5. Callie
Chapter five
“Hey, Cas.” I smile at my brother through the phone. It looks like he’s sitting on the back patio of our mum’s place.
“How’s my favourite sister doing?” He smiles, but he’s not looking at me, he’s waving at my daughter.
His messy, dark hair is tamed under a backwards ballcap, the long ends flicking up at his nape.
His eyes look particularly blue when his hair’s off his face.
You’d think it would soften his look, but it only makes his cheekbones look that much sharper, and his nose ring glimmers under the setting sun shining on one side of his face.
“I’m your only sister, but I’m doing good.” I laugh. “How are you? How’s work?”
He nods, bringing a beer to his lips and taking a sip. “Not as fun without you around.”
“Liar.” I laugh as I bounce Navie on my lap.
“Seriously. It’s weird not having you around.
” This is the longest I’ve ever been away from Caspian.
We’ve always got along. We never had those moments growing up where we bickered or pissed each other off.
Not with any amount of seriousness. Cas has been someone I could always depend on.
He’s not just my big brother, but my best friend.
“You could always come up to the city and visit more often.” I grin.
Like me, Cas has spent his whole life in Trevally Falls. He’s a small-town guy, and he’s not a big people person.
“I might have to if this one keeps growing so fast.” He gestures to Navie with the tip of his beer bottle.
Cas rode up a few times in the first few weeks after Navie’s birth.
After my labour failed to progress and Navie grew distressed, I had an emergency C-section, so I wasn’t able to drive, but once I was in the clear, I tried to go back home at least once a fortnight.
I hoped Mum would enjoy seeing her granddaughter, but she didn’t seem to bond with her like Caspian and Westley did.
The conversation would always turn back to asking if we’d heard from our dad.
The sound of a door closing comes through the speaker, and Caspian looks off to the side. “Hey, Mum. I’m talking to Cal and Navie. Do you wanna—” Cas pauses, finishing with a sigh before looking back at the camera.
“Let me guess, Dad still hasn’t come home?”
“She hasn’t heard from him in almost two months.” Caspian takes another pull of his beer. “It’s never been this long. He should have at least called her if he wasn’t coming home.”
“Is she still turning up at work?” I ask. “I can send some money if the bills are falling behind?”
Caspian shakes his head. He hasn’t let me help in the last year, not since my ex left my accounts drained. “No. You just worry about Navie. I’ve got everything under control here.”
“She’s my mum too. I can help.”
“Bobby’s changed her hours for the next few weeks, so it’s all good. I’ll stay with her for a few nights, but she seems different from other times.”
Thankfully, the pub where Mum works is managed by one of Dad’s friends, Bobby, who knows what our dad’s like, what my parents’ relationship is like.
This isn’t the first time he’s had to cut back her hours or shift her from the bar to out the back, where she doesn’t have to deal with customers until a few weeks pass and she somewhat returns to herself again.
I just wish she would realise there’s no point waiting for Dad to love her like she loves him. She’s a pit stop to him. He’s spent more years out of her life than in it. Years of witnessing their relationship was what ultimately led me to the decisions I made when I found out I was pregnant.
Derek and I were already over, and he’d been in jail for almost a month at that point, but I didn’t want to watch another man breezing in and out of my life whenever he felt like it.
I told him to choose: in or out. He chose out, and though my heart ached for my little girl, I was kinda relieved.
It meant a fresh start for Navie and me, prioritising our needs and promising myself I’d never settle for anything less than I deserved.
I’d never again chase a love that didn’t want me.
“Okay.” I sigh. “Just keep me up to date with her, okay? Don’t try to do everything.”
“I won’t.”
“I know you, Caspian Jude, and I mean it. Don’t try to handle it all yourself if it gets too much.”
“I don’t mind,” Caspian says quietly, but I can hear how strained it is, how forced. “It’s not like I’ve got anyone else waiting for me.”
Two swift knocks sound against my front door before Westley and Maevyn step inside.
“Heeey, it’s our brother from another mother.” Literally.
“Hey, West!” Cas shouts through the phone. West joins me on the couch, stealing Navie from me to sit her on his lap as I shift my phone ’til we’re both in the frame.
“Hey, Cas. How’s things?”
“All good in my neck of the woods. How are you? How’s Maevyn and Aurora?”
Maevyn leans over the top of the phone until her head comes into view. “Hey, Cas.” She smiles.
“Ahhh, my favourite future sister.”
I snort. “You’re such a suck-up.”
