Page 31 of Second Chance Fate

“Is that something that your father had, or, I mean, do dimples run in your family?”

Caleb noticed Owen’s dimples in both his cheeks and in his chin, just like he himself had. His dad didn’t have them, but his mom’s dad did.

“No, my father didn’t have them, but my mama did. And I remember Maribel saying she hoped the twins would when she was expecting. She said it’s a dominant trait, so there was a good chance. Why do you ask? You hopin’ to pass them along to your future little ones?”

“Somethin’ like that.” Caleb nodded and did his best to mask the thoughts that had kept him up the entire night as he smiled. “Tell Maribel I said hi.”

“Will do.”

Caleb’s head was spinning as he continued to make his way to Sue Ann’s, even more convinced that somehow, someway, Owen was his son. They used protection. He may have been drunk, but he did remember that. So how was it possible? He knew it sounded crazy, but so was him seeing Rebecca— who now had blonde hair and was going by the name Taylor—again.

He wasn’t sure he would have recognized her if she hadn’t touched her chest and neck. When she did that, he remembered Rebecca doing the same thing; she’d told him that she gothives when she was nervous. Seeing “Taylor” do it triggered the memory. Once he recognized her as Rebecca, he couldn’t unsee it, like one of those Magic Eye pictures. He couldn’t believe it took him so long to see it in the first place.

Once that piece of the puzzle clicked into place, the other mystery in his life was solved. Caleb couldn’t figure out why he had the strangest sense of déjà vu when he met Owen. He recognized him but had never seen him before. It drove him crazy. Then, last night after his encounter with Owen and Rebecca, he went over to feed the cats and water his parents’ plants, and the mystery was solved. His mom’s bird of paradise just happened to be in front of the wall where Caleb’s Little League World Series photo hung. He was eleven when it was taken. Owen looked so familiar because he was the spitting image of Caleb at the same age. He felt like an idiot for not realizing it sooner, but in fairness to him, he wasn’t in the habit of looking at photos of himself.

When he came face-to-face with the photo, he dropped the watering can. Unfortunately, his reflexes weren’t as quick as they’d been when Rebecca, or Taylor, dropped her keys. The tin hit the tile floor with a loud crash, and water splashed out of the top, making quite the mess, not to mention the noise which Captain and Tennille did not appreciate. Both cats shot under the couch so fast they left a trail of blur in their wake, like in the cartoons, and they stayed there. Even popping open Fancy Feast was not enough to lure them out of their cave.

Before leaving his parents’ house, Caleb looked through several other photo albums. Each photo served as evidence in the case his mind was building that Owen was his. But if that was the truth, why the hell was this the first he was hearing about it? Why had it taken her so long to tell him? Not that she had even told him yet. Why had she been in town for eight months and not said a word to him?

“Caleb?”

Hearing his name, Caleb lifted his head and saw Audrey standing in front of him with concern brimming in her eyes. A wrinkle appeared on her forehead. “Are you okay?

“Yeah.” He blinked. “Why?”

“I’ve been calling your name since you were in front of Two Scoops.” She pointed behind him.

He glanced over his shoulder, even though he knew the ice cream shop was four businesses back.

“Sorry, I was just…zoned out.”

“Oh, okay.”

He could see that she was still worried about him, but she wasn’t going to pry, which he appreciated. In Hope Falls, that was rare. Audrey was the sweetest person he’d ever met. He couldn’t be happier for Josh that he’d finally admitted his feelings for Audrey after years of insisting they were “just friends.” If Caleb would have imagined the perfect woman for his best friend, he wouldn’t even have come close to how perfect Audrey was for him.

“Actually. I’m glad I ran into you.” The worry was replaced with excitement. “I wanted to tell you IthinkI might know the person you were talking about at Arthur’s party.”

She did.

“IfI’m right, her name is Taylor.”

It was. Sort of.

“She’s working at Brewed part-time, and you come in so often, I’m sure you’ll run into her.”

“Right, yeah, Viv did mention something about that.” Clearly, Viv had not disclosed to her sister that she’d already told him about the new hire, but he didn’t want to make it seem like he had anything to hide. He didn’t. At least he didn’t think he did.

He wasn’t exactly sure what was going on. Thankfully, he’d be finding out very soon. In about fifteen minutes. He’d left theoffice early to get to Sue Ann’s because he just couldn’t sit still, and now he was glad he had. Even with these interruptions, he wouldn’t be late.

His Apple Watch vibrated with a message, and his stomach clenched with nerves as he looked down at his wrist. When he saw it was another message from Kimberly, he exhaled a sigh of relief. His first thought was that it was Rebec—no, Taylor was cancelling. Which was ridiculous because she didn’t even have his number. And if she did, it wasn’t as if he didn’t know how to get ahold of her. He knew where she worked and lived.

Which reminded him, he wanted to find out if Lauren knew what was going on. Caleb wasn’t particularly close to his cousin, but they had a good relationship. He hoped that if she knew something this big, if it was what he thought it was, she would tell him.

“Everything okay?” Audrey asked.

“Yeah, it’s just…Claudia Benson’s niece.” She was responding to the reply he’d sent her on Sunday night, just saying to let him know if he changed his mind.

He exhaled as his arm dropped down to his side once more and turned his attention back to Audrey.

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