Chapter 41
Chapter 41
It was an overcast, chilly day in mid-April, one of many when the spring sunshine struggled to break through the clouds. Calvin woke up and got dressed as usual. Went to work. Found out what, if any, shenanigans had happened overnight on the island. Days just like that had begun to blend into each other, an endless stream of monotony, work, and rain.
Around ten o’clock that morning, Shirley knocked on his office door. Glancing up from the report Teri had put together about the Romano’s break-in, Calvin arched his brows at the other woman.
“You got time to come to the kitchen for ten minutes?”
He closed the folder with the report and nodded. “Sure,” he said, not really wanting to leave his desk. Teri had found a witness who’d told her that the renovation at Romano’s had partially been funded by a local government grant for the expansion of tourism on the island. A grant that had been approved and disbursed by Archie Yarrow Jr.’s office. The former mayor had admitted it on tape, and now they had concrete evidence to prove the embezzlement.
With his romance with Daphne dead in the water, the only thing Calvin had to cling to was the hope that everything that happened would be worth it in the end. And that would mean beady-eyed Archie getting exactly what he deserved.
But Shirley held the door open for him and smiled, and Calvin knew part of his job was keeping this department together. He’d grown fond of Shirley and Hank and Teri and all the other people who made this place function. The thought of staying and putting his name on the ballot for the election in the fall was more attractive than it had been when he’d first arrived.
And then there was Ceecee. His mother. The more weekends he spent with his sister, the more he saw the way his mother cared. An old, deep wound had begun to knit itself shut, and despite his best intentions, Calvin found himself growing roots here.
“Chuck and Iris called this morning,” Shirley told him. “No shotguns today, thankfully,” she added with a grin.
“Alpacas jumping fences again?”
“Chuck has accused Iris of deliberately spreading acorns along her property line. Poisonous to alpacas, apparently. Can you believe it? This is the milkweed incident all over again, with the Davises and Jason Brownlow.” She clicked her tongue. “Iris denied it, of course. I had half a mind to send Ellie Davis over there to remind them what happened last time someone tried this.”
Grunting, Calvin tried and failed not to let the mention of Ellie send his thoughts careening toward Daphne. Now wasn’t the time to start wallowing.
They made it to the kitchen, where all the deputies and staff on duty began to sing the “Happy Birthday” song. Calvin tripped over his feet and caught himself on the wall, stopping short as Shirley presented him with an oversize card, signed by every one of his coworkers.
On the table was a store-bought sheet cake with the words Happy Birthday, Sheriff Flint written in cursive. He blinked at all of them as the song came to a close, throat tighter than it should have been. No one had wished him a happy birthday in years. Up until this moment, he’d forgotten it was his birthday at all.
“Thank you,” he told them, trying to hide the emotion in his voice.
“We just wanted to let you know we appreciate all the work you’ve done since you got here,” Shirley told him, smiling. “Now. Who wants cake?”
Calvin ate a slice and enjoyed a few minutes’ break with his colleagues. The cake was a touch too sweet for his taste, but he still couldn’t fault it. Someone—multiple someones—had come together to mark the day as something special, and that felt good. It made those roots a little thicker. Made him feel a little less alone.
The work cake probably softened him up for the phone call he received from his mother that afternoon.
“Happy birthday, Calvin,” she said, and he could hear the smile in her voice. “How’s your day been?”
“Good,” he replied, and it wasn’t exactly a lie. There was still an echoing emptiness in the pit of his heart, but he didn’t feel quite as hollow. Loneliness still nipped at his heels, and he didn’t have much in the way of deep friendships, but someone had remembered him. Someone had thought of him.
“I know you’re busy at work,” Eileen said more tentatively, “but Ceecee was wondering ...” She let out a breath that sounded half-embarrassed and half-frustrated. “ I was wondering if you were free for dinner tonight. Ceecee made you a card.”
“Oh,” Calvin said.
“Listen, you don’t have to stay for dinner. Just come by and let Ceecee wish you a happy birthday, or maybe we can come to your place—”
“No, dinner sounds good,” Calvin heard himself say, shocking himself in the process. “I can come to your place.”
