Pov: CalebThere was really no need for Eric to comment on how awkward the situation was. You could cut the tension with a knife. I had considered not attending the lunch that morning. I had woken up at six o'clock that morning. My body was exhausted but my internal clock was so used to being up by that time, I had no control over it.I tried to go back to sleep but I was not able to, unlike my fiancé who was snoozing away blissfully unaware of my struggles. She looked too cute in her sleep, it was a stark contrast to how fierce she was in real life.Sometimes I couldn’t believe that I was actually engaged to Brianna. After dating on and off for almost ten years, it was the only thing to do. I popped the question three months ago. I had taken her on a trip to Paris and proposed to her by the seine river, with a direct view of the Eiffel Tower. I had gone all out; flowers, a string quartet, candles.The whole production cost a pretty penny but I was happy to drop the bundle for her. It
Pov: VictoriaI had never been so glad to sit down for a meal in my life. I had expected our interaction to be weird but that was a lot worse than I thought it would be. What was that!? I tried to be subtle and walk to the table really fast so that I was not stuck sitting next to Caleb but Eric beat me to the seat next to his dad so I had to sit beside my mom and Caleb sat between us.“Great! Now I have to talk to him!” I thought to myself.The appetizers were brought out. It was a platter of Baked Brie With Figs, Pistachios, And Oranges. It looked absolutely delicious but I could not stand the sight of it. I was still paying for the mistakes I had made last night. My stomach felt very uneasy so I passed.“Why aren’t you eating honey?” my mom asked with a concerned look on her face. “I just don’t want to fill up before the main course. I had a heavy breakfast,” I lied.On cue, my stomach rumbled. I prayed that it was not so loud that Mom could hear it. The truth was that I was starvi
Victoria's Pov:“No way! I loved that cake. You are really good,'' Caleb said.It felt so good to hear him say that.“Thanks, I’m glad you liked it.''We both kept quiet for a moment. I kept thinking of something to say. I felt like we had exhausted all the safe topics. I turned my attention back to the rest of the table, trying to ignore the urge that I had to continue engaging Caleb in the conversation for the rest of the lunch. ***“How was it?'' Alice asked me as soon as I entered her door.I had passed by her place after lunch because she called me and told me that my shoe had been found. I had decided to go pick it up on the way home. I had taken a week off work for the wedding and intended on spending most of it in Sedona.“It was weird! I couldn’t wait for it to be over,” I answered as I sat my ass down on her couch, “I couldn't wait for it to be over.”“That bad huh?” she asked.“Yes! We ran out of things that we could actually talk about, you know, things that would not mak
Caleb POV:I walked around my father’s office. I had not been there for several years. I was not involved in the day-to-day running of the family’s businesses so I did not have any reason to be in Dad’s office. I had always felt guilty about that. I knew that even though he was exceedingly proud of me, Dad would have loved me if I took over the business.I was his oldest son so it only made sense. Luckily for him, Eric had stepped up. He had always had an interest in Business Administration and he exceeded all expectations whenever Dad delegated a duty to him. He thrived in the business world and so he became the COO of the company in my place.He genuinely loved what he did. You could tell by the way he spoke about it. to be honest, it was all gibberish to me. I, however, was still a shareholder in the company so every once in a while, especially when I was home, I would check-in. Besides, it was always interesting to see Eric in his element.I picked up a framed photo of all of us
Victoria's POV: I woke up again at ten o’clock feeling much better. The muscles on my body felt incredibly sore from lifting and moving the boxes. I lay in bed staring at the ceiling for half an hour contemplating the amount of work that I had to do.“We have to do it.” I corrected myself. Caleb and I had to work as a team in order for us to finish everything before I had to get back to work. It was not by choice. My mom had successfully guilted me into doing it. After she had told me that I would be working with Caleb, I told her that I could not do it anymore.She tried pleading with me but I would not budge then she changed her tactics and said that it was what a good daughter would do. It was incredibly manipulative and I knew that she would not go there unless she was desperate. I felt guilty, not because of what she said, but because I had forced her to pull that card. I finally reluctantly gave on.I asked her if Eric would also be joining us but she didn’t have the answer.
