Chapter Eleven #2
"You're not asking me to," said Callie. "It just doesn't feel right. I wouldn't even have to lie." She blew out a sigh. Technically, she wouldn't have to lie, but in her mind, hiding the truth amounted to the same thing.
She held her phone up to her ear and listened to his message.
"Hey, Callie, it's me, Ollie. I was hoping I might catch you. I saw Charles this morning, and he said he'd talked to you about those sunflower glazes. Reaves and I are going to be flying the Cirrus today, and I wondered if it'd be okay if we came to see you — I mean, came to get the glazes."
She smiled at the sound of his laugh.
"I mean, obviously I want to come and see you, glazes or no glazes, but this seemed like a pretty good excuse. Anyway, call me back if you want to."
He laughed again, and it sounded a little more strained this time.
"Or tell you what — call me back even if you don't want to and let me know, would you? See you soon, I hope."
She closed her eyes. He was such a good guy, and he was trying to do the right thing. She had said that she wouldn't mess him around, and now it seemed — to her as well as him — that she might be doing just that.
Alara smiled at her. "Sorry, I could hear that. Please give him a call. We can go back to the camper."
Callie looked at Zia, who seemed to be totally oblivious to what they were talking about — which was probably a good thing. If she'd overheard Ollie say that Reaves would be with him, Callie had no doubt that nothing would satisfy her until she got to see her Prince Daddy again.
"I could go and meet them at the airport," Callie suggested. "I mean, I'll have to anyway," she added when it dawned on her. "It's not as though they can rent a car from there. Oh, but no — he's coming to pick the sunflower glazes."
"Like I said, we can go back to the camper. Maybe we'll just close the curtains and I'll take a nap."
"I can stay here if you need to take a nap, Mom," Zia called.
"No, you can't, Z. I don't mean right now, but a little later. We'll go back up, I'll take a nap, and you can too."
Zia nodded but didn't answer.
And now Callie felt bad for her, too. There was no doubt that she would absolutely love to see Reaves again. This whole thing was just so complicated.
Alara reached out to touch her arm. "Please call him back. Say that he can come. I'll feel terrible if you don't."
"Okay."
No matter what was going on with Alara, or how disappointed Zia would be not to see Reaves, the one thing Callie knew for certain was that she didn't want to pass up the chance to see Ollie again.
~ ~ ~
Ollie ran his hand through his hair as he stared at his phone.
He probably shouldn't have left such a rambling message, but he was starting to get the impression that Callie really might not be interested.
All he could do at this point was hope that she would call him back — even if it was to tell him to stop calling.
But no, he didn't really believe that. He was just getting panicky.
Reaves and the dogs jogged back over to him. Reaves had insisted they should play ball while he made his call.
"What did she say?" he asked with a grin. "That was quick."
"It was quick because she didn't answer."
"Shit."
"Yeah. Now I don't know what to do. I want to go and pick up these sunflower things for your dad, but.
.." Ollie's shoulders sagged. "I don't know.
I asked her to call me back and let me know even if she's not interested.
I think she'd do that, just to put me out of my misery.
And if that's the case, you can take the Cirrus and go get them. "
Reaves grasped his shoulder. "Hey, slow down. You don't know that she's not interested. There’s a dozen reasons why she didn't pick up."
"I haven't talked to her since Thursday."
Reaves smiled. "Which isn't all that long ago, if you think about it."
Ollie had to smile back at him. "Yeah, I guess you're right."
"I know I'm right, and I know it because I keep checking in with myself. See, I haven't managed to talk to Alara since Wednesday. So, I'm a day longer than you over here, okay?"
Ollie chuckled. "Okay, you take the prize. But if you think about it, we're both a pair of sad sacks, aren't we? It's only been a few days and we're both like this."
"I wouldn't call it sad," said Reaves. "Surprising, definitely. But I kind of like this feeling."
"I would have said the same," said Ollie. He glared at his phone. "Until she didn't answer. Again."
"What do you mean, again? You haven’t been harassing her, have you?"
He laughed. "No, I haven't. It's just that I kind of thought we were going to talk every day, and we haven't managed to."
"Well, give it some time. Maybe she'll—" Reaves laughed when Ollie's phone rang. "Is that her?"
He nodded eagerly. "It is."
"Come on, Peanut, Butter," said Reaves. "Let's leave him to it."
He jogged away again, and the dogs went with him.
"Hey, Callie," Ollie answered.
"Hey, you. I'm sorry I missed your call. And before I say anything else — I do want to see you again, okay?"
Something settled inside him, and he closed his eyes briefly. "Yeah. That's not just okay, it's great."
"I'm glad you think so. And I'm sorry things have been a little weird around here."
"Is everything all right?" he asked.
"Oh, yeah," she said hurriedly. "There's nothing to worry about.
Everything's fine. It's just been — yeah, like I said — strange.
But anyway, that's not the point, is it?
The point is that you want to come and collect these sunflower glazes.
Do you want me to bring them to the airport, since Reaves is with you? "
He frowned. "Reaves is coming with me to give me a hand with them. You said they're heavy; I don't want you packing twelve of those things into your truck and driving them out to the airport. But if you don't want—"
She sighed. "I knew you'd think that. I'm not saying I don't want you to come to the cottage. I was only trying to be helpful, that's all."
He relaxed again. "I know it's in your nature, but you don't need to go out of your way. We can come to you."
She laughed. "You can — when I come pick you up, right?"
"Oh, yeah. Although I can call the office and see if they have a crew car. Maybe we could use that."
"I don't mind coming to get you."
"If you really don't mind, that's probably easiest."
"Not a problem. Do you know what time you'll be there?"
"I can text you just before we take off and let you know. How about that?"
"Okay, sounds good to me."
The line went quiet for a few moments.
"I'm sorry Reaves will be with me."
"No, that's okay. I totally understand." After a beat, she added, "But I know what you mean. Nothing against him, but — I'm sorry too."
"How about this time, before I leave, we make a date for when we can see each other again?"
"Let's do that. I really haven't been avoiding you, Ollie."
"I'm glad. I'll see you in a little while."