Chapter Twenty-Three
Callie tidied up her workspace and picked up her phone to check if there was anything from Ollie. There wasn't, but she hadn't really expected him to text yet. He was flying today.
She stuck her phone in her pocket and closed up the cabin behind her, smiling at herself. She remembered the days — not so long ago — when she used to leave her phone outside. She still didn't want any interruptions to her work, but she didn't want to miss Ollie either.
She pulled up her hood and ran through the rain to the cottage, shrugging out of her jacket when she got there. She loved this place. The cottage was warm and dry even when the day was damp and gray.
But as she fired up the espresso machine to make herself a latte, she couldn't help wishing that Ollie were here. She missed him, and that was crazy. It had only been a few days since she'd left him in Napa to come back here.
She was driving down again this weekend — and finally taking the last four sunflower glazes to Charles. Ollie had promised he'd come up here the following week, but she didn't mind making the trip. She liked the drive, and she was looking forward to seeing Alara and Zia.
Once she had her latte, she settled down on the sofa and took out her phone, smiling as she scrolled through their text thread.
It had only been a couple of days since she'd left on Sunday, but they'd exchanged a whole lot of messages.
She sighed. It had been hard to say goodbye — hard to drive away — but she'd kept telling herself it wasn't a problem because she'd see him again in a week.
There were still a few days to go, though, and she was really missing him already.
She kept scrolling and laughed when she saw a photo of Peanut and Butter waving their paws at her.
She'd been working on new water bowls for them this morning and was thinking about making them to sell at the markets too. She frowned. She was going to have to do a market soon to give her funds a boost. She had plenty of savings, but she didn't like to rely on them.
She made a face. She hadn't heard a peep out of Delaney since Muse on Saturday night.
Maybe the woman was all talk — who knew?
Callie still felt a little disappointed.
Willow and the others seemed so confident in Delaney's abilities.
It was a bit of an anticlimax to have finally agreed to see what she could do, only to hear nothing.
She shrugged and looked back down at her phone, then sighed when she spotted Ollie's question in the middle of their text thread: Have you talked to your parents yet?
It wasn't as though she hadn't tried. She'd called when she got home on Sunday, just like she'd told him she would, but her mom had been full of news about what was going on at home, and her dad and brothers were watching the game in the background.
After a few false starts, Callie had decided that her confession — about moving out here to do her pottery rather than for a job, as she'd told them — would be better left until a time when she had their full attention.
And when she wouldn't ruin their enjoyment of the game if they were mad at her.
~ ~ ~
Ollie was tired by the time he got back to the estate on Thursday night.
It had been a heavy week of flying. He and Reaves had dropped the sales team off in LA on Monday, then flown Bentley to some meetings in San Francisco on Tuesday.
Wednesday, they'd taken Willow and Slade down to Summer Lake for the day so they could visit with Alexandria — apparently their wedding plans were starting to take shape.
And today they'd been back to LA to bring the sales team home.
He was looking forward to picking the dogs up and going home to chill out.
He missed them when he was flying a lot.
He missed Reaves, too. It was weird — he flew with Reaves every day but hadn't seen him outside of work since Saturday night.
He understood. Reaves was spending every spare moment at his dad's place with Alara and Zia. He still missed him, though.
But most of all, he missed Callie.
She hadn't been in his life all that long, and he'd spent the first few weeks stressing about not being honest with her. But now that things were straightened out — now that they were together for real — he missed her and wanted to spend as much time with her as he could.
He climbed out of his SUV, wanting to see Rosa but also wanting to keep it short so he could get home and hopefully talk to Callie.
The front door opened just before he reached it, and Luigi greeted him with a smile. "Hey, Ollie. How's it going?"
"All good, thanks, Luigi. How about you? Sorry I haven't made the time to come out for one of our chats lately."
"That's okay. I know you've been busy." Luigi winked at him. "Rosa's been keeping me updated on this young lady of yours. I hope I get to meet her soon."
Ollie grinned. "You will, definitely. She's coming this weekend. Are you around?"
Luigi laughed. "When am I not around?"
