Chapter Thirteen
When they reached the cabin, Ollie felt a sense of pride creep over him as he watched Reaves take it all in — the kiln and the wheel, and all Callie's supplies and her work displayed on shelves.
She'd called herself a maker earlier, but she was so much more than that. She was an artist in her own right.
He grinned when she pointed to the sunflower glazes and said, "These are the ones for your dad."
"Damn, Callie," Reaves exclaimed as he stared at them. "Those things are amazing. I can see why Dad fell in love with them. He's loved sunflowers for as long as I can remember — plants them every year, and he always looks kind of melancholy when they fade at the end of the summer."
"I know how he feels," said Callie. "That's why I decided to make these things."
Ollie squatted down in front of them and ran his finger over the edge of one of the glazes. It was maybe eighteen inches around, like a massive thick coaster with the head of a sunflower in full bloom set into it somehow. He had no idea how she'd done it.
He smiled when she chuckled beside him. "It's okay, they won't bite. You can touch them. They're pretty robust."
He ran his finger over the face of the flower, surprised to feel how smooth it was.
"It takes some doing, but I really wanted to get them smooth." She lifted a shoulder. "You should see how many of them I screwed up until I perfected the process."
"Looks pretty damn perfect to me now," said Reaves. "How heavy are they?"
"I never weighed them. I just know that I can lift one by myself with a bit of effort.
I figured that they're too heavy to ship to customers, so I've just kind of been keeping them around myself as decoration.
" She smiled at Reaves. "I'm with your dad.
I love sunflowers, and I hate to see them fade. "
Ollie straightened up. "Do you need to wrap them?" he asked. "I'd hate for them to get damaged on the way."
Callie pointed to a pile of what looked like movers' blankets. "I figured we could wrap them in those. That should be enough protection."
She supervised while he and Reaves wrapped them carefully. He bent to lift the first one. "Are they going on the back seat of the truck?"
"Hell no. You can just put them in the bed. They'll be fine in there."
"Are you sure?" asked Reaves.
She laughed. "They're made to go outdoors. That's where your dad's going to put them, isn't it?"
"Oh yeah, right."
She smiled. "I appreciate you wanting to be careful with them, but they're not delicate. They can handle whatever the weather throws at them, and a lot more besides."
"I'll start loading them, then," said Reaves, seeming a little surprised as he lifted one. "You weren't joking when you said they're heavy, were you?"
Callie chuckled. "I guess not, but if I can lift them, you should be okay."
Reaves laughed with her. "I'm not complaining. Just surprised."
With that, he headed out the door to the truck.
Ollie went to Callie and touched her arm. "You know, now that I've felt the weight of these things, I think we should definitely leave a couple behind."
She gave him a wry smile. "You don't have to if you don't want to, you know. I'm not going to ghost you or anything. You don't need the glazes as an excuse to come back."
"That's good to know. But I think I'll leave a couple anyway."
"Okay."
He'd been hoping for a moment alone with her, but she bent down to pick one up, saying, "We should get them loaded up."
Once there were seven of them in the bed of the truck, Reaves grabbed one more and said, "I'll take this last one. You two should check if there's anything else in here that needs to come."
As the door closed behind him, Ollie went to Callie and wrapped his arms around her waist.
"I was about to follow him out there," she said, "but he's just trying to give us a minute, isn't he?"
"He is." He dropped a kiss on her lips. "Trouble is, I want so much more than a minute. Can we figure out right now when we can see each other again?"
He held his breath when she worried at her bottom lip.
"I don't mind if you can't do it soon," he added. "I'm not trying to rush you. Just trying to get a commitment."
Her gaze flew up to meet his.
"Shit, I didn't mean that how it sounded. Although..." He lifted a shoulder. "Maybe I do. Just, you know, a commitment to see where this thing between us might go."
She raised her eyebrows. "You think there's a thing between us?"
He nodded solemnly. "I don't just think so, Callie. I know so. And I think you do too, if you're honest."
She inhaled deeply, then let it out slowly. "I'm not going to lie to you. I think there might be. But..." Her gaze slid away before coming back to meet his. "I told you things have been weird around here since I got back. That might go on for a little while, but hopefully not too much longer."
His heart started to pound, wondering what exactly she was talking about. "Anything I need to worry about?"
