Page 59 of Caleb's Salvation
Losing his wife and daughter, though…believing he was responsible? The risk he would have to take to try again? The courage he would have to have?
I wasn’t sure I could be anywhere near as brave.
“I just…I don’t want to be his plaything though, you know? I had that. I let someone use me because I thought I was using him. I don’t want to do that again. If Caleb and I are going to move forward, it’s got to be as equals.”
“No reason you shouldn’t,” Eve agreed. “The problem with men is…they’re stubborn fucks. They get ideas into their heads and sometimes you can’t shake them loose. Take Zeke. I said I wanted a baby, he said I was crazy, that he couldn’t be a father, wouldn’t know how…yada, yada. Eventually, because he’d give me his arm if he had to, and since he’d already given me a finger—it’s not like I’m exaggerating here—he gave in. Now, he’s got this boy who’s taught him how to love maybe even more than I did. And he’s happy in a way he didn’t know he could be, even after me. So yeah, sometimes you have to push them if only to show them how happy you can make them.”
I chewed on that the rest of the way to their place. When we pulled up in front of the monster home subtly situated on an overlook amongst the pine and hemlock, I tried to consider what it represented.
Whatever Zeke’s life had been, now it was a home filled with a wife and child. Children when Sammy came to play and girl talk when Shelby, Kate or I were around. A total shift from whatever he’d known before. It must have taken him time to adjust, too.
I’d been to their place plenty of times over the past few months so the beauty of the home combined with its sweet technology didn’t shock me anymore. Sometimes I thought of Eve’s place as what I imagined Bill Gate’s home might be like if it had been stolen and situated here in Hope’s Point, Alaska. Full of computers and smart devices and secret doors that Zeke would say were off-limits.
In the nicest possible way.
The house was a split level with the kitchen and living room on the first floor with the bedrooms downstairs, all practically built into the slope they were perched on. In addition to the bedrooms, was a weight room for Zeke and a playroom for Junior, although I had a feeling Zeke spent equal time in both.
We gathered our stuff out of the car and went inside, dropping everything by the door. Sam and I followed Eve as she trotted down the stairs to find Zeke in the playroom, dressed in loose, black, cotton pants and a black T-shirt that stretched across his body in ways that made a woman’s mouth water. I had no idea how old he was beyond having the idea that he was older than the rest of us, but it DID. NOT. MATTER.
And I didn’t even feel a little guilty about admiring him. As hot as I was for Caleb, there wasn’t a woman on the planet who could look away from Zeke.
“Hey, baby, Sam’s here.”
“Good, we’re just getting started,” Zeke said.
I looked over at Junior who was now officially on his feet. He also wore some loose pants over a pudgy diaper and a black T-shirt that matched his father’s.
“What are you guys going to work on today?” Eve asked as she skipped into the room to kiss first her husband on the mouth then her son on the cheek.
“Basic defensive maneuvers,” he said, then addressed me. “I have workout clothes for Sam, too.”
“But Sam can’t stand unless he pulls himself up on something.” I was pretty sure basic defensive maneuvers were out of his league.
“It’s never too early to start,” Eve assured me. “Trust me.”
Then she plucked Sam out of my arms and handed him to Zeke who would get him changed into his training clothes…?
Okay, how comfortable was I with this?
But seriously, he was only a baby. I knew it was likely that Sam would be content to simply watch his older and more adept friend play.
“Come with me,” Eve said and we headed upstairs. She walked over to the bag I’d packed and handed it me.
“I don’t get it. I just got here.”
“You’re going out to the camp,” she announced.
I’d never been there. There’d been no reason to go. Certainly, Caleb had never asked me to visit him there.
“What? Why?”
“Why?” Eve said like I was asking a stupid question. “There is no why. You’re just pushing buttons. Letting him see you, smell you, touch you. Reminding him what it felt like when he had you naked. All very powerful incentives to make him want to do you again. I’m convinced the more he bangs you, the sooner he’ll get to that place where he realizes he can’t stop banging you. Once that happens, he’s sunk.”
I didn’t want tosinkCaleb.
I shook my head. “I don’t think it’s a good idea. He doesn’t want anyone at camp to know what’s going on. He says it’s for my protection, but really, I think he doesn’t want me to be object of pity around town when he decides he’s done with me.”
Eve punched my arm. Hard!
