AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He wanted to believe he’d felt that way about Cameron at the beginning, but his relationship with his ex started to feel almost surreal now that it was over. The only thing tangible was the emptiness Cameron left behind, and the simmering resentment Caleb couldn’t shake because he’d wasted so many good years on that bastard.
Pressing his fingers to his temples, he rubbed gently, startling a little when his lamp began to flash. His brother wouldn’t have bothered with the doorbell, so he trudged over and peered through the little peephole. The only thing he could see was a slightly bent head full of dark hair.
His brow furrowed as he opened his door, but his mood lightened when Peyton stood there with a small grin and a box balanced on one hand. “Comfort food,” Peyton signed.
Caleb quickly ushered him in, taking the box and bringing it right to the table. His appetite had been absolute shit, but nothing could beat Peyton’s feel-better bakes. “What did you bring me?”
Peyton smiled wider as he sat down on the sofa and carefully twisted his body to face Caleb. He sat gingerly thanks to his stoma bag which Caleb hadn’t learned about until a couple of months before everything went to hell. It was his own fault for not paying attention to social media, but Peyton appreciated that someone in his life gave him some privacy, especially after his account went viral.
“S’mores brownies,” Peyton signed slowly. “Hudson said they’re so delicious, that’s what made him fall in love with me. He’s a liar, but he’s not wrong about them. They’re the best.”
Caleb laughed as he pried the top off the box and stared down at the bundle of chocolate and marshmallow goodness wrapped in brown paper. He immediately broke off the edge of one and it melted on his tongue. “Wow,” he signed against his chest as he fell back against the cushions. His groan rippled out of his chest, making Peyton laugh. “I’m cured.”
Peyton rolled his eyes and nudged Caleb with his knee. “Don’t make my ego bigger.”
Caleb just shrugged. “You deserve it. These are amazing.”
Peyton looked very pleased as he sat back and kicked one foot up on the table. His expression sobered a second later, and Caleb knew what was coming. “How are you?”
It was such a damn loaded question with a complicated answer. He took a slow breath before attempting to explain. “Better than I thought I’d be.” He kept his signs slow and simple for Peyton, who was still learning, though he was far better than he had been when he first started his contract with the café. Caleb had a sudden pang in his chest for how accommodating he’d been with Peyton and how rough he’d been with Bodhi.Fuck. He had so much to make up for, even if Bodhi had already forgiven him.
Peyton didn’t miss the look on his face. “Are you lying?”
Caleb shook his head. “There’s more going on besides Cameron. He and I were over with before he made a public ass of himself.”
Peyton pulled a face. “The video showed up on my Instagram feed, so I reported it.”
Letting out a long-suffering sigh, Caleb rubbed at one eye. His exhaustion about the damn video was starting to feel chronic. “I don’t even care anymore. I’m so tired of stressing out about who’s seen it.”
“It’s been good for business,” Peyton pointed out.
Caleb snorted. “Yeah. We’ve had to close early the past week because people keep buying us out. It’s not going to last, but it’ll give me a nice buffer.”
Peyton nodded, but he still looked concerned. “So what’s the real problem?”
Caleb licked his lips, then glanced toward the door. He hadn’t spoken to anyone else about his evening with Bodhi, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to. Not until he figured out what the hell it meant. “I had some trouble with one of my new hires.”
Peyton’s brow furrowed. “Hearing guy?”
Caleb shook his head. “I only hire deaf. But he grew up like Wren. Hearing family, all oral, late introduction to sign.”
Peyton nodded for him to go on.
“I didn’t realize I was being a dick,” Caleb explained, the guilt feeling heavier with each sign. “I was caught up in my relationship falling apart, and then the video happened, and…” His hands hovered in the air, not quite sure what to say. “He’s had a rough life.”
“Okay,” Peyton said with a frown. “You apologized?”
“Yes,” he answered. That, at least, felt good. It felt like progress. “I think I realized somewhere in my apology that I felt…” He hesitated again, and he watched as understanding filled Peyton’s face. It was no surprise he got it.
Peyton and his fiancé had hated each other once. Or, well, Hudson had detested Peyton on first sight, but it hadn’t lasted which was no surprise. Peyton was impossible not to love. But getting to the place they were at now had been a struggle, and it was nice that someone understood it.
“Why did you forgive Hudson for being the way he was?” he finally asked.
Peyton rubbed his fingers over his lips in thought before dropping them back down to sign. “He let me in. He gave me space to know him in ways a lot of people never will. He didn’t make a big display out of being sorry.”
“What did he do?” Caleb asked, feeling almost desperate.
Peyton laughed and shook his head. “He showed me he was sorry. I think if he’d made a big performance out of it, I wouldn’t have believed him. We would have stayed just friends.”
