Chapter 25 Callum #2
Richard leans in until his face is just inches from Jared’s.
“Leave. Town. Now. If I find you within a mile of this place, I will get you arrested for destruction of private property, harassment, and assault. You’ll never see the light of day, and I’ll be in that court room enjoying every minute of your sentencing. ”
Jared’s mouth opens then closes.
He spits out a curse that sounds just as shaken as he seems.
As soon as Richard lets go of him, he scrambles up and stumbles over his own feet, bolting down the street.
His footing skids through the slush as he goes, and soon he disappears at the end of the block.
Richard lets out a long breath and straightens back up. I can see him uncoil from the rigid set of his shoulders as they loosen, the slow blink telling me he’s working the adrenaline down.
For a second he just watches after Jared’s retreating figure before finally turning back to us.
“Son of a bitch,” he mutters under his breath before finally turning to face us. “You boys okay?”
I rake my hands through my hair. “Bit of a knight and shining armor moment, wouldn’t you say?”
That earns me a small, humorless smirk.
Richard wipes his hands on his thigh, shaking his head before straightening fully to face me. “Was coming by to check on the shop and saw you two having it out with him on the sidewalk. Thought another B&E was going on until I recognized you both.”
Grant lets out a low chuckle, though it sounds more like a sigh. “Been that long you don’t even recognize us anymore?”
Richard snorts, crossing his arms over his chest. “Look, I didn’t expect to see you both over here. Sue me. Besides, wouldn’t you rather I come in hot instead of asking questions why a hammer’s being swung at your face?”
“Fair,” I say, exhaling a short laugh despite how frayed my nerves are. “Glad you showed up when you did. If you hadn’t, Grant might’ve broken his jaw. Or I might’ve. Doubt the cops would’ve let us off with a warning.”
Grant rolls his eyes. “He swung first.”
Richard just shakes his head, that weary, disappointed look returning. “Yeah, well. I’m just glad you didn’t hurt either of you. He’s unstable and desperate. That’s the most dangerous kind of man out there.”
The tension in my chest twists and before I can stop myself, I mutter, “Oh, he cares about us again.”
It’s meant to come out as a light jab, a half-joke to lighten the air, but it lands wrong. It always does when there’s history underneath the words.
Richard flinches.
Not dramatically, just a slight twitch in his expression like the hit landed harder than intended, but it gets him to drop his arms to his sides, the fight draining out of him.
When he looks at me again, his eyes aren’t angry anymore.
They’re just tired…and sad.
“Of course I care about you,” he says quietly.
The words knock the air out of me.
I shouldn’t be surprised to hear it, but I am.
After everything—the shouting, the accusations, the way he told us to stay the hell away from his daughter—I didn’t think I’d ever hear anything resembling affection from him again.
How he’d left that day, the decision had felt final.
Like a door slamming shut for good. Richard has been more than a friend, he’s always been family and hearing him call us “brothers” one day only to turn around and say we’d betrayed him the next?
That had burned worse than any fight we’d ever had.
I figured that had been the end, him cutting us off for good.
But now, standing in the cold under the dying sunlight, paint still streaked on my hands and the echo of Jared’s threats still fading, it hits me just how much I missed this.
Missed him.
Grant glances between us, sensing the shift. The bite in his posture softens too. “We miss you, you know. All of us.”
Richard nods slowly, rubbing a hand over his jaw. His tone softens even more when he says, “I miss you all too. I’m…sorry I’ve been away. I just…I needed time to clear my head.”
“You missed quite a bit. Don’t worry, we’re been holding down the fort in the meantime,” I say, trying to lighten things again.
That earns me the faintest ghost of a smile, the kind that used to come easy for him back when things weren’t so damn complicated. “I appreciate that.”
We stand there for a while, none of us really ready to part ways just yet.
When Richard finally speaks again, his voice is a little steadier. “Look, I can’t say I’ve forgiven everything. Not yet. But…I don’t want to be your enemy. Noelle’s my daughter. Eli’s my grandson. I want them safe and whether I like it or not, you’re all a part of that.”
Grant nods. I do too, though it’s harder to swallow past the lump in my throat.
For the first time in a long while, it feels like the distance between us isn’t impossible to cross.
Maybe this fractured piece of us will one day become whole again.
Grant clears his throat quietly, breaking the silence. “You should come back to the house. Noelle and Eli miss you.”
Richard’s jaw flexes.
His eyes drop to the ground, watching his boot scuff the slush in slow, absent motions. “Don’t know if they’re ready to see me. Noelle and I…we had a pretty bad argument.”
I take a small step closer, bridging what little space remains between us, and reach out to clap a hand on his shoulder.
My palm lands firm against his jacket, the weight of the gesture making him lift his head just enough to meet my gaze.
“Don’t. Don’t talk yourself out of it. Just come over. Talk to her. She misses you, I promise.”
His brow creases, a flash of disbelief flickering in his eyes.
I tighten my grip on his shoulder. “You’re her dad, Richard. You’re the only one she’s got. You don’t want to wake up one day. Hell, you don’t want to be on your deathbed regretting everything you never did to fix this. You have the chance right now. Don’t waste it.”
He stares at me for a long moment, something shifting behind his expression.
The hard line of his mouth softens.
He breathes out slowly through his nose, the sound heavy with all the tortured days he’s spent holding everything in.
“Okay,” he finally says, voice quiet again. “Okay.”
Grant’s smile is small but genuine. “Good. Tomorrow. Celebrate New Year’s Eve with us. Bring those terrible coffee cakes you like. We’ll all pretend to hate it and eat it anyway like we always do.”
That earns the faintest chuckle from Richard. “You sure she’ll even let me in the door?”
“She will,” I say, certain of it. “She’s stubborn, but she’s your daughter. She got that from you. Plus if she is too stubborn to do it, we all know Eli will sneak you in through the window.”
Richard exhales a soft laugh, shaking his head. “That he will.”
When Richard finally turns to leave, I grab him and pull him into a tight hug.
He returns it, his body slowly relaxing as the seconds pass.
Grant catches him in one too before he climbs into his truck.
He glances back at us one last time before pulling the door shut.
As soon as he gets the truck’s engine running, he rolls the window down. “Thank you. Both of you.”
“Don’t thank us yet,” Grant calls. “You’ll change your mind once you see what Noelle’s done with the kitchen.”
Richard huffs out a quiet laugh and rolls the window back up to trap the heat inside.
We watch as the truck eases down the road, its taillights disappearing around the block.
Grant stuffs his hands in his pockets, glancing over at me. “Think he’ll actually show?”
I look toward the end of the street where the truck vanished and nod once. “Yeah. I think he will.”