Chapter 10
Ten
Callie
I shouldn’t have agreed to stay with him. This is asking too much. Even though he helped us unpack, I haven’t spent time alone with him in years. Hell, he’s part of the reason I left.
“We can get our things.” The fight to do things on my own continues. He doesn’t know that I’ve had to do it all for a long time, even before my marriage was over. It’s a reflex. For whatever reason, I can’t let anyone help me.
“Callie, it’s freezing out here.” He points at the sweatshirt I’m wearing. “And you aren’t exactly dressed for this weather.”
He has a point.
“Fine. We’ll go inside.” I point at the bed Alice is currently lying on in the backseat. “But I’m at least taking the bed so she doesn’t try to claim your furniture.”
“Okay.” Wow, no argument from him. Maybe this won’t be so bad after all.
“Lexi, can you lead Alice inside.”
“Yes.” The headphones are still on her head, and it looks like I’ll need to have another talk with her about listening into conversations. She used to do it all the time when I was with her dad.
We all open the doors at the same time. Lexi hops out of the backseat and our pup follows after her before running ahead and pulling her toward the back of the house. My poor kid is slipping on bits of ice and I hope she doesn’t fall.
“I guess she remembers the way.” I lean over the seat and grab her bed before getting out.
“Most likely. I’m just glad I found her that night. Things could have turned out really bad.”
He’s not lying. I’ve seen people who’ve posted about their missing dog and they never found them. Or worse, they did and it wasn’t a happy ending. I don’t know what we would have done if Peter hadn’t found her.
“Thank you, again, for that.”
“It’s no problem. Anyone would have done the same thing.”
Not likely. It’s cute that he still believes the best in everyone, though. I wonder how that works out for him in the family business. I know you can’t be gullible when you’re making those types of decisions. Though I’m not sure what he does exactly. I guess I’ll find out more while we’re here.
He walks beside me as we approach the back door. “I want you and Alexandra to make yourselves at home. My house is your house while you’re here.”
“Thank you. I really appreciate it.” I wait for him to open the door, Lexi and Alice stand off to the side. “My brother probably does, too.”
He just turns the knob. What in the world? He doesn’t even lock it. I remember growing up like that as kids, but I lock the door even when I’m home most days. He has a level of trust I clearly don’t.
“Aren’t you scared of getting robbed?” Lexi asks as she takes a step inside, Alice trailing behind her.
“Not really.” Peter shrugs, waiting for me to go in. “If I lived in town, maybe. But I’m toward the back of the property. They would have to go by a few of my siblings’ house before they made it to me.”
“Who’s to say they wouldn’t?”
My child. She would argue with a wall if I let her.
“Most people aren’t like that around here.
” He follows after me and scoots by to lead us out of the mudroom.
We have no choice but to follow since there isn’t any power.
“On top of that, Pierce has cameras throughout the property. If someone did decide to break in, it would be easy to find them. Especially in a town this small.”
“You’ve got a point.” Lexi concedes. “How is your house so warm without electricity?”
As we get closer to what I assume is the living room, there’s an orange glow coming from the far wall.
“Because, I made sure I had a fireplace when I built the house.” He moves to a stack of wood and adds more to the fire. “Living way out here, we deal with more power outages than most when a big storm comes through.”
“Is that something we have to look forward to?” I set Alice’s bed in an open space beside the sofa.
“Most likely, but we haven’t really had any bad storms until recently.”
“So, this isn’t a first time occurrence in the past year?”
“A rain storm came through in the Fall and the winds tore some pieces off the roof at the winery. Plus, no power for about a day. This is different, though. I think a lot of people are feeling the effects of this ice storm we had.”
Lexi sits on the sofa and unclips the leash from Alice’s collar. “They are. It seems like most of the state aside from a few areas.”
“How do you know that?” I ask her.
“Social media.” She rolls her eyes as if I should know that.
“I didn’t realize it was that widespread,” Peter says before motioning for me to take a seat. “Social media isn’t really my thing.”
“Mine either.” I collapse next to Lexi. I have the one platform, but rarely get on it. There’s too much gossip, and people say hurtful shit when they’re behind a screen. I’m glad it wasn’t around when I was a kid. High school would have been so much worse.
“Y’all stay put. I’ll get your things and then I’ll show you where your rooms are.”
“Sounds good.” I wait to hear the back door close before turning toward my daughter. “You really need to stop using your headphones as a method to eavesdrop.”
“I wasn’t.” She holds her hands up, but the smirk tells me she’s lying.
“Alexandra, I’m not playing. Peter is doing a nice thing by letting us stay with him.” When she doesn’t say anything, I continue. “I could tell him we can rough it out at our house. Then you’ll have to leave the warmth and wear ten layers of clothes.”
“Fine.” She pouts. “I’ll stop listening in on conversations. But it’s cool hearing about your life here when you were a kid. You never talk about it.”
There’s a reason for that. I was around her age when girls in my class started talking about me.
Mostly because I was always with Miles and Peter.
The entire school knew I had a crush on him.
It’s a wonder he didn’t. It’s not like there wasn’t a ton of gossip and rumors.
There wasn’t nothing else to do here aside from being in people’s business and going to field parties.
“There isn’t much to tell.”
“Okay.”
