Significance (Significance #1)(23)

He nodded again and then spoke slowly.
“Well, don’t take this the wrong way and I know it sucked for you this year but...I’m glad you aren’t still with him. And I’m glad you were at that red light.”
I squeezed his chest. “Me, too. It was worth it.”
I felt a rush of hazy warmth from his mind at my words. He drove silently the rest of the way and safely but fast, I enjoyed it all the way.
We reached a long street and he began to slow. I saw the houses we were passing and wondered if he was turning down another street. Those houses were insane. They all had gates out front, like the people who lived there were important. I started getting a bit anxious. I mean Kyle’s house was really nice, but it was nothing compared to these.
“Don’t freak out.” He chuckled reading my thoughts. “We share our house with family a lot of the time, plus Jen and Maria still live there. So we have to have a big place to have room for everyone, but we’re not snobs. Promise.”
“I know. It’s just a little overwhelming compared to what I’ve seen before.”
He pulled up to a big black double gate with a J in silver on each one and a half circle centered in the filigree work along the top of the gate and fence. Just like his tattoo on the inside of his wrist. He pressed a red button on the voice box.
“Yes? State your business here,” a pompous British voice answered.
“It’s me, Randolph. Cut the British crap.”
“Oh. It’s you, Caleb,” a now normal American voice said. “I was trying it out. No good?”
“Nah,” Caleb laughed. “I’d stick with the Aussie if I were you.”
“Oh, well. Come on in, your father’s in his study.”
“Thanks.”
“What was that?” I asked.
“Our butler slash security slash maintenance man, Randolph. He’s a guy we keep around to handle all the house stuff since we’re always in and out. Plus, he’s a hoot.”
“You have a butler?” I asked incredulously.
“A butler, as in one. And he’s a jack of all trades. We don’t have maids or chefs or groundskeepers, we do all that ourselves. We just need someone here all the time for safety reasons. Plus, he really needed a job at the time so my dad helped him,” he explained. “And you’re already on the list to come and go when you want, just in case you’re ever in the neighborhood.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” I said with a smile.
Chapter Eleven
We parked in a huge garage and alongside six other vehicles. Six. I saw his truck that he referred to earlier. It was a black Dodge Ram extended cab. The rest of the cars were expensive and had model names that were letters and numbers and I had no idea what they were, but they looked nice.He got off first this time and lifted me from the bike. He set me down in front of him and took off my helmet.
“I’ll have to keep a steady supply of rubber bands here if we keep this up,” I mused as I tried to tame my hair.
He laughed softly. “Well, you can keep anything here you want. I told you, you’re welcome anytime. In fact, I’m not trying to scare you, but we have a spare bedroom with your name on it.”
“What?”
“We have a couple of extra rooms with beds. Nothing special but anytime you want to crash here you’re welcome to. My parents insisted I tell you that.”
“Oh, ok. Thanks.”
“I mean it. I mean, we still have a lot of things to talk about, but one of them needs to be what you’re going to do when I go back to school; when I come home and to my apartment. I can’t live at Kyle’s forever.”
I nodded and unzipped the jacket, putting it under the seat. “Yeah, I know.”
And I did, I just had no idea what to do about it.
“Ok. Let’s go see Dad.” He took my hand and we walked towards the door. “You really are taking everything well, you know. I knew you would, but I was still a little worried.”
“Do you want me to run for the door screaming? Because I can do that if you want.”
He laughed loudly, his dimple winking, and grabbed me around my stomach. “No, I don’t want that.”
“Just checking.”
“You really are kinda perfect,” he mused quietly.
Oh, I wanted him to kiss me. I wanted him to badly. I didn’t know why he hadn’t yet, but I knew he wanted to from that little flash from his mind. So why was he stalling?
His expression told me he read my mind, but as he opened his mouth to say something we heard a voice over the intercom.
“Caleb, is that Maggie? What are you doing here? Is something wrong?” Peter said frantically in his deep timber voice.
“Of course it’s Maggie, Dad. Who else would I be about to kiss in the garage?” he called out.
