Forgiven (35 page)

The ride back to the apartment was short, but I had a surprise waiting for her so it seemed to take forever. When we pulled into the parking lot, I threw the car in park and ran around the front to her side of the car. I opened the door, and held out my hand to her.

“You know that I can get out of the car without help, right?” she laughed.

I pulled her hand to my lips. “Absolutely, but what fun would that be. I’ll come down and grab your bags later.”

She looked confused “Okay…”

“I have something for you in the apartment, and I can’t wait for you to see.”

She smiled. “Like what?”

“Well let’s go in and find out.”

She nodded and started to head inside with Emily and Josh right behind. When she opened the door I could see everyone inside. There was a huge ‘Welcome Home’ banner, plus Mom and Mrs. Halliday had spent the day making a homemade meal for all of us.

Angie gasped and covered her mouth with her hand. She turned to face me. “You did this all for me?”

When I nodded, she wrapped her arms around my waist and whispered in my ear. “I love you.”

“I love you, too. Now come on, dinner should be ready,” I said putting my hand on the small of her back and leading her into the apartment.

Mom walked up and wrapped Angie in a hug. “We’re so glad you are home sweetie. Are you hungry?”

“Hungry? I’m starved! Hospital food sucks,” she said, before throwing her hand over her mouth and blushing. “Sorry, that slipped out.”

Dad laughed. “No you’d be correct, hospital food does suck.”

I just shook my head at him—always trying to get on the ladies’ good side. Angie walked over to talk to Mr. and Mrs. Halliday while I went to speak to my dad.

“Thank you for having Dr. Peterson take care of Angie,” I smiled gratefully.

He put his arm around my shoulders, “Caleb, I have never seen anyone have this effect on you. Anything I could do to help the woman my son loves, I would do.”

“I love her with all my heart,” I vowed.

“I know, and now it’s your job to take care of her,” he reminded me.

“That’s all I want to do.”

He smiled and patted me on the shoulder. “Let’s go eat. Whatever your mother has been making smells amazing.”

Emily’s parents had brought over a folding table and we’d set it up in the living room. Someone had even covered it with a table cloth to make it look nicer, which it did. Mom and Mrs. Halliday had gone all out, making lasagna and stuffed chicken breasts, plus a salad and side dishes. Everything looked amazing. I sat down next to Angie and smiled.

Once everyone had taken their seats, Mr. Halliday stood up and raised his glass. “To Angie, Josh, and Caleb, we’re all glad that everyone is okay. Welcome Home,” he raised his glass in a toast.

“Welcome home,” everyone repeated. Angie blushed again, but recovered quickly.

We quickly dug into the amazing spread before us. It didn’t take long for everyone to eat their fill. Once dinner was over, Josh and I cleared the table while everyone sat and talked. After loading the dishwasher, I went back into the living room and saw Angie yawning. I could see how tired she was, but I knew she wouldn’t go to bed with everyone here, unless I made her.

I walked over to where she was sitting and bent down to whisper in her ear, “Baby, I think you should head to bed.”

She shook her head “I would feel terrible leaving everyone out here when they came for me.”

I put my hand under her elbow to help her up. “I think they’ll understand.”

She still looked unsure, so I decided to take the blame for her going to bed. “Guys, Angie’s had a long day so I’m going to help her get into bed, but I’ll be right back.”

I was afraid she was going to protest when she opened her mouth to speak. Instead she thanked everyone for coming. “Goodnight, everyone. Thank you so much for the wonderful dinner.”

She stopped and gave everyone a hug, before allowing me to lead her down the hallway. Josh had already run out to my car and grabbed Angie’s bags, which he’d put on the floor of my room. I snuck back during dinner to unpack her stuff, so she wouldn’t feel the need to do it before bed.

She looked around. “It feels weird to be here.”

“Good weird or bad weird?” I questioned.

She sunk down onto the bed. “It’s just…a week ago, I never thought I’d be here again.”

