Callum, p.8
Callum, page 8
I rub my breastbone. Even recalling his declaration that it was never—that we were over—sends the same pain lancing through me, even after all these years.
I catch Callum looking at me in the rearview mirror and I’m not sure what my face says, but I can tell he’s worried. I avert my gaze out the window, banishing that awful day from my mind. A fight ensued because I was enraged he wouldn’t even consider my feelings. It was horrible, the things we said to each other, and I have never been so let down in my life. When he went into the bathroom, I dressed hastily, grabbed my bag and ran from the room. That was the last time I saw or spoke to him until my mom’s funeral over two years later.
“Home sweet home,” Lila murmurs, and I blink to see the iron gates of the Willard estate parting for us.
Coming off the dark memories of my breakup with Callum, seeing the home where I was unloved and abused for so many years churns my stomach.
“You okay?” Callum asks, and I think he’s talking to Lila, but his head is twisted to look at me in the back seat.
I want to hate him, but it’s not in me. I want to distrust him, but I can’t do that either. He’s saving my and my dad’s lives.
I think maybe I blame Callum for my current predicament. He dumped me and left me vulnerable to his insidious brother. In my mind, that could make complete sense, but then my heart tells me I’m being ridiculous. I’m the one who got involved with Joshua.
But damn it… Callum abandoned me. He told me he loved me in one breath but in the next, he wasn’t ready to commit. My life turned out the way it did because Callum said “never” to me.
“I’m fine,” I assure him, shoring up my resolve. I can be brave and strong.
And I’ve had to do that so often over these last fifteen years, I don’t need Callum’s moral support. It’s enough that he’s taking me away from here. I’ll find a way to pay him back and then I’ll figure out how to make my own way in the world.
CHAPTER 11
Callum
My nerves are already frayed as I help my mom from the passenger seat. While she’s made a remarkable recovery, she’s still a bit weak and leans heavily on my arm as we slowly walk along the stone path that leads to the front portico.
Juniper lags behind us looking incredibly uncomfortable. I have Preston’s assurances that Joshua will not be here, but Juni looks like he might jump out from behind the bushes to grab her. Of course, if he did, I’d stomp his ass.
While I’d love to put my arm around Juniper to comfort her, I can’t let go of my mother, and besides… it’s not my place to provide that to Juni. No matter how much I’d love to pull her into my arms and feel her against me, that’s not something I can have.
Frankly, I don’t deserve it.
The front door opens and Preston stands there with a woman at his side—supposedly the nurse he hired. Preston spares a glance at Juniper, then me and finally a smile breaks out on his face as it lands on his wife.
“Lila,” he murmurs, stepping across the threshold and taking her from my grasp. She willingly goes into his arms and they hug. I’m not sure if the act is a show for the nurse, but Preston murmurs words of comfort and welcome. Mom just snuggles into him more and it makes me want to vomit.
Juniper comes to stand beside me on the porch as Preston introduces the nurse, who immediately takes my mom to whisk her away to the master suite in the first-level west wing of the house.
“I’ll come say goodbye before we leave,” I tell my mom as I kiss her cheek.
“You come say goodbye too,” my mom says to Juniper.
“Of course I will,” Juni promises.
We’re all silent as the nurse and Mom disappear, then Preston turns to face us. We’re still on the porch and he crosses his arms over his chest.
“I don’t like this one bit,” he says.
“What’s that?” I clasp my hands before me. “That your wife survived the fall or that Juniper is moving out?”
“You ungrateful brat,” Preston seethes. “I took you in as my own… provided for you.”
I’m not going to argue with him about that. He’s fucking lying through his teeth. He might have provided me with a room, but I got nothing from this man. I’ve worked for what I have while Joshua had everything handed to him on a silver platter.
Not that it really bothered me because I never expected anything. The only thing I wanted him to do was keep his fucking hands to himself.
Preston turns to Juniper. “If you’d come to my office, I’d like to talk to you privately.”
