Chapter Twenty-One
Sia
I’m doing the final touches on the cleanup in Zach’s old room, checking to make sure everything was done correctly. We’re ready for the crew to come in and make this room beautiful. The carpet’s ripped up, the walls are ready to paint, and the new smart blinds have already been hung.
Tomorrow the painters come, the flooring people the day after, then the furniture will be delivered. I always wait to hang items on the walls until the furniture’s in place. Otherwise, I end up not liking the placement. It has to all flow cohesively.
This is the final room in the main house. I can’t resist doing the guest houses. I might’ve put up a tiny fight, but I don’t want to leave the ranch either. I have to do the boutique hotel first, and that will take me about a month, so I’m booked out for a few months. I haven’t stayed this busy since the business began. It’s great. For once, I have a bit of extra money in my bank account and my credit cards are paid off. It’s very freeing. It allows me to be a little choosier on which clients I accept.
Since posting the pictures of this home with the Callahan name on my website, I’m getting more and more people wanting to meet with me. Just as I think I can get out of this city, I get super busy and pulled back in. But, the more I work, the more I’ll make, and then I’ll be able to go home and do what I truly love.
I stop at the window, leaning on the frame and take some deep breaths. I might be coming down with something. I’ve been fighting nausea all week. Today’s the worst. Along with a stomachache, I’m overheated. I refuse to let Zach kiss me right now. He might think he’s invincible, but flu bugs are tiny and they like to jump from person to person.
When I feel a bit steadier I go to the large walk-in closet. The door’s already been removed and a beautiful white one will be installed the same day as the new carpet. All of the doors in the house now match. It’s the first thing people notice when they enter a house so I’m a firm believer in not skimping on doors.
I grab the stepladder and climb up so I can finally see the top shelf of the closet. There was nothing on it when this closet was cleaned out, but this home is old, and there might be leftover things no one has seen in forty years. I’ve seen that before. It’s a bit dusty as I look it over, causing me to almost miss the end corner of an envelope sticking out.
I climb down, move the ladder, and climb back up. I grab the edge of the envelope and tug. It’s stuck. I pry the board a bit, give another tug, and it finally comes out. It’s dusty, and looks like it’s been here for a while. Zach’s name is written on the outside. It’s a thick envelope and I can’t see what’s inside of it. My curiosity is piqued, but this isn’t mine to open. I never snoop in anyone’s home while I’m doing a redesign.
I still have work to do, so I tuck the envelope into my pocket, then finish going over the room. When I’m satisfied everything’s in place, I finally exit the bedroom. It’s been a very busy day. I like it. I’d much rather have too much to do than not enough.
I walk down the hallway to the library where Zach’s working. He wasn’t kidding when he told me he was going to use the library as his office. It’s his favorite room in the house now. When I stay over with him, we sit across from each other in the comfortable chairs with our laptops and wine or coffee next to us. It’s so domestic it makes my heart thump when I stop working and look over to see Zach looking absolutely sexy as hell with his glasses in place as he types away on his computer.
He prefers the chair, but we shifted things around a little to bring in a desk for when he’s busy making calls and needing his computer too. He looks up as soon as I enter, his eyes instantly brightening. He always makes me feel wanted. I keep watching him as he tells me not to leave. I don’t want to overstay my welcome. But he appears highly disappointed every time I go home for the night. Can this last for months, years, or a lifetime? A part of me is starting to believe it can.
“Hello, beautiful,” he says.
“Hi, handsome.” I go over to him and lean down. He tries to kiss me, but I shift his head and give him a kiss on the cheek. “I’m still not feeling well. No lip to lip,” I tell him for the hundredth time in a few days.
“I don’t care if I get sick. We’ll stay in bed together and get better,” he says with a waggle of his brows.
“As pleasant as that sounds, we both have far too much to do to take days off sick in bed.”
“We took a weekend together and look how well that turned out.”
Yeah, our weekend in Seaville really did turn out well. We’ve been together ever since, and I can’t complain at all. But if we’re taking time off I’d rather it be fun, not because we’re both sick and miserable.
I pull out the envelope. “I found this in the back corner on the top shelf in your old closet,” I say as I hand it over. “Is it something from when you were a kid?”
He looks at the envelope and his smile falls away, his expression instantly changing. He seems sad. This isn’t the reaction I’ve been expecting. He was in that room for many years, spent his youth in it. Why is this envelope upsetting him? Then I realize it might be something from his parents. My heart’s already breaking for him and I have no idea what the envelope is about.
He runs his fingers over the writing. “This looks like Gramps’s writing,” he quietly says. He’s trying to hold his emotions in, but it isn’t easy. I don’t know how I’d handle a letter from a ghost. I’d probably be a blubbering mess.
“What can I do?” I want to make this better for him, but don’t know how.
He puts his computer on the table then holds out his arms. “Sit with me,” he says. I don’t hesitate as I sink onto his lap and he wraps his arms around me. I snuggle against him, laying my head on his shoulder as I rub his arm. If this is what he needs, I’ll sit this way all night.
“I have a long story to tell you, and I hope it doesn’t make you question us being together. Before I start, let me tell you that no one makes choices for me, and no one but me decides how my life should go.”
I’m confused and also a little scared. This is an ominous way to start a conversation. “I can’t imagine anyone ever telling you what to do.”
“Tell me this won’t change how you feel about me,” he demands.
