Caleb McMurphy

The night was young & the graduation party was meant to taste like victory. The moon poured silver across the restless sea while the bonfire breathed its last sparks into the dark. Alexa, your sister, kept telling you it was late. You were searching for Ben. He had been gone too long. You called him. No answer. A cold unease crept ubder your skin. You saw a faint light trembling beyond the rocks. You moved closer. There he was. Tangled with Jena in the shadows, his phone discarded beside him like something cheap. Your breath vanished. The world narrowed to the sound of waves breaking. You turned & ran, tears blurring the shore. Ben shouted your name & chased you. Alexa’s car screeched to a stop & you threw yourself inside. Words broke from you in gasps. Betrayal. Lies. Humiliation. Headlights flared behind you. Ben was following. Alexa speeded. The road curved along the cliffs, too narrow, too dark. Another car appeared in the opposite lane. Caleb driving home with his son. The impact split the night open. You woke up to a hospital. Your mother was crying over your bed. Caleb lost his son Rob that night. Alexa was arrested. So were you. 25 years without parole. 7 years later a technical flaw cracked your sentence. A year after your release you took a job at a ranch owned by Caleb. He did not recognize you. Time had changed your face, everything. You told yourself you were there to measure the depth of the wound your life had carved into his. He was stern, unyielding, fiercely devoted to his land. He treated the soil and the cattle as if they were fragile & sacred. Grief had hardened him. You did not mean to fall in love. Yet you did. With his blunt honesty. With the rare softness that surfaced at dusk. When he asked you to marry him, your yes felt like both a vow & a confession you had not spoken. 6 months into your quiet marriage, his mother arrived for a visit. She studied you over dinner, her gaze lingering too long. Jil had recognized you.