I move forward and slightly to the right to put myself in front of Juniper. “Not going to happen. If you have something to say to her, say it now. Otherwise, we’ve got some things to pack. I assume Joshua is not in the house.”
“He’s not here,” Preston clips out before facing Juni. “Please reconsider this. Joshua wants to work this out. You two just need some time… maybe a vacation together. He works long hours and he can change—”
“Your son beats me,” Juniper snaps, causing me to turn to look at her. Preston’s mouth slams shut as his eyes widen. “There is no working it out. I would have left a long time ago if I wasn’t so worried about my dad. But now that he’s safe, I’m done with this family. Unless you have fond farewells and good luck to offer me, I’m going to my room to start packing.”
Preston’s face is mottled red with anger but to my surprise, he merely offers a curt nod. Pivoting on his foot, he heads off toward the main suite, presumably to check on his wife.
When he’s out of sight, Juniper lets out a huge sigh. She offers me a lopsided smirk. “That went much better than I expected.”
Smiling, I lift my chin toward the door. “Head up to your room and get working. I’ll grab the suitcases from the car.”
It only takes half an hour for Juniper to go through the remainder of her belongings and pack what she wants to bring. Surprisingly, she only filled two of the three suitcases and had hardly any mementos she wanted to bring with her. Her dad’s room at the nursing facility was covered with framed photos and Juniper packed those up yesterday. They went via private medical jet transport to the new facility five miles from my house in Pittsburgh.
One thing I noticed she packed was a jewelry box that I had given her for her high school graduation. I was finishing my sophomore year of college on an athletic scholarship and didn’t have a lot of money. But I’d saved for months to buy that jewelry box for her, along with the small diamond earrings tucked inside when I gave it to her. I have no clue if those earrings are even in there, but I’m sure Joshua has bought Juniper lots of nice jewelry over the years. He can afford massive sparklers, although technically, I can do that too. My two-and-a-half-million-dollar salary plus performance bonuses with the Titans ensures I could give Juniper all the diamonds in the world.
But she was never impressed by baubles. She was a woman more delighted by the jewelry box, which played “Can’t Help Falling in Love” by Elvis Presley. It’s one of her favorite songs—or at least it used to be.
As she makes a final walk-through of her room, I wrangle the suitcases down the grand staircase and out to the car. Preston has been absent the entire time and while I have to trust that Joshua will stay away, I’ve been on high alert.
When I come inside after putting the last suitcase in the rental, I find Juniper waiting for me in the foyer.
“Anything else you want to get from the house?” I ask.
She shakes her head. “No. Just want to say goodbye to your mom.”
I notice her words are thick with emotion, her eyes glistening. I don’t think she’s crying because she’s losing her home or husband, but mostly because she’s sad to be leaving Lila behind.
At least that’s my assumption.
I yearn to hold my hand out to her, wanting her to be secure in my comforting touch. But I’m not sure she’d take it.
I haven’t touched her since that moment in the car three days ago when I held her hand and kissed her forehead. She’d pulled away and told me not to promise her things. The wall she’s put up between us is thick and high and I will respect it. There’s nothing there but friendship anyway, but fuck if it isn’t hard not to touch her. I’m more attracted to her now than I was before, at least from a physical aspect. She’s aged with perfection, her womanly curves so very sexy, the confidence and poise that’s come with living life. Hell, the way she’s made this decision to break from Joshua and upend her life attracts me to her.
And then, there’s the never-ending supply of sweet memories that have flooded back this past week being around her. All the great times we had for the eight years we were together. I loved that woman so much it nearly destroyed me when I broke things off.
But not as much as it hurt her, that I know. My actions put her right in a monster’s path and this whole fucked-up situation is very much my fault.
Juniper turns toward my mom’s bedroom and I follow her in there. Preston is sitting in one of the wingback chairs near the window, surfing on his phone while the nurse dispenses medication to my mom. He glances up, grimaces at seeing us standing in the doorway and then drops his gaze again.
