Chapter 35 Callum
THIRTY-FIVE
Callum
I hadn’t just charmed Zandra. Hadn’t just won her over. I’d made her fall in love with me at the same time I fell in love with her.
How badass was that?
“Do you need more water?” I asked, noticing her cup was nearly empty. I gave her a refill to sip through a straw, pulling my chair as close to her bed as I could get.
But while I was fussing over her, trying to enjoy the natural high of knowing she loved me back, there was a dark shadow in the back of my mind.
It was hard for me to think about what happened last night. Running into that building, seeing her on the ground.
I’d never been that scared in my life. Not when I was deployed and getting shot at. Or in other fires, no matter how intense. Nothing had come close to the agony of carrying her out of Hearthstone and feeling her limp in my arms.
So, we were never doing that shit again. It was decided. Zandra would stay out of danger from here on out.
Next time I saw Ian, all I could say was that it wouldn’t be pretty.
The man’s only hope was that the police would find him before I did.
Even if the fire was just a freak accident, a random coincidence, Ian had left her there instead of trying to help.
After six years of dealing with his version of love, it was a wonder Zandra was willing to try again with me.
I was going to love her the way she deserved.
We heard a faint knock at the door frame, and the door pushed open. Zandra’s parents were standing there.
“Oh, Zandra. My poor baby.” Her mom rushed forward.
But I stood up, blocking Eliza’s path. “Z’s been through a lot,” I said evenly. “She needs to rest.”
“You think I don’t know that? She’s my daughter. You can’t keep us from her.”
“Like hell I can’t. You’ll upset her over my dead body.”
Eliza gasped, a hand flying to her mouth, while Javi blanched. Then I felt Zandra tugging at my shirt.
I turned around, and she nodded toward her parents. “I’m okay,” she whispered, coughing.
“Are you sure?”
Another nod. She smiled slightly, and her finger stroked down the side of my hand.
“I’ll be right here. Give the signal, and they’ll be out on their ears.”
Not necessary, Z’s sardonic expression said.
I kissed her on the forehead, made sure she had my phone for writing notes, then backed away toward the door. Javi and Eliza went past me, standing on either side of the hospital bed.
Her mom’s eyes were bloodshot from crying. I had to give her that. “Oh, sweetheart. Look at you. I can’t understand how things went so wrong.”
Should we start with you inviting Ian to Silver Ridge? I wanted to say. But I didn’t. I stayed quiet. Instead, I stood by the door like Zandra’s personal bodyguard, watching as she wrote messages to her parents on my phone and they gave quiet replies.
At least they were here, right? That counted for something.
The nurse reappeared. Her mouth opened, and I knew exactly what she was going to say. “My fiancee really needs me here,” I murmured. “Her parents are a stressor. You get it, right?”
I managed to convince her to let me stick around. Some charming smiles may have been thrown in, along with a promise to send over treats from Silver Linings for the nurses’ station as a thank you.
Whatever worked.
Meanwhile, I was pretty sure I’d caught the words “I’m sorry” in there somewhere coming from her mom. Something that Z badly needed to hear. It didn’t make up for everything, but it mattered.
Finally, Eliza clasped her hands in front of her and turned to me.
“Callum, we’ve invited Zandra to come stay with us for a few days while she’s recovering.
And we’d…” She pursed her lips like she’d bitten into a particularly mealy piece of fruit.
“We’d like to invite you to come along with her.
She made it clear she wouldn’t come home unless you could join her. ”
Damn right, I thought. But what I said was, “Wherever Z wants me, I’m there. But what about Chloe?”
“Chloe?” Eliza repeated.
“Zandra’s cat. Pets are important while people are healing.” I had no idea if that was true, but it sounded right.
Another purse of Eliza’s lips. “But Javi is allergic.”
Z’s dad lifted his hand. “I’ll be alright if you keep the cat in the guest wing.”
“Perfect. We’ll see you there later.” I grinned. Maybe it was a little less charming than my usual, because Eliza flinched, and I found that satisfying.
After they left, I gently sat beside Zandra on the mattress. “What do you think? How’d it go?”
“Okay,” she whispered, then switched to typing again.
Better than I would’ve thought. I told them what Ian did, and they feel awful. Have to wait and see, but I think they might actually be listening to me. Finally.
