I did everything I could to make the rest of the week go smoothly. It almost killed me to put on a brave face and attack, knowing that everything that came out of Cal’s mouth was a lie, but I did it for Cami. She always wanted to go to Dreamland, and I wasn’t going to ruin her experience by letting my personal feelings toward a man get in the way.
If it’s anyone’s fault for believing Cal, it’s me, so it’s only fair that I suffer for the rest of the week. And I suffered I did. Every interaction with Cal felt like someone pierced my chest with a thousand needles.
Cal knows something is up. I haven’t done a great job of hiding it, but Cal reads me like it’s his favorite book: all the highlights memorized and all the other pages tabulated.
His ability to recognize my cues is what makes him perfect for playing me silly. He knows what buttons to push and what magic words to say, leaving me vulnerable to his manipulations.
Not anymore.
I look up at the night sky. The water hits the dock, filling the silence. Aside from Cami’s rapid rustling of sheets making the baby monitor crackle, I’m left alone with my thoughts.
What a miserable place to be.
I’m not sure how long I sit under the stars, watching the moon’s reflection dance across the water. Coming here was a risk, but I
It seemed like it was worth running.
I knew it was only a matter of time before Cal cornered me on the dock. After all, it’s where our story began.
“You’re going to fall if you’re not careful.”
I look away from the glistening water. My neck cranes as I look at the tall boy with hair that matches the sun shining above us and blue eyes that rival the water in front of us, clearer than a cloudless day.
Everything about him screams money. Boat shoes. Pastel shorts. Striped shirt.
I haven’t seen it before, but that’s not saying much. My family just moved here from Colombia.
My nose wrinkles. “I don’t speak English.”
His eyes shine. “How odd. “She heard you talking to your mom in English earlier.”
Damn. Arrested.
“My name is Cal.” He smiles.
“California?” My accent peeks out, accentuating the ah sound .
He laughs as he plops down on the dock and crosses his legs next to me. “What are you doing?” I try my best to announce my words as I learned from watching too much American television after school.
“Grandpa told me you moved here from Colombia a few weeks ago.”
My chest tightens when I think of home. Mommy wanted a fresh start after Daddy left us, so she called a cousin who moved to the United States and bought three one-way plane tickets. Anto has spent most of his days locked in her room, while I have been alone by the lake, ignoring my mother. If I’m going to protest living here, I might as well enjoy the view.
“Yeah.” Maybe if I keep my answers short, he’ll go away. “You miss him?”
“Yeah.”
“Do you have any friends here?”
I let out a heavy sigh. “Why you ask?” “You seemed lonely.”
Because I am. “So?”
“So, I thought we could be friends.”
“I don’t want any.” Making friends with anyone can make Mommy think I’m happy living here. And if she thinks I like it here, then we will never return to Colombia.
His smile widens, taking up the lower half of his face. “Well. No friends.”
He doesn’t leave, which only bothers me more. Instead, he looks out at the lake and taps his fingers on the wooden board in a mindless tapping.
I put my hand over his to stop the tapping sound. “Will you stop?”
“Sorry.” Her cheeks turn pink. “Sometimes I can’t help it.” “Because?”
Look away from me. “Because I have problems”. “Says who?”
“My dad.”
My lips purse. “He sounds like an asshole.”
A small smile tugs at his lips. “What does that mean?”
I shrug. “I don’t know, but I think it’s a bad word. “My mom told my dad when he made her cry.” My chest hurts at the memory, but I do my best to push the thought away.
“Asshole . I like it. What other bad words do you know?
I spend the rest of the afternoon teaching Cal a bunch of bad words I overheard, and he teaches me the English equivalent. When my mom calls us for dinner, I realize that the sun has already set and my cheeks hurt from smiling so much.
“Are you going to eat with us tonight?” Cal offers me her hand.
I take it and gasp at the small tingle in my fingers. “You surprised me!”
He laughs, which makes me laugh.
For the first time since I moved to the United States, I wonder if it’s not the worst thing in the world to make a friend…
“Wool”.
The memory fades and the younger version of Cal is replaced by the man. The same man who broke my heart again, although this time he feels even worse than the last. Before, he had hoped that he could get better. That he would snap out of his selfish behavior and choose to be a bigger, better version of himself.
That hope was nothing more than a lie I told myself to feel good about our situation.
“Do you mind if I take a seat?” he asks. He looked towards the lake without responding.
He leaves space between us as he sits next to me. My little finger longs to intertwine with his, but I suppress any urge to touch it by holding on to my anger.
“What happen?” He looks at me.
“A lot of things.” I continue to look forward, although the feeling of his gaze tempts me to turn towards him.
“Do you want to talk about that?”
No, but what choice do I have? It’s not like I can ignore Cal forever, and now that Dreamland is no longer a problem, I’d rather get everything out.
from my chest so he can leave once and for all.
“Why are you selling the house?” I go out and ask the question I already know the answer to. It may be stupid, but I hope he comes clean and admits his plan, even if it means risking the fragile thing we’ve built together. Maybe then I could learn to forgive him.
From the corner of my eye, I can make out the strange frown line crossing his forehead.
“We’ve already gone over this.”
My heart pounds in my chest, the pace getting faster with each pump. “Then repeat it.”
Tell me the truth. Give me a reason to give you another chance.
Release a strong exhale. “I want us to be able to move forward without the house stopping us.”
Her roundabout response does nothing to stop my chest from caving in on itself. Each breath becomes impossible, the tension in my lungs making them burn with each inhale.
I continue, my face a mask of cold indifference despite the steady beating of my heart. “What if I want to keep it?”
His fingers tighten against her thighs. “Lana…” He whispers my name like I’m hurting him on some fundamental level, when I know that’s not the case.
I am the one who is suffering.
I’m the one who gets angry.
And I’m the one who’s going to leave this time. Not because of his addiction, but because of who he is, regardless of the drink. Selfish. Egocentric. Self-destructive.
My fingers press my thighs. “What if it makes me happy to keep the house? After all, I always dreamed of starting a family there. “I wanted to enjoy summers by the lake, baking and building boats and swimming with the kids until their limbs cramped.”
I can see the future so clearly, it takes the pain in my chest and multiplies it by a hundred. Because even after all the lies, I want that future with Cal.
You wanted that future with Cal. There’s a past tense for a reason, so start using it.
God. I’m so stupid.
“Why that house?” Her voice breaks.
“Because it is ours . You might want to forget about the whole story there, but I don’t. And in the end, running away from a house won’t solve anything when what you’re really running away from is yourself.”
“Where is all this coming from?” She looks at me with wild eyes that reflect exactly how she feels about the inheritance.
desperate _
For once, we’re on the same page. Because I feel desperate too. Desperate for him to tell the truth. Desperate to stay strong despite the urge to crumble next to him.
Desperate for us not to lose everything we have built, even if it was built on a lie.
“Your grandfather left you an inheritance?” I ask point blank.
“Yeah.” Cal does a good job of keeping his expression flat, although the movement of his fingers gives it away.
“He asked you to sell the house,” I say with certainty.
A single nod makes my heart explode. Like a bomb, it detonates, blowing up any chance of trusting another word that comes out of his mouth.
I already knew the truth, but having it confirmed destroys the little calm I had left.
“I see.” My tongue scrapes the roof of my mouth. “How did you find out?” he scrapes.
“I overheard your conversation after dinner. Someone left the window open…” A bitter laugh crawls up my throat, making my ears hurt from the shrill sound.
“Whatever you heard, it’s not what you think.” She stumbles over her words.
“Of course it isn’t,” I reply sarcastically. “Anyway, I contacted the real estate agent and told him to lower the listing price. He said it is only a matter of time before someone makes an offer.”