Victoria's POV:“No, my schedule is wide open. I’ll come over right away. Do you need me to bring anything?” he asked. I thought about what we could possibly need for the move. My mom and I had already done most things. “We don’t really need that many things. Just maybe bring a few more boxes and some tape.”“Cool, I’ll see you in thirty minutes.” He hung up the phone.“And now, we wait,” I said out loud to no one in particular.True to his word, thirty minutes later I heard him pull up in front of the house. I went to open the door before he could knock it. I saw him off leading the many boxes that he had brought. He was wearing a black muscle shirt that showed off his impressive physique, some faded well worn jeans, and a baseball cap.I couldn’t help but ogle at the view of his back and how the various muscle groups moved and contracted with every movement. “Are you going to come to help me carry these in?” he asked, snapping me out of the trance I was in.I felt really embarrass
Caleb POV:I was so glad that I apologized to Tori. I could finally put the tension behind us. She seemed to feel the same since she was more relaxed around me. I didn’t feel like I needed to walk around eggshells with her anymore and it felt great.“Maybe I could even get my best friend back,” I thought to myself. I knew that maybe I was being too optimistic but I genuinely believed that we had a shot of getting there.It would have taken a while to catch up with everything that had happened in each other’s lives. Ten years was a long time but I believe that we could get there eventually. It might have taken a while but we had a lot of time. Our parents were married now which meant that we would constantly be in each other’s lives from now on. When I asked her about her relationship, I knew that I was taking a risk. She had never been a big fan of that particular topic. I was genuinely shocked that she chose to answer my question. I thought that she would avoid it. She had a boyfrie
Victoria POV:Caleb was engaged. To Brianna. I thought about that at length the next day. It was driving me crazy. I didn’t understand how he could fall in love with someone like her. I watched as the movers I had hired carried everything to their truck. It pained me to have to pay for the service because movers were not cheap but I could not spend another minute with Caleb. I felt so betrayed by him. I had to talk to someone so I called Alice.“Hello, sunshine! How is it going with Caleb? Have you two patched things up?” she asked, sounding very curious.I had not told her anything last night as we had initially agreed upon and I was sure that the suspense was killing her but I did not have it in me to indulge her so I went straight to the point. “Did you know that Caleb and Brianna were engaged?” I asked.“Ah!” that was the only thing that she said before she kept quiet.Her silence was completely telling. “How could you not tell me! This is the kind of thing that I need to know.
One Year LaterVictoria's POV“Annabelle, no. don’t put that flower in your mouth,” I heard Gloria’s voice shout followed by the sound of little feet running.The next thing I knew, two little figures came running into the room I was in. Annabelle who was in a beautiful blush pink poofy tulle dress had a rose stalk in her hand and my son, Liam followed right behind her with a huge smile on his face. When I saw him in his little tux, my heart melted. I couldn't believe that it had only been a year since I gave birth to him. He had gotten Caleb’s brown hair and my blue eye; the best of both worlds. Even at one year old, he had so much personality.He was the happiest baby that I knew. I didn’t know that I could love someone so little so much. Being a mom meant that you literally walked around every day with your heart outside your body. I wanted to just scoop him up and smother him with kisses.“No no no. Resist the cuteness. We have work to do,” Kathy, my makeup artist said, snapping
Victoria's POVEveryone had been acting rather strange for the past two weeks. I didn’t know exactly what was going on but I could tell that something was up. When I asked Caleb if he saw it too, he told me that it was probably in my head. My mom invited all of us to their place for dinner because she thought that it had been a while since we were all together. I didn’t mind because that meant that I got to see Caleb. He had been so busy with work for the past two weeks, that I hadn’t gotten the chance to see him.I had started getting used to the idea of being pregnant. The only people who knew were me, Caleb, Alice, and Sam. I called Sam immediately after Caleb left and she was so happy for me. She told me that she hoped that it would be a girl because her head was already bursting with ideas of all the clothes she could make for her.I was honestly excited. Sure, I was very nervous about bringing new life to the world but he or she would be a product of the love between Caleb and
Caleb's POVI rushed over to Tori’s apartment as soon as she called me. I could hear the panic in her voice and I knew something was wrong. I was already in Sedona to visit Eric, so it wasn’t too far of a drive.When I arrived, Tori was standing at the door, tears in her eyes. “Caleb, I don’t know how to say this, but I’m pregnant.”I felt a rush of emotions wash over me. I was elated, overjoyed, and terrified all at the same time. I couldn’t believe that I was finally going to have a family with the woman that I loved. This was everything that I had ever wanted, and I knew that I had to do whatever it took to make this work.I pulled her into a tight hug and hugged her really tight. She had no idea what it meant to me. Ever since Annabelle was born, I had the overwhelming desire to settle down and have a family of my own. I wanted someone to come home to every day.Someone to love and hold and grow old with. I wanted a mini version of me running around the house and making a mess. I