Thank God she’s letting it go. At least, for now. I don’t want to tell her the way I am now is a far cry to how I was in high school. The last thing I want her to think is her mom was a pushover who didn’t stand up for herself.
She turns toward the back of the sofa to look out the window. “You have to admit it’s pretty outside. Even if it’s mostly ice. This is what I want it to look like at Christmas.”
“You know as well as I do how unlikely that is.” A girl can hope, though.
There are muffled thuds coming from the back of the house before I can hear the roar of the generator. Peter must be back with our luggage.
“I’ll go help him.” Lexi stands and heads toward the hallway. “It’s my fault there’s so much.”
Even though she listens in on conversations, she really is a good kid.
Always the first to offer help, even when it comes to me.
I’m not if it’s because she thinks I can’t take care of myself or because she genuinely wants to help.
Either way I’m not questioning it. It’s enough that she’s kind.
I only hope it doesn’t bite her in the ass the same way it did me.
Lexi comes back before Peter does. Her suitcases rolling along beside her. Alice lifts her head to see who it is and lies back down. She’s perfectly content napping by the fire.
“Where’s Peter?”
“He’ll be back in a few minutes. He said something about checking the fuel level in the generator.”
“Maybe I should go help him.”
Lexi shakes her head at me. “Mom, he has it. If he needed the help he’d ask.”
No, he wouldn’t. He does things for everyone else, but never himself.
He’s been that way since we were kids. Always willing to give a helping hand even when those he helps eventually screw him over.
Except for his family and Miles. Even I did when I ran off without a word.
I knew it would hurt him, but I didn’t care.
There’s no time to think about that now. It’s best not to bring up the past. I only hope he does the same. The last thing I want to do is tell him why I left. Or, why things ended with my ex-husband.
Finally, I hear heavy steps in the hallway along with wheels rolling across the floor.
“Is it warm enough in here for you?” He asks as soon as he comes into the room.
“It’s perfect.” Lexi smiles up at him. “It’s a good thing I brought a book light with me. I’ll be sitting right there by the fire for the foreseeable future.”
“That sounds like a good plan.” Peter laughs. “Maybe you’ll get through all these books you brought with you.”
“Maybe.” She glances toward the other hallway. “So which room is ours? My bags take up a lot of space in here.”
He grabs a flashlight off the end table and turns it on. “If you’ll follow me.”
I stand and grab one of Lexi’s suitcases. There’s no way she can pull both of them down the narrow hall. Plus, I feel useless sitting here when I could be doing something.
He passes by two doors before stopping at the last one on the left. He pushes the door open and peeks in before allowing us to pass him. From the beam of light, the room looks tidy and also small. I think Lexi’s room is bigger than this. He probably doesn’t have many guests, though.
He studies the space Lexi has taken up with her suitcases and looks at the bed. It’s a full size, and I’m not sure how both of us are going to sleep on it. Not because we don’t fit, but because my sweet child sleeps all over the place.
“Actually, Lexi, I think you’ll get this room all to yourself.” He says before turning on the small propane heater. “If it gets too warm in here, let me know and I’ll adjust it.”
“Sweet.” She digs through her bag for the reading light and pulls out a book before flopping onto the bed. “Y’all may never see me again!”
“Where am I going to sleep?”
“Follow me.” He grabs my bag from my shoulder and I do as I’m told. It’s not far. This house isn’t that big, and there are only two hallways. One that leads to the mudroom and the back door. And this one. One of the doors we passed must be his room.
“Peter, I can’t take your bed.” I need to voice the argument before we even get to his room. I know him well enough to know that’s exactly where he intends for me to sleep.
“Yes, you can.” He turns the knob on the second door we walked by and pushes the door open.
There’s a battery-operated lantern on the dresser. Not that it’s needed because of course he has another fireplace. The gentle orange glow fills the space and I feel bad Lexi won’t get to enjoy the aesthetic.
Wait, what am I talking about? I already said I wasn’t sleeping in here. It’s too personal. We didn’t enter each other’s spaces when we were younger, why would I start doing that now.
“Where are you going to sleep if I’m in here?” It’s the only thing I can think to ask. The one rebuttal that might make him realize this is ridiculous.
“The sofa.”
“You don’t fit on it.” As if he needs me to tell him that bit of info. I’m sure he knows. Though, they are bigger than normal sized sofas. Well, the one facing the window is.
“I. Will. Be. Fine.” He won’t back down.
Ugh, why is he so freaking stubborn?
“Fine. But if it’s okay with you, I’ll hang out with you in the living room.” Another bad idea. I’m supposed to be keeping the distance between us, not spending more time with my childhood crush.
“You don’t have to, you know that right?” He leans his head to the side studying me. Waiting on a response.
“I know.” Believe it or not, I don’t want to be locked away in a room, no matter how cozy it feels. Besides, once Lexi explores the house a bit, she’ll be sitting in here by the fire while she reads.
“Then why?” His eyes don’t leave mine. “You’ve made it pretty clear you don’t want me to help you with anything. Now you want to spend time with me voluntarily.”
That’s the million-dollar question. I can’t really explain it without letting him know about the crush I harbored as a kid. Or the fact I’ve thought about him more than I should throughout the years, which is the main reason I didn’t let him follow me on social media.
“Because I don’t want to be alone. It’s too quiet.” It’s an honest answer. More than I wanted to be.
His only response is a nod before walking out of the room. What that hell is up with that?