Hey everyone, I hope you liked the last chapter. I am just a little curious about a few of the reviews. I was just wondering if it was a good thing or a bad thing to be have a comment such as "showing up is very The Notebook".
I am a fan of Nicholas Sparks ( casting Ryan Gosling created the perfect man for me hahaha I just love him to bits & watched the movie more times then I can count, its really unhealthy the amount of times I've watched it ) and have read a couple of his books Safe Haven & The Best Of Me & I am about to start reading The Notebook. I can not wait to meet him in person next week.
Anyways I'm a bit curious to know if it's a good thing that this kind of reminds you of that story? Or a bad thing if I'm being a complete copy cat?
I love the idea of love having a second chance (having experienced it myself) and what people are willing to do to save that kind of feeling. This isn't the first story I've written with this kind of concept, this is only the first time I've actually posted it on here for the public to read.
Anyways I hope you can somewhat enjoy this one, whilst it may seem a bit bland I do have a reason for everything and I need to build up to "that" moment and that takes time so as much as it may pain you to have to wait, when "that" moment arrives I hope you'll be happy with how I did it. I don't do so well under pressure so if I take a while to post the next chapter its because I haven't got it right just yet.
Until then just keep reading and I promise to make very good with the next one.
" You want to share a towel too? " He smirked as water dripped from his hair down onto his chest. Hanna rolled her lips and reminded herself to keep looking up.
" I uh... I have to...school waiting" She fumbled. Caleb bit the corner of his lip and started teasing her. He closed in on her backing her into the tiled wall and said.
" Well you know..." But before Caleb could continue Hanna pushed the curtain all the way across and darted out of the bathroom. Slamming the door behind her she stood outside the door and let out a quick sigh of relief.
She just seen Caleb naked. Naked as a jailbird. Naked with tattoos, naked and wet, Naked!
God why is it replaying she thought. She hadn't realised how long she had been standing there until Caleb opened the door and almost ran into her.
" Oh god!" She screamed. Hanna quickly took off to her room leaving Caleb giggling in the hall. He pinned his hand on the towel wrapped around his waist & walked downstairs, carefully making sure Ashley had well and truly left.
Caleb only managed to get several metres when Hanna came rushing down the stairs, Caleb stopped in the kitchen and turned back to face her.
She took one look at his wet body clad only in a towel before bolting out the door in a fluster. Caleb shook his head and went downstairs to get dressed for school.
A freshened and quite content Caleb came down the stairs almost with a dance to his steps.
Stepping off the landing he strolled casually into the kitchen to find Hanna rinsing a glass at the sink. She turned around in time to find Caleb embracing her with open arms and almost lifting her off the ground.
" Now I'm not so dirty...I am so happy your here... ".
" I can see that " Hanna happily replied, taken back by his display of affection.
Caleb pulled back and took his time looking at her features. Her long wavy blonde hair, those sparkly green eyes, luscious glossy pink lips and her skin still like a porcelain doll.
" What? " Hanna blushed.
" Nothing " he shook his head. " It feels like I haven't seen you forever when its only been a few months ".
Hanna took a deep breath and explained her reasons why it took so long to arrive. She at least owed him that much.
" I know I kept planning it and planning and I just didn't know what to say or how to say it... And now I'm such a horrible person ". She pouted.
" What? Why would you say that? Your nothing like that ". He assured her.
Hanna rested her back against the island in the kitchen and looked away from Caleb.
" Yes I am. I used my mother's cousin's funeral to come here to Texas, then I used her family as an excuse to stay and now I'm here with you behind my fiancées back so yes I am". She pointed out.
" Why do you care? " He walked passed her shrugging his shoulders.
" I don't...not really...I just feel guilty, but I know if I stay there I'll go crazy. " She tapped her fingers on the island behind her.
" Everyone who stays there goes crazy, why on earth do you think I rarely go home?. " He closed the fridge with a kick of his foot. " I miss seeing the Gottesman's but I could never live there again. "
Hanna walked over the picture hanging on the wall and pointed to it.
" Is this your real mom? ".
Caleb stopped pulling food from the fridge and walked over to where Hanna was standing and took the frame down from the wall, placing into her hands.
" Yeah...that's my mom Claudia." He looked at the picture then back at Hanna staring at his mother so closely trying to see if he resembled her. " She's real nice...lives in California and works in beauty therapy, so I just know if you ever met her you'd get along with her so well." He smiled.
