“Thank you, Geeta,” I said.
After I ended the call, I leaned back in my seat and let out a slow sigh.
Despite the heavy sadness lingering in my chest, I felt a small sense of comfort knowing that I was heading back to Cowichan Bay.
Back home.
To follow Caleb’s experience during Patty’s funeral, read the third chapter in his Bonus Chapters.
Arriving at my house,I sat in the driveway for a couple of seconds before heading inside. I kept my hands on the steeringwheel, staring at the front door of the house as if I needed to gather the strength to walk through it. The quiet street around me felt heavy, and I stayed there, letting the silence comfort me after the long drive.
It was eight in the evening, and I knew the children were probably in bed. The thought brought me a small sense of relief. I wasn’t sure I had the energy to explain anything or pretend that everything was fine.
I stepped out of the car and walked up the short path to the front door. When I entered the house quietly, I heard the television playing softly in the living room.
Geeta is still up,I thought to myself.Probably working on the laptop.
Closing the door behind me gently, I slipped off my shoes and lowered myself onto the small bench just in front of the entrance. The exhaustion from the day crashed over me all at once. I leaned forward, resting my elbows on my knees, and buried my face in my hands.
For several minutes, I simply sat there without moving.
The events of the day replayed in my mind again and again.
Patty’s funeral.
Her still face in the casket.
The coldness of her hand when I touched it.
My eyes began to burn as tears gathered in them. Patty’s voice echoed faintly in my memories. The way she used to talk about Caleb, how she always said he was good for me, how she believed he was the man I was meant to be with.
But those words now brought back something else entirely.
Flashes of Caleb and Caroline in bed together.
The memory hit me like a sudden punch to the stomach. My throat constricted, and I pressed my palms harder against my eyes as if I could force the images away.
Just as a tear was about to roll down my cheek, I felt a warm hand rest gently on my shoulder.
Startled, I quickly brushed away the tear before it could fall. Then I lifted my head.
Cole stood in front of me, looking down at me with his eyebrows drawn together.
“Are you all right?” he asked softly.
The gentleness in his voice stirred something fragile inside my chest.
Without saying a word, I stood up and stepped forward. Before I could second-guess myself, I wrapped my arms around him and held on.
I didn’t want to answer any questions. I didn’t want to explain anything. I didn’t have the strength to open the floodgates of emotion that were barely being held back inside me.
All I wanted, in that moment, was silence.
Cole didn’t move away.
Instead, his arms wrapped around me. He held me without hesitation, without asking anything of me, and that simple gesture made something deep inside my chest loosen like a knot being untangled.
I had come back to my house, to the place that had slowly become my safe space. Yet standing there in the arms of someone new, someone who was not Caleb, I felt a sense of safety wash over me.
