Keller and Callahan

Chapter 25

Locking the front and back doors, Sam double checked them, twice, they set off hand in hand toward Olivia’s office for the day’s briefing with the team. It was still early, with the soft sounds of people shuffling in and out of their cabins, prepping their coffees or having an early breakfast on their patios. Olivia called this the calm before the storm, because in a few short hours, the peaceful quiet of the morning would be replaced by children’s laughter, adult beverages passed around, and the overall rowdy celebration that accompanied the holiday.

Walking through the lobby to her office, they noticed that everyone else had already arrived. As they entered the room, all conversations came to a halt.

“I feel like I’m back in high school again. Don’t you know the quickest way for someone to become suspicious is to stop talking when they walk in the room?” Olivia said sarcastically as she tossed her cell phone and keys onto her desk and sat in her chair.

“Just trying to keep things as calm as possible, Livvy Girl,” Ray said, standing up from the chair he was sitting in.

If they were going for calm, they failed miserably. Her father had dark circles under his eyes, broadcasting like a giant billboard that he hadn”t had any decent sleep in days. Cassie’s hair was pulled up in a messy bun, which was a rare occurrence, only being tied up when she was stressed - it was her nervous tell, she had a habit of pulling on her hair until it came out in clumps (college finals sent her straight to the hairdresser to fix her mess). The messy bun was the only way she would leave it alone. Even the stoic Jensen, who was a professional for God’s sakes, was holding his jaw in a tight clench, telling Olivia that even he was on edge.

Trying to lighten the mood, she slapped a hand on her desk that caused the jumpy family in her office to startle. “Well, speaking of calm, that is one thing this place won’t be today. So let’s get to it so I can get out there. Lots of things to do today,” Olivia said expectantly.

Clearing his throat, Jensen stepped forward from where he was leaning against the window. “We have all officers in place, stationed all over the grounds. We have a couple extra undercover agents planning to be in the crowd during the fireworks. Given the past history, we are betting that his ego would want to make an appearance on the anniversary of what happened ten years ago.”

“Ok, so it sounds like everything is in place, so can I get back to my job for the day?” Olivia raised an eyebrow at Jensen, almost daring him to tell her she needed to sit this one out and hide away in her office.

“Yes, but we are going to put a shadow on you, so you’re never alone.”

“You mean like a babysitter?” She challenged.

“Liv,” Ray chided. “Detective Jones is just trying to keep everyone safe.”

“Between all of the officers crawling the grounds, it already feels like I’m in the middle of an episode of NYPD Blue. I don’t want someone following me around that may draw unwanted attention from the guests.”

“What about if Detective Jones is the one who is on your detail?” Ray offered.

All eyes shifted over to Jensen, who was trying his best to hide the slight flush that was creeping up his neck. “I am going to be stationed in a solitary position so all officers know where to find me in case the service on their radios go out.”

“And where will that be, Detective?” Olivia asked sweetly, but in a mocking way.

Jensen’s eyes quickly darted to Cassie who was standing by the door on the other side of the room. Coughing into his fist, he addressed the room. “I will be in the bar.”

Everyone’s eyes ping ponged across the room to Cassie, who did a terrible job at hiding the crimson blush on her cheeks. Recovering quickly, she quipped back in reply. “Oh great. Now I’m stuck with Captain Grumpy from CSI skulking around my bar all day.”

“I’m a Detective, not a Crime Scene Investigator,” he responded back dryly. Cassie shot him daggers with her eyes, but before she could make a comeback, Sam interrupted.

“Children. Children. We’re getting off course here. Liv, I hear you when you say you don’t want an officer trailing you all day, but we can’t leave you unprotected. So I will shadow you all day instead. You’re never left alone, no negotiations on that. Agreed?”

Biting the tip of her pen, a nervous habit she still hadn’t been able to kick, she eyed Sam with confidence. “Agreed.”

“Good. Now that we are all in agreement, my team has been given the resorts’ radio frequency, so you can reach them should any issues arise. The first sign of Greg Callahan, you radio or call me directly where I will dispatch the closest officer. Understood?”

Everyone nodded in agreement, Cassie giving him a sarcastic salute, and a tense hush enveloped the room.

