Hooked on You: An Annapolis Harbor Series Prequel, Lea Coll [love letters to the dead .txt] 📗

“He’s going to be fine. When are you planning on going back to work?” Dad asked.

“Dean’s fine with me taking some time off. He was able to get the defendant to agree to a plea deal in my trial so my calendar is clear.”

“He may be fine with it, but I don’t think it’s necessary for you to be here much longer.” Dad sat back down with his cup of coffee, eyes on me.

“I want to help you with Caleb.” At least until the GPS tracker arrived. If I stayed here, he wouldn’t walk out of the house alone again. It wasn’t a guarantee, but I couldn’t take the chance by leaving.

“We’re fine with Caleb. You have a job and a life in New Orleans. I don’t want you to lose your job.”

“You need me.”

“I know this has always been hard for you—having a disabled brother. Our attention, our focus has always been on him. You’ve always been our easy child—you never demanded much of us. I know you feel responsible for him but he’s our responsibility—not yours. We never asked you to stay here while you attended college and law school.”

I was grateful they didn’t pressure me, but the responsibility came from me. “I wanted to live here. It wasn’t a sacrifice.”

“Did you? Or did you feel like you had to? No matter how many times we told you to go out with your friends you’d always ask if we’d be okay here with Caleb first. I worried about you missing out on friends, opportunities.” His voice grew stronger as he spoke. “I did until you took that job in New Orleans. I was happy that you were finally going to live your life—the life you were meant to have.”

I shifted in my chair. “No, Dad. None of this is your fault.”

He studied me. “That’s it, isn’t it? You feel like Caleb getting hurt is your fault.”

Should I tell him the truth? What did it matter when it was so obvious? “It is. It wouldn’t have happened if I was here. When was the last time Caleb left home by himself?” He’d done it as a child and gotten so scared by the experience he stopped going anywhere without one of us.

“You think he’s doing it because he’s upset you’re gone?”

“Why else? What else has changed?” Caleb only spent time with us and only went to his doctor’s appointments and school. He only went places he was familiar and comfortable with.

“I don’t know why. I guess it’s possible, but it shouldn’t be an issue with the GPS tracker. You need to live your life. The life you built in New Orleans.”

The life I’d built crumbled. “Not anymore.” I had a job there but the thought of going back to my empty apartment and not being involved in Gabe and Zach’s lives anymore hurt too much. I couldn’t do it. That’s why I wanted to stay here and focus on Caleb. It allowed me to ignore the situation with Gabe. As much as I hated he didn’t trust me—that he’d jumped to conclusions—I didn’t want to think about the fact we were over.

“There’s some other reason you’re here and not there.”

“Nothing’s going on.” Should I tell him I was dating but we’d broken up? My parents would not want me making a decision about a job based on some guy.

Mom exchanged a pointed look with Dad. When he nodded, she said, “We worry that you feel responsible for Caleb and we want to tell you what we’ve decided.”

“What?” Were they going to kick me out? Tell me I wasn’t welcome here anymore?

“We’re getting older and taking care of Caleb is becoming more difficult.” She spoke carefully in a hushed voice like she didn’t want Caleb to overhear.

“That’s why I want to stay. I always planned on coming back. The job in New Orleans was temporary.” This is exactly what I’d been worried about. There’d come a time when my parents couldn’t do it anymore and I’d need to step up. I’d move back home to assist with whatever was needed. When my parents passed away, he would be my responsibility no matter what my parents said. I wouldn’t pass him off to someone else.

“We put him on a waitlist for state housing,” Dad said, his voice clear and strong.

“What?” Why would they institutionalize him? Caleb wasn’t violent like others with similar disabilities. I could keep him at home and safe. They didn’t need to send him away.

“It’s not bad,” Mom said. “He’d live in a group home with other adults. There’d be activities for him, services.”

“I can’t believe you’d just sign him over to the state.” I stood, my finger pointed at them. I’d never been more angry. Not even when Gabe had accused me of betraying him.

“He’s an adult. We’re not signing away rights. We can still visit and bring him home when we want.”

It would allow my parents to have a life. They deserved that but I hated it. I hated that this was the only option unless I stepped in. But the reality was I couldn’t care for him twenty-four seven either without quitting my job and foregoing a family. I wouldn’t raise children while taking care of Caleb too. I wouldn’t want them to feel like my attention was always on someone else. I knew exactly how that felt.

“He wouldn’t be a burden to you. You wouldn’t have to feel responsible,” Dad said.

“I don’t. He’s not a burden.” Even if it felt like that sometimes, how I could ever describe my brother as a burden? It was a betrayal to Caleb to admit it out loud.

“He is. That’s the reality. I’m not saying you don’t love him but he’s stopping you from living your life. Right now, you’re here instead of working your dream job,” Dad said.

It wasn’t my dream job but I didn’t say that. I wanted my parents to think I was happy.

Dad’s face was resolute. “The