His mother sounded equally as surprised, but there was excitement in her voice too. “Really?” she asked. “Oh, good! Six o’clock? Six thirty?”
“Six thirty will be fine,” he said.
“We’re doing a barbecue. Burgers. Nothing fancy. Just wanted to have a meal together.”
“That’s fine, Mom,” he said.
“Oh,” she sighed. “Good. All right, I know you’re at work. I’ll let you go.” Emotion rang in her voice, and Calvin himself wasn’t quite immune when he bid his mother goodbye.
After setting his phone aside, Calvin stared at the dark screen for a beat, wondering why this felt like such a momentous occasion. It was one dinner. Nothing special. His mother had said it herself.
But it was the first time he’d accepted one of her olive branches without hesitation, and Calvin found himself relieved for it. He wanted to go to his mother’s house and see if they could turn over a new leaf together. He wanted to see if these new roots were worth digging in deeper, if this was a place he wanted to call home again.
He could run for sheriff, and he knew he’d probably win. Live in his house. Get to know the people on the island through his work. Have a purpose.
It sounded good—and it made him sad.
Because he could live and work and serve on this island until he died, and it would never feel as good as those moments snuggled under a blanket with Daphne’s legs on his lap. A birthday cake in the staff kitchen warmed his heart, but it didn’t light him up the way Daphne’s smile did.
He missed her. She’d made him ache for something he hadn’t even known existed. The type of companionship that felt effortless, as if being with her had been the natural way of things.
He could try to mend the relationship with his mother. He could build a relationship with his sister. He could be the best sheriff Fernley had ever seen.
But he couldn’t have his heart broken.
Calvin couldn’t put himself at risk of being neglected again, not when being with Daphne had felt like carving his own heart out and handing it over on a platter.
Then again, hadn’t he been quick to point out whenever Daphne was playing it safe? When she was making her life smaller than it should’ve been because she was afraid of taking a chance?
She’d hurt him, and it was a struggle to let go of the ache. All these years, he’d lugged his pain around like a useless extra limb. Why? If he could have dinner with his mother, why couldn’t he reach out to Daphne?
The dark phone screen drew his gaze. His fingers twitched. His pulse pounded.
Maybe . . .
What if she didn’t leave Fernley Island? What if Calvin could convince her to stay?
Then Teri poked her head through the doorway and asked him about the case, and he told himself he’d think about Daphne later, when he had time to make sense of his emotions.
At six thirty, Calvin reached for the doorbell beside his mother’s front door. Before his finger could make contact, the entrance flew open and Ceecee launched herself across the threshold.
“Happy birthday!” she yelled, her voice muffled in Calvin’s stomach.
He laughed and hugged her back. “Thanks, kid.”
“Mom is so excited you’re here, but don’t tell her I said that.”
Calvin’s lips curled, and he looked up to see his mother shooting Ceecee a sardonic smile. She pretended to roll her eyes, then gave him a genuine smile. “I am happy you decided to come,” she said. “Happy birthday, honey.”
“Thanks, Mom.”
“We put up decorations,” Ceecee told him, sliding her hand into his. “Come see! I blew up so many balloons my head got all woozy and my dad had to tell me to sit down.”
Laughing, Calvin let himself be towed deeper into the home. Twisted garlands had been strung up in the living room, where the vow renewal dance had occurred, with a banner wishing him a happy birthday tacked to the wall. Balloons were taped to the wall and left loose on the ground, and Ceecee ran at a clump of them to kick them into the air. Her laughter made Calvin smile.
“Can I get you a drink?”
Turning to meet his mother’s gaze, Calvin nodded. “You got soda water? If not, regular water’s fine.”
“Sure,” she said, and ducked into the kitchen.
A moment later, her husband appeared and gave him a strong handshake. “Glad to see you, Calvin,” Archie Sr. said. “Eileen couldn’t stop smiling all afternoon.”
Calvin’s heart gave a twist. He’d been so closed off with his mother, harsh and angry. What was the point? Their past wasn’t magically going to disappear just because they’d both grown up, but they had both grown up. Couldn’t this be the start of a new relationship between them?
