8. Callie Rae
Callie Rae
I’m sipping my Cabernet when Lindsey pipes up from across the dark, wood table.
“How’s the wedding planning going?” Her posture is prim in the rich, leather seat. The swells of her augmented breasts peek out of her lace bustier, and it’s nearly impossible not to stare.
I shuffle to cross my legs, my fingers tugging the satin hem of my long-sleeve mini dress. The bold flavor of the wine trickles down my throat when I’m about to answer.
But Jesse’s voice interjects from beside me.
“I’m allowing Callie to take the reins from this point.” His finger grazes the underside of my chin, and my head turns toward him. I meet Jesse’s dark eyes as he wears a smirk over his smooth jaw. “I promised to give Callie whatever she wanted. And that’s exactly what I intend to do.”
The corner of my mouth spasms, discomfort knocking into me before it curls up in compliance. Jesse’s words are sweet, but there’s always this dramatization in front of guests.
Specifically, Roger and Lindsey Wellis.
“Well, I’ve been thinking about it,” I start, pivoting my attention back to Lindsey.
Her shiny lips carefully hug the rim of her wine glass, her blue eyes expanding with curiosity inside her thick lashes.
“I’m growing a little nervous about having a huge, extravagant wedding.
” My gaze dips from hers when I set my drink down.
Then I’m slightly scrunching my nose. “I don’t know. ”
“I’ve never heard that one before,” she teases. “What other kind of wedding would you want?”
My fingers tuck a few soft locks behind my ear. Jesse has his right calf resting on his left thigh, and I reach for his hand in his lap. His palm flips upward to welcome me, injecting me with enough confidence.
“I suppose I’m just the type of person who believes less is more,” I add.
I weave my fingers between Jesse’s long digits.
I cement my stare to our hands on top of his black slacks, and my gaze eventually drags up to his.
I’m silently pleading for his support. Not just to rub it in his business partner’s wife’s face, but to prove to me that our wedding is more than just a money showcase.
“Oh, honey,” Lindsey chimes in playfully. “When you have the kind of money Jesse has, you make the most of it. Not many people are lucky enough to get that opportunity. Trust me. Own it and enjoy it.”
I rotate my attention to her, a stale smile on my face. My eyes peek over her blonde head of hair, and the floor-to-ceiling windows of the restaurant display the panoramic view of the bay.
The fascination of it all begins to haze over.
“She’ll come around.”
My head turns to Jesse’s voice humming against my ear. He’s sinking into the leather of his chair, his thumb stroking the back of my hand as his eyes hood. “When she starts looking at the venues we can afford, she’s never going to look back.”
I swallow tightly, eyes dropping to the buttons of his crisp, white dress shirt.
Porcelain dishes and wine glasses clatter around us, and then my gaze steers to the slate-blue satin of my mini dress.
I gently rock my right leg that’s crossed over my left, the weight of my stiletto heel more blatant than ever.
“Yeah,” I say, nodding with conviction. A broader grin stretches across my mouth when my concentration parks on Lindsey again.
“I’m sure when I start visiting halls and get a taste of the kind of wedding we can have, I’ll be more open to it.
” Lindsey’s eyes sparkle against the artisanal pendant lighting, and my shoulders hike up. “I’m excited.”
Jesse brushes my side. His arm snakes around my back, his lips greeting my temple as he says, “I’ll never give you less than you deserve.
” My chest vibrates with the same playful spirit, and then he’s shifting away to face Roger and Lindsey.
“Not to mention, we can’t just show off a three-carat engagement ring for nothing.
People will expect our wedding to be huge. We can’t let them down.”
My brief high nearly vanishes when Roger’s voice snags my attention. “How’s your finger holding up, by the way?” His chin jerks to my left hand as he sits back, leg crossed over his opposite thigh.
I ghost my teeth over my bottom lip. I fan my fingers out in front of me, the square diamond glistening under the ambient lights when my stomach tenses. “Feels heavy sometimes, but it’s worth it.”
“I’d hope so,” Jesse scoffs. “Color, cut, carat. All of it is well above average.”
My throat bobs, eyes still lingering on the jewelry. “To be honest, the meaning behind it is most important to me.”
“Aw, I love that,” Lindsey coos.
Jesse’s palm greets my bare thigh. “That’s why I’m marrying this woman. Isn’t she absolutely amazing?”
A flush of warmth spreads over my cheeks, surely painting them a faint shade of red. I’d like to convince myself that this knee-jerk reaction is because I’m flattered. But Jesse’s tone doesn’t make that possible.
It’s not what he says, but how he says it.
He flaunts me. Not to show me off, but to show himself off. To gloat about how well he selected from the dating pool.
“You’re embarrassing me, stop it,” I breathe through a timid smile.
“Listen, Jesse doesn’t hand out compliments often. Revel in them when you can,” Roger jokes.
I nod through a small laugh, lifting my wine glass to swallow a sip.
Notes of plum slap my tongue, and then Lindsey’s extending her linen napkin toward me.
“Here, let me just help you out,” she says, dabbing the corner of my lips.
“Can never be too careful with lipstick and wine. Especially red wine.”
“Thank you,” I offer softly, leaning back into the leather.
I cradle my wine glass to my chest, whiffs of seafood and seared steak drifting about.
Jesse steers the conversation in a different direction, talking about the real estate investments he’s made and the networking he’s engaged in lately.
Both Roger and Lindsey perk their ears, but mine remain unfazed.
Bored.
