never thought I’d need to know.”

I felt a pang of sympathy, a twist of guilt in my gut. Because I hadn’t been there for him, hadn’t been there to help or to comfort or to share the burden of his grief.

I had been too wrapped up in my own pain, too lost in my own selfish spiral of self-destruction.

“I’m sorry,” I said softly, my eyes fixed on my plate. “About your mom, about…about everything.”

Caleb shook his head, reaching out to lay his hand over mine. “It’s okay, Liam. You don’t have to apologize. We both had our own shit to deal with, our own demons to face.”

I swallowed hard, my throat tight with emotion. Because he was right. We had both been through hell, both been shattered and scarred in ways that would never fully heal.

“What about Jake?” I asked, my voice tight and strained. “He was there last night, at the bar. He…he pulled me off those guys, stopped me from doing something stupid.”

Caleb sighed, setting down his fork and running a hand through his hair. “Jake is complicated,” he said finally, his voice heavy with unspoken history. “He’s not the same person he was back then, Liam. He’s changed, grown up in ways that might surprise you.”

I felt a flare of anger, a hot, bitter surge of resentment. “So what, you’re on his side now? After everything he did to us, everything he put us through?”

Caleb shook his head, his eyes sad and serious. “I’m not on anyone’s side, Liam. I’m just trying to see things for what they are, not what they were.”

CHAPTER 24

Future Doubts

CALEB

“Jake’s really trying, Liam,” I said, my voice calm and even despite the tension that hung in the air like smoke. “People change, and he regrets what happened.”

Liam frowned, his brow furrowing in that way it always did when he was upset or confused. “I just can’t believe you’re defending him after everything.”

I sighed, running a hand through my hair. I knew this was a sore subject, knew that the wounds Jake had inflicted ran deep and raw.

But I also knew that holding onto the past, clinging to old grudges and resentments it didn’t do anyone any good. It only poisoned the present, only kept us stuck in a cycle of anger and hurt that we could never break free from.

“I’m not defending what he did,” I said softly, reaching out to lay my hand over Liam’s. “What he did to us, to you…it was inexcusable. Unforgivable, in a lot of ways.”

Liam’s jaw clenched, his eyes flashing with a pain that made my heart ache. “Then why are you taking his side? Why are you acting like it’s all just water under the bridge?”

I shook my head, my thumb rubbing gentle circles over his knuckles. “I’m not taking his side, Liam. I’m just trying to see things from a different perspective.”

Liam’s lips twisted, a bitter, humorless laugh escaping him. “And what, I’m just supposed to forgive and forget? Pretend like none of it ever happened?”

I squeezed his hand, my heart clenching at the pain in his voice. “No, of course not. Forgiveness it’s not something you can force. It has to come on its own, in its own time.” I looked into his eyes, trying to pour all that I had into that one, simple gaze. “But holding onto the anger, the resentment it’s not healthy, Liam. It’s like poison, eating away at you from the inside out.”

He opened his mouth to argue, but before he could get the words out, the doorbell rang. We both froze, our heads snapping towards the sound.

“Are you expecting someone?” I asked, my brow furrowing in confusion.

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