Page 25 of Dial L for Lawyer
"Commercial, actually. Coach. Middle seat."
"Now you're lying."
"Scout's honor." He holds up three fingers. "Even billionaire lawyers fly coach when it's last-minute."
We watch the shore drift by in silence.
"Can I ask you something?" I say.
"You've already been asking me things."
"Something real."
He turns to face me fully, and the intensity in his eyes makes my breath catch. "Shoot."
"Why didn't you confront me? After I didn't show."
He doesn't answer right away. His eyes drop to my hand, white-knuckled on the rail, before meeting mine again. There's something raw there, quickly buried.
"Because I'm not your warden," he says. "I don't force anyone into anything. I'm not my father."
The confession drops between us like a lit match. I wonder what stories he's never told, what legacies he fears.
"What about now?" My voice comes out thick. "You're going to a lot of trouble for me with this case. This payment plan means spending more time together than necessary."
The silence stretches so long I can hear the hum of deck lights, the distant splash of the wake. Caleb searches my face, and I see him weighing what to say.
“I’ve spent years,” he says, voice barely louder than the wind, “fixing other peoples’ screw-ups. Getting paid to be ruthless. Making sure everyone walks away thinking I don’t have a soul or a conscience, like it’s a superpower.” He pauses, shifting beside me. “But when it comes to you, I don’t want to be the ruthless bastard. I want to be the one who never lets you fall.” His jaw flexes. “Even if I have to rip the world apart to do it.”
“Caleb.”
“If you still want out of this arrangement, you can say so now. I won’t chase.” His adam’s apple bobs. “I’ll still work your case. I’ll just do it pro bono.”
The words are nothing like what I expected. No threat, no seduction, no clever reroute. Just this frank offering, rawer than I’m prepared for.
“I’m not sure what I want,” I say, hating how my voice wobbles. “I just know I can’t do any of this if I think you hate me for what I did.”
He laughs, but it’s almost a cough. “If I hated you, you’d know. You’d feel it burning.”
I meet his eyes, and the moment expands until the city is just a smear of lights and the only thing in the world is this man and the truth buzzing in the air between us. I want to say something clever, to swat away the heaviness, but he’s given me an honesty I haven’t earned and it holds me in place.
I reach for a joke, come up empty.
“My parents always said I’d end up with a lawyer,” I say. “They just thought he’d be my nemesis.”
“Who says I’m not?” It’s a whisper, but even with the wind I hear it.
April's voice carries up from below, breaking the spell. "Dinner, darlings! Before Leonard eats all the lobster!"
Caleb steps back, but his eyes hold mine. "Ready?"
"Do I have a choice?"
"You always have a choice," he says softly, and I know we're not talking about dinner anymore.
CHAPTER 9
Serena
