Chapter 23
Twenty-Three
Peter
Callie and I move as one throughout the kitchen.
Each takes care of a task while we prepare dinner.
It’s almost like a dance, and I can’t believe the two of us can share a space like this without bumping into each other.
I don’t even have this easy of a workflow with my siblings and we’ve worked together for literal years.
I hear a vehicle outside, and I think nothing of it.
It's likely one of my brothers out on the golf cart because they’re bored, or nosy.
They always have to know what everyone else is up to.
The old ladies in town have nothing on my siblings when it comes to gossip.
Moments later, the sound stops, and there's a knock at the back door.
Everyone who is supposed to be here is already here.
Nobody in my family knocks. They barge in as if they own the place.
I have no idea who it could be. Anyone who visits comes to the front door.
I turn toward the back of the house and see Callie flinch before she faces me. “I may have forgotten to mention my brother said he was going to stop by. He's having Peter withdrawals.”
“You know, from anyone on the outside looking in, their mind would go straight to the gutter.”
“As if yours isn’t.” Callie’s giggle sends waves of happiness through me.
I make my way to the mudroom and open the back door. Miles is in fact here. He’s rubbing his hands together to stay warm. I would have thought the cold didn’t bother him as much since he works in it.
“It’s about time. It’s freezing out here.”
“I don’t know why you knocked. You usually come right in.”
“Yeah, but that’s before you were dating my sister. I don’t want to walk in on anything that’ll give me nightmares.”
My feet stick to the floor at his statement. Oh shit. “When did you find out?”
“Callie told me earlier. I guess she forgot to tell you.” He shakes his head.
“Is that why you came over? To tell me not to hurt your sister.” I don’t want Callie to hear anything I’m saying in case it upsets her, so I keep my voice low.
“I had already planned on dropping by. I haven’t seen you since before the storm. But the hurting my sister part, that’s a given. I didn’t think I’d need to voice it.”
“You don’t because I have no intention of hurting her.”
“Good.” He claps me on the shoulder. “I’m glad the two of you are finding happiness. Now, what’s for dinner?”
That’s my best friend. Always thinking about food.
Well, that went better than expected. I thought things might be weird, but nope. Miles handled our hand-holding and snuggling with grace. He didn’t even make a face. Hopefully, my family is the same way when we show up together at a function.
“So, next month we’re doing a Valentine’s Day thing at the winery, would you like to be my date?”
“When did you start doing events? I don’t remember y’all doing anything except bottling and selling wine.” Callie scratches her head in confusion.
“Piper and Paula have made it their mission to bring the community to the winery. Offering events is what is getting them here. We used to do things with Out of the Ashes at the bar. It was a win-win situation.” I grip her hand in mine.
“Now, they want to do it all in house. Piper said it builds brand recognition.”
“She has a point. Your little sister has always been someone who thinks out of the box.”
“Yep. It caused some issues in the fall because Pierce didn’t want to hand over anything to Piper. It as a whole thing. He even roped Beau into it. That caused some friction between the siblings. Since then, she hasn’t really talked to Pierce. I don’t blame her one bit.”
She thinks over my words for a bit. “I don’t either. Pierce has always been…intense. I remember one time he yelled at me when we were kids because I was playing behind one of the barrels. By his reaction, you would have thought I had committed some treasonous crime.”
“That tracks. He’s pissed at me right now because I’m leaving work at the time I’m supposed to instead of staying late.
” I take a drink of my hot chocolate. It seemed like a great drink for this evening.
I never really kept any in the house until now.
I know she liked it when we were kids. And Lexi mentioned it one night during the ice storm.
“It’s kind of annoying. The only people he comes down hard on are me and Piper.
It’s like he doesn’t care what anyone else does as long as he can keep his thumb on us. ”
“That sounds about right. I see not much has changed with him since our younger years.” She snuggles closer into my side as we watch TV. I don’t know what we’re watching, but it’s basically background noise at this point. “Any other exciting news at Starlit Fields?”
“Other than my dad retiring? Not really.” I shrug.
It’s still business as usual in regards to everything else.
“I know we’ll need to hire more people soon for the weekend crowd.
Most of us can handle the few hours we’re open during the week, but the weekends are busier than they’ve ever been, thanks to Piper. ”
“That’s good. Who knows maybe I’ll apply. The extra cash couldn’t hurt.” She laughs as soon as she says so I know she’s not serious.
