Chapter 3
Chapter Three
Callie
I’m fumbling with my keys at the library’s side entrance early the following morning when someone approaches from behind, their steps slow, like they’re trying to be quiet.
My heart leaps into my throat as I spin around, dropping my bag with my morning muffin, a can of pepper spray already halfway out of my purse.
Crime may be low in a small town, but it’s not non-existent.
“Jesus Christ!” I yelp, nearly dropping my tote bag as Luke stands there, much closer than I anticipated, with his hands raised in surrender. My nerves are already frayed from yesterday, and seeing him here, first thing in the morning, makes me want to crawl back into bed and hide.
“Sorry, sorry,” he says quickly, his voice deeper than I remember, a little rougher around the edges. “Didn’t mean to startle you.”
My pulse is hammering so hard I can hear it in my ears like I just sprinted a lap around town. “What the hell, Luke? You can’t just sneak up on people like that.”
“I wasn’t sneaking. I was walking.” His mouth quirks up in what might be an apologetic smirk, but I’m too rattled to appreciate it. He shrugs. “Though I guess after fifteen years, showing up unannounced is pretty much the definition of sneaking.”
I stare at him, taking in details I couldn’t see from across the street yesterday.
He’s broad, his shoulders filling out a simple black t-shirt.
There are lines around his eyes that weren’t there before, and a scar cutting through his left eyebrow.
His hair is shorter, but still long enough for me to run my fingers through and mess it up.
And those intense blue-gray eyes are the same, staring at me like he can read my mind.
“What do you want?” I ask, giving him my back and shoving my keys into the lock with more force than necessary. His hot breath grazes the back of my neck, and my eyes drift closed as a shiver works its way down my spine.
“To apologize.”
That stops me cold. I slowly turn to face him, my hand still on the door handle. “For what? Disappearing without a word, or for whatever fresh hell your sister is about to put me through?”
Something flickers across his face. Guilt? “Harper.”
“Harper,” I repeat flatly. “Right. So, you’re here to clean up her mess.”
“Look, can we,” He gestures toward the door. “Can we do this inside? Half the town is probably watching us right now.”
He’s not wrong. I can already see Martha powerwalking down the sidewalk with purpose, probably hoping to catch whatever drama is about to unfold. I push inside, allowing him to follow.
The storage room we step into is cramped with boxes of books and supplies, but it feels even smaller with Luke’s presence filling up all the available space.
The familiar scent of old paper mixes with the leather-and-woodsy cologne clinging to him, and suddenly, it feels like I can’t breathe.
I don’t dare take him around the corner into my office. It’s even smaller.
I set my things on top of a closed box and cross my arms over my chest. “Okay, let’s have it.”
He runs a hand through his hair, a nervous gesture I remember from when we were young.
Only then, his hair grazed his shoulders.
Now the move dishevels it, giving him that just got fucked look.
He’s still sexy as hell, and it’s playing havoc with my girl parts.
We only had one night, yet that single event has played a significant part in who I am today—single, separated from my best friend in the entire world, and wishing I were anywhere but here.
“She told me what happened between you guys. And it’s eating her up, Callie. What Harper did... Dating your ex right after you broke up, it wasn’t right.”
I laugh, but the sound is cold, not an ounce of humor in it. “Is that what she told you? That she started dating Kirk after we broke up?”
Luke frowns. “That’s not what happened?”
“They were together for months before I found out. Months, Luke. While I was planning a future with a man I thought loved me, he was screwing my best friend behind my back.” The words taste bitter, even after all this time.
And the fact that I’m admitting this to Luke, that’s icing on the mud cake.
“So no, your sister didn’t just start dating my ex. She helped him cheat on me.”
He blinks a few times and then clenches his jaw. “Shit.”
“Yeah. Shit.” I spin away, grab my things, and fast walk into the library. Thank God Rachel’s not here yet, and we still have an hour to opening. The only thing to make this day shittier would be to find Martha and Gloria with their ears glued to the wall.
“I can’t believe Harper would do that to you. To anybody.”
“Yeah, well, I didn’t either, until she did.
” I head straight to my office, barge through the door, and dump my things on my desk, then busy myself with organizing a stack of flyers that don’t need organizing.
Anything to avoid turning around, knowing he followed me and is about to witness another meltdown.