Feeling the need to break the tension, Sam stepped forward. “I know I have brought this on all of you, and there aren’t enough words to explain how grateful I am for each of you to stand beside me on this. I promise this will all be over soon. No one wants that bastard behind bars more than me.”

“I’m a close second,” Olivia deadpanned.

Grateful for her attempt at a joke, Sam released a chuckle. “Jensen is one of the best, and I have no doubt that he and his team will keep us and the guests safe.” Turning to Ray, he looked him in the eye with all the sincerity he had in his body. “And there is no one on this Earth that is going to protect your daughter more fiercely than I will. I can promise you that.”

Feeling the pressure of tears struggling to break free, Ray cleared his throat and stepped forward. “I know, Son,” he said as he extended his hand for Sam to shake.

Looking around the room at her loved ones, Olivia had to do her best to fight off the tears that were threatening to burst through. Because if they broke the dam, she was afraid there would be no stopping them and she would crumble under the weight of what lay ahead of them. So instead of telling them how much she loved them for how selfless they were by putting themselves in danger for her, she chose to make a promise to herself that she would tell each of them once this nightmare was over.

“Now that we have a game plan in place, I mean this in the nicest way possible. Get the hell out of my office so I can get to work.”

The day flew by in an absolute blur. Before he had time to catch his breath after literally running after Olivia all day long, they realized they had worked through lunch and were absolutely starving by the time dinner rolled around. Poking their heads into the restaurant hoping to snag a quick burger before resuming the finishing touches on the evening festivities, that plan was quickly squashed when they saw how absolutely slammed they were. So much so that Jensen was behind the bar with Cassie filling pint glasses and pouring shots. And by the grimace plastered to his face, he was not happy about it. Giggling at the way Cassie was ordering him around like a drill sergeant, they turned and ran to Olivia’s house to throw some quick sandwiches together instead.

“Man, Jensen looked like he wanted to murder Cassie. If he hadn’t taken an oath to honor and protect, I’d be concerned for her safety,” Olivia joked as she grabbed some condiments from the fridge.

“Eh, Jensen needs a little bit of that. He’s used to calling the shots. I’m glad he’s getting a taste of his own medicine,” Sam replied as he started to slather their bread with mayo and mustard.

“Well, Cassie will definitely be the one to give it to him. You remember how she made us enter the sixth grade talent show and insisted we learn her original choreography?” Olivia slapped some turkey on the bread and tossed the sandwiches onto plates with a handful of chips.

“How could I forget? It took me years to get ‘Oh Mickey, you’re so fine, you’re so fine you blow my mind, hey Mickey” out of my head. Sometimes I wake up in a cold sweat just thinking about it.”

Olivia let go a laugh just as she shoveled chips into her mouth, washing it down with a Diet Coke. “Oh the horrors of middle school.”

She looked over at Sam and was instantly transported back in time. Seeing the way he ate his sandwich with such care, almost in reverence that he had a meal in front of him, because so many times as a child he had no idea where his next meal was coming from. Even though he had grown into such a strong and strapping man, she sometimes caught glimpses in his eyes of that little boy who was afraid to go home at night in fear of what awaited him.

It almost startled her how he was such a perfect combination of the boy he used to be, but had grown into a cool and confident man who overcame so much adversity. And instead of letting the anger ruin him, he turned it into something amazing with his Center.

“Tell me more about your Center. I want to know everything,” Olivia said as she popped a chip into her mouth.

“Well, besides the fact that it was the one thing that kept me alive while I was without you, what do you want to know?” He said without looking up from his plate.

“What does a day look like at Callahan Center?” She twisted on the couch so she was sitting crossed legged facing him.

“Well, we are always open, which is fairly new. One of the dispatchers who worked with Jensen recently retired and quickly went stir crazy. She used to work the night shift and had a hard time transitioning to being awake during the day. So she is at the Center overnight in case there is an emergency.” Sam crunched down on a chip. “For example, if some kid’s asshole father decides to beat him up in the middle of the night, and he doesn’t have a beautiful best friend, who has a trellis conveniently located outside her second story window - they can find Carolyn at the Center.”

Pausing with her coke halfway to her lips, she sucked in a deep breath.