“Believe me, you do not want to work under Pierce. I feel sorry for whoever we hire. Thankfully, they’ll spend most of their time with Piper unless she has a tasting event. Then they’ll report directly to Pierce.”
“Yeah, no thanks. I love your siblings. Well, most of them. But I would butt heads with your big brother, so much.”
“You’re not the only one.”
Callie pulls a blanket off the back of the couch and pulls it over the both of us. “I need to figure out what time the bus runs out here. As much as I appreciate Eric and his partner, I can’t rely on them to get Lexi home every day.”
“Has she ever ridden a bus?”
“For school trips.” She shrugs her shoulders. “But it’s not like she’s five. She’ll figure it out.”
“What time does she get out of school?”
“Almost four, I think.” She shakes her head. “I really need to get on the ball with getting her a license.”
“Lexi,” I call. I don’t know if she can hear me because she probably has her headphones on. I’m moving the blanket when the door down the hall opens, and she hurries down the hall.
“Yeah?” Why does she look guilty? It’s not my job to parent her. I’m sure if anything’s amiss Callie will call her out on it.
“Do you want to ride the bus after school?” The face she gives in response is the only answer I need. “I’ll pick her up, then.”
“You don’t need to leave work early to pick her up.” Callie argues.
“I won’t be. I get off around three.”
“What?” Callie shrieks. “Miles told me you work late all the time.”
“By choice, not because I have to. It’s not like I had anything better to do. Miles is always busy at the ranch and I didn’t have anyone waiting at home with me.”
Out of the corner of my eye, Lexi gives me a thumbs up and walks backward to her room without making a noise. I guess she thinks we have it from here.
“And what about when we can go back home? Will you still work late?” She’s waiting to see what I say, as if the answer is very important.
“No. Just because you’re not at home doesn’t mean I won’t hurry to see you and Lexi.” She doesn’t realize how important she’s become to me. How important both of them are. “I told you, I’m all in. Last night wasn’t a fluke.”
Callie breathes a sigh of relief and leans her head against the couch. “Okay.”
I turn toward her and cup her face with one hand. “What the hell happened in your marriage that you even have to ask that?”
She doesn’t have to tell me, I know that. But I hope like hell she opens up. I can’t reassure her if I don’t know what the core problem is.
“He cheated…a lot.” She takes a deep breath.
“Everything was fine-ish in the beginning. Even after we had Lexi. Then he’d start working late and not even come home sometimes.
I put up with it for a lot longer than I should have.
But Conrad, and his family, made it clear I couldn’t raise a child on my own.
That I couldn’t make it without them. I was young and hopeful he would change every time he said he would. ”
“But he didn’t.” I don’t phrase as a question because it’s not. I can tell by the pain that his behavior continued.
“I changed so much about myself to make him want me. To come home to me instead of someone else, but it was useless. He was going to keep cheating and I either had to deal with it or leave. It took everything in Miles not to beat the crap out of him when he’d visit.
But I wanted to keep the peace. For the past year Miles came up at least once a month to help me with lawyers and find a house down here.
I needed to be with family. I couldn’t take it anymore. ”
Now all of Miles’s trips out of town make sense. I thought Colton was sending him places on ranch business. The whole time he was helping his sister get out of a shitty situation.
“First of all, it’s his loss. Nobody in their right mind wouldn’t want you. You’re beautiful, smart, funny, and independent. I’m glad you left. But why didn’t you call me to help? I would have come in a heartbeat. I thought we were better friends than that.”
She laughs. But it’s not because anything’s funny.
It’s self-deprecating. “There was no way I was calling you. I left because it hurt too much to be around you and you not noticing me as anything more than Miles’s little sister.
It didn’t help that some girls in my class gave me crap about it and called me pathetic.
When I got the scholarship to a school in Oklahoma, I took it and never looked back.
I couldn’t let you see how horribly my life turned out. ”
Fuck. She’s breaking my heart as much as she did when she left and broke all contact without an explanation.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?” She’s genuinely confused.
“Everything. If I had asked you out back then, all of this could have been avoided. I was too worried about what Miles would think, and what it would change with my friend if things didn’t work out.”
“That wasn’t all on you,” she argues. “Besides, if things didn’t play out exactly how they did, I wouldn’t have Lexi. Or this chance with you.”
I hold up my mug of hot chocolate and clink it to hers. “Here’s to second chances.”