Giving his shoulder a tap with the back of her hand Hanna gave the picture back to Caleb and kept looking around at the inside of his home. It was so much different on the inside then it was on the outside. Inside the floors were all wooden and polished, the walls were a crisp white with only a few family pictures here and there.
The kitchen was obviously made for cooking in, with its long benches, deep cupboards and ample space in the centre to move around a massive island, not to mention the large windows that welcomed in the warmth of the sun during the day and the cool breeze at night.
Looking around the entire home from where she was standing Hanna could see Caleb had put a lot of time and effort into the inside of the house. Wide set staircase, double windows in almost every room, large welcoming front doors, everything was above the average size, like he had made room for extra people only he didn't have any one with him.
In the living area sat a long dark coloured wooden table with benches for chairs, again Hanna noticed that extra detail. He had a large table for a lot of people to sit at but still it was only him in the house. He didn't seem the partying kind, with hardly any pictures of friends or other family members celebrating functions on the wall Hanna couldn't quite piece together exactly how he came to design or decorate the house in this way.
Even his lounge area was different to how she thought he would have been. Two large leather recliners sat toward the corners of the room, a low table in the centre and a long matching leather couch sat along the wall. A television was mounted to the wall neatly above a small bookshelf filled with books that Hanna had never even heard of before.
This new Caleb was a mystery, he was neat and reserved but something was hiding amongst all these clues, the house looked like a home for a family not a home for a single man who worked in the city with computers.
She was yet to see upstairs but was so very curious to see if it was as beautiful upstairs as it was down. Not to mention see what other clues his style would give to his frame of mind, his personality and most of all where things were meant to be going in the future.
She thought maybe that's why the outside looked so run down, because he had spent so much time on the inside was it possible he'd ran out of time or money to finish the job?
" You hungry? " He asked.
" Starved...Its been a long day of travelling " She replied.
Caleb grabbed the ingredients from the bench and asked Hanna to bring the rest of the food outside where she seen an area to the side of the house. A large paved area with a grill and an outdoor setting much similar to table inside.
A large stone wall was built around the entertaining area, and large outdoor lights lit the area plenty. It was a simple area but in her eyes it was simply perfect
Over the next several hours as they ate their meal Caleb shared his experiences with Hanna, how he went on a month long trip to Europe with Lucy & Lucas, and how he couldn't wait to get away from the two love birds. As much as he enjoyed the travelling he couldn't wait to get back home to his own bed and his job, for Lucy & Lucas were making him sick to the stomach with their over the top public displays of affection.
Caleb told details of how he chose Texas as a place to settle down, how he come across this house, and why it was important to him to rip the house to bits and rebuild it all over again. He had been looking for some where and possibly someone to connect to, a place he could call home and have someone to come home to. He wanted to stop moving around from place to place and just settle in one place and grow as a person, but unfortunately he only got one of the two.
The nights got lonely and women had come and gone but no one really made him as happy as he wanted to be. The only thing he & a woman really ever had in common were that they were both lonely and needed company. He was still looking for that special someone to come and make the rest of his life complete, but for now he would start with his home and work his way through the lonely times or even through the worst of times when he was miserable from having no one and feeling like a nobody just like he had in high school.
Although Hanna listened to parts of his life, Caleb was most interested in Hanna and exactly what she had been doing the past ten years. Hanna skipped over the wild year ~ a result that only came from their relationship ending ~ and the depressing years that followed but there wasn't much she could talk about without bringing up Sean's name.
And even though Caleb did his best to hide his discomfort at the sound of just hearing his name, Hanna knew it was like rubbing salt into an old wound. Those could have been the times where he could have been with her, he could have been the one to hold her at night, and to wake up next to her in the morning, he could shared so much with her and maybe even be married her too.
As the evening came to end a tired and lightly intoxicated Caleb piled their plates and carried them inside, Hanna followed behind him with the rest of the condiments. Placing them on the bench inside she watched as Caleb moved about the kitchen, something seemed to be bothering him. Almost as if he wanted to say something but couldn't.
Hanna went over their conversation in her head trying to pin point if it was something she said or whether this was just Caleb being Caleb. Hanna stood silently on the other side of the island as Caleb returned items to their rightful place in the kitchen.
