The Rose He Killed novel Chapter 52

Chapter 46: Desperation

Caleb pov

25 Points

My throat closed up completely. I couldn’t speak, couldn’t move, could barely breathe. He remembered me. My son remembered me.

“Hi, Tom,” Maya said gently, sitting down next to him. “Remember how I told you we were meeting someone today? This is Caleb. He’s Mommy’s friend, and he wanted to spend some time with you.”

“Hi, Caleb!” Tom bounced up with the boundless energy of a three-year-old. “Did you bring more penguin facts?”

“I, yes,” I managed, my voice rough. “I brought lots of facts. And some other things too, if you want to see them.”

“What kind of things?” Tom stepped closer, curiosity overcoming any shyness.

I set down the bags and pulled out the first item, a plush penguin that was almost as big as Tom. “I thought you might like this.”

Tom’s eyes went huge. “He’s so soft! Can I hug him?”

“He’s yours,” I said, and watched my son’s face light up with pure joy.

“Mine? Really?” Tom grabbed the penguin and squeezed it tight. “Thank you, Caleb! Mommy, look what Caleb gave me!”

I turned and saw Bella standing in the doorway, her face pale and her arms wrapped around herself defensively. She was watching us with an expression I couldn’t quite read, fear and hope and pain all mixed together.

“It’s very nice, baby,” she said, her voice tight. “Did you say thank you?”

“I did!” Tom was already digging through the other bags. “What else did you bring?”

“Tom, don’t be rude,” Bella said, moving into the room but keeping her distance from me. “You can’t just grab through someone’s things.”

ľ

“It’s fine,” I said quickly. “Everything here is for him. Tom, would you like to see what else there is?”

For the next few minutes, I watched Tom discover each toy with the kind of enthusiasm only a three-year-old can muster. The dinosaur puzzle made him gasp, the penguin figurines made him squeal, and the arctic animals book had him sitting down immediately to flip through pages.

“This one’s an emperor penguin!” Tom pointed at an illustration. “They’re the biggest penguins. Did you know that?”

“I did,” I said, sitting cross-legged on the floor near him but not too close. “Did you know they can dive almost two thousand feet deep?”

“Whoa!” Tom’s eyes went wide. “That’s so deep! How do they not get scared?”

<Chapter 46 operation

+25 Points

“think they’re probably very brave penguins,” I said, watching his face as he processed this information.

“I wanna be brave like a penguin,” Tom announced. “Mommy says I’m already brave because I tried

broccoli.”

I couldn’t help but smile. “Your mom is right. Trying new things is very brave.”

Bella made a small sound from where she stood against the wall, and when I glanced at her, I saw tears in her eyes. She quickly looked away, wiping at her face.

“Can we do the puzzle?” Tom asked, already pulling it out of the box. “I’m really good at puzzles.”

“I’d love to do the puzzle,” I said, my heart so full it hurt.

We spread the pieces out on the rug, and Tom immediately started sorting them by color with a focus that reminded me painfully of myself at business meetings. He explained his system to me in detail, his little voice serious as he described which pieces went together.

“You’re very smart,” I said, meaning it. “Who taught you to do puzzles?”

“Mommy and Aunt Maya,” Tom said proudly. “Mommy says I’m gonna be a scientist when I grow up. Or maybe a penguin doctor.”

“A penguin doctor sounds like an important job,” I said, fighting to keep my voice steady.

“Very important,” Tom agreed. “Because penguins get sick sometimes and they need someone to help them.”

We worked on the puzzle together, Tom chattering constantly about penguins and dinosaurs and the dogs he’d seen at the park. I listened to every word like it was the most important thing I’d ever heard, memorizing the sound of his voice, the way he scrunched up his nose when he was thinking, the gap in his smile where he’d recently lost a tooth.

“I like you,” Tom announced suddenly, looking up at me with those grey eyes that were so much like mine. “You’re nice. Are you gonna be Mommy’s friend forever?”

The question hit me like a punch. “I hope so,” I said carefully, glancing at Bella, who’d gone even paler. “If your mommy wants me to be.”

“She should want you to be,” Tom said matter-of-factly. “Because you know about penguins and you gave me presents and you’re not mean. Some of Mommy’s other friends are mean sometimes.”

“Tom,” Bella said sharply, moving closer. “That’s not a nice thing to say.”

“But it’s true!” Tom protested. “That man with the weird laugh, he was mean. He said I couldn’t have dessert before dinner and you’re not the boss of me.”

“Ethan said that because he was helping Mommy,” Bella said, but I saw her discomfort at the mention of another man around my son. “And we don’t talk about people that way.”

“Who’s Ethan?” Tom asked me, as if I would know.

“Someone who cares about your mom,” I said carefully, trying not to let jealousy show. “Like I do.”

2/3

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify