Between Contracts and Heartbeats

WHEN HE STOPS WAITING

🖤

Three days, that's how long he lasted. Three days of silence, three days of distance, three days of pretending he could just… wait. He couldn't because waiting felt like doing nothing and Caleb Garcia had never been good at doing nothing.

"You're leaving?" Adrian stood by the door, watching him.

Caleb didn't look up from his desk as he grabbed his coat. "Yes."

A pause. "For a meeting?" Adrian asked.

"No."

That made him frown. "Then where—"

"I don't know yet." That answer wasn't like him, not planned, not controlled just… honest.

Adrian crossed his arms slightly. "…You're going to her."

Silence.

Because even without saying it was obvious.

Caleb finally looked at him. "I'm going to talk to her."

Adrian nodded slowly. "About time."

No sarcasm, just truth because this wasn't something that would fix itself and for once, Caleb wasn't trying to control the outcome, he was just trying to show up.

Across the city, Cassy was sitting on the floor papers scattered around her, notes, ideas.

Thoughts she hadn't had time to think about before, her world felt… slower now not empty, just quieter more hers.

Her phone buzzed, she glanced at it. Unknown number, she hesitated then answered.

"Hello?"

Silence.

Then— "…Cassy." Her breath caught, that voice. Caleb.

For a moment she didn't speak because she wasn't ready or maybe she was.

"…How did you get this number?" she asked softly.

"I asked Adrian."

Of course he did that almost made her smile, almost. A pause. "What do you want?" she asked directly because this time she needed clarity.

Caleb didn't hesitate. "To see you."

Silence.

That answer wasn't complicated, kt wasn't strategic, jt was simple, real.

Cassy looked down at the papers around her, at the space she created for herself, at the distance she needed. "…Why?" she asked quietly.

A pause. "Because waiting isn't enough." That line hit because she understood it too well. "You said you needed space," he continued. "And I respect that." A pause. "But I also need to tell you something in person."

Silence.

Because that wasn't pressure, that wasn't control ,that was… effort.

Cassy closed her eyes for a second thinking, feeling, balancing what she wanted and what she needed. "…This doesn't change anything," she said, a boundary, xlear.

"I know." No argument, no pushback just acceptance.

"And I'm not promising anything," she added.

"I'm not asking for that."

Silence.

Because for once he wasn't trying to get something from her, he was just trying to meet her where she was.

Cassy exhaled slowly. "…Alright." A pause. "You can come." Simple but it meant everything.

An hour later there was a knock on her door, soft not demanding, not impatient.

Cassy stood still for a moment because opening that door meant something. It wasn't just letting him in, jt was letting everything back into the space she created.

Slowly she walked forward, eeached for the handle and opened it. There he was no suit jacket, no polished composure just him, real.

And for the first time he didn't look in control, he looked… unsure. "Hi." That was all he said.

Cassy blinked slightly because that wasn't the Caleb she was used to. "…Hi," she replied softly.

Silence stretched between them, different now not tense just… honest and maybe that was exactly where they needed to start again.