" Do you want some help with your bags? I can get them from the car if you like? " Caleb asked over his shoulder.
" Sure thank you. " She replied quietly.
Caleb walked out the front door to her car and pulled her suit case from the back of the car, walking back up the front steps and inside the house he placed her bag down in the room down stairs.
" Will this room do? Its just a spare at the moment. I'm still renovating the upstairs rooms and they're not exactly liveable. " He said rubbing the back of his neck feeling guilty for putting Hanna in such a simple room with a small bed.
" Its fine Caleb but can I just ask one thing? " She looked up at him.
Caleb looked right into her eyes, not looking away for anything.
" Sure go ahead...I'm all yours. "
" Did I do or say anything at dinner? " She could only hope to god he didn't take offence to the question." I'm just getting this feeling that your not happy. " She said.
Caleb looked as if he had just been slapped across the face. He didn't realise how he was behaving until she pointed it out. Something that only one other older woman had pointed out beforehand.
" Oh god I'm doing it aren't I? " He placed his hand over his forehead, embarrassed as to what he was doing to her. " Your not doing anything wrong nor have you, I get tired and I get really moody and kind of snap at people. Its not one of my best attributes Lucas's mother told me all the time ". Hanna laughed as a sigh of relief washed over her.
" Its ok I understand, hell I get moody when I don't have my morning coffee, I'm just glad its nothing I did or said, you had me worried there for a second. " She smiled up at him.
" I'm really sorry Hanna, I am so over the moon that your here right now. " Holding her hands in his Caleb looked at Hanna and leant in placing his lips softly on her cheek. He wanted to do so much more then just kiss her but they still had a lot to work through. When he pulled back her eyes were still closed, he continued watching her until she opened her eyes, when she did Caleb seen her cheeks blush with the colour red.
" Good night Hanna...I'll see you bright & early in the morning. " He hugged her before going to his own room. Hanna called out from the room below as he walked up the stairs.
" I don't about that bright and early part. " Caleb laughed the rest of the way his room, when he closed the door he kicked his shoes off and freed himself of his clothing leaving them spread out over the room. Climbing into bed he didn't know how he was going to sleep knowing Hanna Marin his high school sweetheart was sleeping directly below him.
One thing for sure he knew he loved having her back in his life.
The next day sure as rain Caleb had rose early and snuck out of the house quietly without waking Hanna. He drove to the local fresh fruit & vegetable markets not far from his home. Caleb had always searched for the best and freshest produce from local farmers, supporting the smaller farmers rather then the much larger companies who mark up ridiculous prices for a lot less quality fruit & vegetable.
Strolling from stall to stall like he usually did, Caleb came to his favourite stand, casually standing in front of the crates he nodded and smiled at the women as he waited to be attended to.
" Morning Ladies gorgeous day to be out isn't it? ". The younger woman giggled like a school girl and walked over to Caleb once she finished with her customer. She was just like everybody else at the markets, her long brown hair casually pulled back into a pony tail under a wide brimmed tan coloured hat, worn jeans and a simple tight blue tee wrapping around her small frame and her favourite pair of black cowboy boots she once told her family she wanted to be buried in.
" Morning Caleb, that it is, much to nice to be standing around a stall all day " Cassie smiled.
From the back of the stall she heard her mother call out.
" A little hard work never hurt anyone, right Caleb? " She turned around holding the crate with his usual order of eggs and assorted vegetables. " How is the house coming along? did you manage to get that porch rail done? ".
Caleb took the heavy crate from her hands and paid her a little extra then he should have, by now they were both used to Caleb giving them that little bit more, and neither of them ever had a chance of handing him back change, if they tired Caleb would start a conversation about something else or tell them he had a busy day ahead.
" Its coming along good Mrs Dawson, just about to head over to the hard ware store to grab some more materials". Caleb tilted his head & replied. " Well ladies plenty to do, you take care now I'll see you next time around ".
Caleb winked at Cassie as he left the stall, Cassie giggled and continued serving her next customer, her mother shook her head as she continued to load more products to the front of the stall.
Mrs Dawson had an acute sense of reading people, she knew that her daughter had a soft spot for Caleb, she knew that her neighbour's wife had left him even though he continued the lie saying she was away visiting family, she watched the wild Newton boys flirt with her daughter knowing all too well they were sleeping with the attention seeking Montgomery girls.