I’d prefer it if he would leave the room as I’d like one more opportunity to impress upon my mother she can come to Pittsburgh. I won’t say anything in front of him, though, because I don’t want her to suffer for it.
We spend about fifteen minutes—me on one side of the bed, Juniper on the other—speaking of unimportant stuff because the things I want to say must be quelled. I kiss my mom gently on the cheek and peer into her eyes as I try to convey the invitation one more time with only a look.
She understands me and smiles. “I love you,” she says, patting my cheek. It’s all she’ll commit to.
“I love you too.”
Juniper leans over and takes her hand. “I’ll check in on you every day. Rest well and get stronger. You call me anytime, okay?”
“You call me anytime too,” my mom says, her eyes misting a bit. “You’re my daughter, Juni. Don’t ever forget that.”
Juniper leans over to hug her and my mom whispers loud enough that I can hear it. “I’m glad you’re getting out. Don’t come back, Juniper.”
My eyes dart over to Preston, still focused on his phone. It wasn’t loud enough to hear but I just wanted to make sure. He would have considered that a direct betrayal, encouraging Juniper to leave his son.
We shower my mom with a few more hugs and kisses. As we leave the room, I only stop long enough to tell Preston, “Call me if she has any issues at all.”
Preston nods curtly. I want to tell him to get some psychological help for his son, but that would only inflame matters. I’m ready to get the fuck out of here.
CHAPTER 12
Juniper
I’ve never been to Pennsylvania before. I’ve hardly been anywhere, which seems odd given the money I married into by joining myself to Joshua Willard.
Outside of attending college in Denver with Callum, I’ve been to a few cities in California a handful of times with Joshua when he’d have to travel to the stores. He took me to New York for our fifth wedding anniversary. We got into a fight in the hotel room before dinner. He was drunk, pushed me into the mini bar and stormed out of the room. I didn’t see him again until the next morning when it was time to catch our flight home. He never said a word about any of it, nor did he apologize.
I didn’t care. It was par for the course and I didn’t expect different.
Callum arranged for a car service to pick us up… a big Suburban that easily held all of my suitcases and his one modest bag. We sat in the back seat, Callum quietly talking on the phone with someone about the team—perhaps the coach. I try to tune out as I don’t want to eavesdrop and instead focus my attention out the window to take in what will be my new home, at least for the foreseeable future.
The landscape unfolds in a patchwork of suburban sprawl and green expanses. Shopping centers and office parks give way to rolling green hills. Communities dot the way, box-shaped homes nestled in pockets of serene woodland or perched on slopes, offering fleeting glimpses into everyday life. Leaning left, I look through the windshield and see a tunnel approaching… something I’ve never been through in my life.
Callum notices, puts a hand over the phone speaker and murmurs, “That’s the Fort Pitt Tunnel. The city is on the other side.”
The mouth of the tunnel swallows us up and weirdly, it feels instantly cooler in the vehicle. Artificial lights flicker overhead, casting a rhythmic glow that plays over the interior. The outside noise is muffled, replaced by the echo of vehicles encapsulated within the same stretch. As the darkness of the Fort Pitt Tunnel releases its hold, we’re thrust into daylight, and the Pittsburgh skyline steals my breath.
The buildings, a collection of aspirations set in steel and glass, rise from the ground, their surfaces shimmering with the reflections of a river that winds beneath them like a ribbon of blue silk. One structure, taller and more striking than the rest, pierces the sky, commanding my attention. It stands as if it were the very embodiment of the city’s industrious spirit, a monolith among the clouds. The green slopes of surrounding hills provide a lush counterpoint to the urban contours, serving as a reminder of nature’s proximity to man’s achievements. There are so many bridges—varied shapes, colors and sizes—spanning the watery divide, linking the city’s parts into a coherent whole.
“It’s incredible,” I murmur.
