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“It’s good to hear yours, too. Merry Christmas.”
“Merry Christmas.” I put my hand over my heart. “Am I dreaming? Is it really you? I’ve been so worried.”
“You have?”
“Yes, of course. How could I not? You disappeared—except you didn’t. I knew you were okay, so I just figured you didn’t want to talk to me. But I still worried. I even called your house and—”
“You called my house?”
“Yes.”
“When?” His voice took on an edge.
“Several weeks ago.”
“What happened when you called?”
“Your father answered. He said you were away for the weekend.”
Caleb let out a long breath. “Fuck. I’m sorry. There’s so much I have to tell you, Teagan.”
My voice cracked. “Why didn’t you return my call to your cell? That was the reason I called your parents’ house.”
“I didn’t get your call, love.”
“You didn’t?”
“No. My phone was lost after a very drunken night. I never got it back. I never knew you called me, and my father never told me you called the house.” I could feel his frustration over the line. “Teagan, I’m so very sorry you were worried about me. Do you have some time to talk? I know your holiday party must be happening.”
It was laughable to think I would ditch this phone call for the party—or anything else in the world.
“Caleb, there’s nothing more important right now than talking to you. Please tell me what happened.”
“Alright.” He paused. “When I first got back to the UK, I was in a bad place. Not only was I missing you, but my father’s drinking was out of control. We fought constantly. I handled it by leaving the house, going out every night, getting plastered, and trying to forget what was happening at home.”
My stomach sank. “Oh no.”
“It was the worst possible thing I could’ve done, and so irresponsible.”
In silence, I let him continue.
“One of those nights, I came home and found my father getting physical with my mother. I lost it and intervened. The neighbors called the police, and my father accused me of assault. My mother refused to tell the police my father had been attacking her because she didn’t want him to go to jail. So she told them he and I had argued, that it was a family issue.”
“Shit.”
“Things only got worse after that. I couldn’t live under the same roof with him. I was a mess, and my own drinking got out of control, I’m ashamed to say. I ended up getting into a fight with someone at one of the clubs here. I was arrested and held for a few days until my mother could bail me out. That was the lowest point. I realized then that I needed help—not just for my drinking but for all the issues that led to it.”
“Wait. You were arrested?”
“Yeah. But instead of jail time for assault, I was sentenced to community service and a stint in rehab. I spent two months in a facility that not only treats substance abuse, but also its underlying issues. When you get there, they take your phone. I had just replaced the old one when they took the new one away. They don’t want you having outside distractions. And I deactivated my social media accounts to make it easier during that time. Everything happened so fast. I didn’t want you to worry, so I chose not to tell you any of what was happening. But I neglected to consider that you might notice my accounts missing. I didn’t know you were alarmed. I’m so sorry, Teagan.”
Holy shit. He was right that I would have been worried, but here I was thinking he’d been having the time of his life and had chosen not to contact me.
“Oh my God, Caleb. This explains everything. It all makes sense now. I thought you didn’t want any contact with me because you’d moved on. I saw a photo of you on Archie’s page. A girl was kissing you, and I just thought—”
“What? Fuck. Teagan, that meant nothing. That was just some girl at the pub. I don’t even know who she was. I swear, nothing happened. We were out, and she was hanging all over me. Archie must have snapped a picture. I was drunk, but not too drunk to realize where I was and what I was doing. I haven’t been with anyone sexually since you, never took things that far.”
He hasn’t slept with anyone?
It felt like I’d let out a breath I’d been holding since our conversation started. I could feel tears forming in my eyes—a mix of relief and utter sadness for all he’d been through.
“Wow.”
“It’s so good to hear your voice, Teagan.”
I wanted to jump through the phone. My skin crawled with an intense need to see him.
“You’re better now? The program helped?” I asked.
“I’m sober, yeah. And the therapists there did delve into my past a lot, my issues with my dad. I wouldn’t say I’m fixed, but talking about things with a professional on a regular basis has definitely helped. I still have work to do, though.”