“We have a chef on staff, who is there to have the kitchen open for breakfast and dinner. Super basic options for breakfast, we offer cereal, oatmeal, bagels and fruit during the week, and pancakes and waffles on the weekends. There are always two dinner options available between five and seven, and we have brown bag lunches available for pickup before school for any kid that doesn’t have one from home or can’t afford school lunch.” He paused and took a sip of his soda before continuing.

“Other than that, we have a Rec Room, a smaller scale of the one your dad designed here. I got my inspiration from him. It’s a small space with a TV, board games, a small foosball table, and a few desks for kids to do their homework. We have a basketball hoop outside, and a big shed full of other outdoor activities they can play with.”

Olivia was almost frozen when he looked up at her. So he decided to press on. “I also struck a deal with the local swimming pool in town, that we can use their pool on Thursday afternoons so I can teach any kid to learn how to swim. It’s a basic survival skill, and I thought it was my turn to pay it forward.”

Olivia had no words. As she looked at the man sitting next to her, he was full of so much pride in the work he was doing, and yet he still seemed shy to talk about it. She was overwhelmed with emotion as she thought of all of the lives he was changing, and how it took such a strong soul to be able to pour themselves into something so completely and so unselfishly. When she felt the tears prick the back of her eyes, she let them come.

Noticing the tears roll down her cheeks, Sam put his plate on the table and opened his arms. “Oh baby, come here.”

Without hesitating, she crawled onto his lap and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck as she tucked her face into his shoulder. He held her for a few minutes until he felt her breath even out before he pulled her back to look her in the eyes.

Wiping a tear from her cheek with his thumb, he kissed her where the stain remained. “Talk to me, Liv.”

“I was angry at you for so many years, Sam. So many. I had this idea that you were off, living your life, having a grand old time, romancing girls with those perfect green eyes, believing you never thought of me. But hearing about all the groundbreaking work you are doing, and how I was a small part of that, that your memories from the campground were a part of that, it makes me so angry at myself that I ever doubted you. There was a part of me that held on to the fact that what we had was real and special, but anytime I leaned into that, it would crush me because I was still living without you. So it just became easier to be angry.”

Rubbing his thumb along her cheeks, he stared into her eyes, straight down to her soul.

“I will never blame you for being angry. I left you, Liv. I wouldn’t expect anything less from the unbelievably strong girl I fell in love with when we were kids. You deserved so much more.”

“I always told myself that it was crazy to think that I could have found my soulmate when I was ten years old. It made it a little more bearable to get through the years without you. Trying to convince myself that was just the whimsy talking. But sitting here with you, hearing about what you have made of your life, and the man you have become, I can’t help but feel incredibly lucky that I got to fall in love with my soulmate two times in one lifetime. It makes all the years apart worth it.”

Sam’s eyes searched Olivia’s frantically, almost feeling if he blinked she would disappear. She was the first person in his life that ever loved him, and no matter what else he encountered in his life, her love would be more than enough. It was because of her and what she saw in him that made him want to spread the love she had given him to other kids who weren’t as lucky to find an Olivia in their lives. She was the reason for everything he’d done and everything he would do.

“I promise you, with everything I have inside me, that every year from here on out will be more than worth it,” he said as he softly placed a kiss on her lips. “I love you, Liv.”

“I love you too, Sam. I always have and I always will.” She pulled him tight against her and told herself she was never going to let go. After a few minutes of them losing themselves in the embrace, Sam pulled away.

“I hate to break up the moment, but shouldn’t we get back out there? I don’t want to get in trouble with the boss,” he gave her a smirk.

Groaning, she unfolded herself from his lap and stood. “Yeah, I hear she’s a real slave driver. Not someone you want to piss off,” she tossed over her shoulder with a wink as she took their empty plates to the sink. “Are you ready to go create a new 4th of July memory to erase the last one we spent together?”

Wrapping his arms around her waist, he pulled her into a deep kiss that caused a moan to slip from her throat, when he reluctantly pulled back, he held out his hand for her.“This is ten years in the making, Olivia Keller. Let’s go.”

Taking his hand and following him out the door, she whispered under her breath. “I’ll follow you anywhere, Sam Callahan.”