It’s the same kind of stories when we go out, just a different place they’re being told. I want to laugh. Be able to take control of the conversation at some point. Only, I know exactly what’s going to happen before it does.
Jesse is going to go on a tangent about his success in the workplace.
Roger is going to ask what Jesse plans to do with the new properties he’s bought.
Lindsey is going to randomly chime in with a comment before taking a cautious sip of her drink.
Then she’s going to pat the corner of her swollen lips with the linen napkin.
It’s all foreseeable. And the most alarming part is that Jesse doesn’t notice I hardly engage in conversation anymore. It doesn’t make him bat an eyelash.
When I first met Jesse, he charmed me off of my feet. Handsome, intelligent, witty. Everything I could’ve hoped to find in a man.
He was investing in real estate about a year before I met him, and so he was still working out the kinks of getting used to that position. Up until recently, Jesse hadn’t had one single flaw.
Maybe it’s the idea that when you’re with someone long enough, their flaws start to rise to the surface. And for some time now, Jesse’s personality has gradually transformed right before my eyes.
I’m hoping that after the high of announcing our engagement, Jesse will climb down the arrogant ladder a few steps. Hopefully, he’ll start to treat our wedding like a promise rather than another way to impress people.
Jesse’s mind has always revolved around money in some way. But ever since we bought a home in Hampton Bays and became engaged, his mind seems more consumed by it than ever. Then again, he grew up in Manhattan, surrounded by a wealthy family and rich friends.
Lindsey’s giggle snaps me from my thoughts. Jesse’s voice filters through next, and my head rotates to him. Eyes fastening to his exposed forearms as I taste my wine.
“See, the trick is to diversify the investments you make. As much as it pains me to invest in homes that look poverty stricken, I know there’s opportunity available when we fully gut it and flip it,” he explains.
It pains him?
Once I gulp my sip, I’m the next to speak. “Sure. But think about how painful it was for the people who had to live there.”
His dark brows furrow, a pout forming at the corner of his lips. “I’m sorry, babe. I didn’t mean anything by that comment.”
I shake my head with a muted grin. “It’s okay. It’s just … many people are cornered in their situations and have no way out of it. Until the appropriate time presents itself.”
Jesse turns to Roger and Lindsey, vaguely maneuvering his hand. “Callie didn’t grow up in a wealthy neighborhood. She’s always catching my ignorance one way or another.”
I’ve told Jesse I grew up tight on money. I never exposed the fact that I’m from a trailer park. Nor does he know anything about Daddy.
I suppose I felt it easiest to leave those parts of my life out of our initial conversation. The person Jesse is in love with is the person I am now. Why should I have to complicate things by giving him a worse image of me?
Roger’s eyes pin mine. “Oh, we didn’t know that. Where did you grow up?”
“A small town,” I simply state. “Willowhart.”
Roger and Lindsey submerge in silence as they hold my gaze. Their heads barely nod in understanding. Just to appease the moment.
They have no idea how to communicate with someone who grew up outside their lifestyle. I might as well be an alien or an ex-convict.
“She’s never looking back though.” Jesse’s hand kneads my exposed thigh, and I pivot to look at him. “She’s made something of herself and sees how much better life is now.”
I scarcely nod, words jumbling at the base of my throat just as theirs did.
Conversation reconvenes, and I ingest a breath before drawing another mouthful of wine. My eyes drop to my fingers around the glass. When they sink onto the princess-cut diamond, my heart lunges.
Not because of the jewelry I’m wearing, but the remnants of that tingle he left.
I realize my heart is what’s tugging back all the words meant to agree with Jesse’s latest claim.
Damn you, Dove.
Brant
I rest my elbows on the desk, chin planting against my knuckles. My eyes roam over the list of emails in my inbox, concentration lost when I think about visiting Callie’s house later today.
Ever since Thursday, my life has been forever uprooted.
Those round, sage-green eyes are accented with some mascara now.
Just as her full lips are coated with this berry tint that makes them appear fuller.
Her waist is still petite, but there’s no way I could miss the silhouette of her hips and chest.
They’re fuller.
Curvier.
Womanly.
My stomach clenches, and a sourness coats the inside of my cheek. I realize how much she’s changed. How much I missed.
So many changes, and I missed all of them.
I fucking missed all of it.
Then, there’s Jesse Miller.
How the hell did Callie Rae Montgomery end up with a guy like that? He’s a show-off, relying on his wealth to speak for him. I guarantee his love language involves buying her the gaudiest pieces of jewelry and accessories.
I consider Callie’s beauty again. As much as it’s changed, it spurs my heart the same way it did under those loblolly pine trees. Knowing that, did it ever really change at all?
No.
She’s timeless.
Infinite.
There is no beginning or end, but rather, moments.
Moments with her that will surely meet me across all facets of my life.
We may have missed years together, but I didn’t lose Callie.
When she threw herself in my arms, it was like I was hugging the girl who left for Monroe College.
Somehow, we’re picking up right where we left off.
And beneath all the transformed layers, I felt her.
My Callie.
I shudder to think there’s too many layers to peel back and set her free.
Then again, she wasn’t honest with Jesse about me. In their driveway, for whatever reason, she played it off like that was the first time we were meeting.
I begin to wonder how much Jesse actually knows about her former life in West Virginia. It seems he only knows bits and pieces. Considering the asshole he is, he’d probably hold her imperfect upbringing against her.
She knows that.
I know her too well to know that she knows that.
Fuck.
Don’t be stupid, Callie.