One Step Closer(9)

The girl had been enrolled into the private school Caleb attended, but didn’t fit in at all. The uniform was at odds with her emo style and she didn’t make any friends. The preppy bastards there had a hay day making fun of her, but even the crowd of misfits and delinquents Caleb hung with after school, thought she was weird. But then, everything changed.

Caleb let out a deep sigh at the sudden pain the memory caused.

“Ugghhhh!” he muttered under his breath. “What the hell am I doing here?” Though his father had unexpectedly tried to make amends years later, their relationship was never close. Now, since the old man was dead, what the hell was the point? That house was already haunted and this new ghost was far less significant to Caleb than that of his mother, or his memories of Wren.

Still, Caleb put one foot in front of the other and plodded forward. Everything was a blur as he made his way through Denver International Airport. The noise of planes, announcements, and the massive crowds of people rushing to get to and from their gates, all melded together in an annoying, white noise haze.

He was tired. Exhausted. His mind flashed with memories, and his heart seized with apprehension. Would Wren come home? Would he see her? He was both anxious and terrified. Everything was so screwed up. It had been for the past five years, since the spring break before he graduated college. He’d f*cked it up, huge, and then, impossibly, made it even worse. What his father started, he’d managed to finish.

His head throbbed and his eyes burned from lack of sleep as he walked toward the exits, pulling his one small roller bag behind him. He was tall like his father, his shoulders broad and his body ripped and strong, but his eyes were like his mother’s; such a deep blue they sometimes hinted of violet. Caleb squinted in the morning sun as he left the building. The bright June weather was beautiful, the sun’s warmth kissed by a light northern breeze, and the lapis sky loaded with cottony white clouds. The Colorado climate was moderate, even in the dead of winter or the height of summer; the low humidity made the temperature feel more comfortable than the thermometer belied.

Caleb pulled his sunglasses off the back of his head and shoved them on. He knew he looked like a slob and he didn’t care. After all, his father wouldn’t be able to ridicule his appearance this time. As morbid as that might be, it was something.

Coming back to Colorado didn’t leave Caleb riddled with memories of his father, or even his mother, but instead, thoughts of a crying young girl, begging him not to leave her just before his nineteenth birthday. His thoughts continued to flood with images of another time when her tears ripped him to shreds when he’d said “no” to the only thing she’d ever asked of him. That girl, and the beautiful woman she’d become, was all he could think about.

Caleb swallowed at the tightness in his throat. He’d gone from avoiding her at all costs, to having her clinging and crying when he tried to say goodbye without losing it himself… and then she was the one to leave him, once and for all. The memory still cut like a knife.

Raising his right arm to hail one of the passing taxies, Caleb climbed inside when it stopped in front of him and let his bag land on the seat next to him. The cab reeked of cigarette smoke, but once he was securely inside he closed his eyes and leaned his head back onto the seat, forgetting to give the driver directions.

“Where to?” The cab driver asked in a raspy voice that, along with the odor, confirmed he smoked about two packs a day. Caleb cracked the window to hopefully alleviate the stench, and looked out at the Rocky Mountains in the background. They were majestic as they rose from the western horizon, creating layers upon layers in different shades of green and brown, fading into a haze the further away they were, with the snowcapped peaks of higher elevations; like their crowning glory.

Caleb raised his head and his eyelids fluttered open. “Um…” He wasn’t sure if he was supposed to go to the estate in Downtown Denver or the one in Evergreen. He pulled out his phone and found the text from the secretary of his father’s lawyer. Downtown, it said. “530 South University.”

The cabby whistled. “The Polo Club area?”

It was an affluent collection of old and new money; the houses all valued at several million dollars with substantial grounds, especially for the center of the city. It was minutes to his father’s office, which had amazing views of downtown and the Front Range. The stone house was magnificent, though it didn’t matter that it was a beautiful property. It was nothing more than a huge museum or mausoleum to Caleb; just a cold and empty shell.

“Yes.” Caleb didn’t feel like elaborating. He was staring at the phone in his hand, his thumb automatically sifting through his contacts until Wren’s name appeared on the list. He sucked in his breath. Should he call her? The last time he’d spoken to her had been Christmas Day for ten minutes, and the conversation had been painfully stilted.

The taxi pulled away from the curb and merged into traffic. The estate was a good thirty minutes or more from the airport, depending on traffic.

He sighed and put his phone back on the clip on his belt.

“Are you just visiting, or is Denver your home?” the driver asked.

Caleb considered this. He hadn’t considered this house his home since his mother died. “Just visiting. I grew up here, though. My father died yesterday.” His response was devoid of emotion and short.

“Oh,” the cabby paused, feeling awkward that his questions brought up such a subject. “I’m sorry to hear that.”