Saving Hope

Chapter 6

Chapter Six

Caleb

Saturday afternoons at my office are slightly less busy than weekdays. Hotels are not on a five-day week so we always have to have someone around incase there is an issue over the weekend. Since the men in this family are all workaholics, I can sometimes skate out of it, but not this weekend. Sitting in my office, watching the sun begin its descent, I am starting to get that antsy anticipation feeling pulling at my insides. I need to see her.

Sundays have really sucked since I've met Hope. I know that tonight when the sun finally goes down, Hope will be finishing up her shift at the café and will be gone until Monday. A few times a day my mind wanders and I find myself wondering where she goes and who is waiting for her whenever she gets there. I don't want to ask any questions that will have her shutting down or deciding I'm not to be trusted.

A knock at my door has me spinning my chair around. My brother Brandon is standing in the doorway, smirking at me. "What do you want?" I ask, pretending to be irritated. Brandon is my twin and probably my closest friend. We don't look too much alike, but enough that I'm able to see myself in a few of his mannerisms.

"Ben and I are going out for drinks in about an hour. Are you going to join us or continue to bitch out like you've been doing for the past month?" I know he's joking, but I feel a little guilty that I haven't been spending as much time with them so that I can spend time with Hope.

"Sorry Bro, I have plans." I say with a smile before lacing my fingers behind my head and leaning back in my chair.

"Who the fuck is this girl?" he asks and I knew that question was coming.

"Her name is Hope." I watch as he nods his head and I brace myself for his response.

"Well, if you could kindly ask her for your balls back that would be awesome. You haven't been out with us in forever. I'm tired of hearing Ben bitch about it." Ben is my older brother and has a reputation for being some sort of unofficial one night stand champion. "Hey, better yet, just have her bring your balls to the bar and we can all get wasted together."

"Fuck off. She doesn't have my balls. I don't know if she can make it out tonight." I know that I've not yet been successful at getting her to go out late with me or allowing me to drive her home. I glance to the clock and see that it's 5:45pm. If she's working closing shift as always, we won't have a lot of time to meet up with them.

"You don't know if she can make it out tonight? Is she going to turn in to a pumpkin or something? Are you dating a twelve year old with a curfew? Fuck, you don't have to pick her up from school do you?" I grab the first thing I can find on my desk which just happens to be a cup full of pencils and launch them in his direction. We are both laughing as the cup collides with the wall right next to him and rains pencil all over my office.

"Get the fuck out of my office." I joke, "She isn't Cinderella. Don't you think you should probably lay off watching so many princess movies? You're starting to confuse that shit with reality." I hear him laugh as he leaves my office.

From the hall I hear him yell, "Bring that young pumpkin to Barney's on 5th. We'll get her drunk and while I distract her, Ben can grab your balls out of her purse." I chuckle a little and wish I could bring her to meet my brothers.

At 6:30pm I run out of things I can do to distract myself and decide to just head down to the café. When I find my seat at the counter, I notice it's pretty empty for a Saturday night. Hope is helping a group of college kids at a small table. I watch as she picks up their dirty dishes and asks if they need anything else. I feel my face get tight when one of the guys steals a glance down her shirt as she reaches to grab his plate. I'm not a territorial person, but I have to fight down the need to go over and tell this asshole to keep his eyes off of her.