“You did what?” Her voice comes out low, her anger dripping from every syllable.
I stand up and brush the dirt off my leggings. “Congratulations, Cal. I hope the twenty-five billion keeps you company at night, because I sure won’t. When I turn to walk away, Cal stands up and holds onto my hand, preventing me from leaving.
“Let me explain.”
“For what? It’s not like I trust anything that comes out of your mouth.” I tear my hand from his grasp, nearly ripping my arm from its socket in the process.
His fingers curl into a fist. “I couldn’t tell you about the will.” “Why not?”
His head falls. “Because grandpa told me not to.”
“Since when do you listen to what people tell you to do? The Cal I met and fell in love with would have told me about the will. Regardless of who said what, they would have been honest. Next. sincere _ I would have reasoned with me instead of going behind my back, using my love for my daughter to work in her favor.”
He shudders.
There isn’t a single thing I wouldn’t have done for Cal if he had asked me instead of lying, including selling the house.
Take a deep breath. “There was a lot riding on my secret.”
“Not as much as it depended on your honesty.” In an act of betrayal, the tears I have fought appear, blurring my vision.
He pulls me into a hug. I’m so sorry, Lana. I swear I wanted to tell you, but the decision wasn’t up to me. His voice trembles, matching the tremor of his arms around me.
If this is the last hug I’m ever going to get from him, then I might as well enjoy it. I lean into his touch, breathing deeply in his scent, memorizing the citrus notes and something distinctly his.
My ear presses against his chest. I listen to the sound of his erratic heartbeat and allow the steady beat to ground me.
I trace the spot over his heart with my index finger. “Did you want to be sober or were you also doing it as part of the will?”
“What did you say?” His grip slips before he corrects himself, securing me to his chest as if he’s afraid he might run away if he doesn’t.
My fingers dig into his shirt, clinging to the fabric. “Was this all a convoluted plan to get you to let your guard down and sell the house faster?” “What? No. Why even…?” His eyebrows draw together before they rise to his hairline. “The conversation outside. Shit—” He backs away. “Forget I asked. I don’t care.” “
” It matters to me “.
My eyes closed due to the pain that pierced my heart. I want to believe him. I really do. However, I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to do it again. There is too much at stake that depends on my compliance. With the kind of pressure he’s under, I’m sure he could say anything to make sure I don’t back out of the plan to sell the house.
I won’t Whatever dreams I had about the house, they’re not worth the pain of the man who owns half of it.
I push against his chest. It’s a weak push, but he lets me go regardless.
I want you to leave the guest house before I wake up in the morning. My voice cracks towards the end.
His frown deepens. “We can solve this together. Just let me get help and we…
“There is no us . You made sure of that the moment you decided to lie to my face repeatedly, making me believe in some fantasy that wasn’t even real.
To his credit, he takes my hit without flinching. “What we have is real.”
“Yes, a real mistake. And one I don’t plan to repeat with you ever again. He recoils as if he had physically hit him.
I turn around and leave before I lose my nerve. Cal stands at the end of the dock, her eyes burning a hole into my back as I walk away. Every step feels like she’s traveling through quicksand. My legs are barely cooperating as I leave behind the only man I’ve ever truly loved.
I give him one last look over my shoulder. “And when you leave Wisteria Lake this time, don’t bother coming back. It’s not like you have any reason to come back anyway.
His face crumples like a crushed soda can, matching what my heart feels.
I turn around and take the long way back to the guesthouse. Even though every cell in my body begs me to stop, I hold my head high and march into the house like a soldier, ignoring the pain in my chest where Cal ripped out my heart.
It’s not until I get into bed that I give in to tears. I cover my face with a pillow that smells like Cal, which only makes me cry harder. For Cami. For me. And for everything and everyone who has taken advantage of us and the love we are so willing to share.
The only person I can count on to make our dreams come true is myself, and it’s time for me to learn that lesson once and for all.
