The Ranch Next Door: A Billionaire's Refuge

(Caleb)

"1995" came my wife, Anna's excited chatter. "I mean that one is very easy."

Stroking my beard and pretending to think for a second, I replied, "Boyz II men, On bended knees."

Her eyes widened before she broke into a fit of laughter. "Okay, I didn't expect that. But I agree. So, how about 1998?"

That was my favorite pass time- playing music games and sharing our favorite songs and artists on a certain topic for different years. Today, it was Love songs from the 90s to the early 2000s.

It was one of the perks of being married to my childhood friend, arranged marriage aside. While we couldn't boast of being in love and not being able to live without each other, we had mutual respect and decades of games and childhood memories to relive.

It was an arrangement that most of my friends who hadn't been that lucky, envied greatly. When our parents suggested getting married to strengthen my business empire as most investors and companies I needed to partner with had a traditional approach to life.

They believed a family man, for some reason, to be more trustworthy, dependent and credible. So, that was what I gave them. A marriage of convenience. With my childhood best friend.

"1998 is definitely Celine Dion's My heart will go on. You can't beef titanic," I stated, grabbing my glass and taking a sip of orange juice.

"Can't beat that," Anna shrugged. "Titanic is a classic. Although I still don't know why they couldn't both stay on the piece of wood."

I chuckled at her cute little pout. "Because it wouldn't have been able to bear their combined weight."

She scoffed. "Whatever. Oh, I have it. 2001."

"Bring on a real challenge. Jan Layers' Only your love will do."

Anna clapped excitedly. "I raise you Backstreet boys' Drowning."

"Mmm," I muttered, rubbing the back of my neck. "2005?"

"Mariah Carey. We belong together. 2010."

"Bruno Mars---"

"Grenade," she completed with a hearty laugh and proceeded to yell the lyrics of the song, "I'll catch a grenade for you!"

My brows furrowed in concern as Anna suddenly placed a hand over her stomach, flinching.

"Is everything okay? Is it the baby."

She cracked a smile and nodded. "She's as spirited as her father. Practicing her punch and kicks from the womb. Here, feel," she said, grabbing my hand and placing it over stomach.

Sure enough, I felt a tiny kick, like a gentle promise, sending a wave of joy through me. My eyes locked with Anna's as my heart swelled in my chest. These two people, I would gladly give my life for.

Suddenly, Anna's skin began to pale and shrink. I leapt up in fright as the woman before me morphed into something else. There were holes where her eyes should be and she seemed to be holding something in her hands.

An ominous rattle filled the air as those bottomless dark holes stared at me.

"Why did you abandon us? Why, Caleb? Where were you when I needed you the most?"

I wanted to scream, but the sound was stuck in my throat. A sinister laugh escaped the horrible aberration of Anna before me.

"I'm sorry!" I forced out. "I'm sorry."

I jolted awake, my eyes snapping open as I gasped for air. My chest heaved and my sheets were tangled around my body like a restraining shroud. I sat up with a jolt, grasping the edge of my bed in a desperate attempt at grasping at reality.

It was all a nightmare. The same one I'd had for well over a year.

"Just a nightmare, Caleb," I chanted over and over again as the shrink instructed. "Just a nightmare. It wasn't your fault."

I rubbed my face, as though in an attempt to scrub away any lingering traces off sleep and the horror slideshow I'd just endured. My eyes darted around the dark room as if I expected horror Anna to leap out of the shadows and finish what she'd started.

Except she didn't exist. Not in reality anyways. According to my therapist, she was a version I made out of my need to pay penance for what I did or more appropriately, didn't do.

I threw off the cover and swung my legs over the side of the bed, pausing for a moment to inhale deeply and calm my racing thoughts.

Walking out of the room, I caught the eerie shadows the moon casted on the glass walls of my penthouse apartment. Ignoring the ominous feeling and bitter taste in my throat, I dropped by the kitchen to grab a bottle of water.

The bottle crinkled as I uncapped it and took a gulp of the water. My heart thudded against my chest as a door squealed in the distance. I dropped the bottle and walked in the direction of the sound, stopping only when I got to the entrance of what was meant to be my daughter's nursery.

Everything was exactly the way we'd left it. my chest tightened painfully at the sight of the crib that Anna and I had spent hours figuring out how to fix. My throat suddenly felt dry. I couldn't breathe.

With as much strength as I could muster, I rushed back to the room and blindly grabbed my phone off the nightstand.

The shrink's number was on speed dial and she picked on the first ring, proving why I paid her as well as I did.

"Caleb, are you okay?"

"It happened again," I choked out. "I...I..."

"Easy, Calen. Breathe in. Out. Slowly. Like we practiced. In. out."

I focused on her voice, inhaling deeply and exhaling slowly per her instruction. We kept at it for what seemed like eternity, until the shadows seemed to recede and the darkness no longer felt so suffocating. I was in control now.

"Better?" the shrink asked, her tone laced with concern.

"Yes. Thank you."

"What triggered this, Caleb? Was it the nightmare?"

I shook my head, then caught myself and used words. "The nursery."

"What?"

"I had a nightmare. The same one. Then I went to the kitchen to get a drink and...the nursery was open. My housekeeper must have forgotten to lock the door," I rushed out.

The shrink, Monica, sighed. "Seeing the nursery must have brought back a lot of memories. I see how that would trigger a panic attack."

"This is embarrassing," I said with a dry chuckle, rubbing my face.

"Caleb, I still think you could use a change of scenery. Why don't you go somewhere quiet. Somewhere where you can journal, unpack this trauma and heal? You haven't taken a vacation in years. And like I always tell you, avoiding the problem won't make it go away. You have to face it and work through it."

I tossed her words about in my mind. She was right. I hadn't been addressing the source of my problem, I simply focused on fighting the symptoms as they appeared.

"Caleb? Are you there."

"Yes, I am," I affirmed and blowing out a breath, added, "You're right., Monica. Thank you."

I need to get the fuck out of here.