Caleb walked back into his apartment after his morning smoke, which he now had to have outside, to find Hanna and Scarlett awake and sat at his kitchen island with bowls of cereal in front of them. He looked around his apartment as he made his way over to them and it was a mess. Scarlett's toys were scattered everywhere, the drawers were overflowing with clothes; most of them Hanna's and the pile of washing by the sink seemed to increase every time he looked at it. But he didn't care. He had the two people he cared most about with him and that's all that mattered. "Morning," He smiled, grabbing some bread and putting it in the toaster to make him self some breakfast.
"Morning," Hanna replied, not looking up from her phone that hadn't stopped vibrating since he walked in.
"Someone's popular." He remarked when her phone finally stopped.
"Someone's been trying to get hold of me all morning." She rolled her eyes and leant her head on her hand. "It's really annoying."
"Who is it?" Caleb asked, taking his toast out when it popped up.
"I don't know, the numbers not saved on my phone."
"Is it Jordan?" Caleb asked and she shrugged. "There's only one way to find out then." He said, leaning forward as he phone started ringing again and answered it.
"What are you doing?" She asked him as he brought the phone to his ear.
"Hello, Hanna's phone?" He shot her a smirk, ready to deal with whoever was harassing her this early in the morning. He had a hunch it could be Jordan. He could have bought a burner phone so she would pick up and he wanted him to know exactly where Hanna was. But he was wrong, very wrong.
"Hanna!" A sharp voice bellowed down the phone. "Where the hell are you? The shop opens in three hours and you've disappeared on me. You need to get here now!"
Caleb just pulled the phone from his ear and handed it to Hanna. "Hello?" She answered but instantly straightened up when she heard who I was. "Hi Claudia..." All if the tiredness from her voice disappeared in a second and she shot off the stool. "I'm coming now... I'm so sorry... I completely forgot." She ended the call and threw her phone into the counter. "Shit," she mumbled, racing over to the drawers to find something to wear. "Shit, shit, shit."
"Mommy said a bad word." Scarlett pointed out, looking up from the bowl of coco-puffs she had been quietly eating.
"Mommy said a few bad words." Caleb remarked, watching in amusement as she raced to his bathroom to start getting changed.
He turned his attention back to his toast and started buttering it, before he took a bite and cleared away the bowl of cereal Scarlett had finished with.
It want long until Hanna came back out, dressed and with her make up half done. "Can you call me a cab to Philly?" She took a moment to catch her breath as Caleb pulled his phone out. He nodded and watched as she filled her bag with everything she would need and slipped her heals on. "All done." He said, placing his phone back in his pocket.
"Thanks," She breathed. "Can you look after Scar again today?" She asked, reaching forward to his plate of toast and taking a huge bite out of it.
"Actually, I have wor-" He began but was cut off by a car beeping outside.
"That's the taxi," She stuffed the last of his toast into her mouth and ran to the door. "Love you Scar." She called before she closed it behind her.
"Come on Scar," Caleb called, holding his hand out for her as she wondered over to the un-finished house.
"Who lives there?" She asked.
"Toby and Yvonne."
"But it's got no roof, they'll get wet when it rains." She furrowed her little eyebrows and skipped over to him, taking his hand. Caleb couldn't help but smile and squeeze it twice before he answered. "They're living in here until it's finished." He lead her up to the RV and knocked in the door.
It took a while but eventually a sleepy Toby answered the door. "Hey man,"
"Hi Toby." Scarlett grinned up at him.
"Hi Scar, what are you doing here?" He asked.
"Please tell me your not doing anything today?" Caleb asked as Toby stepped aside and let them inside.
"It's like eight in the morning, the only think we're doing is sleeping." He chucked slightly.
"Good, because I need you to look after Scarlett." He said handing him the purple backpack she had packed.
"Why? Where's Hanna?"
"Shes at the shop opening, I have to go to work and Ashley's away." He explained. "I'll pick her up at four."
Toby just nodded and watched as Caleb let go of Scarlett's hand. "Be good, okay?"
"I'm always good." She giggled and ran over to the sofa. "Bye Caleb."
"Bye," He called back and stepped out of the RV. "Thanks man." He smiled up at Toby before walking back to his car.
"Have you had any breakfast?" Toby asked, Scarlett as she made her way over to the table and sat down. She nodded her head and pulled out a colouring book from her bag. "Would you like anything to drink, I think we have some milkshake somewhere?" He offered.
Her head instantly shot up and she grinned. "Yeah milkshake!" Toby laughed at how excited she got before starting to make it himself a coffee.
"What's going on?" Yvonne asked coming from the bedroom dressed in her pyjamas.
"We're babysitting today." Toby replied as she walked over to the table and sat opposite Scarlett.
"Hi Scarlett, what are you doing?" She asked, leaning over to look at the fairy she was colouring.
"Colouring in." She replied simply. "You can help me." Yvonne smiled at her and took a crayon from the pack before she started colouring as well. Toby brought her a coffee over and Scarlett milkshake and joined them at the table. "What's that?" Scarlett asked pointing to the diamond ring on Yvonne's finger.
"It's an engagement ring, Toby asked me to marry him at Christmas." She replied, flashing Toby a smile.
"It's pretty," Scarlett mumbled. "My mommy used to have one from Jordan but she doesn't wear it anymore."