But one thing neither Caleb knew or any body else was that Mrs Dawson knew Caleb's heart belonged to someone a very long time ago, she seen it written all over his face every time he came to the stall with a girlfriend or even when some one would try to start a conversation with Caleb at the local bar in town.
Caleb was always in another place, he may have smiled and touched them gently but he never looked at them the way a man would if he was in love, his touch never sat quite on the arm or body of a woman, there was always a space between them. Like as if some how Caleb could never be fully invested in the one woman, because his heart just wasn't in it, not to mention his smile never seemed genuine, he falsely smiled without anyone realising what was going on behind the curtains, said all the right things and was every bit a gentleman but there was still that disconnection.
Mrs Dawson figured Caleb probably wasn't even aware of the signals he was sending, he was more then likely just trying to past the time until either his heart gave in or until who ever she was came back into his life.
Arriving home an hour or two later Caleb began unloading his truck, first taking the produce into the kitchen and placing them into the fridge then back outside he carried the pieces of wood from his car to the front of the house.
As he gathered his tools together it wasn't long before he began hammering and smashing the old pieces of wood from where they stood. The wood was so brittle they practically splintered to pieces on the ground below. If there was ever an enjoyable part of ripping a house to bits, Caleb most certainly enjoyed demolition the most, the ability to just pull something apart without a care in the world, just to strip it bare and start all over again.
Plenty of times through the rebuilding of his house, Caleb had tore into the destruction. Pulling tiles from the wall and ripping up the old flooring, knocking windows out and tearing the old wood paneling that existed on the lower half of the walls. Most of the home was cold and damp, dark patches of mould settled in the corners, paint peeled from the walls and tiles barely held on. The wiring was shot and for the first 4 months Caleb did nothing but duck for cover when he turned on a switch and sparks came flying from the sockets or light bulbs that exploded.
The stairs creaked louder with every step, half the time Caleb was afraid he was going to fall through and break his leg. The water heater was a nightmare in itself, choosing when it wanted to work and when it didn't. And if there was one thing Caleb absolutely refused to accept was a cold shower at five in the morning.
He could wake up just fine he didn't a shower to turn him into a block of ice. The plumbing in the kitchen was no better either, water leaked from around the taps and all over the benches, sometimes onto the floor, they shuddered when he attempted to pull any form of pressure out of it. It had cost Caleb an arm and a leg just to bring the basics up to scratch, but having the reassurance of heated water against cold skin in the morning was worth the price, not to mention being able to see where he is going at night instead of tripping up the stairs or hitting the corner of the table or worse kicking his toes on furniture.
Slipping out of bed Hanna ran her hands through her hair, pulling it behind her she loosely put it in a tie and walked out of the room searching for Caleb. She could hear the clanging of wood dropping into a pile outside. Wandering toward the kitchen she couldn't face the day just yet until she had a warm coffee in her hand. With a coffee warming her hands Hanna wandered out the front where she seen a newly constructed front railing that wrapped around one side of the house. Freshly painted white she walked over and walked beside it inspecting it as far as it would go.
She was impressed. When did he have the time to make this whilst she was sleeping, and for that matter she wondered what time it was. Before she could go check Caleb crept up behind her and placed his hand on the small of her back and reached the cans of paint left against the house.
" Mornin' sleepy head " He smiled. Hanna turned around to see Caleb in ripped & torn well painted on jeans, a black tank that hugged his toned body in all the right places and all the wrong places for this time of the morning. Her eyes kept creeping over his muscles, flexing as he moved about the porch cleaning up after the rebuild of the rail.
Bending over in front of her he took no shame, how was he suppose to know she was dreaming of doing ungodly things with his body. All he was doing was cleaning up the materials he used.
Snapping out of her sinful thoughts she felt Caleb touch her arm.
" I said you must have had a good sleep...sleeping in 'til near midday ". He stood before her.
" I guess I did, I must have been more tired then I thought ". She said sipping down the last of her coffee.
Hanna could barely remember the last time she slept so well. It could have been close on five years since she had a peaceful uninterrupted sleep that didn't involve any sleeping pills or half a bottle of whatever was lying around.
There was just something different about his house, the second she arrived she just felt peaceful, like nothing or no one could bother them or tear them apart. This was their sanctuary, their little bubble of security, separate from the rest of the world and nothing was going to change as long as they stayed that way but sooner or later someone was going to burst that bubble.
