Chapter 32
CALLUM
The grandfather clock ticks on the other end of the dining room. Cutlery clangs against plates.
A gulp of wine and a cough from his father keeps him tense.
It’s another Brown Thanksgiving and no one’s saying anything. It’s just him, his dad, and his stepmom, Tammy.
It’s the loneliest Thanksgiving so far. Even after his mom died, the rest of the family showed up. Cousins, aunts, and uncles included. Now, it’s just the three of them.
His dad is good at burning bridges, especially with his mom’s side of the family, but Callum needs those bridges to maintain his sanity.
Now, he has almost no family.
He cuts into his turkey uncommittedly. While being a football player makes him eternally hungry, he doesn’t feel hungry at all. He’s just watching and waiting for his dad to say something. He hates sitting in the silence more than anything else, just waiting for the shoe to drop.
“Callum, how have you been liking your sophomore year so far?” Tammy asks in between another gulp of wine.
Callum nearly chokes on his potatoes as he swallows. “It’s been good. We’ve won all the games, as you’ve probably seen.”
Tammy smiles. “You’ve truly come into your own, you’re an even better player than you were last year.”
A smile almost plays on his lips. He just nods and says, “Thanks,” instead, and silence falls over the table again.
“Do you have your eyes on anyone special?” Tammy asks. Callum blinks, surprised that she wants to continue the conversation.
He studies her, and he thinks she might know something. She’s not asking in the same way someone asks an innocent question. There’s intention behind it, and he doesn’t know if it’s because he won’t give his dad a straight answer, or maybe because she has a sense about something.
“Uh—I’ve mostly been busy with football and classes… Don’t really have my eye on anyone, honestly. I haven’t had the time.”
He continues to eat his food, hoping that Tammy will just drop it. She does, as she continues to eat, but his dad decides to keep it going.
“Even with all the parties you go to? What about my colleague’s daughter? I told Joel she would be a pretty good match for you, considering she’s on the cheerleading team.”
He wants to roll his eyes at the cliché assumption that just because a girl is a cheerleader means she’s the perfect person for him. It’s so typical that his dad just wants him to be like every other football player and date someone that’s involved in the game.
He could give his dad exactly what he wants if he told him about Mason, but that would likely blow his pants off.
“I don’t know, we… just didn’t click, really. We both didn’t really feel it… I think.”
His dad drops his fork on his plate loudly. Tammy nearly jolts out of her seat, but Callum knows that sound all too well.
He’s frozen to his seat, knowing what’s going to happen next.
“No one’s good enough for you I guess, huh?” his dad accuses, folding his hands and resting his elbows on the table.
The grandfather clock ticks and breaks through the painful silence.
Callum clears his throat. “I don’t know what you want me to say, Dad.”
“I want you to have a girlfriend, Cal. I want you to do what I ask of you and to listen to my advice.”
“Daniel… Callum’s just trying to succeed—” Tammy says, trying to lower the tension.
Callum inhales through his nose and ignores Tammy. “So you want me to force myself to like someone that I don’t? Or force her to like me when she doesn’t?”
His dad clenches his jaw. “Don’t be smart with me.”
Callum scoffs. “I’m not. You know I’m busy with football and school. I don’t have time for a girlfriend, anyway. You want me to play football and get drafted? Then that’s what I should focus on.”
He’s seething with anger, wondering why his dad was suddenly being so adamant about Callum finding a girlfriend. It has never that big of a deal until now.
His dad slams his fist on the table, getting an even bigger startle out of Tammy, closing her eyes briefly as she takes a sip of her wine. “Don’t think I don’t know what’s happening. It’s that Mason kid, isn’t it? He’s distracting you from what you want, isn’t he?”
Callum freezes. His dad can know things that even Callum thinks he’s hiding well. But there’s no way he knows about Mason, no one else except for Jenna and Craig do, and she surely wouldn’t tell him.
“He’s just doing the sports beat for the paper, Dad, that’s all it is.”
“Daniel, can we just… shelve this? It’s Thanksgiving, and we never get to see Callum—”
His dad does a cutting motion through the air with his hand, signaling to Tammy to be quiet, just like he used to do to Callum as a kid.
When does it stop? When is his tyranny going to end?
His dad points at him. “If I see you with that Fanning kid again, I’m going to make sure he never comes close to you ever again, Cal, I mean it.”
Callum clenches the fork in his hand, wanting to bend the metal to his will, just for something to take his anger out on. But he knows he’s powerless, there’s no way to stop his father.
He’s a relentless, brutal, sovereign of Callum’s life.
“Fine, Dad. Your wish is my command,” he mumbles before resuming to eating his dry turkey and runny potatoes.
He shovels the food into his mouth, hoping that somehow, he can make he and Mason work. He’s willing to do anything to make it happen, but that fear is back inside of him.
That deep-rooted anguish that only his father can bring out.
His dad is poised for his final attack. To ruin everything and everyone that Callum has ever loved, and the only thing he can do is watch as it unfolds.
He needs to make sure he can protect Mason and his own career before it happens.
He needs to win the championship game and get drafted.