ETWentHome, I'm really happy you sympathise with both of them - I really wanted Cal to be giving his money away for a good reason. Thank you so much for your review.
Tanith Panic, yes, he is a greedy swine! I'm glad you see both points of view. I don't want Ethan to seem like the bad guy. Thank you for your review and for your pms.
Ethan looked almost sad. "You'll believe anything, won't you, Cal? You can't resist a damsel in distress."
Cal couldn't believe it. "Are you saying you think she made it up?"
"It has been known," said Ethan.
Cal glared at him. "I can't believe you brought that up again."
"It's getting to be a pattern, Cal," said Ethan, but his voice was gentle. "Didn't it even occur to you that there was something odd about her story?"
"Just because it's odd, it doesn't mean it's not true," said Cal.
Ethan was clearly trying to be calm, but he couldn't stop a note of exasperation from creeping into his voice. "I'm not saying it's not true. I just think you should be a bit more careful when people ask you for money."
"She didn't ask me for money!" shouted Cal. With an effort, he calmed down. "She didn't want to accept it. I had to talk her into it. But she had to take it, Ethan. Her landlord was demanding the rent and there was nowhere else she could have got it from."
"Okay," said Ethan. "She needed help quickly. You helped her. I get that. But I'm worried, Cal. About you. I don't want to see you get hurt again."
"I won't get hurt," said Cal. "She's not trying to hurt me. Even if she was capable of that, which I know she isn't, she wouldn't do it now. She's hurting, Ethan. She's hurting so much and I don't know if it's ever going to stop. So if I can take even a little bit of her pain away by paying her rent…"
Ethan nodded. "Okay."
"She'll pay me back soon," said Cal. "And then I'll be able to pay you."
A look of doubt crossed Ethan's face, but he hid it quickly. "And at least it's only one thousand pounds this time. There is that, I suppose."
Cal tried to keep his face impassive.
"Caleb?" Ethan's voice sharpened. "Are you saying it's more?"
Cal decided he'd better tell him. "Emma wants to move out. She can't afford the rent on her own and it upsets her to be there. But the landlord wants three months' notice."
"But you didn't give it to her," said Ethan. He looked worriedly at Cal. "Did you?"
"No, I didn't give it to her," said Cal. "I haven't got that much money." His eyes veered away from Ethan's gaze. "But I…. I might have kind of…."
Ethan raised his eyes to the ceiling. "You promised her the money, didn't you, Caleb? You promised her money you don't have."
"I thought I might… borrow it?" said Cal awkwardly, still not looking at Ethan.
"He thought he might borrow it," Ethan said disbelievingly to the empty air. "And I wonder who he thought he was going to borrow it from."
"It wouldn't really be me you're lending it to," said Cal desperately. "It'll be Emma. I'll just be carrying the money from your house to hers. I'm just the courier."
"Sorry," said Ethan. "No."
Cal felt desperation building up. "But you've got to! How's she going to manage?"
"She can take out a loan," said Ethan. "Either from the bank or a loan company. It's the best way, Caleb. I won't be giving you £3000 and you'd better not even think about getting it from me any other way."
Cal's voice was choked. "I won't, Ethan. I won't do that again. I won't."
"But I'll make a few phone calls tomorrow and see exactly what Emma's options are," said Ethan. "Then I can put her in touch with the right people and they'll deal with the rent as well as any other financial problems." His face was serious. "Cal… did it really not occur to you that you could have done that?"
Silently, Cal shook his head.
"Well… you know now," said Ethan. "You'll know for next time. I know you wanted to help Emma and that's not a bad thing. But that doesn't mean you have to do everything yourself. Sometimes the best thing you can do for someone is to pass their problem on to someone who's better-equipped to help than you." Ethan's voice was gentle. "Superman helps a lot of people, but I don't remember him ever paying a girl's rent for her."
"No." Cal's voice was almost a whisper.
Ethan gave a heavy sigh, but when he spoke, he sounded calm. "Don't worry. It will be all right."
"I will pay you what I owe you," said Cal.
"I know," said Ethan. He couldn't have known, but the lecture was obviously over for tonight. "You should get some sleep. You've had another difficult day."
Cal nodded and got to his feet. He started to leave the room, but then he stopped. For a long moment, he said nothing; he just stared in front of him. Then he slowly turned around. He couldn't see into Ethan's face, but perhaps that would make it easier. "Ethan?"
