When It Falls: Chapter 2
By Skylar
She glanced at the backseat through the rearview mirror and Annabel was still asleep in her booster seat. The sun had risen out of the horizon a few hours back and she felt her eyelids heavy. Calleigh looked around, wondering where she could get her hands on the biggest, strongest cup of coffee, but before deciding to get off the highway she reached for her phone.
Taking a deep breath, she dialed familiar numbers. The road was beginning to get crowded, and she looked through the side mirror as she waited for a reply.
"Caine."
"Horatio, it's Calleigh."
"Calleigh, what can I do for you?"
She hesitated for a moment, but having rehearsed the conversation a few times now she forced herself to continue. She could falter and stumble and fall, but never in front of Horatio Caine. "I'm sorry to call you like this, but something came up and I'm going to need some time off."
Horatio stopped a moment. "Um, alright," he said hesitantly. "Is everything alright?"
"Yes," she said, feeling obliged to smile. "I, um, I have a couple of weeks worth of vacation saved up. I know this isn't practical, me calling like this—"
"That's alright, no worries," Horatio said. "I'll just, uh, I'll get the guys to cover for you."
"I appreciate that."
"And if you need anything just call."
She smiled appreciatively. "Thank you."
"Hang in there."
He hung up before she had the chance to say something else and she put the cell phone back in the passenger's seat. Having taken care of that she felt a little relieved, but she could feel the beginning of a headache looming and she still felt immensely anxious, not knowing what had happen or what would happen. She couldn't function properly living in uncertainty, not seeing a clear path in front of her. Some people relished living in the moment, making decisions in the blink of an eye, but Calleigh spent most of her grown up life intricately planning her days, weeks. It was her security blanket, the only way she knew how to live.
And now she found herself on a road trip with no destination, her small child in the back seat, and she began to wonder if she should turn around and go home. It's one thing to be spontaneous when you're young and carefree, but having a child now she depended on her ability to keep everything under control, follow a familiar routine. She wanted Annabel to feel safe, and the only way Calleigh knew how to do that was by making sure everything, every second of her life, was well thought-out in advance.
And yet the idea of going home made her feel even more stifled than her sporadic decision to leave. It hit her like a ton of bricks that she didn't want to see her house again, didn't want to lie down in bed and smell him on her pillow. She didn't want to see his toiletries in their bathroom, didn't want to find any evidence that he'd ever existed, that they'd ever existed together.
She didn't want to go home and admit failure. She didn't want the world to know her marriage had crumbled to pieces and the great Calleigh Duquesne couldn't figure out a way to put it back together.
So she kept driving, and when her body couldn't make it without caffeine any longer she stopped at a popular diner right off the road.
Annabel was still sleeping when Calleigh opened the car door. She attempted to wake the child but was only rewarded with a frown and Annabel kept on sleeping. She and Jake had always been such light sleepers, she didn't know why it always took her forever to wake her daughter up. She figured it was the byproduct of being four years old and having no worries.
"Come on, let's get some food."
Annabel moaned in protest and Calleigh sighed, removed the booster seat's straps and carried her into the restaurant. The waitress found them a booth by the window and Annabel's eyes instantly shot open when the waitress handed her a piece of paper and a few crayons. Calleigh was pleased that her daughter remembered to say thank you without her having to drill her about it, and Annabel's sleepiness was instantly forgotten as she began to draw. She wondered if there was ever a time in her life when three crayons and a piece of paper ever made her that happy. She couldn't remember.
"What can I get for you?"
Calleigh looked up at the waitress, a vivacious thing that couldn't be older than 20. She felt old and tired. "Can I get a cup of coffee, black, and a glass of chocolate milk?"
"Sure thing."
"Look, mommy!" Annabel said, excited, as she showed her mother a picture of what could've been a dolphin, if it weren't for the weird tail it sported in the back.
"That's great, babe," Calleigh replied and Annabel happily went back to her drawing. She smiled to herself, glad that so far Annabel hadn't asked any questions about her father, or where they were going, for that matter. She was often surprised that her daughter didn't seem to concern herself with adult matters and rather spent most of her time entertaining herself with make believe tea parties and imaginary friends, when at four Calleigh had spent most of her time worrying about her parents volatile marriage and taking care of her baby brother.
She didn't know it was possible to live a happy childhood until Annabel came along, and though the child spent most of her time laughing and playing Calleigh still worried, especially now. She wanted Annabel to live the childhood she never got to live, and her disastrous fight with Jake had threatened to take that away. She worried about that more than she worried about anything else.
Her cell phone suddenly began to vibrate before it started to ring. Calleigh's heart sank, because the last thing she wanted to do now was deal with Jake or answer the hundreds of questions she knew he'd fire at her. She didn't wanna have to explain her decision to leave (mostly because she didn't have one) and she didn't want to get into another argument with him, not in front of Annabel.
Calleigh looked at the phone on the table, and the words 'Eric Delko' flashed on the screen instead. She bit her lip, fingers nervously playing with each other as the phone continued to chime. She wondered if Horatio had mentioned anything about her sudden need to take a 'vacation' or if the call was work related. Not wanting to risk it, she hesitantly reached for the phone and turned it off.
Annabel looked at the phone questioningly and then at her mother, but Calleigh smiled and leaned forward. "You want chocolate chip pancakes?"
"Yeah!" Annabel said, her curiosity forgotten.
Twenty minutes later she found herself playing with her food as Annabel rambled on about the life of her new friend the dogphin. She smiled when she deemed it necessary, didn't have to say much because Annabel talked enough for the both of them. It was tiring, normally, but this time she welcomed the distraction that her daughter's active imagination provided.
They walked outside, Annabel skipping all the way to the car, and protecting her to-go coffee cup, Calleigh strapped her daughter back in and sat behind the wheel. She turned on the engine, stared at the road in front of her, and in a moment of inexplicable need she reached for her cell phone and turned it on. There was a new message in her inbox and she didn't have to hear it to know who it was from. Taking a deep breath, she hesitantly stared at the screen for a few seconds before she shook her head, flipped it close and threw it at the bottom of her purse.
She pulled out of the parking lot and continued her journey up north, wearier than before.
to be continued...