Chapter Twenty
Liam
Frustrated, I check my phone. Again.
Calypso didn’t text me when she got to work. I know she had to be there by ten, so I expected something by lunchtime. I’m taking a later break than I would have liked, but it’s half past one when I finally push through the doors to Brighter Daze.
She’s standing behind the counter, leaning over a cake she’s decorating while Lexi chatters behind her. Some of my agitation turns into concern the moment I see her.
Normally, she looks up when the bell rings, like she’s instantly aware of my presence. The same way I am with her.
Lexi notices me and gives me a look that screams yikes and shrugs. Finishing up whatever she was saying, she gives Calypso a moment to respond but she doesn’t. Lexi walks off, not seeming annoyed with her business partner.
When I’m too close to ignore, she puts the icing down and stands straight.
Placing my hands on the glass counter, I stare at her for a moment. “What’s wrong?”
She scoffs. “Just because I didn’t text you doesn’t mean something is wrong.”
I think it does.
“Didn’t even mention you hadn’t texted me.”
She rolls her eyes. “It’s where this conversation was going.”
“Are you a mind reader?” I tease, trying to break through her walls even the slightest bit.
Yeah, I’m annoyed with her, but I don’t think her not texting has anything to do with me.
Or the fact she doesn’t like to be told what to do.
Calypso hasn’t shown any hesitation about using my phone number since I gave it to her over a month ago.
I don’t know why she’d start now unless something happened.
“I might as well be,” she says but her voice is still too cool, too detached. “At least when it comes to you.”
I nod slowly then tilt my head. “Usually I’d say the same but I don’t have a clue what you’re thinking about today.”
“Figure it out.” She shrugs, then grimaces at her own petulance.
“I’m trying,” I mutter and lean closer to her. “You’re infuriating sometimes.”
“Then leave.” Her eyes widen, surprising even herself, but she doesn’t backtrack. She carries defiance like an armed soldier who only knows how to point the sword at herself.
I don’t miss a beat. “No.”
Her body loosens but she doesn’t say anything.
“We don’t have to talk about this now, but we’re going to later, at home.” I eye her, hoping she’ll give me something. Anything. “You’re okay?”
She lets out a sigh and her eyes soften the smallest amount. “Yes, Liam, I’m okay.”
Not fully convinced, I take her word for it. For now.
“Do you want a coffee?” The rough edge to her tone is still rubbing at me, but I accept her olive branch.
I nod but my phone starts vibrating.
My youngest sister’s name flashes across the screen. We talk regularly but she usually starts her bartending shift at this time.
Stepping away from the counter, I answer quickly. “Jo?”
“Hey!” she greets with ease. “Where are you?”
Confused, I turn my head, looking for privacy. Calypso nods toward the kitchen. She grabs the cake she’s working on and I open the door for us while talking to my sister.
“I’m in Amada Beach. Where are you?”
“I’m in Amada Beach,” she says. When Jo was little, she went through a period of repeating everything someone said. She still does it to be annoying sometimes.
“Be serious, Jo. Why aren’t you at work?”
Calypso watches me while whispering to Chuck. Both are curious but give me space.
Her familiar, crisp laugh rings through the line. “No, I’m really in Amada Beach. I went to the hardware store to find you.” The construction offices are in the lot behind the store and my 4Runner isn’t there.
“I’ll be right there,” I promise, patting my pockets, but I didn’t take anything out when I got here.
“I already left.” I catch the faint sound of a car engine starting. “Just tell me where you are.”
Looking at Calypso, I let out a deep breath, not wanting today to be the day she has to meet my sister. Not when she’s already upset about something and Jo is in some predicament I know nothing about.
The universe doesn’t usually care about what we want, though.
Jo leans against one of the wooden columns in the bakery kitchen. Silently, she tucks a piece of curly, chocolate brown hair behind her ear. Looking at her, one might assume she’s much calmer, and quieter, than she is. The demeanor, and her red-rimmed eyes, have my nerves on high alert.
I gave her a quick introduction of Calypso and her staff when she arrived five minutes ago. Jo’s eyes are still alight with excitement at meeting my girlfriend. She practically squealed when I told her to come here.
Chuck pulls his newest sourdough out of the oven, and the heavy door slams, breaking the growing tension.
Clearing my throat, I finally ask, “Jo, what’s going on? Why didn’t you tell me, or mom, that you were visiting?”
Oh yeah—in the ten minutes it took Jo to get to Brighter Daze, I received a verbal lashing from my mom about Jo’s decision to sneak away.
She finally realized that I hadn’t smuggled my sister across state lines and nicely asked me to take care of her.
Of course I agreed, and she promised to visit for the holidays.