“You sure about going to stay with them?”
She rested back against the pillows, smiling and nodding as she reached for my hand. “Just need you,” she whispered, smothering a cough.
And I needed to be with her too. I didn’t care what her parents or anyone else thought. The two of us were a package deal.
The funny thing was, we’d been that way almost since the whole ridiculous competition over general manager started. We worked far better together than apart. Just took the both of us a while to figure it out.
Arriving at Eliza and Javi’s home that afternoon was a stark contrast to the last time I’d rolled up here. That time, Zandra had texted me to come get her because Ian had ambushed her.
Part of me would have loved to find Ian here again, just to make it nice and convenient for me to rearrange his face and his body parts for what he’d done.
But then again, that would distract me from taking care of my girl, and that was job number one today. Same with all the days in the future if I had my way.
Eliza fluttered around us as I led Zandra inside and toward the stairs. “Are you positive you won’t let me set you up in the living room, sweetheart? Then you won’t have to manage the stairs.”
“We’ve got it,” I said. Zandra and I had already talked this through. Well, I did the talking, she did the typing and speaking through her eyes and expressions.
She did not want her mom eyeballing her every move. Also, she wanted to share a bed with me. So, the guestroom upstairs it was. “I’ll take it from here, Eliza.”
Zandra’s mom jolted like somebody had buzzed her with an electric shock every time I used her first name. But I was done being formal.
Polite, yes. But was I going to bend over backwards to try to impress them, like the first night I came here for dinner? Nope. They would get the enjoyment of my charm when I was sure they were being fair to Zandra.
We got upstairs, and I picked her up to carry her the rest of the way to the guestroom.
I carefully removed her shoes before helping her into bed and pulling the covers up around her.
It was clear she was exhausted, and she’d been nodding off in the truck on the drive here.
The past day had taken way too much out of her.
I kicked off my own shoes and crawled into bed beside her. After arranging her pillows to make sure she was comfortable and could breathe okay, I spent a few minutes softly kissing her face and stroking her arms.
“I love you,” I murmured against her temple.
Her eyes said it back, along with her lips making the shape of the words.
I traced my thumb along her cheek, marveling at how good it felt to have her safe in my arms. “I want you to get some rest, and I’ll be downstairs taking care of some things. But I’ll be back to check on you.”
“Don’t go far,” she whispered.
“Won’t set foot outside this house,” I promised, brushing a kiss across her forehead. “Your parents are going to regret inviting me.”
I stayed there until she drifted off to sleep, her breathing finally evening out as the tension left her body. Only then did I carefully slip out of bed, making sure not to wake her.
I had some deliveries that would show up soon. And I figured I should be downstairs when they arrived.
I made it to the entryway just in time to hear furious knocking on the front door. A small silhouette stood outside, visible through the frosted glass. “I’ve got it,” I said, throwing a wink at Gladys as she rushed into the entry.
Gladys cast a glance behind her, then whispered, “I heard you saved Zandra’s life and you were defending her to her parents, so you go right ahead and make yourself at home.”
I was glad to know I had at least one ally here. Luckily, though, I’d already called for reinforcements.
As soon as I opened the front door, my sister shot inside.
Grace went to me for a hug first, already launching into a stream of questions. “How’s Zandra doing? Have you heard anything about how the fire started? Oh, Dane has dinner. Point me to the kitchen, and we’ll get started setting up.”
Dane was right behind her, carrying enough bags of takeout to feed the entire wing of the hospital Zandra had been in. “Put me to work,” he said. “You might want to speak up about what you need, otherwise Grace is going to come up with a million things on her own.”
I had no doubt of that.
While we’d been waiting for the discharge papers at the hospital, I’d sent out messages on the Lonely Harts Club group thread. I’d already been texting with all of them off-and-on all day to keep them updated.
The O’Neals and the Landrys had a habit of bringing out the big guns when one of us was hurt or in trouble. And thank goodness for that.
Gladys started to point Dane and Grace toward the kitchen, but then Eliza appeared in the archway that led to the living room. “What on earth is going on here? Callum, who is in my house?”
“Eliza, this is my sister Grace O’Neal. You’ve probably seen her around town.”
“Yes, but when I invited you here, I didn’t expect a crowd.”