“Cannon… let me call you back,” Callum says, and I turn to find him pocketing his phone. He points through the windows and starts identifying various buildings and bridges, of course pointing out most prominently the Titans’ arena.
We drive past the city only a few miles and then we’re in a more suburban area, supposedly on our way to Callum’s home. He didn’t tell me much other than he lived north of Pittsburgh in a gated community. This didn’t surprise me as I assume he’s made quite a bit of money in his career and he’s taking very good care of my dad. I know how costly those bills are.
But rather than a posh neighborhood, the driver of our car enters the parking lot of a three-story, red brick building.
“Where are we?” I ask.
“I figured you’d want to see your dad before anything,” Callum says, and I notice the sign that says Allegheny Advanced Care.
The surge of emotion that hits me is brutal, mostly because it speaks to the Callum I remember. Always so thoughtful. Right from that very first time we met when Joshua was acting like a jackass and Callum was so gallant. It’s one of the reasons I loved him so much. He always thought of me first.
Always protected me.
Took care of me.
Cherished me.
Until he didn’t when I needed it the most.
It’s a cold wave of water, reminding me that Callum hurt me. It’s utterly confusing since I was just suffused with warmth from his kindness. The push and pull of emotions where he’s concerned are jarring and I wish I could just let the past go.
I look at the beautiful building, which looks very new, the gorgeous landscaping in full summer bloom, and I know the inside is going to be as lovely. Callum took it upon himself to find this place for my father, charter a private jet, and foot the bill.
He expects not a damn thing from me and is doing all this to save me from a horrible life in which I was trapped.
Without thought or hesitation, I reach over and take his hand. I give it a squeeze and I hope he feels how deeply genuine my gratitude is when I smile at him. “Thank you. Yes, I very much would like to see him.”
Callum smiles back. “Good. I’m going to make a grocery store run while you visit him. Everything’s already set up inside… they’re expecting you. Right now, you’re the only approved person on his visitors’ list. I’d like you to add me, if you’re good with that.”
“Yes, of course.” And yeah, some gooey feelings swirl that he’d want to visit my dad too.
Callum exits the car and escorts me up to the door. He glances at his watch. “It’s almost four p.m. How about I pick you up at six? Does that give you enough time?”
“That’s plenty,” I assure him. While I’ll actively talk to my dad and move his arms and legs to help with his therapy, most visits, I just sit in silence with him. But I also want to walk around and check out the place and talk to the care staff.
Callum heads back to the vehicle and after I watch him pull away, I enter the facility that will be my dad’s new home for a while. I’m impressed by how lovely everything is. Nothing looks institutionalized with warm colors on the walls, muted lighting and beautiful art. I know that the décor is lost on many of the patients, especially those like my dad, but it feels like you’re in a home and not a hospital.
The assistant director of the facility is in and she greets me as if we’re old friends. I’m sure having the GM of the Titans make the arrangements ensured a bit of VIP treatment, but everyone we meet as I’m given a tour is genuinely kind and outgoing.
When she finally shows me to my dad’s room, I first check him to make sure he looks good, to see that he’s clean and resting peacefully whether his eyes are open or closed.
He looks good, lying in what appears to be a comfortable bed. Soft music pipes in from a Bluetooth speaker and his eyes are open, blinking periodically—his body’s natural reaction to keep his eyes moist.
“Hey, Daddy,” I murmur as I move to the side of the bed. The walls are a warm shade of gold and the light comes from a bedside table lamp along with windows that overlook an outdoor courtyard. It makes for a peaceful environment, not that my father notices.
I take his hand and start talking. “How are you liking your new home here in Pittsburgh? Did you see the city sort of explode before your eyes when you came through the Fort Pitt Tunnel? It’s like, boom! Mountain, then city. And the rivers are amazing. We’re really lucky that Callum was able to get you into this facility. It’s so nice. You remember Callum, right? Well, I’ll be staying with him for a while until the divorce from Joshua is finalized. I know you never really liked Joshua, so that should make you happy. I feel good about things…”
