Page 78 of Bittersweet Legacy

He took a step back, his scowl deepening. “What for?”

“I needed to call Caleb.”

He sighed. “No, you really don’t. Caleb Astor doesn’t need nor wish for your solicitude, Esmeralda.”

“And you know that because…” I trailed off. “It doesn't matter, I need to do this, please be a decent brother and just for once, give in,” I added, and couldn't help my voice from breaking under the weight of my emotions.

He buried his hand in his pocket, his face reflecting his internal conflict. If only I could see in his head. He shook his head and looked up as if he was having an internal debate which I hoped I’d win.

He grunted, extending me his phone. “You’re going to regret this.”

I shrugged, grabbing his phone before he had a chance to change his mind.

The phone rang about 10 times before I reached the voicemail. It was so impersonal and clinical it seemed to belong more to a 50-year-old man than an 18-year-old.

I called again straight away because if I gave the phone back to Archie, I was pretty sure I wouldn’t get it back again. “What do you want, Forbes?”

I was taken aback by the coldness of his tone. How did he know it was me?

“Oh Caleb, I’m so sorry,” I blurted, unable to stop my voice from cracking.

“Esmeralda?” His voice turned into a whisper which carried his surprise. I was somehow relieved not to be the only Forbes getting his cold, lashing tone. Frenemies for sure.

“Yes, how are you holding up?” I looked up and met my brother’s eyes. His lips were pursed, his eyes slightly narrowed. He was clearly calculating. I pointed at the corridor and exited the room, closing the door behind me before he had a chance to refuse. The call was innocent but I wanted the intimacy.

“He had a sick heart, it was to be expected.” He replied so evenly that he sounded robotic.

“I’m not asking pragmatic Caleb Astor, I’m asking Cal.”

He was silent for a while, his slow breathing the only hint that he was still with me. “I’m not sure,” he replied with a sigh. “I knew it would happen and yet…” He took a deep breath. “I need to process.”

I nodded, before realising he couldn't see me. “Of course, I just wanted to see if you were…” ‘Okay’ seemed like the wrong word – of course he couldn’t be Okay, he loved Theo so deeply – I saw that in his face at the engagement party or when he talked about him on the Ferris wheel. “…coping.”

He sighed. “The only way I know how.”

I was about to ask him what he meant by that but he kept on going.

“Why are you using your brother’s phone? You could’ve asked for my number.”

I frowned, looking at Archie’s bedroom door. Didn’t he know I was banned from any communication devices?

“I don’t have a phone.”

“You don’t have a-” He stopped. “Why?”

I rolled my eyes. I wasn’t sure if he was ready for this conversation and I was confused too – I thought he was aware of all of this. I was about to respond when his mom shouted his name.

He sighed again. “I have to go but –”

“But?” I asked when he stopped talking and his mother now screeched his name.

“Just, thank you for caring about me, Esmeralda,” he replied and hung up before I had a chance to reply.

I looked down at the phone in my hand. I did care, cared more than I wanted to, more than I ought to and now I knew that I was attached to Caleb and his pain, to Archie and his conflicting feelings tearing him apart, I cared enough to break down when I eventually walk away but there were too many uncertainties to make me stay, I couldn’t bet on these two loose cannons. No, I would leave as planned and I would heal, forget and move on. I had to. I owed it to my mother, I owed it to Luke and, most of all – I owed it to myself.

Chapter 18

I didn’t put any make-up on and ignored my father’s disapproving glare as I joined him, Sophia and Archie in the limousine for the funeral.

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