It takes about two seconds to realize leading him to my tiny office was a colossal mistake because in here, I can smell him, hear him breathing, and feel the heat coming off his large body.
It takes every ounce of control I have to keep my wits about me.
Years ago, when I was just Harper’s tagalong best friend, Luke had this way of making me feel seen.
He’d seek me out when I was at their house, lean against doorframes when he talked to me, flash that crooked smirk that made my pre-teen and then teenage heart stutter.
Every shared laugh, every moment he chose to spend with me instead of anyone else, fed the fantasy that maybe he felt something too.
God, I was so pathetic.
I even gave him a code name in my diary so Harper wouldn’t discover my obsession if she ever snooped.
“Blue Eyes” filled page after page of my most secret thoughts.
I convinced myself that the way he looked at me meant something special.
That the attention he paid me was different from how he treated other girls. That our age difference didn’t matter.
I certainly spun a story for myself. Harper made it crystal clear that her brother was off-limits. And like the good little best friend I was, I buried my feelings so deep I almost convinced myself they’d never existed.
Almost.
“I’m sorry,” he says quietly, causing me to jump because the words are coming from too close behind me. Again. “I didn’t know.”
“Of course you didn’t. You haven’t been here.” I knock over a cup of pens in my agitation, sending them scattering across the desk. “Damn it.”
Before I can move, Luke is there, crouching down to collect the ones that fell to the floor. His fingers brush mine as he hands them back to me, and I jerk away like I’ve been burned.
“Sorry.”
“Don’t say that. “My voice is sharper than I intend. “Don’t—”
The fire in his gaze heats my face. “Don’t what?”
I gesture helplessly between us. “This. Whatever this is. I’m not seventeen anymore, Luke.
I’m not going to fall for those brooding looks and think you’re here to sweep me off my feet.
” He didn’t even sweep me off my feet all those years ago.
He happened to find me in a vulnerable moment, and the day just progressed from there, until I practically begged him to touch me like he did other girls.
I even jumped into the back of his truck, under the stars… Shame heats my cheeks.
“That’s not what I’m doing.”
“Isn’t it?” I challenge, swallowing hard. “You show up out of nowhere, wanting to talk about the past. What am I supposed to think?”
“That I’m trying to make things right.”
“Some things can’t be made right.” I surge past him, needing distance. “You left, Luke. You left and you never looked back.”
“I had to leave.”
I whirl around to face him. “Had to? Or wanted to?”
“I made a mistake, Callie,” he admits, and the honesty in his voice catches me off guard. “Plenty of mistakes, actually.”
“Was I a mistake?” Pain slices through me.
“We were young. You were young, I shouldn’t have… you know.”
Anger makes my limbs rigid and my voice soft. “I didn’t do anything I didn’t want to do, Luke.” I thought he wanted it too.
“But I should have said no.”
Fighting tears, I grind my molars together.
“So, I was a mistake. After you took my virginity and told me you’d be there for me always.
” It’s all I can do to not spit at him. “You lied. I was just an easy night for you. You just wanted to get laid one more time by a Cupid’s Creek girl before you hightailed it to the big city?
Is that it?” A tear escapes and rolls down my cheek.
“No.”
“No, you lied, or no, you planned it all along?
“I didn’t lie. And I had no idea I was leaving town.”
“Right.”
“I was cheating on tests and stealing cars, Callie, and my dad caught me. How do you think that made him feel? He sent me to my uncle’s.
“His voice is steady, matter-of-fact, like he’s rehearsed this conversation a million times.
“He was former military and worked on the Chicago police force. My dad thought he could straighten me out. I went to college, then the police academy, and found a career I could be proud of.”
“How noble of you.” I can’t keep the sarcasm out of my voice. “And now you’re back because...?”
“Because my father died, and my family needs me.”
That simple, sad statement deflates most of my anger in a heartbeat. Mr. Caldwell was a good man, and I’m ashamed that I let my differences with Harper keep me away from his funeral. I told him so later that night when I visited his grave.
“I’m sorry about your dad.”
Luke nods, his throat working. “Thank you.”
We stand there in awkward silence for a moment. “Why are you really here? And don’t say it’s just to apologize for Harper. You could have done that in a text.”
“I don’t have your number.”
I cock my head and give him my side-eye.