I smile against his neck. “I can’t imagine anything will change how I feel. I haven’t had a lot of choice in this from the moment we met again.”
“I know. You fought it, but what we have is too powerful to throw away.” His arms tighten around me. I continue to run my fingers along his arm, and shift a bit, getting more comfortable. This is my favorite place to be.
“This all began when my brothers and I were in college at OSU,” he says.
“Wow, okay, that’s a long time ago,” I say.
“Yes, we were going out to take a midnight swim in a lake near our house. When we got close to the water we heard a woman splashing in the water. She was calling out for help, and then she went under. We jumped in and swam to her. Luckily, we found her, pulled her from the water, and gave her CPR. She was fine, or at least she appeared to be fine.”
I don’t know what to say to this and what it has to do with the envelope, so I don’t interrupt. I’m sure it will all circle back to now. He takes a long moment and I squeeze him. Of course he was a hero even as a young college man. I don’t think he realizes how special he and his brothers are.
“She went from lying on the ground by the lake to getting up, looking like nothing had happened to her. We told her she needed to go to the hospital but she gave us this mysterious smile, and then she walked off saying something about a gift. I’m not sure, none of us were really paying attention to that. We were still in shock over the near-drowning.”
“I bet,” I say, unable to keep it inside.
“When we returned to our house we found three boxes on the steps. We were a little creeped out if I’m being honest. It all seemed like a dream. We didn’t know what to think about the situation. We took them into the house, then eventually they got tucked away in some corner. When we moved from the house, they must have gotten packed up and sent back home to the ranch. We didn’t think about them again after that.”
“You never opened them?”
“Nope.”
“That would’ve killed me. I’d have to have known what was in those boxes,” I tell him.
“We were young and easily distracted back then.”
I chuckle. “Not much has changed then.” I must admit I love how dedicated this man is when he wants something. On the other hand I fear how easily he’s done with something when that fascination ends.
He squeezes me again. “I get distracted by you, like you’re doing to me now,” he says with a little chuckle. “I like it though, because it helps my heart not hurt so much.”
Admitting his heart’s hurting makes me want to hold him tighter, makes me want to protect him. For this strong, beautiful, capable man to feel vulnerability is unreal to me. I feel like I need him, but maybe, just maybe, he needs me as well. Maybe he really isn’t the same kid who was with me nine years ago. Maybe he does want something more permanent. We can’t guarantee anything. Heck, people fall in love, get married, have children, and then divorce. I can’t expect him to always love me, but I can hope this will last if we both want it enough.
“Do you know what this envelope has to do with the box?”
“I might,” he says. “When Gramps died last year, we met in his office and sitting on his desk were the three boxes. We looked over them, and they didn’t appear to be tampered with. The rules for the boxes were that we had to open them one at a time. Blaze did his first, then Callan, and now me.”
He again pauses. I’m in shock. This is so strange to me and I don’t know how it all comes around to this envelope. But I’m patient.
“Blaze’s journey was to go on a treasure hunt. He found whatever it was he was supposed to, but he wouldn’t share the entire journey. That’s part of the game. Callan was to go to Seaville. Both of my brothers were guided to one person to help them along the way.”
He lets this sink in for a moment. I finally get it and sit up so I can look him in the eyes. “What person was supposed to help them?” He smiles.
“Well, in Blaze’s case, he was sent to Courtney. Callan was sent to The Mermaid Café where he then was teamed up with Sasha.”
“What are you saying, Zach?” I’m so confused.
“My game was to redesign this house... and your name was the one I was to go to.”
It takes several long heartbeats for this to sink in. I’m incredibly confused. It makes no sense at all. “How would some lady from a lake know my name?” I pause for a moment. “Did this happen before or after we met?”
“I met you for the first time after this happened. I was finished with college for a couple of years at that point.”
“So, why would my name be in your box? I don’t understand.”
“I don’t either. This letter might tell me more, but I’m afraid to open it,” he admits.
I want to rip the envelope away from him and open it myself. I want to know how in the world my name became a part of this game that began years before Zach and I even met. It doesn’t seem possible.
“I think this letter is from Gramps. It might have nothing to do with the box. But why would he have me do this entire revamp of the house if I wasn’t supposed to find this?”
“This is so out of my league.”
“Are you freaked out?” he asks.
I chuckle. “Can’t lie, I’m a bit freaked out.”
“Gramps liked to keep his secrets, and he always had some strange friends, but I trusted him fully. I don’t know if he knew the lady in the lake, or what all of this means, but now that my journey is coming to an end, my brothers and I can sit down and talk about it. You’re on the last room, so as much as it kills me, we should wait to open this envelope until the room is finished. I think it’s all a part of the game. I didn’t want to play it at first, but now I’m a bit afraid of messing with fate. I don’t want to take any chances of losing you.”
His words warm my heart even more. I snuggle closer against him and we sit together as we both think about this new revelation between us. Did we come together because of a game? Does that change what will happen when the game’s over? I don’t know, but I know I don’t want to leave right now.
There’s no doubt I’m a bit scared. My life’s involved in this too. If this game he’s playing ends and then he’s done with me, I’ll be broken. I’ve figured out, though, that I’ll eventually heal. I’ve survived heartbreak before, and I’ll survive it again. I also don’t regret my time with Zach. I have no doubt that I’m right here where I’m supposed to be in this moment of my life.