I bit my lip to keep the smile from breaking, but kept my composure at his admission. About to kiss!
“Well, bring her in!”
“Ok, I am!” He looked at me and smiled. “I think he likes you.”
“I like him, too. All of your family is great, especially Gran.”
“She’s everyone’s favorite.”
“So, what do you think your dad will know about...this.” I rubbed my arm where the handprint sat under the fabric. “Have you heard of this before?”
“Not me. Maybe he has. I’ll warn you though,” he stopped me and looked at me pointedly, “I’m not thinking this is a good thing. But whatever it is, we’ll get through it, ok?” 
“Ok.”
“I’m not going to let anything happen to you,” he assured.
“I know.”
“Good.” He started towing me again, through the garage doors, and into the house. I was jumped by a big furry blonde creature and slammed into Caleb’s side. “Bella! Down!” He righted me and looked apologetic. “Sorry. She’s still only a puppy. Still learning aren’t you, girl. Bad girl,” he said, but crooned it sweetly like it was an endearment.
“A puppy? She’s huge? What is she?”
“She’s mostly Sheepdog. Only seven months old.”
She did look like a Sheepdog, I could see it now. She was big, up past my knee with long blonde and white shaggy hair that hung over her eyes and legs.
“Well,” I said and bent down to pet her. “She’s pretty.” Bella nuzzled my hand and then my neck, making me giggle while Caleb tried to pull her back. “And sweet. She’s ok,” I assured him.
I scratched behind her ears and she groaned a happy noise and flopped herself right on top of my lap almost. We laughed at her as she wagged her feet in the air and rubbed her head against my hand.
“She likes you. She usually doesn’t like strangers.” Then he groaned and squinted. “That really sounded like some lame pick-up line didn’t it?”
“Kind of,” I laughed. “How did you come up with Bella?”
“Don’t laugh,” he said sternly, took a deep breath and muttered something under his breath that I didn’t catch.
“What?” I asked and leaned closer.
“Twilight! Ok! Twilight!” He laughed. “Maria, it’s her fault. I told her she could name her and she’s on this Twilight kick.” He shook his head. “Jen drew the line at putting a cut out of Edward on her door.”
I laughed and continued to pet Bella. “But she’s only eight, right?”
“Yes, but she’s really smart. She’s read all the books.”
“Well so have I, but I would never have read them when I was eight.”
“It’s not just that though. She reads everything. Murder mystery, fantasy, sci-fi. She’s a freak, but I love her.”
“Wow.”
“Ok, Bella, that’s enough belly rubbing,” he crooned and patted her stomach. “I’m taking Maggie to see Dad.”
We got up and she whined and tried to follow, but Caleb turned and put his hand up. “No, girl. Stay.”
She did but she didn’t look happy about it as her tail hung and she panted. He took my hand and pulled me down a bunch of winding halls and up some big white stairs.
“I can’t stay here, Caleb. I’ll get lost every time I go to the bathroom. It’s like the Labyrinth in here.”
He cracked up. “That’s a good name for it. My dad designed the house to confuse anyone who doesn’t live here. Burglars, you know. There’s a trick to it. I’ll show you later.”
“Ok.”
The next hall we turned had black walls and floors. There were pictures lined with white backdrops of all kinds of funky buildings all down the walls, floor to ceiling.
“These are my dad’s designs,” Caleb said proudly, pulling me to one that was particularly bizarre but in a good way.
“Wow, these are great. I had no idea you could do things like this with a building.”
“Yeah. He’s the best. And he loves it which makes it even better.”
“Caleb?” Peter shouted down the hall. “Are you purposely keeping Maggie from me?”Caleb rolled his eyes and pushed me forward with a hand on the small of my back. Peter was sitting at an insanely large cherry desk in a huge office with black walls as well. He smiled hugely when we entered.
“Here you go, Dad,” Caleb said sarcastically and presented me like a gift. “I’ll just wait over here.”
Peter guffawed and came around to greet me. He was wearing black slacks and a blue Oxford button up with the sleeves rolled up.