“Is that supposed to make me cry? ‘Cause it won’t.”
“I’m hanging up on you.”
“Listen,” Caleb interjected, “If you won’t give me your dashcam, I’m going to report you to the police as a stalking suspect. Evie’s protected under anti-stalking laws, and you were probably the one who followed her and I at O’Malley’s. She’s deactivated her Facebook page because it turned into harassment. That’s some serious shit, Breanne. You’re gambling with someone’s mental and emotional well-being. Because her mailbox is so far from the house and it’s just a side view, I can’t get the license plate. So, you better fess up and make it easier on yourself or give me your dash cam footage.”
“It won’t show nothing.”
“Well, good.” He smirked. “Because if you delete a sequence of footage that happened around that time, Hunt will be able to detect possible tampering with evidence. And that’s a no-no.”
She went quiet.
“Be honest with me, Breanne. My life is already fucked up enough. Do you understand that? You are screwing with theonegood goddam good thing I have now. Do you understand? Do you? Because of this shit that you probably caused, I’m at risk of losing my kids even more than I already have. My case is going to be even harder now because of you and I could lose my kids completely!”
“They shouldn’t be with you anyway.”
Caleb stopped talking. His body tightened.
“You’re a fucking emotional, unstable abusive fuckhead who messed upmysister badly. No one cares about you. This isn’t about what happened with the chair or you breaking my dad’s fucking arm. You got thrown out of the bar because you couldn’t handle your alcohol, like you can’t handle your emotions.”
“What?” he hollered back. “I didn’t get thrown out. I left willingly when Hunt showed up!”
“It doesn’t matter!” she retaliated. “You did nothing but drink when you got home from your last deployment. You did nothing to help her take care of the kids!”
That was a lie.
“You don’t deserve your kids, Caleb. I hope the courts take them away, before Olivia ends up dead in a fucking ditch somewhere and Zack is found choked to death because of your so-called PTSD episodes!”
He went to hang up. He held the phone away and his thumb hovered over that red, circle button. His heart rate was through his head, and his lips were stiff and dry. The anger came in throttles, and he curled his toes inside his shoes.
Evie.
Don’t hang up.
Before he acted, he remembered all those beautiful things she had said to him, all those times she faced Sandy and Sarah head on with her concerns and still was a kind soul.
He took a breath and sighed. His hand relaxed on the steering wheel and then rested on his lap. He slowly brought the phone to his ear. He said softly but strongly, “All this shit you’re telling me? It doesn’t matter. You can tell me all these horrible things, but I can’t change your mind. I don’t need to change your mind, and I don’t care to. You’re stuck in your way with your sister, and that’s fine. But I’m calling the police and you’re going to be investigated for stalking.”
He hung up. Caleb leaned over and rubbed his fingers through his hair. He felt utterly alone. Alcohol was his only friend when he had come home that time, other than his children and occasionally his dog and horses. During those times, Ashley had become an absolute nightmare. All of her needs that he could never meet, all of her wants he could never reach, and all the times he overslept but never felt rested at all. One time, she had slammed the door in his face during an argument because he had a moment and blanked out, forgetting where he was.
He had stayed there for an hour staring at the door without knowing it.
When she opened it, he greeted her with a smile and went to hug her, except she had her bags packed and told him she was staying with her parents for the night. She never explained to him why, only that he was a negligent maniac who needed therapy, and it wasn’t her responsibility to explain it to him.
Evie.
“Caleb?”
He jerked upright and looked out the window, and there was her sweet face all bundled up in his hoodie. He rolled down the window. She asked, “Hey. Are you… are you…okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. Are you?”
“I’m great, but you’re not fine. I saw you leaning over with your hands on your head when I came out.” He opened the door, and she looked at him seriously. She backed away so he could walk to the room, and she followed.
“Did something happen?” she asked as she closed the door once they were inside.
“I just needed a minute.”
Evie quietly folded her arms and her eyes glimmered, and brows raised in worry. “Another episode?”
