Chapter 5
Sundays were family days.
I pulled through the gate of Cliffside Village that evening, waving to the security guard on my way through before slowly making my way up the winding road toward my childhood home.
I grew up in Cliffside, Bayport’s most prestigious gated community. Anyone who lived here came from money. Lucas and Blake also grew up in Cliffside, and we attended Newmont Academy together, the private school located in Bayport that served all of Halloran Island.
I lived across the street from Blake and Gabe, and our parents were close; our dads had the law firm together, and our moms were both doctors.
Lucas lived up the street from us in the sprawling estate—the biggest in Cliffside—that sat atop the cliff the community was named for; his dad was a four-term Delmore County mayor, and his mom came from a long line of more wealth than most people could ever dream of.
Having them up there felt fitting, almost like they were looking down on everyone else.
Despite my dad and Lucas’s dad being best friends, his parents—his mom—never failed to make you feel like you were less than them.
I don’t know how Lucas turned out as humble and down-to-earth as he was, but thankfully, he was nothing like his parents.
Growing up here is what made me a fan of the “little guys” in my line of work.
I hated people who used their status or wealth to strong-arm others; it was something I’d seen a lot from those who called Cliffside home, overhearing them talk during neighborhood get-togethers where they would brag to my dad.
They used their money and what it could get them as a scare tactic to get their way.
When I became a lawyer, I vowed to always help the little guy when I could and never let them be intimidated by people like that.
And I promised myself that I would never let anyone try to pay me off or bribe me, something I knew happened more often than not.
Thankfully, I had my dad to look up to. He was a hardass, but he was strong in his morals and values, and I looked up to him a great deal.
When I took over as partner last year after he lost his battle with cancer, there was nothing more I wanted than to make sure I continued to build on the legacy he started.
I could only hope I was making him proud.
I pulled into the driveway and shut off my car before slipping out and making my way up the walkway to the porch. “Hello?” I singsonged as I opened the front door and stepped into the foyer.
“In here!”
I walked down the hall, passing the family photos that hung on the alabaster walls before rounding the corner into the kitchen. My mom stood with her apron tied around her waist behind the island. She smiled at me as I approached, turning her head so I could kiss her cheek.
“Hi, Ma.”
“Hi, sweetheart.”
I could smell the roast in the oven, and my stomach grumbled. I was half-tempted to steal one of the still-steaming homemade biscuits she had in a basket on the island, but I refrained.
Sunday family dinner was a Callahan tradition. When I was younger, I used to think they were annoying and pointless, but when I was away at college, I realized just how much I took them for granted. When I moved back home after finishing law school, I actually looked forward to them.
When my dad passed away, my sister and I promised we would be here every Sunday unless something important came up, knowing how much they meant to Mom, especially now that it was just the three of us.
“Where’s Hale?”
“She called a while ago and said she had to finish some charting, but she should be here any minute.”
My sister Haley was a nurse in the emergency room at Bayport General and was currently in the first semester of her master’s program, working toward becoming a nurse practitioner.
My mom, a retired pediatrician, couldn’t understand why or how Haley enjoyed working in the ER—it was too chaotic for my mom, but Haley thrived on the unexpected chaos.
“Need any help?” I asked.
“No, but I appreciate the offer.” She smiled, pushing back a strand of her dark brown hair from her forehead. “How was your week?”
I grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge, uncapped it, and took a sip before answering with a nod. “Good. Nothing too crazy or interesting. Unless you want to call Edwards slapping me with a contempt warning crazy or interesting.”
She gave me a look. “You’re lucky he was such good friends with your father.”
I playfully rolled my eyes. “He wouldn’t have held me in contempt regardless. You know how he is. He definitely has bark, but he’s no bite.”
“One of these days you might push him too far.”
I chuckled. “I’ll be fine, Ma. I’m a big boy.”
We both glanced over when we heard the front door open. A moment later, Haley appeared in the kitchen. “I’m here.”
“No, really?” I quipped. “We didn’t know.” She imperceptibly flipped me off before giving Mom a hug. Then she gave me one, and I chuckled. “Hi.”
She smiled. “Hi.”
“How was work?” my mom asked as she pulled the roast out of the oven.
Haley slumped onto the stool at the counter. “Crazy busy.”
“You look like you’ve been through hell and back,” I noted teasingly.
