Page 47 of A Merry Little Christmas
No one would hear my screams as I fell...
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
In the shower next morning, remnants of the nightmare still in my head, I scrubbed my hair extra-hard to get rid of the negative thoughts that always lingered after one of those horrible dreams.
After my chat with Penny about Caleb, I’d started thinking maybe his behaviour wasn’t anything to do with me at all. He’d been ‘off’ with Penny and Will as well. Maybe I wasn’t losing him, after all. It was just work, pure and simple, that was monopolising all of Caleb’s waking hours.
Out of the shower, I phoned him, expecting my call to go straight to voicemail. But to my surprise, he answered it.
‘Hi! Just thought I’d check in and see how you’re doing.’ I kept my voice casual and breezy.
‘Katja?’
‘Yes. Yes, it’s me. How’s the new housing project going?’
‘Erm . . . good.’
‘So everything’s okay?You’reokay?’
‘Fine. Yes. It’s... going well. The purchase of the site we’ve earmarked for development will hopefully go ahead in the next month or two, fingers crossed.’
‘Great!’That wasn’t exactly what I meant.
‘So how are you?’ He sighed. ‘Sorry about Saturday night, having to cut things short.’
‘Hey, no problem. We can do a re-match some time.’
‘Absolutely.’
‘Where are you now? On site?’
‘No, no. I’m at home. Just taking it easy for a change. No meetings at all today, although I’ll be heading into the office later.’
I heard a tapping noise in the background and Caleb said, ‘Hang on a second,’ and after that, the sounds were muffled. ‘Sorry about that.’ He was back.
‘No problem. Well, give me a ring when you’ve got a free evening and we can get together? Maybe I could cook you dinner at my place? I could make your favourite curry. Mind you, it might not be as good as Rosie’s, so maybe not,’ I joked.
‘Sounds good.’
‘Yeah?’
‘Take care, Katja. See you soon.’
‘Yes. ‘Bye.’
When the call ended, I cradled the phone against my chest for a while, thinking about our oddly disjointed conversation.
Phone chats weren’t the same as face-to-face conversations. On the phone you couldn’t gauge how the person was really feeling by seeing their eyes and their body language. Perhaps talking to Caleb face to face would give me the reassurance I needed... that he still felt the same about me as he used to...
I wasn’t due to start my shift until eleven and it was still only nine-fifteen.
Plenty of time to call at the bakery, pick up pastries and coffees and motor over to Caleb’s with breakfast...
*****
Driving through to Lockley Meadow, I was filled with hope that over coffee and almond pastries, Caleb’s favourite, we would be able to talk about us and get back on track.
I wanted that more than anything.
