A Darkness Black by Tamsen Schultz

Author:Tamsen Schultz [Schultz, Tamsen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-07-28T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

Caleb pulled up Vivi’s long driveway a little before seven o’clock. Light flooded from the house, though it quickly faded to black in the dark and rainy night. He knew most of the couple’s friends used the back door as the main entrance, but he didn’t feel comfortable being that familiar, so he grabbed the box of decanters and made his way to the front door instead.

“Caleb?” Vivi’s voice called from somewhere in the house after he knocked.

“Yeah, it’s me.”

“Come in.”

It felt strange to enter the house on his own and he felt a flash of uncertainty as he stepped over the threshold.

“I’m just putting Jeffery down for the night.” Vivi appeared from the hallway to his right. She had the toddler perched on her hip. Six-months pregnant with her second child, she didn’t look incredibly comfortable toting the boy around, but he didn’t feel as though he knew her well enough to offer to help with the toddler. He’d probably scare the boy, who was staring at him with the same pastel-green eyes as his father’s.

“Can I help with anything while you’re putting him down?”

“No, go ahead and set that box on the kitchen counter, but if you could slide it to the back, that would be great,” she said, turning back toward the hallway. “Just give me ten minutes.”

She disappeared again and he heard murmurings of the mother and son having a quiet conversation. He moved into the kitchen and placed the box well out of toddler reach, then, at a loss, searched for something useful to do.

Caleb had worked with Ian, Vivi’s husband, a time or two back when Ian had been an Army Ranger. A man didn’t lead the kind of life Ian had led and then completely change habits, so Caleb wasn’t at all surprised to find the house tidy. It looked lived in, for sure, but tidy.

Spying a basket of toys that had been dumped over in a corner of the living room, Caleb figured he’d make himself a little useful. He still wasn’t all that comfortable with Vivi, so asking her for favors, any kind of favors, made him uncomfortable, especially since he had no idea whether or not she would ask for something in return. If she did, as intelligent and curious as she was, the world of what she might ask for was wide open. Maybe by picking up after Jeffery he could balance the scorecard a bit before they even began their discussion.

“You didn’t have to do that,” Vivi said as she came back into the room a few minutes later without her son. He shrugged, added the last toy to the righted basket, and waited for her to take a seat.

“Help yourself to something to drink—beer, wine, juice,” she said, sinking down onto the sofa. A fire blazed in the fireplace and, when she put her feet up on the coffee table, he almost relaxed in the cozy room. “I’d get it for you, but I’ve been on my feet all day.

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