I walked up and dropped to my knees in front of her. “I know, I never thought you’d be here again either. But I’m so glad that you are,” I whispered.

She kissed my forehead. “Me too.”

I stood up and grabbed pajamas for her out of my dresser. “Get changed, it’s your bedtime.”

She didn’t move from her spot. “Did you just pull my clothes out of your dresser?”

“Yes,” I answered sheepishly.

“Why?” she demanded.

“Cause I made room for your stuff the other day and unpacked your bags earlier.” I hoped that my answer would have been enough for her, but I should have known that it wouldn’t.

“I’m only here for six weeks, I think I could have survived living out of suitcases,” she replied, a gleam of humor in her eye.

Okay, truth time
. I sat down next to her on the bed. “Actually…I was hoping that you would love staying here so much during the next six weeks, that you wouldn’t want to leave.”

Her eyes opened wide. “Are you saying you want me to move in with you?”

“Well, yes and no. I’m hoping you’ll move in with me this summer, but I don’t want to push you. I know you’re supposed to stay with Emily’s parents, but the thought of you being that far away kills me. You don’t need to decide now…just think about it,” I said, kissing her on the nose.

“Come on, it’s time for bed.” I threw her pajamas at her. “Here, you get dressed and I’ll go and get you a glass of water to take your pills.”

I went to the kitchen to get Angie a drink and when I got back to the room, she was already curled up under the blankets. She sat up slightly as I handed her the pills and the water.

She looked so tired. “Take these,” I said handing her the pills. “Then you can sleep.”

She nodded as she swallowed the pills and lay back down. I bent over and kissed her on the forehead. “Good night, baby. I’ll come lay with you in a little bit. I’m going to help get everything cleaned up first.”

She closed her eyes. “Okay. Night Caleb. I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

I lay there, staring at the ceiling. I’d been awake for about an hour and I was trying to stay as still as possible so I wouldn’t wake Caleb. I’d tossed and turned most of the night, so I knew that he hadn’t managed to get much sleep. Plus, he had been running around taking care of me like he had during spring break—except this time he was even
more
overprotective. He was afraid to let me do anything. The only thing I was allowed to do on my own was shower which wasn’t very helpful. I was still very stiff and couldn’t really bend down to wash my legs and feet.

I knew he felt guilty about what happened, but it wasn’t his fault. Bryan would have shown up whether or not I’d known about the accident. I was just glad Caleb was trying to overcome his guilt. We both had enough guilt and sorrow to last us a lifetime.

The thought of having to face my father had my stomach churning. I wish he’d just pled guilty so I could’ve moved on with my life. I adjusted my leg a little bit, and felt an arm snake around my waist. I felt comforted, but I felt bad for waking him up.

“Baby, please try and get some sleep.” He sounded groggy, like he was still half asleep.

I looked up to see his eyes still closed. “How long have you been awake?”

“I’ve been up and down all night with you,” he said lightly stroking my side.

“I’m sorry I kept you awake,” I frowned.

“Don’t be. I know you’re worried about today’s hearing, but I really wish you would try and sleep. Your body needs its rest to heal.”

“I know, but I can’t get the look on his face out of my head. I don’t want to have to see him again,” I admitted.

He turned me so I was lying on my right side, facing him. He settled his gaze on mine. “You’ve been through so much in your lifetime—”

I cut him off. “So have you.”

He covered my lips with his finger and started again. “You have been through so much in your lifetime, but I promise you, Angie, you will never have to face any of it alone again. I’ll always be there,” he vowed.

He sighed. “I know I’ve promised this before, but back then I had no right to promise you anything because you didn’t know the entire truth. Now that you do, I’m making that promise to you again,” he said solemnly.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed his lips. “I love you, Caleb.”

“I love you too, Angie,” he smiled.

We lay there in the quiet of each other’s arms for a bit. Suddenly, Caleb stirred. “Well, if you’re not going to go to sleep, you need to get your ass out of bed so I can take you to breakfast.”

When I didn’t immediately move, he jumped up and held his hand out to me. “Come on, I’ll help you get a shower.”

