Caleb (The Unseen Series Book 1) (3 page)

“I wasn’t letting it take a back seat, SJ. I’m sorry you think I was. Edward’s call has been a long time coming, there were reasons he couldn’t go to the police that I can’t share with you. I’m sorry, I guess I did pick my friend’s problem over a stranger’s problem,” I say and then grimace. I guess SJ isn’t the only one putting their foot in their mouth.

“I have to go. Thank you for the pizza, Mr. Slate,” she says as she stands and holds her hand out for me to shake.

I take her hand and stand myself. “If you wait a moment for me to pay the bill, I’ll give you a lift home.”

“It’s okay, my car is parked at your office.”

“I’ll walk you back then,” I suggest.
Why the hell am I so desperate to spend as much time as I can with this woman?

“Okay,” she finally concedes.

I head over to the waiter and ask him for my bill. “Also, could you have a large pepperoni pizza ready for me to pick up in twenty minutes?”

“Yes, sir. Do you want me to bill you now or when you return?” the waiter asks.

“Bill me for it all now,” I reply and turn to check that SJ is still standing where I left her.

After paying I walk her back to Slate Security. “So…” I start but I’m not sure what to say. “What college did you go to?”

“I don’t go to college, I have other responsibilities,” she replies. I nod but then something she said clicks in my head.

“What do you mean by you
don’t
go to college? How old are you?”

“That’s a really rude question, Mr. Slate,” she says and there’s that blush creeping up her cheeks again. “I’m twenty-one.”

“Seriously?” I ask, completely astonished.

“Why does that surprise you?”

“I thought you were older, twenty-three or twenty four.”

“Nope, although I will be in a couple of years.” I laugh at the obvious, but this just isn’t making sense.

“I’m so sorry, but I have to ask. How did you end up in a run-down, low income apartment block?”

“I’m hiding,” she says quietly but I heard it.

“Hiding from what?” I ask and she looks at me like she’s seen a ghost, before shaking herself off.

“That’s a story for another time Mr. Slate,” she says with a fake smile.

“Caleb,” I say pointedly. “Have a safe journey home, SJ. I hope we get to do this again.”

“We’ll see,” she replies flirtatiously and turns her back on me, heading straight to a beat up old fiesta. I watch her retreating back for a moment, before sprinting into the building and heading up to my office.

“Debbie, I want the apartment number for one of the tenants in the Fort Lincoln property,” I say as I exit the elevator and cross the floor to my door. “The tenant’s name is Sarah-Jane Tanner.”

“You just had a meeting with her—why didn’t you just ask her yourself!” she yells after me but I’m too busy to answer. I pack up the things I need to take home with me, grab the apartment number from Debbie on the way out and head to my car. I pull up outside the pizza place to pick up the pizza and start my journey up to Fort Lincoln.

It was a pretty easy twenty minutes drive from the city, reaffirming my decision to buy property here. I grab the pizza and step out of the car. The building in front of me looks more derelict than the last time I was here—if that’s possible. I open the entry door and begin to climb the stairs. The smell is the first thing I notice. It’s a mixture of mold and bad plumbing. I don’t understand how anyone could live here. I think I’d rather live on the streets and then laugh to myself, thinking I’m probably doing these people a favor.

SJ’s apartment is on the second floor luckily, so I don’t have to stay in this stairwell much longer. I find her door and knock, waiting patiently for someone to answer. Eventually I hear the fiddling of locks and a safety chain, the door opens and a young boy is standing there.

“Are you here to deliver more pizza?” he asks, eyeing the box I’m carrying.

“I am. Is SJ here?” I ask as another boy pokes his head out, this one is older and Indian.

“SJ?” he asks and I nod. “Go and get your mom, Mitch,” the older boy says as he shoos the younger one away.
Mom?
SJ’s a mom?

“Mr. Slate,” SJ says, clearly startled to see me.

“Sorry, you said earlier about looking after kids and mentioned them wanting pizza, so I thought I’d bring over an extra one,” I say, my voice sounding confused and monotone.

“Thanks,” she says and reaches for the pizza. “Is something wrong?” she asks when I don’t move to hand over the box.

“You know, I’m going over our whole conversation in my head and I can’t find the part where you told me you had a child.” I laugh at my own rudeness.

“That’s because I didn’t, although I did tell you I had other responsibilities.”

“Why didn’t you tell me that responsibility was a child?”

