Hanna and Caleb: The Long Road Home
Chapter 1
"You broke up? Are you alright?"
Am I alright? I stare into Caleb's eyes as the question rolls around in my mind. How do I answer that? Am I alright that Jordan and I broke up, Yes. Am I alright becasue I'm still in love with you and you're now dating one of my best friends, No.
"Yes," I answer, "Or at least I think I am. I will be." I whisper with a small shrug of my sholders.
Caleb stares back at me. I can see a thousnd thoughts fighting for exclusive attention in his mind. His beautiful mind. Caleb turns away from me and picks up his drink from the table and takes a sip. It's as if he is trying to decide how to act around me, as if we're strangers.
"Well, I should go." Caleb stands up from where we are sitting on the couch "I have to pick Spencer up in twenty minutes." He barely glances at me as he moves toward the door.
"Please don't tell anyone about Jordan and me. I'm not ready to be interrogated. Not yet." I look down at the carpet and notice the tiny specs of gold mixed in with the white that I hadn't before.
Caleb chuckles softly, "Don't worry, Aria and Emily won't here it from me. Spencer neither."
"Thank you." Softly I close the door behind him as he strides down the hallway to the elevator of the hotel.
Shit, why did I tell him? What was I thinking? As if the dynamics of the group weren't confusing enough. I stare at myself in the bathroom mirrior as I pull my t-shirt over my head and toss it into the corner. Grabbing my toothbrush, I start to scrub, berating myself the entire time.
"They are going to find out. Aria, Emily and Spencer know me to well. They are going to find out." I think to myself, "I need to tell them before somebody else does, before A does." Getnly I shake my to clear away my troubling thoughts and turn the shower on, the heat all the way up. Stepping in, I close my eyes and let the water soak into my long blonde hair. I open them and stare striaght in front of me, not really seeing anything. After a minute or two, I can't tell how long it's been, I realize that there are tears sliding down my cheeks, mingled with the shower water. "Oh, shit! What have I done?" And with that thought I begin to vigourously scrub my skin.
"Hey, sleepy head, wake up." The voice seems far away but I feel someone rubbing my back and smoothing my hair down.
"Caleb?"
"Uh, no. Mom."
I sit up quickly, looking into the amused face of my best friend, my rock, my mother.
"HI." I mumble a little shyly, "What time is it?"
"Not late," she laughs. "9:00. I just wanted to see if you wanted to have breakfast with me before I have to attend to hotel business?"
"Yeah, sure. Just let me brush my teeth and throw on some clothes. I'll meet you in the lounge in 10." I look over my shoulder at my mother as she heads towards the door of my room. "Mom," I whisper.
"Yes Hanna."
"I'm really happy to be home again." I say and duck into the bathroom.
I walk into the lounge the of the hotel and over to the table where my mother is sitting. Pulling out a chair, I sit down and look my mother square in the eye. "Jordan and I broke up."
I drop my eyes to my lap and wait for the 'I'm disappointed in you Hanna', talk from my mother. But she surprises me and lifts my chin so she can look me in the face. "Hanna, I love you. I am so happy that you realized you and Jordan were not meant to be together before you said I do."
I must look stupid with my jaw hanging open as I stare back at her, speechless. "What?" she asks, I hear a little amusement in her voice.
"I thought you liked Jordan."
"I do. But I also know that you never truly got over your break up with Caleb. I'm the one that held you for every night and wiped your tears. Yes, I could see the brave face you put on for the world once you were ready to reenter the land of the living, but you are my baby girl Hanna and no one knows you like I do."
"Thank you", I whisper, as a tiny fraction of weight lifts from shoulders.
"For what?"
"Not judging me, not making me feel like a failure becasue I couldn't keep my relationship together."
"Oh Hanna, who am I to judge you for the break up of your engagement? Divorced, remember." She says to me with a little smile. " Does Caleb know?"
"Yes," I feel the weight decend on my shoulders again. "He is the only one that knows. I haven't told the girls yet. I don't want to complicate things between Spencer and Caleb, Spencer and me for that matter."
"Mrs. Marin," one of the ladies that works the recpetion desk at the Radley is standing next to our table.
"Yes."
"I'm sorry to interrupt but Mrs. Oliver is here and demanding her usual room. She didn't make a reservation and "her" room is occupied. We offered her another suite but she is adamant she must have "her" room and is demanding to speak with you personally. I'm sorry."
My mother looks across the table at me and rolls her eyes in mock frustration. "Duty calls, but Hanna, can I give you some advice?"
"Hmm?"
"Tell Spencer. Don't let her find out from anyone else but you. I think she will respect you for telling her, if you don't and she finds out from someone else, she may feel betrayed." And with that, I watch my mother stroll across the room to handle hotel business.
I pull my phone from m y back pocket. "Need to talk. Wanna grab coffee?" I stare at the scrren on my phone. With a deep breath, I hit send.