Toby and Yvonne both exchanged looks before turning back to Scarlett. "Why doesn't she wear it?"
"Because she doesn't want to marry him anymore. That's why we're living with Caleb."
"Your living with Caleb?" Toby asked.
"Only 'till Grandma Ash comes back from her trip." The five year old replied, turning back to her colouring book.
Yvonne and Toby exchanged looks again with small smiles on their faces before they turned back to Scarlett. "So are you mommy and Caleb together now?"
She shook her head. "No, but I saw them nearly kissing yesterday." She giggled, picking up her glass of milkshake.
Toby grinned before I standing up and walking to the sink with his cup. "They are so getting back together." Yvonne whispered, following him.
"Give it a day or two." Toby nodded.
"A day or two?" Yvonne furrowed her eyebrows. "That quick?"
"You haven't seen them together, a week and it will be like they were never apart."
Caleb slipped the pizza into the oven and closed the door before turning back around to Scarlett. "What are you doing?" He asked, watching as she pulled the cardboard box from behind his tv over to the coffee table.
"Looking at this." She answered simply, opening it.
He walked over to find her pulling out a picture of him and Hanna from when they were in high school. He sat on the sofa next to her and peered into the box. He hadn't opened it in years, it hurt too much to look back at all the happy memories they had when they ended so heart-breakingly.
"Its my mommy." She smiled looking at the picture, he used to keep on his bedside table. "Who that?"
He saw she was pointing to the picture if himself and swallowed. "That's me."
"You look funny with long hair." She giggled, putting the frame back in the box and looking for something else that looked interesting. "When's mommy coming home?" She yawned.
"I don't know." He shrugged, watching as she rubbed her eyes. "Are you tired?"
She nodded and abandoned the box to climb onto the sofa and perched herself next to him. "I want mommy." She mumbled, sticking her bottom lip out.
A smile graced Caleb's lips as she made herself comfortable next to him and leant into his side and he placed a hand around her little waist. "She won't be long, I promise." He smiled gently. "What did you do with Toby and Yvonne?" He asked trying to distract her until Hanna came home.
"I helped Toby build his house." She replied, smiling tiredly.
"I bet you did a good job." Caleb smiled, rubbing her back.
"I did." She nodded, her eyes struggling to stay open until she gave in and closed the fully.
Only five minutes later Hanna walked through the door to the unusually quiet apartment. She had expected Katy Perry to be playing again or Scarlett to be running around on another sugar high but the image that greeted her brought a huge smile to her face. Scarlett was curled up into Caleb's side whilst they both slept peacefully- well almost peaceful, Hanna chuckled when Caleb let out a quiet snore.
She perched herself on the end of the sofa, careful not to wake them and set her bag down. Her eyes wondered to the box by Caleb's feet and she pulled it over to get a better look inside. Her eyes glasses over when she saw it was full of old pictures of her and Caleb when they were teenagers. The pictures he used to have dotted all around his apartment. She dug a little deeper until something else caught her eye and she reached in to pull out a small black box. Opening it, she gasped as she saw that a diamond ring last inside. It was set in silver with one diamond in the middle and two smaller ones on either side. It was smaller than the ring Jordan had given her and clearly not as expensive but still it more beautiful than the huge rock he had proposed with.
She wondered when Caleb had bought it and why he never told her about it. Was it even for her? It had to be, it was at the bottom of a box of photos and memories of them. A rustling from beside her made her snap the box shut and throw it back into the box in time to see Caleb open his eyes.
"Hi," He murmured, being careful not to wake Scarlett as he sat up. "How long was I asleep?"
"I don't know, I just got back." She shrugged.
"Shit!" Caleb's head shot up and he quickly stood up, placing Scarlett in Hanna's knee and running to the oven. She watched as he pulled out a slightly charred pizza and placed it on the side.
Hanna settled Scarlett on to her knee and kissed her hair as Caleb came back over with a plate of pizza for them to share. "How was the shop opening?" He asked.
Hanna sighed and grabbed a slice of pizza before replying. "Well, I was an hour late, got screamed at by Claudia whilst I slaved my butt off handing out gift bags and refreshments to be fired at the end of the day."
"She fired you?"
Hanna nodded. "I don't blame her."
"Didn't you explain you situation?" Caleb asked. He thought it was totally unfair that she had been fired although Hanna didn't seemed too bothered by it.
"No, honestly I kind of glad I don't have to work for her anymore, she was a total bitch." She took a bite of pizza. "Anyway, what did you do today to tire her out so much?" She asked, running a hand down Scarlett's sleeping back.
"Actually that was all Toby. I had to work today, I tried to explain this morning but you charged out before I could." He had a small smile on his face.
"Sorry," She smiled back. "How was their Christmas?"
"Really good actually, Toby proposed." Caleb said, picking up a slice of pizza for himself.
The smile on Hanna's face dropped as her eyes wondered to the cardboard box with the ring in it. She wanted so desperately to ask him about it yet at the same time she was scared to know the truth. Her heart couldn't take anymore hurt that came along with that ring and everything she and Caleb used to be.
"Han, you okay?" Caleb asked, breaking her from her stare having noticed how her eyes glassed over.
"Yeah, I'm fine." She whispered however untrue it was.
I know a lot of stories recently have had an engagement ring involved somewhere but I thought Id put my own twist on it with Scarlett and everything else going on so tell me if you enjoyed and if you would like a preview. Xxxx