Wait For Me (A Military Romance Book 1) by Phoebe Winters

Author:Phoebe Winters [Winters, Phoebe]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-03-21T16:00:00+00:00

9

Tears streamed down Caleb’s face as he retold the story. Still in the position on the floor, Erin also cried, just as devastated as he.

“I couldn’t save him.” Caleb’s voice was shaken. “And every night I see him.”

This made Erin rise up. She glanced in his eyes, bewildered by his confession.

“Every night?”

Caleb’s gaze left the ceiling and drifted to her face. He reached for her cheek and caressed her skin there.

“Except when you visit me.”

Blinking rapidly, Erin wrapped her mind around what Caleb was saying.

“Are you saying dreaming about me is the only time you don’t think of Timothy?”

“Dreaming of you, is the only time I don’t dream about Timothy’s death,” he said making sure his comment wasn’t understated.

A gasp flew from Erin’s lips and more tears sailed down her face. Caleb wiped them away but to no avail. They continued down her freckled cheeks and moisturized his fingers.

“Why are you crying?” Caleb’s voice was now soft and profound as if the sorrow for himself left as soon as Erin was in despair.

She half gawked and stuttered out a response. “Are you se— do you really need to ask me that?”

“If those tears are for me, save them. I don’t deserve them. It should’ve been me in that cab. I broke protocol. We should’ve never switched positions.”

“That’s your solution?” Erin asked incredulously. More tears ran down her face. “You’d rather be dead then— ugh!”

Erin removed herself from the floor jumping to her feet.

“Where are you going,” Caleb asked rising to a sitting position.

“Just… give me a second.”

Erin left the dining room and ran to her bedroom. Inside she leaned against her wall and shut her eyes. Her mind tossed as Caleb’s revelation hit her hard. Caleb blamed himself for Timothy’s death, and he thought the recurrence of his nightmares were apart of some justified torment because of his guilt. But Erin knew better. During her research into the lives of soldiers, she came across articles on PTSD and this was a pure case of it, plain and simple. She gathered her senses then pushed off the wall to go back to him. Erin didn’t have to go far. Caleb stood in her doorway, seconds from entering, as she went to make an exit.

They bumped into each other and her hands slipped up his chest as his hefty palms clutched her arms to hold her steady.

“Careful,” his thick voice grooved.

Erin shivered under his intense stare. “I didn’t see you,” she said.

“It’s alright. You weren’t expecting me, and I didn’t mean to intrude. You left in such a hurry, I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

Erin let out a long breath. “You wanted to make sure I was okay,” she repeated astonished.

“Yeah.”

“Caleb, it is not your fault Timothy died.”

Caleb’s stare had gone from warm to melancholy.

“I know that’s hard for you to believe; and for people with PTSD, that’s a given.”

This time Caleb frowned. “You think I have post-traumatic stress disorder?”

“You don’t?”

“No.”

Erin was bewildered. “Baby…” she paused after catching the word slip from her tongue, but it was too late.

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