Chapter 4
Growing up, Sunday family dinners were a staple in the Callahan house.
It was always the four of us—my mom, dad, brother, and me. As Wes and I got older, our schedules crowded out Sunday dinners more and more. But after Dad died four years ago, my brother and I promised we’d never miss another unless absolutely necessary. They were important to her, and to us, too.
I pulled into the driveway of my childhood home in the gated community of Cliffside Village, seeing my brother’s car already parked. Usually, I arrived before Wes, but I got held up at work that night and was running a little later than normal.
When I walked inside, I heard my mom’s and Wes’s voices carrying down the hall from the kitchen, and I started that way. I stopped in the entryway and smiled. “Hello.”
My mom grinned. “There you are.”
“Yeah, sorry,” I said before greeting her with my usual hug. “MVA came in just before shift change.”
“Bad?” Wes asked as he gave me a hug.
“Motorcycle. No helmet.”
Wes grimaced. “Damn.”
My mom shook her head as she checked the roast in the oven. “I still don’t know how you do it.” She was a retired pediatrician. She worked with cute babies and young kids and couldn’t understand what I found so appealing about the chaos of an emergency room.
Wes and I chatted about our work weeks while Mom finished preparing dinner, then we helped her carry the dishes to the dining room before sitting down and continuing our conversation.
“So,” my mom began, looking at Wes, “how are things with Loralei?”
He slightly tensed in his seat, his grip tightening around his fork as he kept his eyes fixed on his plate. “Uh...good, I guess,” he said, voice just a bit too soft.
“You guess?” my mom questioned with an amused smile.
He shrugged. “I mean, it’s still new.”
It was new for Wes. My brother had never had a girlfriend before.
It wasn’t because he didn’t have women interested—if anything, Wes had more than his fair share.
He was simply never interested in relationships or commitment.
But suddenly, he started dating this girl out of nowhere, and barely a month later, they were official.
The whole thing was weird, but clearly, figuring out men wasn’t my strong suit, so I wasn’t about to attempt to understand whatever was going on with my brother.
“Well…you should invite her for dinner soon,” my mom said casually. “I’d like to meet the woman who suddenly made you want to settle down.”
Wes stiffened even more, his shoulders rigid as he finally looked up from his plate, his guard clearly up. “Whoa, slow down. It’s not—it’s way too soon for that. And ‘settle down’? Mom…”
“Yeah, no rush to have her here for dinner,” I casually interjected.
Despite my agreement with him, Wes shot me a sharp look, defensiveness flashing across his face. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing. Don’t get so prickly. I’m just saying…family dinners are sacred. You don’t just invite anyone. Especially only a couple of weeks into it.”
Unlike my mom, I’d met Loralei twice. Honestly, I wasn’t sure I was a fan. They didn’t seem that into each other, and his reluctance to invite her to dinner felt pretty telling.
“Oh, you mean like how you waited to bring Brett?” Wes threw out.
I tensed my jaw. Not because I was annoyed that Wes was dodging the topic—his relationship was suddenly off-limits—but because I was still in my head about that engagement announcement in the paper from a few days ago. The last person I wanted to talk about was Brett.
“Yeah,” I answered anyway. “It was a year before I invited him for dinner, and it was still only that one time.”
“Yeah, and not even a full year,” Wes countered, voice sharper than before.
“You broke up and got back together like three or four times.” He gave me a pointed look as he speared asparagus with his fork, rolling his eyes.
After a heavy pause, he swallowed and took a sip of water.
“How is Brett anyway? It’s been, what? About a year?
Isn’t it about that time for you two to do your little song and dance and get back together?
” There was a challenge in his tone—half-tease, half-provocation.
“Wesley,” my mom warned.
“What?” he asked, feigning innocence. “Am I wrong?”
Asshole. I didn’t fire back some snarky sisterly comment as I usually would. Instead, I pushed my food around with my fork, staring at my plate so hard it blurred. I forced myself to stay silent for several moments before I finally spoke, my voice flat. “He’s engaged…”
The quiet scraping of silverware stopped, and I could feel both their gazes on me. After a moment, my mom set her fork down on her napkin. “What?”
“Brett is engaged.” I let out a small, bitter laugh as I looked up from my plate. “I accidentally stumbled across the announcement in the paper at work the other day.”
Wes blew out a long, slow breath as he stared at me. “Hales, I—I wasn’t—I didn’t…” He trailed off with a sigh. “I’m sorry. I was being an ass, trying to get a little rise out of you. I wouldn’t have said that had I known.”
“It’s fine. I’m fine,” I said, waving a dismissive hand before sipping my wine. “It’s been over for a year. I don’t harbor any feelings for him. Really. It’s fine.”
It was partly true. I didn’t have feelings for Brett, but a raw ache coiled low inside me. I couldn’t figure out how to explain it without sounding pathetic.
So, I opted not to explain at all.
With that, any talk about our love lives ended, and after dinner, we moved on to lighter conversation.
A few days later, I was back at work, nearing the end of my third twelve-hour shift.
I just finished discharging a patient and sat down to do my charting when Marie plopped into the seat next to me. “Plans tonight?”
I kept my gaze on the screen as I typed, shaking my head. “No. I have a paper I was going to work on that’s due Monday.”
“Well, you’re off all weekend. So, work on it tomorrow. A few of us are headed to our favorite bar after shift.”
I finally looked over at her, noticing the conspiratorial grin on her face. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Like what?” she asked, her grin still in place.
My brow arched suspiciously. “Like you’re plotting something sinister.”
“Not sinister,” she said. “Just…fruitful.”
“Fruitful…” I deadpanned.
“Look, you’ve been in a funk ever since you saw that announcement.
You know it. I know it. And you need to get your mind off of it.
What better way than to have some drinks and let loose a little?
Plus, it’s First Responder Night, so who knows?
Maybe you’ll find a hot cop who likes to use handcuffs outside of work or a firefighter who will show you his hose. ”
I snorted. “You’re ridiculous.”
“I prefer astute and insightful,” she said with a smirk. “Come on. Worse comes to worst, you get to hang out with my pretty face for a bit longer.”
I sighed, turning back to the computer screen. “Fine. But the first round is on you.”
Marie grinned. “Deal.”