As much as she’d love to fly to Amada Beach and take her baby girl home, Jo is turning twenty-five in two months. She’s an adult and we all have to learn to treat her as such. Our mom is having the hardest time with that.
“I broke up with Megan.” Jo acts casual, examining her cuticles like she just said it’s sunny today. Not that she broke up with her off-and-on girlfriend of seven years.
In all that time, Jo was never the one who initiated a break-up.
Sometimes she’d date other people when Megan ended things, but she always chose relationships she knew wouldn’t last. Jo’s a bit of a hopeless romantic and always has on rose-colored glasses when it comes to her partners.
She also tends to live life by the seat of her pants.
It’s a dangerous combination.
As easy as it is for her to up and leave a job without a second thought, it’s just as easy for years to pass where she’s stuck in the same, dead relationship.
“Jo,” I say, brotherly concern thickening my voice. “Are you okay? What happened?”
She shrugs. “Yeah, it was just time.” A single tear slips down her cheek and she bats it away. “You know, since she never stopped seeing that girl when we got back together.”
My heart plummets. That was four months ago.
Megan breaking up with Jo to hook up with someone else is a technicality to some and cheating to others. This is something even Jo can’t ignore.
“Josie,” I soothe and pull her into a hug.
She wraps her arms tightly around me but doesn’t let another tear fall.
Jo is the definition of a “people pleaser,” so she won’t make a scene in front of strangers.
Especially not Calypso. If there was a good group of people to break down around, I’d say the Brighter Daze staff are top candidates—but it’s probably best if we come up with a plan before getting into the details.
“I really missed you,” she whispers. “And I needed actual distance from Megan.”
I nod. “Of course. We’ll figure it out.”
She tilts her head. “What do you mean? Can’t I stay with you?”
I grimace, having not told my mom and sisters about this development yet. I’m surprised my aunt or uncle haven’t shared the news either.
“My apartment complex is temporarily closed,” I explain. I don’t plan on ever going back there, and would never let Jo live there. “I’m staying with Calypso.”
Her mouth pops open and she turns to look at the strawberry blonde beauty.
Awkwardly, but not shyly, Calypso waves. “Yup.”
The kitchen door flies open and, always with perfect timing, Lexi walks inside.
She sees me with an arm around Jo and points. “Are you having an affair? Did I just walk in on the big confrontation?”
Chuck is laughing and plating a few slices of the strawberry and jalapeno sourdough, fresh out of the oven.
Jo pushes me away. “Ew, no. God, no.”
We have different dads, plus the eight year age difference, so we don’t look that similar.
“This is my little sister,” I tell Lexi. “Jo, this is Lexi.”
“Ohhh,” Lexi says and snatches one of the pieces off the plate Chuck is handing Jo. He playfully swats her hand away. “Nice to meet you, little sister.” She takes a bite and gives the older man an appreciative nod, humming as she goes for a second.
“I’m not into that porno,” Jo retorts with a playful scrunch of her nose.
Lexi’s head tips back laughing and Calypso’s snicker fills the air too. Even Chuck finds humor in the crude joke.
“And that’s Josephine for you,” I say.
“I like her,” Lexi says. “Can we keep her, Mom?”
Calypso grabs one of the extra unfrosted cupcakes from her order and throws it at Lexi’s head, but she catches it in her mouth. “Don’t ever call me that again.”
That’s interesting.
We’ve never talked about children, or if Calypso would ever even want to get married again. I’d be open to it, but it’s not something I’m desperate for either. There’s a lot of ways to show your commitment to someone.
I don’t get the impression she has any desire to relive the tradition, but that doesn’t mean she wouldn’t want children. Then I remember Knox joking that a PTA meeting was the last place I would find my blind date.
“I’ll be here all week,” Jo says and pretends to bow. “If I can find a place to stay that’s super cheap.”
“I’ll cover whatever you need,” I say but she immediately shakes her head.
“I just need to find a job.”
“I can help with a job,” Calypso says. “Do you bartend?”
Jo perks up. “I do. I’m really good, too.”
“Max’s is hiring, but it’s fine dining.”
Jo nods and stands a little straighter. “I promise I can handle it.”
Calypso bobs her head and starts typing on her phone. Lexi is leaning against the metal worktable and tapping her lip as she eyes my sister. It’s not necessarily from attraction but there is interest there.
If Lexi wasn’t tied up in her own romantic shit, she could be perfect for Jo.
According to Calypso, she isn’t the most committed person but she’s always honest, respectable.
I think her penchant for a good time and shameless personality is exactly what my sister needs.
Plus she’s as loyal as they come, and Jo lost contact with a lot of her friends while dating Megan.
The clever brunette could be the perfect person to take my sister under her wing.
“I might be able to help you with the place to stay,” Lexi says, already proving my point.