“I didn’t want to make you feel guilty about putting children out on the street. I’m also not in the habit of using my children as weapons to get what I want.” I step back, feeling two inches tall. “I’m sorry, that was a rude of me. Please come in, we can talk now that I’m not worrying about being late to watch the kids.”

I step into her apartment—if I could call it that—and I’m approached by the little boy again. “Can we have the pizza now?”

“Mitch, give Mr. Slate some space and do you think you really need more pizza?” SJ asks.

“No, but he brought it for us,” Mitch argues.

“And that was very kind of him, but you’ve had something to eat tonight, there are others that haven’t. Don’t you think it would be better if you shared it with some of the neighbors?” she asks him and I start to wonder what sort of poverty these people are living in.

“Mom!” a shriek comes from a little girl running into the room, holding a dirty doll.
She has two children?
“Raj won’t leave my doll alone.”

“I’m sorry about this, I’ll be with you in a second,” she says to me and then calls out toward a single room off to the side. “Raj, can you come here please?”

“What?” A boy older than the rest enters the room.

“Leave Maddie and her doll alone. Now I’d like you all to meet Mr. Slate,” she introduces me.

“Caleb,” I correct her.

“What’s a Caleb?” the young girl asks.

“That’s my name.”

“It’s weird.”

“Maddie, don’t be rude,” SJ scolds her. “I’m sorry, okay where to start. This is Rajpreet, he’s ten and this is Gurpreet, he’s seven, they’re my friend Rita’s children. And these two rascals are Mitchell and Maddison, they’re five.”

“Twins?” I ask stupidly.

“Yeah,” she answers. I nod and hand over the pizza. After the children have gone back into the small room, SJ heads over to the tiny kitchenette tucked into the corner of the main room. “Coffee?”

“Yes, please,” I answer but feel guilty because I don’t want to touch anything in this place, let alone eat or drink from anything. How shallow am I? SJ hands me a cup and I struggle to take the first sip, it tastes more like coffee flavored water—clearly a cheap brand. I can’t stop thinking about Sarah’s children, if they’re five and she is twenty-one, then she was only sixteen when she had them—no wonder she ended up here.

“You okay?” she asks me, waving her hand in front of my face.

“Sorry, yeah I was in my own little world for a moment,” I reply. “Are you raising your children on your own?”

“Yeah,” she responds defensively.

“Where’s their father?”

“I don’t know, probably propping up a bar somewhere.” She shrugs.

“Does he pay child support?”

“He doesn’t even know where we are. I prefer it that way,” she says and stands, walking toward the kitchenette and grabbing the pizza box. So that’s what she’s hiding from. “Come with me.”

“Where?” I ask.

“I’ll show you,” she says before shouting to the children. “I’ll be back in a second, I’m just going down the hall.”

“Okay!” the children shout back in unison.

We walk a few doors down to another apartment. SJ knocks and we wait. “SJ, what are you doing here?” a worn out woman says as she opens the door.

“Hey Claire, my friend here brought over a couple of pizzas. We ate one and are full, this was left over and rather than throw it away...” she finishes, letting her voice trail off.

“Thank you so much, SJ,” Claire responds and begins to cry. She turns to me and wraps her arms around me. I stiffen at first but then relax and hug her back. She pulls away with a big watery grin. “I thought I wasn’t going to be able to feed the kids tonight. They had a slice of toast each but were all complaining about still being hungry. Thank you SJ and...” She turns to me, not knowing my name.

“Caleb,” I tell her.

“Thank you Caleb.” She smiles.

As we walk away, I feel pretty good inside. I helped feed a family today. Those children would have had to go without. “How did you know they hadn’t eaten?”

“Unfortunately, it’s a choice we have to make. Roof over our head or food in our belly but hey, in two and a half months it won’t be a choice,” she says with a sarcastic smile. I know she was only making a joke, but this is the cruel reality for her.

“What is wrong with the plumbing in here?” I ask, trying to change the subject.

“Between all the tenants, we’re saving the money to get someone in to fix it, we’re nearly there,” she replies.

“I don’t understand, I haven’t seen any paperwork reporting repairs needing to be made on plumbing,” I say. “It’s my job as you landlord to get it fixed, so why are you all saving for it?”

“You really haven’t read up on this place, have you?” I shake my head, embarrassed. “It’s part of the agreement for the low rent, we only pay four hundred and fifty dollars a month.”