Victoria's POVBliss.Pure unadulterated bliss. That's what I felt every second of the day. dating Caleb was the easiest decision that I had ever made. He made me feel like the most special girl in the world and made sure that I knew I was loved.He constantly sent me sweet texts. We would talk on the phone for hours and would drive to and from Arizona to Sedona every two days just because we couldn’t bear to be apart for too long. He had sent so many flowers to my house that I was running out of counter space to keep all of it. I had only dated Caleb for a month but I immediately knew that this was what dating should feel like. I was happy and felt secure knowing that my heart was in his hands. Everyone else before him faded in comparison like a distant foggy memory. Everyone was thrilled for us. We decided to keep our relationship under wraps at first. We wanted to remain in our little love bubble but that plan quickly went to the dogs two weeks after we started dating. Gloria had
Caleb's POVI placed my phone beside me on the couch and tried to ignore it. my eyes however kept drifting back to it hoping that it would light up with a response from Tori. When I heard a chime, I basically dove for it. Just like I had hoped, it was a message from Tori.Hi Caleb!Don’t worry about me. I’m going to be okay. I think we should meet and talk about everything. Let me know when you’re available.ToriI pumped my fist up in the air. This was huge. I had absolutely no hope that she would text back let alone be open to meeting with me. If she wanted, I would get into my car and drive to Sedona right away as tired as I was, I felt a surge of energy go through my body. I had to take deep breaths to calm myself down before I responded. I didn’t want to push my luck.How about tomorrow? I could come down to Sedona.I texted back then dropped my phone like it was hot metal. I worried that maybe I sounded too eager. I was so nervous, I didn't think I was capable of playing it coo
Victoria's POVIt had been two weeks since my bakery was vandalized and I still couldn’t shake off the feeling of unease. Every time I heard a sudden noise, my heart skipped a beat and my mind instantly jumped to worst-case scenarios. I feel like I couldn't trust anyone anymore.I couldn’t believe that someone would just destroy something like that. every store next to mine was untouched which indicated that this was a targeted attack. I couldn't shake the feeling that Brianna was behind this.I always knew Brianna was trouble, but I never thought she was capable of doing something like this to me. She took away my pride and joy, the one thing that I worked so hard for. She set me back so much that I had to turn down orders because I was not in a good mental space to work. It was not just the financial loss that was weighing on me, it was the fact that Brianna took away something that was so dear to me.She took away my sense of security and left me feeling exposed. I had been staying
Caleb's POVThe room was deathly quiet in the wake of Tori’s outburst.“Ummm…what was that? What was she talking about?” My dad asked.Every eye in the room turned to look at me expectantly. They were all waiting for me to shed light on the situation. I was still loss for words. Tori was actually blaming me for what happened to her store. I was in shock.“I don’t know. Tori never told me anything about Brianna threatening her. It’s the first I’ve heard of this,” I finally said.I was having a very hard time wrapping my head around the fact that Brianna could have done something like that. It wasn't like her at all, especially judging from the amount of damage that had been done to the store if my dad’s account of events was anything to go by.“Do you know where Brianna is right now?” my dad asked. “No, I haven’t seen or heard from her since we broke up so I have no way of knowing where she is. Wait, do you guys actually think that Brianna did this? There is no way.”Eric ran his hand
Victoria's POVA full day after Caleb had dropped the bomb on me, I was still in the trenches. I felt like shit. He had single-handedly managed to turn my entire world upside down. When I walked into the living room, I got flashbacks of our conversation. The wounds hurt all over again. That’s when I knew that I had to make a change. I couldn't keep living in the same house where I had spent countless nights thinking about him.I had been secretly browsing real estate listings for weeks, not telling anyone about my plans to move because I wasn't even sure if it was what I wanted. But after my last interaction with Caleb, I knew that it was time to make a change.I called my real estate agent and told him to expedite the viewing. I wanted to be out of the guest house for a week, and I didn't care about the cost or the logistics. I just wanted to leave, to start anew. Over the next few days, I visited several different houses. None of them felt quite right, but I knew that I couldn't kee
Victoria's POVAs I sat there staring at Caleb, I couldn't believe what he was saying. For years, I had dreamed of hearing those three little words from him, and now they were finally coming out of his mouth. "I love you, Tori," he said.My heart leaped in my chest at the sound of his words, and for a moment, I felt like I was floating on a cloud. He loved me. Caleb Stallone actually loved me back. All these years that I had spent pining over him thinking that there was no way that he loved someone like me, I was wrong all along. He felt the same way that I did! I was elated. At that moment, I felt invincible.But then, as he continued to speak, my happiness quickly turned to anger. "I even broke up with Brianna for you," he said as if that was some kind of accomplishment. He just had to go ahead and ruin this wonderful moment for me. He made it sound like he was doing me a favor.I felt like I was being made to sound like the consolation prize like I was some kind of second choice th