Chapter 46: Not Exactly a Vacation
Terry was overjoyed. He’d been at his wit's end about what to do with his unruly son, and now George was offering to take him in. It couldn’t be more perfect.
“Let Joseph stay with you for a while. Caleb’s such a well-behaved boy—maybe some of that will rub off on him.”
With the matter settled, Joseph Doyle was brought to the Quixall residence. Surprisingly, he and Caleb hit it off immediately. Logically, they shouldn’t have gotten along. Caleb was steady and reserved, while Joseph was wild and impulsive. But boys’ friendships worked in mysterious ways. Even with opposite personalities, they found common ground in shared interests. Once their perspectives aligned, they became inseparable.
After a month at the Quixall residence, Joseph returned home. Caleb missed him dearly and often visited to play. Joseph did the same. As time went on, the bond between the two children deepened.
In the blink of an eye, twenty years had passed. On the day Caleb turned twenty, his entire family showered him with blessings, until a DNA test report landed in the middle of the party. While everyone rushed to comfort Jesse, Joseph was no exception. Caleb made excuses for his friend: Jesse’s the one suffering here. This isn’t Joseph’s fault.
But as weeks turned into months, Joseph became Jesse’s shadow, seemingly forgetting Caleb existed. Whenever Caleb tried to confide in him, Joseph would brush him off, claiming he was too busy helping his father. Caleb knew this was just an excuse. He’d seen Joseph practicing driving with Jesse. He’d even been nearby when Joseph made those excuses over the phone. Caleb didn’t call him out. He just licked his wounds alone.
Then came the night Jesse drunkenly killed someone with his car. Overnight, relatives and family alike became accomplices to the crime.
Chapter 46: Not Exactly a Vacation
After enduring the betrayal of his own sister and his fiancée, Caleb was utterly exhausted. Yet, he didn’t give up. His best friend had practiced driving with Jesse. He’d taken Jesse on joyrides. There was a chance Joseph had witnessed the incident; if he’d just spoken up, he could’ve turned everything around. But when Caleb called, the response chilled him to the bone.
Joseph said, “Caleb, you’re in trouble. We’re no longer friends.”
Such simple words! Did Joseph forget? When he was recklessly riding his motorcycle, disregarding traffic laws, and hit a seventy-year-old man, who was it that smoothed everything over for him? Who cared for the victim for two months until he finally signed the settlement? None of that was Joseph’s doing. It was Caleb who slept in the hospital for two months straight by the side of the elderly person as his condition fluctuated, giving up the opportunity to study abroad! And how did Joseph repay him? By kicking him into the abyss when he was already falling.
The memory still burned. There were nights in prison when Caleb fantasized about breaking out just to beat Joseph senseless. He hadn’t recognized him at first because Joseph had changed so much—hanging out with deadbeats, packing on weight, and dyeing his hair that ridiculous blond. Now, when Joseph brought up the past, deliberately rubbing salt in Caleb’s wounds, Caleb had no reason to hold back.
Caleb smirked, though his eyes were cold. “Yeah, no one would testify for me. Prison life wasn’t exactly a vacation.”