“That’s really cheap,” I say in surprise.

“For you maybe but not for us, so the agreement we had with the landlord was that we sorted our own repairs,” she explains as we re-enter her apartment.

“I really need to read the contracts and stuff, don’t I?” I ask and she chuckles at me. “I should probably get going, I’ve got a forty-five minute drive ahead of me.”

“Okay, well thank you for the pizzas. Kids, Caleb is going now, come and say goodbye.”
God, the way she says my name makes my balls tingle.

The kids all bundle in the doorway of the room they were in. “Bye, Caleb.”

“Bye guys,” I say and turn toward the door. “Sorry, could I use the bathroom before I go?”

“Yeah, of course.” SJ replies as she opens her front door, pointing down the hall. “It’s the third door on the left.”

“A communal bathroom?” I ask.

“We can’t all have a bathroom attached to every room in the house,” she snipes and I realize she took offence to my question.

“I’ll see you soon SJ,” I say before leaving. I walk toward the bathroom that is shared between the six families on this floor, realizing straight away where the smell is coming from. I forgo using the toilet and head straight to my car. God knows what I could have caught if I’d actually used the toilet.

Thanks to some road work, it takes me over an hour to get home by which time, my bladder feels like it’s about to explode. I admire my nice, clean, sparkly toilet and think about the things I take for granted.

Pouring myself a glass of brandy, I swirl it about in the glass before taking a sip. I sit in front of my computer and pull up the Fort Lincoln property details and contracts I should have studied a month ago. I try to concentrate, but I can’t get thoughts of SJ out of my head, so I load up her contract. Her income details tell me she works two jobs, one at a butcher shop and one as a waitress. I shake my head, wondering what the hell I should do. She’s so young, she should be in college and going out with friends. Not a mother to two children, working two jobs and still living in poverty. First things first, I’m getting that plumbing fixed. I know I’m having the building torn down in three months, but I can’t let them continue living like that until then. I’ll figure out what to do about SJ after.

Chapter 3

“
How
were they?” Rita asks when she arrives home after her shift.

“They’ve been great,” I reply. “Don’t worry about waking them, you can pick them up in the morning.”

“Are you sure?”

“Of course, besides I could really use your advice,” I say hesitantly.

“What’s the matter?”

“Caleb came by this evening,” I start.

“As in, Mr. Slate?”

“Yep, he brought another pizza for the children—”

“What did he want in return?” she jumps in.

“Nothing,” I reply.

“He wants something, SJ. Please be careful,” she says and I know she’s thinking back to her own past. I really wish I could help her through it. Although I know the gist of what happened to her, she has never fully opened up to me.

“I will be, besides I gave the pizza to Claire. Now go home and enjoy the peace and quiet,” I tell her.

“Are you sure?”

“Go and get an early night. You can tell me about the luxury of sleep when you bring the boys clean clothes in the morning,” I joke.

“Thank you, SJ,” she says and hugs me goodbye.

I decide to get myself into bed too, even though Mitch and or Maddie will probably be up in the next hour wanting a drink or to go to the toilet.

Surprisingly, I’m not woken up until six-thirty when Rita knocks on the door. The children bounce out of the room one at a time and make their way to the table, ready for breakfast. I open the door, preparing to ask Rita why she is knocking when she has a key, to find a man wearing overalls and a name badge.

“Can I help you?” I ask, my brows furrowed.

“I’m just letting all the residents know that if they need to use the bathroom, they need to do so now. We need to turn the water off before we can fix the plumbing and rip out the old suites.” He tells me.

“What?” I ask, completely confused.

“We’re putting in new bathroom suites after the plumbing has been fixed.”

“That can’t be right, this place is being torn down, it’s not getting new bathrooms.”

“We’ve been contracted by the owner to put in new bathrooms, if you need to use them, please do so now.” He says, annoyance clear in his tone.

“Kids!” I call. “You need to use the bathroom right now. This gentleman says they have to turn off the water for a while.”

“But what if I need the toilet
after
breakfast?” Rajpreet asks sarcastically.

“Then you’ll just have to
hold
it,” the plumber replies, mimicking the boys tone.

“Really? He’s ten, there was no need for that,” Rita snaps as she exits her apartment.

“Sorry. We weren’t prepared to tell tenants they had a limited time to use their facilities. I’ll talk to the guys downstairs and ask them to hold on off turning the water off until eight. Does that sound fair?” he asks.