Thank God, the one thing I
did
need help with. I gave Caleb my hand, and let him help me out of bed. I grabbed the dress and underwear I’d planned on wearing and followed Caleb to the bathroom.

I watched as Caleb turned on the shower, giving it time to warm up while we brushed our teeth. Caleb pulled off his shirt and boxers, before moving over to me to help me take my shirt and shorts off. He helped me into the shower, but stopped to remove the bandage covering the cut on his arm.

He still hadn’t let me see it without the bandage. He’d always had it covered when he came to visit me in the hospital, and yesterday he showered before I got up. When he stepped into the shower and I saw it, I gasped.

The cut on my abdomen was nothing compared to the four to five inch slice across his bicep. I slowly reached out to touch the area around it. I felt the tears build up in my eyes. Caleb saw my reaction and pulled me to him.

“Shh, don’t cry. It’s just a scratch,” he tried to assure me.

I looked up at him. “That is more than just a scratch. You’ve been taking care of me all week, and you’re hurt worse than I am,” I sniffed.

“Angie, don’t be ridiculous. It’s a cut, and it’ll heal. You on the other hand, had to have surgery, so don’t expect me to stop taking care of you anytime soon.”

“But—”

Once again, he used his fingers to stop my argument. “No buts. Taking care of you is all I want to do. Now let’s get you all clean…and no funny business,” he joked.

“Okay,” I said with a teary smile.

Caleb proceeded to help me wash up, but wouldn’t allow me to really touch him. He was still worried about hurting me. I missed him, and I knew eventually he would give in, maybe after I got my stitches out.

After the shower—thankfully Caleb helped me shave my legs—I pulled on my dress and shoes. Caleb went back to his room to finish getting ready, while I fixed my hair and makeup. When we were both ready, we headed out for breakfast in Ithaca Commons. It was early, so there weren’t a lot of people milling about.

We finished breakfast. Well, I mostly pushed my food around on the plate. I couldn’t keep from thinking about seeing my father again in a few hours. I just wasn’t very hungry, and slowly walked back to the car. I was starting to fidget more and more the closer we got to the court hearing. We still had to stop by campus and pick up Emily. I’d tried to convince her I would be fine but that was no use. She’d thrown a fit, and deep down I knew she was right—I needed both her and Caleb to sit by my side in that courtroom, just like they promised. I couldn’t face this alone.

We pulled into the parking lot and I saw Emily waiting on the bench out front. She got up and moved towards the car. I turned to her when she climbed in the backseat. “You didn’t sleep last night,” she accused.

How did she know, I thought I did a pretty good job covering up the black circles with makeup. “Not really, how did you know?”

She pointed to my leg. “Your leg is bouncing up and down a mile a minute, and you only do that when you’re really nervous. I know when you get like that, you don’t sleep.”

I shrugged. “I'll sleep later. Right now, I just want to get this over with.”

The closer we got to the courthouse, the worse the shaking got. By the time Caleb pulled into the parking lot, I was a mess. My leg was bouncing up and down, I was biting my nails, and had lost all of my focus. It took me a few minutes to realize that Caleb had parked the car and was standing next to my open door.

“Angie…Angie?” he crouched down next to me. “Baby, we need to go inside. Give me your hand,” he said taking my hand in his. “I promise I’ll be there the entire time.” He picked up our joined hands and kissed my knuckles.

I put my hand in his and got out of the car in a daze. Thankfully, Caleb and Emily guided me into the courthouse, where Officer Simons was waiting for us.

He shook hands with Caleb, who now had me tucked into his side. “It’s good to see you both up and around again.”

I tried to smile, but my focus was on the doors behind him. “Thank you,” Caleb said returning his handshake.

I barely heard their conversation. I was too focused on seeing my father again. After a few minutes, Officer Simons led us into the courtroom. We slowly made our way down the aisle—Caleb still holding me close to his side, with Emily following right behind. We sat down with me sandwiched between Emily and Caleb.