“I wanted to thank you for how you’ve handled things with my son,” Archie Sr. said as he watched Ceecee rub a balloon on her head to make her hair a staticky mess. He glanced at Calvin and gave him a sad smile. “If I’d known what he was up to, I would’ve stopped him years ago. But I appreciate you being thorough and as discreet as you can on this island. I know you’re probably sick of telling people you can’t comment on an ongoing investigation, but I wanted to tell you how much it means to me.”
“It’ll all come out at some point,” Calvin said. “Once the legal eagles take over, there’ll be a lot more information for people to dissect.”
Archie Sr. let out a long sigh. “After so many years running this place, my son goes and tarnishes our family name. Decades of public service, and now this.” He shook his head. “The only consolation is that you’re the one who uncovered it all. We might not be a blood relation, but I’m happy you’re part of this family, Calvin. Your mother has made me so happy, and she’s given me my only daughter.”
“Your favorite daughter,” Ceecee corrected, hair clinging to the balloon she held to the side of her head.
“My favorite daughter,” Archie confirmed, spreading an arm so Ceecee could give him a hug.
Calvin’s first instinct was to back away and give them their moment. But Archie had just offered him something he’d never had—to be part of the family. To belong here, with these people.
His heart thumped. A bit of the hollowness inside him receded.
Archie smiled at Ceecee, then turned to Calvin. “I can only hope that we can all move on together.”
“Here you go,” Eileen said, presenting him with a crystal tumbler full of sparkling water, with a perfect, juicy slice of lemon perched on the edge. Calvin took it, then watched his mother caress Ceecee’s hair before leaning in to kiss her husband’s cheek. “Let’s put the burgers on,” she said, her hand squeezing Calvin’s arm as she walked by.
She touched him as easily as she did her daughter, and Calvin felt another pulse in his heart. There was lingering awkwardness between them, an uncertainty about the exact bounds of their relationship, but for once, Calvin didn’t focus on it. He let himself enjoy the intimacy of the evening, not realizing that with that soft, almost unconscious decision, he’d begun to forgive his mother.
They ate burgers and talked about sports, the weather, Ceecee’s schooling, and old war stories about Archie Sr.’s time as mayor. By the time his mother brought a cake out, Calvin’s shoulders had fully relaxed, and he was able to smile as he listened to the “Happy Birthday” song for the second time that day. His mother had gone to one of the fancy bakeries in town and gotten a three-tiered beauty of a cake, complete with perfectly piped icing and delicate chocolate decorations. It looked incredible.
“Make a wish!” Ceecee commanded, wiggling with excitement in her seat. Calvin closed his eyes and blew out the candles. As he cut Ceecee a piece, she grinned at him. “What did you wish for?”
“I can’t tell you, or else it won’t come true.”
Ceecee grinned. “That’s true.” She accepted the piece of cake he handed her across the table and scooped a glob of frosting onto her finger. Then, with the kind of abrupt change of topic that only children are capable of, Ceecee announced, “Daphne was here last night.”
The knife froze, hovering above the cake. “Daphne Davis?”
“Your girlfriend,” Ceecee confirmed.
“She’s not my girlfriend.” He turned to his mother. “What was she doing here?”
“Returning the dress after getting it dry-cleaned and fixed.”
“And she gave us new wineglasses. She’s nice,” Ceecee said.
All the lightness that Calvin had felt over the course of the evening collapsed into a leaden ball in his gut. “Yeah,” he said, not meaning it at all. He glanced at his mother and, not sure what, precisely, he was wondering about, he asked, “Did she say anything else?”
“Only that she got a job offer off-island,” Eileen replied, shrugging.
Calvin blinked, attention returning to the knife he still held over the cake. He cut another slice and gave it to his mother. “She’s leaving?”
“I guess so. She said her old boss offered her a job.”
“I see,” he said, and passed a slice to Archie. Serving himself last, he stared at the chocolate cake on his plate and thought he might throw up if he ate it.
Daphne was leaving Fernley. That was a good thing. There was nothing between them. They’d gone their separate ways, just like they’d planned. She was free to go, confident in the knowledge that the gossip about Archie Jr.’s crimes would overshadow any talk about the two of them. Everything—well, almost everything—had gone according to plan.
So why did the thought of never seeing her again make him feel so cold?