“I think we can live with that,” Rita replies, brushing past the guy and waltzing straight into my apartment.

“Thank you,” I mutter, before stepping back inside and closing the door.

“What’s going on?” Rita asks before the door is fully closed.

“We’re getting new bathrooms and the plumbing is being fixed,” I answer her with just as much confusion that is written on her face.

“Why?” she asks and I just shrug. “Something isn’t right here. Why would that Slate man fix the bathrooms when he’s just going to tear the place down?”

“I don’t know,” I reply honestly, and feel an ache in my stomach as Rita’s eyes begin to shine with what looks like hope.

“Maybe he’s going to let us stay—” she starts, but I stop her instantly.

“Don’t get your hopes up. I very much doubt that’s why he’s doing this,” I say, knowing how strongly he felt about ripping this place apart to build his new complex.

“Then we need to find out before anyone else gets their hopes up,” she replies dully. I hate that I took away the dash of hope she had.

“When I get a chance, I’ll try and speak to his secretary,” I say, hoping she’ll drop it and we can get back to our usual morning routine.

“Okay.” She smiles. “Gur! Raj! Go get washed and dressed please!” she yells to the boys, handing them their clean clothes as they pad toward the door to use their bathroom.

As usual, our morning routine is rushed. We managed to exit my apartment five minutes later than we were supposed to.

“SJ!” a voice calls from behind me. I turn to find Claire leaving her apartment with her three children in tow.

“Morning Claire, how are you?” I ask.

“I wanted to say thank you for the pizza last night,
and
to let you know I’m going to that job interview you arranged for me today,” she replies.

“Really? Oh that’s fantastic Claire. I’m so happy for you. I’ll keep all my fingers and toes crossed for you.” We laugh as we make our way down the stairs and out into the warm morning sun. “Who’s looking after the children for you?”

“After I explained my circumstances, they said I could bring the kids with me,” she tells me. “They’re being really understanding.”

“If you need someone during the day, I’m around three days a week,” Rita pipes up.

“Thank you so much,” she says as tears form in her eyes. She blinks rapidly and plasters on a big smile. “I’m fine, sorry. I was just thinking about how much is going to change when we all have to leave.”

I hug her tightly, but have no words of comfort because I know exactly how she’s feeling. Everything will change and there’s nothing we can do to stop it.

I leave the twins with Rita and jump in my beat up, but reliable old car, making my way toward the butcher shop while mentally preparing myself for Gary’s inappropriate flirting. I really need to find a new job and quickly. I’m not sure how much more I can take before my boss physically makes me sick.

“SJ, nice to see you’re actually on time for a change.” Gary grins as I enter.

I smile as I walk past him and into the back to hang my stuff up. I don my apron, hairnet and hat before turning and bumping straight into Gary’s sweaty, flabby form.

“Admit it, you just can’t stay away from me, can you?” He chuckles, showing half a mouth of rotten black teeth.

I cock an eyebrow in response. “I work here, it’s not like I can avoid you.” I push past him and he grabs my ass in a painful grip. “Remove your hand. Now!”

“Lighten up, SJ, I’m just having a feel. One of the perks of being the boss.” He laughs and heads off to the freezer.

I take a few deep breaths and wipe the tears from my eyes. Letting out a long breath, I start my day.

I make it to lunch before I have to see Gary again. I suddenly can’t wait for the children’s play scheme to finish next week. I only have to see Gary once a week then. He might be a prime candidate for a sexual harassment case, but he understands I have children to look after and has agreed to me only working Fridays—dropping Wednesday and Thursday until the twins go back to school. I could have dropped the two days I waitress at the diner, but in all honesty, I’m hoping they will offer me a full time position soon and I can leave this place for good.

“Where are you going?” Gary asks.

“To get some lunch,” I reply.

“You said you would work through your lunch breaks for the rest of the week to make up for leaving early yesterday,” he says.

“I was just going to—” I start but he interrupts me.

“I couldn’t make you work without something to eat, so I brought us both lunch from home. Corned beef sandwiches,” he says as he opens the greasy Tupperware container.

“Thanks for the offer, but I don’t like corned beef,” I reply. Truth is, I don’t mind corned beef but I’m not eating anything from that container, especially if it was made by Gary.

“Well you better go get something to eat, but be quick,” he says.