"No, it's nothing for you to worry about, I promise. Just some stuff I need to take care of."
A shiver ran down his spine when she traced her fingers over the back of his head. "But you know what? No matter how long it takes to sort things out here, I could come and see you. In fact, I promised Becca that I'd come visit when they get back from their honeymoon. Maybe..."
"Sure." He tried to sound more enthusiastic than he felt.
"Unless you don't want me to?" she asked, looking a little puzzled.
"You know I do. It's just — that's another whole week away."
She chuckled. "And don't you have to work during the week anyway?"
"As far as I know, we only have one flight this week." He glanced over at the remaining sunflower glazes. "Even if it's just a quick visit, can I come back and get those one day?"
She nodded slowly. "Yeah. Like I said, it's not that I don't want to see you."
They smiled at each other when Reaves knocked on the door before opening it to pop his head inside. "Don't mean to disturb you guys. Just letting you know — take all the time you need. I'll just be out here hanging out with the trees."
Callie gave him a puzzled look, but Ollie laughed. "He's not being sarcastic. Honest. He means it. He loves the redwoods. I'd forgotten that."
Reaves nodded eagerly. "And Dad does too. He used to bring us up here to see them when we were kids, right, Ollie?"
"He did."
Reaves smiled at Callie. "Don't be surprised if he wants to come visit you when I tell him about your trees out back. I'm just gonna go take some photos of them, if that's all right with you."
Ollie was a little surprised at the way Callie tensed — as if she didn't want him to. But after a moment, she nodded. "Yeah, that's fine. We won't be long."
When the door closed after him, Ollie brushed a strand of hair off her face. "He won't go far."
She frowned. "No, I know. It's not that I mind him taking a look. It's just..." She glanced around the cabin. "We're done here anyway, aren't we? We should go and—"
She froze when the sound of a little voice shouting "Prince Daddee!" came from outside.
"What the...?" Ollie shook his head. "I must be hearing things. Because that sounded like..."
Callie's face told him that he wasn't hearing things. That was little Zia outside.
But what he couldn't figure out was why.
~ ~ ~
Callie's heart sank when Zia called again. "Prince Daddy, Prince Daddy, you're here! I knew you'd come; I made a wish and it came true. I asked the big trees and they brought you to me."
Callie cringed. Ollie was staring at her, looking totally confused. "What's going on?"
She blew out a sigh. "It's not that I didn't want to tell you.
I'm really sorry that I didn't. But that's why things have been strange around here for the last couple of days.
And the reason why I haven't called you back when you left messages.
I wanted to talk to you — of course I did.
But I couldn't talk to you and not tell you the truth. "
"And what is the truth?"
She glanced over her shoulder, thinking that they should probably go out there. Although what she'd be able to do to smooth things over at this point for Alara, she didn't know. She turned back to Ollie.
"Well, as you can hear, they didn't make it to Oregon. I stopped by where they were parked again on Friday morning and they were still there. Alara didn't feel up to making the drive, and when she called to ask for more time, the job offer had fallen through."
Her heart sank when he asked, "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Like I said, it's not up to me."
"So she's staying here with you?" he asked.
"Not in the cottage, no. Her camper's parked up there in the trees."
He shook his head. "So that really was Zia's glitter on the coffee table?"
She nodded guiltily. "I felt so terrible when Reaves saw it."
"Yeah. But why doesn't Alara want him to know that she's here?" He glanced toward the door too, looking worried for his friend.
She reached out to touch his arm. "It's not that she doesn't like him. She already said that she'll get in touch with him again. But she needs some time to figure out what she's going to do next."
"But he could help her figure it out."
"I know. And so does she. But that's kind of the point. She wants to be able to figure it out for herself. If she can."
"Yeah, but can she?"
Callie shrugged. "I have a feeling the answer to that might turn out to be no. She has no job. She has no work lined up. And the most important point is that she was only taking the job for health benefits. She's sick, Ollie. I don't know what kind of sick, but she needs a doctor."
He nodded solemnly. "She hasn’t gotten any better?"
"She doesn't seem it to me. I've been feeding them both, making sure she eats well. But there's something going on with her. She's not just tired or undernourished or something."
"No, I agree." He straightened his shoulders, looking — she didn't know what. Determined, maybe? Or perhaps he was just mad.
"I'm sorry I lied to you."