“Just telling it like it is.” Caspian grins. “I like to show appreciation for the luck life bestows on me.”
“Awww.”
“Maevyn, don’t encourage him.” I tsk, just as there’s a crash in the background.
Caspian sighs. “I better go.”
“Okay. Miss you.” I hold up Navie’s hand, waving it back to Caspian through the screen as we all finish exchanging goodbyes.
“What are you guys up to?” I ask West and Maevyn as I stand from the couch, pocketing my phone before shifting into the kitchen and pulling things out of the fridge for dinner.
“I’m heading out to classes soon, but I wanted to see how the job hunt was going,” West says, shifting Navie to his hip. He teaches self-defence classes twice a week with his best friend. It’s the same place I went to learn when we met a few years back.
“And I just came to stare at the baby.” Maevyn smiles, tickling her fingers under Navie’s chin and making her giggle.
“I haven’t heard back from the ones I applied for.” I shrug. “Do you think it’s too early or too eager to follow up, or should I just keep applying for more?”
“Actually, I was hoping you might say that. I have a lead for you.”
“Oh?” I lean on the counter, resting my chin on closed fists and giving him my full attention. “Tell me more.”
“Lee’s friend Mason needs a personal assistant, and bonus points, he owns a building company. You liked that, right? Mason does homes, though, not commercial stuff like Lee, but they do really fancy, boutique stuff, and renovations on older homes.”
I make a sound of approval as my eyes flick to Maevyn, thinking she’ll be looking as optimistic as I am, and instead find her salivating over my brother. My face sours, and the room falls silent until Maevyn realises all the attention’s on her.
“Oh, sorry. I was just trying to decide what was hotter: when he wears his toolbelt or when he holds a tiny baby in pink frills.”
“I’m surprised to say this, but I was way less grossed out living with Caspian.”
Westley chuckles before clearing his throat. “Anyway, he’s looking for someone urgently, and since Lee vouched for you, Mase said he’ll skip an actual interview and just do a casual meet and greet.”
I’ve got plenty of experience in admin, but I’ve never been a personal assistant. “What kind of hours does he want, do you know?”
West shakes his head. “No, but Lee mentioned you’ve got a newborn. Mason seemed unbothered as long as the work got done.”
“This almost sounds too good to be true.”
“It’s not what you know, it’s who you know,” Maevyn says with a self-assured nod. “You’ve got nothing to lose.”
A myriad of thoughts fly through my head.
My maternity leave entitlements are coming to an end—that’s the main reason I’m going back to work now—but I’m also starting the legal process of separating Derek’s and my custody of Navie.
My stress levels are even higher after the phone call with Cas.
Mum’s depression can be unpredictable, so Cas and I have always tried to keep a spare account of funds just in case she can’t manage to get herself to work.
Cas says she seems different, but this is also the longest Dad has ever ghosted her.
“Okay.” I nod, decision made. “I’d love to meet with him.”
“I’ll ask Lee for the details tomorrow so you can set something up.”
I round the bench so I can give my brother a hug. “Thank you.” I squeeze him tighter before I let go.
“Anytime.” He smiles, then gives Navie a kiss on her cheek before handing her back to me. “I gotta get to the centre, but I’ll text you Mason’s details when I have them.”
I walk Maevyn and West to the door, noticing it’s just past six. I’m surprised Navie hasn’t noticed she’s missed her usual bath time, with how attuned she is to her routine.
Once they’re gone we head upstairs to the second bathroom, Navie kicking her little feet as soon as she spots the bath.
Carefully, I crouch down, put the plug in place, and turn on the water, adjusting the temperature until it’s just right.
I get Navie undressed in her bedroom while the bath fills, taking my time to talk to her and nuzzle her tiny toes.
My heart is so full just thinking of my daughter, but it’s overflowing with love when she looks up at me and smiles.
I always imagined myself as a mum, though it happened a lot sooner than I expected.
There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do to keep her safe and happy.
She will never question how loved and wanted she is.
I bring her to my chest, bouncing her gently as we head back to the bathroom. Turning off the taps, I lower Navie into her bath seat. I let her splash around in the water first, filling up a small jug and pouring it over her belly, and she kicks and waves her hands around excitedly.
My phone chimes in my back pocket. With Navie content and strapped in, I dry my hands and check the notification.
An email from the lawyer’s office I contacted earlier is displayed on the screen. They finished reviewing the details around my request for full custody and have attached an outline of the fees and expectations for the proceedings.
Yep, I hope this Mason guy likes me, cos there are a lot of zeroes on that invoice.