Harlot by Victoria Dahl Page A

always had. He couldn’t say the same about another living soul.
    “What a lovely day,” his mother sighed.
    “Indeed.” The storms had washed every bit of dust and cloud from the sky. The clear, bright blue hurt his eyes.
    “Did you see Mildred with her new grandbaby? I can’t believe her son is a father now. Weren’t you two friends?”
    Caleb frowned, trying to concentrate on these people who meant nothing to him. “Tommy?” he asked. “Tommy Shrop?”
    “Yes, Tommy! He goes by Tom now, of course. He’s an attorney. They’re off to Kansas next month.”
    That seemed right. Tommy had been one of the boys who’d courted Jessica. One of the boys who’d sneered at Caleb. Eyes narrowed, Caleb looked around for Tommy Shrop but didn’t see him.
    “You’ll have to settle down soon too, don’t you think, Caleb? You could come back here. Stay close for a while. Find a wife. California is so awfully far away.”
    Find a wife. He couldn’t imagine a woman he’d like well enough to spend the rest of his life with. Work with. Talk with. Lie with at night. Jessica had been the only one to touch his interest that way. The only one he could imagine having a lifelong conversation with. It hadn’t been just her beauty. It had been her laughter, her words, the way her mind worked. The only girl smart enough to make him feel smart too.
    “Can you imagine the stars, Caleb?” Jess had asked into the night sky once. “Can you imagine that each one is a sun just like our own?”
    “Shining on other worlds?” he’d asked, craning his neck to see what she saw.
    “Yes. A million other worlds.” And he could see it, then. Just as she’d described.
    Caleb looked at his mother. “I meant to marry Jessica,” he said.
    “Oh.” Her mouth formed a circle of disapproving shock, as if a fat raindrop had just fallen on her day. “You must forget about her.”
    “Must I? You liked her once. Loved her as a daughter, even. You wrote to me that she came to dinner once a week to keep you and Theodore company.”
    Her face crumpling into a frown, his mother stared down at her gloved hands. “She did. What happened was so unfortunate.”
    “Did you try to help her?”
    “How could I help a woman like that? How could you even ask me to speak of such things? You must forget her, Caleb. Find a good, decent woman.”
    A good, decent woman. Not a woman who’d get on her knees. Not a woman who’d love it like that.
    “Caleb,” his stepfather said beside him, and Caleb jumped. He’d fallen so quickly into his memory of Jessica that he hadn’t heard Theodore approach.
    “Sir.” Caleb stood to offer the chair next to his mother, but his stepfather waved it off.
    “You’ve been coming in late,” he said gruffly.
    “Yes, sir.” Caleb tamped down the urge to snap at the man that it was none of his business.
    “I hope you’re not getting into trouble?”
    His mother cleared her throat. “He’s been out visiting at the Smith ranch.”
    “That right?” Theodore asked. “Are you looking to take up your old job there?”
    Caleb met the man’s eyes. “Just catching up with old friends.”
    “Some of those cowhands are pretty rowdy. See to it that you keep your visits respectable. Your associations have already embarrassed this family once.”
    Caleb’s mother rose in a rustle of skirts. “Let’s just leave that behind, Mr. Durst. I’d love a stroll, Caleb. It’ll be cool over by the stream.”
    “Yes, ma’am,” he said, offering his arm and fighting the urge to growl at his stepfather. He turned his back on Theodore and walked his mother toward the creek.
    He could play at polite patience. He could wait through this day. Tonight he’d see Jessica again, and his heart clenched at the thought.
    She’d loved it last night. She’d loved him . Maybe she’d said she loved him as part of the paid service, but when she’d whispered that into the pillow, it had seemed pure and true as he’d done wicked, wonderful