Chapter 4
Four
Callie
My stack of clothes is getting smaller and smaller. There’s nothing quite like hearing you look like a mess to revamp the wardrobe. Seeing Peter trip over his words last night, or early this morning, was worth it. Maybe.
Since the separation I’ve gotten lax about my appearance. Outside of work, all I’ve been wearing are yoga pants and over-sized t-shirts. I guess seeing my childhood crush is the reality check I needed.
Once upon a time I cared about my appearance. It was one of the things that made me happy. Now…it feels like more work than it’s worth. But moving back to Asheville is my chance to start over, and that includes my clothing choices
“I thought you said Uncle Miles was going to be here early.” Alexandra is leaning against the door, Alice beside her, when I turn around.
“You’re definition of early and his are two completely different things. We’ll be lucky if he gets here by lunch.”
Not that I blame him. He gets up early to work at the ranch, I don’t blame him for wanting to sleep in when he can.
“Speaking of, what are we doing about food?” She points toward the kitchen. “We don’t have much in the fridge and it’s not like I can walk to the closest fast-food place. They don’t have those in the middle of nowhere.”
Here we go again. This is her biggest complaint about moving here.
Not necessarily Asheville in general, but this house, so far away from everything.
Maybe it was a mistake to move back home and upend her entire life.
I mean, what high school kid wants to switch schools in the middle of the school year?
But…I didn’t have much of a choice. Not if I wanted a fresh start.
“I can see if your uncle will pick something up, or I’ll run to town to get something for us.” Those really are the only two options until I can get to the grocery store and stock up.
“Fine. I’ll text Uncle Miles.” The frustration in her voice isn’t missed and does nothing to make me stop feeling like the worst mother in the world. “He can consider it his wakeup call.”
Hopefully he’s not an ass like he used to be when we were kids. I hated when our parents asked me to wake him up. The number of pillows I’ve had thrown at me is unreal.
“Good luck,” I call to her retreating back.
The piles of clothes on my bed are judging me, and I don’t want to keep separating into keep and donate piles. I wouldn’t even be doing this if Peter hadn’t made that comment last night. I’m blaming this all on him.
There’s a yell of frustration from Alexandra and Alice starts barking. What in the world is going on out there. I rush out of the room, knocking over one of the empty boxes, and into the living room.
“Is everything okay?” My eyes study the floor and walls to see if she might have broken something.
“No,” Alexandra grumbles as she points at the windows. “Uncle Miles will not be bringing food because he’s already here.” She takes a step closer, peering out the window. “And that guy who found Alice is with him. What’s his deal anyway?”
Shit. Why did he bring Peter with him? I wasn’t expecting to see him for a while. We might be neighbors, but my avoidance game is strong. I spent all of my pre-teen and teen years following him around like a puppy. I refuse to do it again as an adult.
“Mom?” Her eyebrows are raised when I glance at her. She’s obviously trying to puzzle out why I’m acting weird.
Get it together, Callie. He’s just a man.
“Peter and Miles have been friends since we were kids. In diapers really. They were inseparable. His family owns the winery up the road.”
“Is that all? Because you look like you’re about to puke.”
I thought the inquiring phase ended when kids were toddlers.
“Yep. That’s it.”
“Hmmm.” Without another word she turns and rushes out the front door to greet my brother.
I have a feeling she isn’t done questioning me about Peter, but I’m glad she’s dropped it for now.
The last thing I need is to tell her anything when he’s in hearing distance.
Besides, I don’t want her to think it’s healthy to pine after someone who clearly doesn’t feel the same way.
Back then I was a naive kid. Now…I’ve been let down too much to even consider any sort of relationship with anyone.
Not that Peter’s looking for that, of course.
It’s probably best to join them so they don’t think anything weird is going on with me. Alexandra is pulling from a hug with Miles as I walk outside, tucking my hands into the sleeves of my sweater to block some of the cold air.
“I guess it’s too late to see if you’ll bring food?” Alexandra asks him.
“Clearly.” My brother rolls his eyes before coming to give me a hug. “But it would have taken me even longer since I stayed at Peter’s last night.”
“Why?” I don’t mean for the question to come out quite so harsh.
“I had some stuff over there and figured it was easier since I was coming here this morning.”
He has a point. Just because I’m here doesn’t mean I get to dictate everything he does.
“Yeah, he still snores like a freaking chainsaw, too.” Peter says as he closes the door.
“You’re a lot less intimidating in the sunlight.” Alexandra says, squinting to block said light.
“Alexandra, that’s rude.” My words are a hiss and she makes a face at me.
“It’s fine.” Peter waves the comment away. “In my defense, it was raining and gross last night. And, I’ve had a shower.”
“So, who wants to go get food?” Alexandra looks between the three of us. “We don’t have anything in there.”