It was true. Of course he worked on the estate, managing the wine business side of things, but it was a standing joke that while Rosa liked to travel to Italy whenever they could, Luigi would much rather stay here.
"Well, let me know when's good for you, and I'll bring her over." Ollie frowned. "In fact, why don't you guys come up to the house?"
Luigi cocked an eyebrow. "That sounds formal. Is this official, then? You and this Callie are dating? More than dating?"
Ollie gave him a puzzled look. "What does ‘more than dating’ mean?"
"I don't know," said Luigi. "You tell me."
They both turned when Rosa appeared beside him with the dogs. "Sorry — they heard you, but we were out back."
"That's okay." Ollie bent down to make a fuss over Peanut and Butter.
When he straightened up, Rosa gave him a knowing look. "More than dating means are you going to marry that girl?" She glanced at Luigi. "I know you didn't ask for my opinion—"
Luigi chuckled. "But you're going to get it anyway."
Ollie laughed with him but held Rosa's gaze. "And I welcome it."
"That's the only reason I offer it," she said, giving Luigi a poke in the side as she spoke. "I say you should marry her."
Ollie inhaled sharply. "I'm hoping things are going somewhere serious between us, but … I’d love to think we might, someday—"
Luigi shook his head. "If it's only a might, then don't. But if it's a yes, don't wait for someday. We only ever have today."
Rosa leaned her head against his shoulder. "He said something like that to me almost forty years ago."
Luigi wrapped his arm around her. "And I still say it every day. Today is all we have; we need to make it count."
Ollie nodded thoughtfully. He'd heard their story before — how they'd met when they were just seventeen, married when they were eighteen, and loved each other ever since. He and Callie might not have met at seventeen, but he knew that he’d love her for the rest of his days.
Luigi grasped his shoulder and gave it a squeeze. "Unlike my wife, I won't give you my opinion — but I'm glad I gave you something to think about."
Ollie chuckled. "Yeah, you've sure done that. And now I'll leave you two to enjoy the rest of your evening. But let me know what you think about the weekend."
Rosa raised her eyebrows, and Luigi said, "I'll explain. Let him get home. He's had a long day."
When he got back to the house, he gave the dogs fresh water, heated up a plate Rosa had left him in the fridge, and then took out his phone, looking forward to hearing Callie's voice. He hit her number and waited — and was disappointed when it went straight to voicemail.
"Hey, it's me. I miss you. I wanted to hear your voice. Give me a call back if you get the chance. Or I'll talk to you tomorrow, if not. I love you, Callie."
~ ~ ~
Callie stared at her phone for a long few moments.
She'd debated with herself all day over the wisdom of finally coming clean with her folks and telling them that the job they thought she'd moved out here for had never existed.
She'd never felt great about it. She'd done it for the right reason — so that they wouldn't worry — but after everything that had happened with Ollie, and with Alara and Reaves, she didn't want any more secrets.
She'd decided that it wasn't up to her to manage other people's feelings.
All she could do was live her life the best way she saw fit and let other people get on with theirs.
She stared out the kitchen window at the lilacs dripping in the rain.
The window was cracked slightly, and she could smell them.
The scent always reminded her of home. She decided that next time she went into the art supply store in town, she was going to ask Jed if he had any lilac underglaze.
It was about time she made herself a new mug and the color would give the same warm feeling of home even when she couldn't see the flowers outside her window.
She went back to the sofa and flopped down. If she needed something to remind her of home, all she needed to do was make the call and get it over with.
"Hey, Callie, love. How are you?" Her mom answered.
"I'm good, thanks, Mom. How are you?"
"Yep, everything's good around here. Business as usual, you know. How are things going at work?"
Callie sat up a little straighter. That was her opening, and she had to take it. "They're going really well. Thanks. I'm making a lot more money than I used to."
"I'm glad to hear it. That was what you moved out there for, after all."
"It was, but there's something I need to tell you about that, Mom."
"Just hang on a minute, Callie, love." Her mom's voice muffled a little as she called over her shoulder. "That's right, they're in the cupboard under the sink."
Callie had to smile when she came back and said, "I'm making your brother do his own laundry finally. He thinks I don't know that he acts helpless so that I'll take over. But I'm wise to his game now."