It was only a whisper, but Ethan heard. He turned to face Cal. "Yes?"
Now Ethan was looking at him, Cal didn't think he could do it. He swallowed and looked somewhere above Ethan's head. "Ethan… I… I…."
He stopped and sneaked a glance at Ethan. His eyes were on Cal, steady and calm.
"I'm… sorry," whispered Cal. His eyes filled with tears and he quickly turned away.
"I know you are," said Ethan. Cal heard his footsteps and felt Ethan's hand on his shoulder. "It's okay, Cal. We'll get through this. And so will Emma."
Cal slept a lot better than he was expecting to, but he still felt tired the next day. He spoke to Emma in the morning to let her know that Ethan had some ideas about how she could get some financial help until she was able to use the joint bank account. "They should be able to help you deal with your landlord as well as helping you find new accommodation."
"When?" said Emma. "Doug says he wants the rent today. By 4pm. He put a note through my door."
"I'm sure we can sort something out before then," said Cal. Actually he had no idea, but Ethan seemed confident that something could be done and presumably he knew what he was talking about.
There was a long silence on the other end of the phone. "Will I have to talk to them?" Emma asked, her words almost a sigh.
"Yes, but you won't have to do it on your own," said Cal. "You'll have your social worker to help."
"It's so hard," said Emma. She sounded lost. "Everything's hard. I'll have to talk. I'll have to think of the words."
"I know, but they'll understand it's difficult for you at the moment," said Cal. "They probably help people like you all the time. They'll be patient. They'll help you find the words."
"It's just… all these strangers," said Emma, her voice wavering. "All these people I don't know. Izzy and Georgia usually dealt with Doug. I only met my social worker yesterday. It's all so hard, Cal."
"I know, Emma," said Cal. He heard the sadness in her voice and felt sad himself. One moment and her world was gone. "But you will get through this. I'm sure you will."
"Cal?" The name was a sob.
"I'm here, Emma."
"Will you come with me? When I see them?"
Cal hesitated. He knew Ethan wanted him to take a step back and not be so involved in Emma's life, but he didn't really see how he could do that. Emma needed a friend and he was all she had. "I'll try, Emma. I'll see if I can get some time off work. I can't promise, but I will do my best."
"Thank you," said Emma.
"Is there anything else I can do for you?" said Cal. "I don't start work for a while. So even if you just need to talk, I'm here."
"I don't know… what to say." Emma's voice was faint. "Everything hurts."
"Your wrist?" said Cal.
"No. Yes. I don't know," said Emma. "Just everything. Cal?"
"Yes?"
"Can you talk to me?" said Emma. "I just want to hear your voice."
Ethan was as good as his word. He made the phone calls as soon as their office hours allowed, and then went to find Cal. Cal was in cubicles, helping an elderly lady who was experiencing heart palpitations. Ethan said he'd come back later, but Cal couldn't wait.
"There's nothing more I can do just now anyway – I just need to find someone to do an ECG."
Rita was quickly located and dispatched to perform the task. Ethan and Cal went to a quiet corner.
"I've phoned Citizens Advice and explained the situation. They think they'll be able to help and they've agreed to see Emma at 11.30am and discuss her options for an emergency loan. There will be a housing advisor present at the meeting who, as well as giving advice, also has experience in dealing with threatening behaviour from landlords. I also spoke to the housing department of the local council and there is a slight concern that Emma might be considered to have made herself voluntarily homeless, but in the circumstances it should be possible to get around that. It'll just take a bit longer, that's all. Will you let Emma know what we've arranged?"
"I'll do that now," said Cal. "I've already told her that you're talking to a few people. Is Emma's social worker going to the meeting?"
"I couldn't get in touch with her and she probably wouldn't be allowed to speak to me anyway, but Emma's seeing her at ten so she can take care of that," said Ethan.
Cal agreed and was about to go and get on with his work, but Ethan put a hand on his arm.
"Cal. You do know that everything I've done for Emma today wasn't really my job?"
Cal fought down his annoyance. "Yes, I know and I'm very grateful. Okay?"
"I didn't mean that," said Ethan. "I just mean we've done all we can for her now. She's in the hands of the social workers and Citizens' Advice. It might be best if you took a step back now, Cal. For your sake."