“I guess I could go.” Miles runs his hand through his hair. “But I was hoping to get done moving the heavy stuff while I help. And getting it done early so I can get to bed at a decent time. Ranch hours aren’t for the faint of heart.”
“You don’t have to do all that.” Peter shoves his hands in his pockets. He’s never been much of a speaker. He goes along with whatever anyone suggests. I blame it on his big brother.
“Why not?” Alexandra cocks her head to the side. The questions definitely didn’t stop when she was a toddler. “It’s not like anyone delivers out here.”
“Out of the Ashes will. Perks of being business parters.” He grins. “Besides if they’ll deliver to Piper then they’ll do it here. What do y’all like?”
There’s no way we can ask him to do that. It feels like we’re taking advantage of the situation. I should have done better and made sure we had some kind of food. The decision to move was made fast and I didn’t have a ton of time to prepare.
“You do—” I begin, but Alexandra cuts me off.
“What kind of food do they have?”
“Really, it’s fine. I can run to town and get us some food.” The last thing I need is for Peter to think I’m incapable of having food in the house. I’m not the annoying tag along he remembers.
Peter levels me with a stare, and I swear everything I felt for him back then comes rushing back. It’s soft and demanding at the same time. Which doesn’t make sense, and I have no idea what to make of it.
“You’ve had a traumatic first day back with Alice. I can take care of this.” He turns to my daughter to answer her question. “They have pretty much whatever you want. Except pizza. It’s pretty much bar food. The wings are amazing.”
“I’ll have that.” Alexandra grins at him before rushing back toward the house to escape the cold. “Thank you!”
“She’s a good kid.” Peter nods toward her. “What do you want to eat?”
“Same thing.” He’s going out of his way to do this thing for us, the least I can do is make my order easy for him. “Thanks.”
“Any time.” He smiles at me, and my heartbeat quickens.
“You aren’t gonna ask what I want?” Miles throws his hands up in the air. “Go figure.”
“Shut up. I know what you get.”
“What if I want something different?” My brother shoots back.
I follow Alexandra inside and leave them to their bickering. At least that hasn’t changed. Deep down I know I shouldn’t let him do this. But damn, it feels good having someone offer to meet my needs. I rack my brain trying to remember the last time that happened, and it’s been way too long.
“What are we going to unbox first?” Alexandra asks.
My feet leave the ground and I almost fall backward. She doubles over laughing because she scared me.
“It’s not that funny.” I grumble. “Why were you being so quiet?”
“I wasn’t.” She points toward the boxes on the floor. “I’ve been unstacking boxes so we can figure out what goes where. Your mind must have been elsewhere.”
She has a sly grin on her face, and I know that wasn’t the only thing she was doing.
Considering her proximity to the window, she was definitely snooping.
She better not be getting any ideas about trying to set me up with Peter.
Last school year she tried setting me up with a friend’s dad, and it didn’t work out well at all.
Being a teenager is the only thing she should have on her mind, not my love life.
“Well, since we have food coming, we should probably unbox some of the kitchen stuff in case we need it.” Being productive is what I need to get my mind off Peter.
There’s no way in hell I’m letting my past infatuation show it’s face again.
The only thing I need to focus on is raising my daughter and putting the pieces of my life back together.
“Sounds good.” She nods and looks for one of the boxes labeled “kitchen”.
Ideally, we should have unloaded the boxes in their respective rooms. The rain last night kind of killed that for us. We were too focused on getting everything inside. Then Alice ran off. The beginning of the new year has not been kind to us. Hopefully we can turn things around.
Miles and Peter join us in the living room. “The food should be here in about thirty minutes.”
“How in the world is it getting here so fast?” Alexandra asks as she lifts a box.
“Eric is determined to see what’s going on over here on Starlit Road. He’ll be breaking every traffic law he can.”
I tilt my head to the side in question. “Did we go to school with him?”
“No. He’s been here a few years and has dubbed himself the town busy body.” Peter shakes his head and lifts on of the boxes. He must have noticed the label on Lexi’s box. “If you don’t want him in your business, it’s best to say as little as possible.”
“Sounds like I need to be friends with this guy.” Lexi laughs and continues toward the kitchen.
I shake my head. Of course she’d want to befriend the town gossip. I guess she sees it as the only form of entertainment in Asheville. Hopefully she’ll see this town has more than that to offer. Despite the drama that occurs on occasion, the community always comes together for their own.
“Eric actually has two step kids about her age. It might be a good idea to invite them over so she knows someone when she starts school,” Peter says as he lifts two boxes. Show off. Also, why is he giving me parenting advice? Last time I checked his social media he was single with no kids.
“You literally just told me not to say too much to him. Now you want me to set up a play date for teens?”
“It’s only an idea.” He shakes his head as he makes his way to the kitchen.
Great, now I’ve offended him twice today.