I run out the door and down the street, happy to just be out of that place. I can’t afford to get anything to eat, so I just take a brisk walk around the block. Just as I’m approaching the butcher shop again, my cell rings.

“Hello,” I answer.

“SJ, it’s Samantha,” my boss at the diner says. “I know you usually do a couple of hours on Monday and Tuesday but because you missed it this week, a contracted member of staff has picked up those hours. I’m so sorry.”

“Not a problem, do you still need me this weekend?”

“Yes please, and as soon as anything becomes available, I’ll pencil your name in straight away.”

“Thanks, Samantha,” I say, trying to sound unbothered about the loss of the extra shifts and failing miserably.

“Bye, SJ.”

“Bye,” I say and hang up.

“What took you so long? I said be quick,” Gary says as soon as I enter the shop.

“Sorry, I got a call from my other boss. Unfortunately she can’t give me any work next week,” I tell him and suddenly wish I hadn’t.

“If you need extra hours, I need to get that freezer fully cleaned out.”

I really want to say no, but I can’t, I need the money. “Thanks, Gary,” I reply.

I spend the rest of the day pretending not to notice Gary staring at me. I check the clock and see it three o’clock. Time to clock out. I wait for Gary to go to the freezer and run out back to grab my coat and bag.

“I’m leaving Gary, I’ll see you tomorrow,” I shout.

“SJ, wait!” he says, but I move as quickly as my feet will allow. I’ll apologize in the morning and say I didn’t hear him.

Today has just been one horrible thing after another, surely nothing else can go wrong.

Obviously I spoke too soon.

I pull into my parking space and notice a familiar, unwanted face getting out of her car as I exit mine.

“Julie, how can I help you today?” I ask my social worker.

“I’ve just come by for a chat, SJ. Don’t panic. I just want to stay up to date with the eviction process and to see if I can help,” she says. I don’t believe a single word she says. She was the original social worker who tried to separate me from the twins and I can’t trust her.

“Fine,” I reply and walk toward the door of my building.

“Where are Mitchell and Maddison?” she asks.

“With my neighbor upstairs, why?”

“I was just wondering, there’s no need for suspicion or hostility, SJ.”

“Can you blame me?”

“No, but the last time I was here, the children seemed happy and settled and I don’t want to disrupt that. I just want to see if I can help,” she reiterates, stopping outside my front door.

“Okay, did you want me to get them?”

“Yes, please,” she replies.

I knock on Rita’s door and she answers almost immediately. “Hey, come in, come in,” she says, looking hassled.

“I can’t, Julie is here,” I tell her.

“Why?” Rita asks, panic crossing her face.

I shrug. “She says she wants to help.”

“Be careful around her,” Rita warns.

“I always am,” I reply.

“Umm-hmm. Mitch! Maddie! Time to go!” she calls through.

“I will be. I don’t trust her as far as I can throw her,” I whisper.

“Mommy!” the twins squeal when they see me. I have to admit, I love this part of the day. I open my arms and bring them both into a big hug.

“Did you have a good day?” I ask.

“Yep, I did jumping in mud puddles,” Mitch tells me.

“I did gluing and sticking,” Maddie answers. “And I drawed a picture for you, Mommy.”

“I can’t wait to see it.” I smile. “Get your stuff, Julie is waiting to see you.”

They run off to get their things together and are back at the door in less than thirty seconds. “Now why can’t you do that in the morning when you’re getting ready for day camp?”

“Hi Julie,” the twins greet the social worker. Maddie wraps her arms around Julie’s waist.

“Hey there,” Julie says hugging her back and turns to Mitch. “Hi Mitchell.”

“Shall we go inside?” I suggest, wanting to get this over with.

“Sure,” Julie replies. “I see the bathrooms are being repaired. Does that mean the new owner isn’t selling?”

“I wish that weren’t the case but in all honesty, I don’t know why he’s doing it,” I reply as we take a seat on the couch. I should probably find out what he is up to because if he still plans on tearing down the building, those bathrooms are going to be a complete waste of money. I wonder if he will come by tonight. He probably won’t, but I can hope. I think I’ll pay him a visit Monday and find out about the new bathroom suites. At least it gives me something to look forward to.
Of course it has nothing to do with the fact that you get to see him again.
I squash that thought. Men like him don’t go for single mothers like me. He probably has a pretty blonde on his arm every night of the week.
Why would he want a simple and plain, Sarah-Jayne?
my mother’s voice says in my head.