Rafael took a sip from his glass, looking around, he was waiting for Caleb to show up, he promised his wife that he was going to meet up with Caleb after they return from Bora Bora and he didn’t want to break his promise to her, he understood what both her and Armani were talking about he knew it won’t just change in a day, it did with Nicole but it won’t with anyone else like the saying goes, ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day,’ so he hoped to take it slow and hopefully he will get there soon.
“Hey, man”
Caleb greeted as he walked into the bar, the man was calmer than usual and Rafael didn’t like it one bit, he felt responsible for Caleb’s new change of attitude towards him.
“Are you okay Caleb? You are not your usual self today,”
“I am fine, you said you wanted to see me, I assume you have something to say?”
He asked, okay that hurt him, he suddenly wanted the old guffy and easy-going Caleb back, the one who would have been pestering him as soon as he arrived, this Caleb was too quiet, he didn’t like it.
“Yes, I wanted to apologize to you in person, I made dumb stupid mistake of projecting my fears and trust issues into our friendship..,”
“Not to cut you off Rafael, but we are not friends, don’t say that, we are not, at first I thought about it I realized that we aren’t really friends, I was just been clingy to you, and I want to stop doing that,”
Caleb said, Rafael didn’t know how best to approach this whole thing without making another mistake, Caleb was clearly still mad at him.
“You are my friend Caleb, my only friend, I was a fool to think otherwise and I am sorry, I don’t want us to stop being friends,”
He said in a pleading voice he never knew he would use for Caleb, he felt sorry for always taking him for granted and for not valuing what they had.
“I think that’s too late now Rafael,”
“No, it’s not Caleb, it’s not, I know I messed up man, and I am sorry, I am sorry I didn’t do much as you did to keep our friendship, I am sorry that I took what we had for granted, I was stupid but I don’t want you to stop being my friend, I need you on my side, Caleb,”
He pleaded sincerely, he suddenly wasn’t doing it because Nicole asked him to, he wanted to save his friendship with Caleb.
“Wow, why does this feel like a love declaration?”
Caleb asked his tone suddenly lighting up giving Rafael hope that they can actually mend things between them.
“It might be,”
He replied.
“Wow, what happened? Did you hit your head?”
“No, I came back to my senses,”
“Wow, I never knew Rafael can beg, wow, just wow, you have changed so much Rafae, you have become more human, admitting to making a mistake and asking for a second chance is so new and foreign to be associated with you but, you got me, man, I am pleased and all is good, no hard feeling,”
Caleb said and Rafael let out a breath of relief, he honestly thought he was really going to grovel real hard but thankfully Caleb was understanding.
“Thank you, Caleb,”
“It’s fine, I understand, and we are good,”
“Aha, thank God,”
He replied breathing in relief, they talked for a little longer, Rafael made sure to really listen to what Caleb was saying and he realized his friend did have a lot to say and he wasn’t just talking nonsense like he had assumed before, they parted ways after a couple of hours of talking over drinks and went their separate ways, Rafael went straight home.
“Honey, I am home,”
He announced when he walked into their room, she wasn’t there, he assumed she might be in her studio, she never leaves the house, even when he told her to try and go out for a while, still, she was always locked up in her studio, he thought of getting her a studio outside of their home, a place bigger, more like a gallery, where she can do various things too and meet people, he didn’t want her locked up here alone all day, the more he thought of it the brighter the idea became and before he could talk himself out of it, he turned back and went upstairs, he called Armani on the phone and gave her instructions to look for a place where an art studio can be located and get back to him, if he finds somewhere nice and closet to the house then he might have a brand new surprise for his beautiful wife in the next few days.
After his call with Armani, he went back downtown towards her studio area and of course, she was there.
“Baby, I told you not to lock yourself up here all day,”
He said hugging her from behind.
“I wasn’t locked here all, I went out,”
“To where? You barely leave the house,”
“To my parent’s house,”
“Oh, really, that’s good,”
“My sister is back, I saw her today and we are going to meet up tomorrow or next,”
She announced, he hadn’t been expecting that, but it was good for her to be back, he wanted his wife to finally be free.
“Oh, wow, that’s good to know, is she okay?”
“Yes, but she is kind of quiet, maybe because she had been away from us for so long, I feel like she withdrew from us a lot and my parents are feeling it too,”
“Give her time and she will come back fully,”
“I hope so,”
“Yes, now let’s call it a day shall we?”
He said carrying her up even though she protested, he loved carrying her every moment he got, he walked back to the main house with her still in his arms and only dropped her down when he got to their room, they both took a shower, ate dinner and got ready for bed.
“I went to see Caleb today and we talked things out, I realize I am wrong and apologized to him,”
Rafael announced as they lay in bed, his wife looked at him proudly.
“That’s good to know, I am proud of you my love,”
She said giving him a peck, he was proud of himself too,
“Me too, it took quite a while to convince him, and even though we still have a lot of patches to do, I am happy with the outcome of today’s meeting, I understand even more now how much of a fool I was thinking Caleb was being close to me because he wanted something from me,”
“I am happy you realize that now you get rewarded for bringing such a good boy,”
She answered and straddled him, he held her waist, loving the feel of her on him, he wasn’t going to ever get tired of having her with him, when she claimed his lips, he let her do it all, allowed her to reward him before he took over the kiss flipping her up onto the bed, and taking off his clothes while she did the same…