She shot me a look. “How kind of you, Brother.”
I reached down, pulling out a syringe that was sticking out of the pocket of her scrubs. “Still stealing from the hospital, I see.”
Haley chuckled. “I’m not stealing. I put stuff in my pockets so I have it on hand…
” She pulled out a couple more syringes, some alcohol wipes, gauze, and tape.
“…and then I always forget they’re in there at the end of my shifts.
” She shrugged. “I’m starting up a collection in the glove compartment of my car. ”
My mom sliced the roast and placed it on the serving platter before handing it to me to take to the dining room while Haley helped her grab the other dishes.
She already had the table set like usual, and a glass of wine poured for each of us next to the empty plates.
We took our seats—Mom and I across from one another with Haley beside her.
They were the same seats we’d sat at for as long as I could remember.
Despite now being head of the house, my mom wouldn’t sit at the head of the table in the seat my dad always took up.
I swore sometimes I could feel him sitting there next to me.
“So…are things still up in the air with you and Brett?” my mom asked Haley.
“No,” she answered, not bothering to look up from her plate.
“No, as in…?”
“No, as in he’s a jerk.”
“Well, duh. With a name like Brett, what do you expect?” I quipped.
“Wesley,” my mom admonished.
Brett was Haley’s on-and-off-again boyfriend, and they’d been on this little merry-go-round for just over a year.
She claimed he was a jerk today, but I’d be willing to bet twenty bucks that they’d be back together in a month or so, and he’d be Mr. Perfect again.
I didn’t like any guy she dated because none of them were good enough for her, and Brett was no exception. The guy was a douche.
Haley was the complete opposite of me regarding her outlook on love and relationships.
She’d always been a hopeless romantic and, in my humble brotherly opinion, tended to be a bit naive and put way too much faith in the people she chose to give her heart to.
She was very much an “I can fix him” type of girl, and the men she went for and the way she allowed them to walk all over her overly big heart and take it for granted only solidified that.
“Maybe—and this is a crazy concept, I know—you should stay single for a while.”
Haley shot me a look. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Exactly what it sounds like,” I said. “Kick his ass to the curb and let him see what he missed out on.”
“It’s not that simple.”
“It is,” I said matter-of-factly. “You just don’t want it to be that simple.”
“Again, what’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means that you seem to have this mindset that if it’s not hard, it’s not worth it. Love shouldn’t be hard.”
“And what would you know? You’ve never even had a relationship.”
“Yeah, by choice. Because I have no desire to deal with bullshit like what you’re willingly putting yourself through. No fuc—” I cut myself off when my mom shot me the look; she’d never been a fan of the “F” word, and, well, it was my favorite. “No, thank you.”
We stopped talking about Brett and relationships in general after that.
Haley took off not too long after we finished dinner because she had a paper to finish up that was due tomorrow. I helped my mom clear the table and started on the dishes while she put any leftovers in containers and put them away.
“So…” My mom said as she placed a now empty pot into the soapy water for me to wash. “When are you going to bring someone home for Sunday dinner?”
I smiled. “I have no plans for that.”
“You know, you talk about how it would do Haley some good to take time for herself and be single. Maybe it would do you some good to start putting yourself out there for more than just these flings you have.”
My cheeks heated. I was very open about my personal life with most people, but hearing my mom use me and the term flings in the same sentence was a little too fucking weird for my liking. I chuckled awkwardly. “Really, Ma?”
“I’m serious.” She smiled. “Don’t you want to find someone to settle down with?”
“No,” I answered without hesitation. “I just don’t have any desire for that. I like my life and how things are.” Minus the fact that I currently lacked a sex life, but I wasn’t going to tell her that and make things even more fucking weird than this conversation already was for me.
My mom shook her head with a wistful smile. “You’re so much like your father when it comes to change…”
My brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”
“I mean that you don’t like it. You balk at the idea of it and slightly panic.”
“I do not balk or panic,” I scoffed. “I just know what I want. And it’s not a relationship.”
“I have a feeling that one of these days, someone is going to come along and throw you and your entire world off its axis.” She chuckled. “And you’re not going to know what to do with yourself because you’re not going to know what hit you.”
“Don’t hold your breath, Ma.” I shook my head with a smile. “I’m pretty hard to catch by surprise.”