“I feel like an idiot. I mean, I come home and mope around for months, and the minute he walks into town I’m supposed to just forget how much I’ve hurt all this time and take him back?”
“Well, no.”
“But on the other hand, does it make me a petty bitch to want him to suffer and to tell him no, no, no, until I feel like he’s paid his penance and then let him crawl back into my life? How does that make me any happier?”
“It doesn’t,” Lily said softly. “Honey, listen to me. All you need to consider is what makes you happy. Stop worrying about what you think you should do to save face or pride or whatever it is you think you need to do. Those things won’t matter in the end. The real question you need to be asking yourself is whether you trust him and whether you’re willing to take a chance on him again. He hurt you. It isn’t about punishing him or yourself. It needs to be about what you want and what you’re willing to forgive.”
Callie stared at her sister-in-law and then leaned forward to hug her fiercely. “I love you, you know. I’m so glad I have you.”
Lily laughed and squeezed Callie in return. They hung onto each other for a long moment before Callie finally pulled away.
“I guess maybe I want him to suffer as much as I have so he’ll realize how badly he hurt me.”
“Who says he hasn’t? From all you’ve told me, he’s not been any happier than you have, and he had to deal with the loss of his mother on top of all that. I’m not saying he didn’t deserve to be miserable for the way he treated you, but maybe you aren’t the only one who has suffered.”
“You’re a wise woman, Lily Colter. I know I’m being petty.”
Lily squeezed her hand. “No, hon, you’re a woman who’s been hurt by the man she loves.”
“I don’t know what I’m supposed to do next,” Callie admitted. “He wants to pick up where we left off. He wants me in his bed every night. I’m not sure we can overcome the separation between us that quickly.”
“He may want, but that doesn’t mean he’ll get,” Lily said lightly.
“Oh Max always gets what he wants,” Callie said in resignation. “I have no willpower where that man is concerned. He’s lethal.”
Lily’s eyebrows rose. “That good, huh?”
“Uh-huh.”
Lily laughed. “Callie, I’ve never known you to back down from anyone or anything. Granted our acquaintance is still somewhat new, but your brothers have regaled me with tales of your childhood and your adulthood as well. If anyone can stand up to this Max, I’d say it would be you.”
“Think Mom would kill me if I didn’t make it back up the mountain tonight?”
“Tell you what. I’ll call her and tell her I asked you to stay over. Then we can all ride up together tomorrow for lunch.”
“You are way too good to me, Lily, but I love you dearly for it.”
Lily touched her arm and her expression went serious. “You once helped me through one of the most difficult days of my life, Callie. I’d say we’re good for each other.”
“We girls have to stick together,” Callie said solemnly. “In this family, we’re way outnumbered!”
Chapter Eight
The next morning, Callie was still sleeping soundly when Lily gently shook her awake. Callie blinked fuzzily and let out a groan. “Is it morning already?”Lily smiled. “Yeah. I wouldn’t let the guys wake you and made them tiptoe through the living room. They’re going ahead. I told them I’d ride up with you. That’ll give you time to shower and feel human before you face the entire family.”
Callie reached up, framed Lily’s face and then smacked her noisily on the forehead. “God, I love you.”
She heaved herself up and planted her feet on the floor. “What time is it anyway?”
“Eleven. You’ll need to hurry if we’re going to make lunch.”
Callie pushed herself up and staggered toward the bathroom. Twenty minutes later, feeling somewhat human again, she came back into the living room where Lily was sitting in the armchair.
“Ready?” Lily asked.
Callie nodded.
Lily looked dubiously at Callie. “Want me to drive?”
“No, I’m okay.”
“Did you sleep at all last night?” Lily asked once they started down the road toward town.
Callie grimaced. “Not much, I’ll admit. Thinking too much.”
“Did you come to any groundbreaking conclusions?”
“Just that Max has a hold on me that months of separation and anger haven’t managed to break,” she said bleakly.
“You don’t sound happy about that.”
Callie’s hands tightened around the steering wheel. She held her breath as she turned down Main Street and drove past the hotel where Max was staying. Only when they were beyond did she acknowledge Lily’s statement.
“There’s a part of me that’s happy. Really, really happy. Like that bubbly, giddy feeling you get when you’re really excited about something.”
“And the other part?”
“Like I’m worried I’m standing on railroad tracks with a freight train bearing down on me.”
“Well, that’s an image,” Lily muttered.
Callie chuckled. “Best I could come up with on such short notice, but it fits.”
They drove in silence for a few moments longer. Callie turned onto the road that led up the mountain to her parents’ house and deftly navigated the holes, the switchbacks and the loose dirt.
“It’s my pride,” she finally admitted. “I can’t get beyond my pride. It sounds so stupid. I feel stupid.”
“It’s not stupid, Callie. Pride is important.” Lily reached over and squeezed Callie’s knee. “It’s going to be okay. Just remember you don’t have to be pressured into anything you don’t want. This is your turf. He has to come to you. You aren’t at a disadvantage here. He is.”
Callie smiled and rounded the corner to the turnoff for her parents’ cabin. She shot between the tall pines and rolled to a stop behind Seth’s truck. Then she checked her watch. “Made it with fifteen minutes to spare. Now Mom won’t gripe because the food got cold.”
“Like she’d know.” Lily snorted. “Your dads are the ones getting the food on the table.”
Callie broke into laughter. “Yeah, so true.”
The both got out and hurried up the steps. Callie opened the door, stuck her head in and yelled, “We’re here!”
To her surprise, when she walked in, her parents—all four of them—and her brothers were sitting in the living room, their faces set in determination. And they were all staring at her.
“Uh-oh,” Callie murmured to Lily.
Lily shot her a look of apology and turned her palms up as if to say she had no idea what was up. Callie let out a small groan. D-day. The day her family was no longer going to be put off.
She knew those looks. Saw the worry in her mom’s eyes. Saw the grim set of her fathers’ and brothers’ lips. Yeah, she was going to get it from all sides. She was tempted to turn around and run like hell, but she wasn’t a coward.
She took a step forward and wiped her palms down her jeans. “Hey guys.”
“Callie, come sit down,” Adam said in a low voice.
She winced. It was that tone that brooked no arguments. Even at twenty-three years old she wasn’t too old to heed her dad’s order. He didn’t give them very often, but when he did, he meant business.
With a sigh, she flopped onto the couch next to Seth. Seth was her ally. Always had been. Only now he didn’t look like much of an ally. He looked as determined as her other family members to make her talk.
Ryan leaned forward, resting his forearms on his legs. He stared at her with those blue eyes so like her own. “What’s going on, baby girl? Don’t you think it’s time you told us what’s wrong?”
“You’ve been moping around here for months now,” Ethan cut in. “You came home like a wounded animal and I don’t see that it’s gotten any better.”
Tears pricked her eyelids, and the people she loved so dearly went bleary in front of her. Lily came to stand beside her and put a soft hand on her shoulder in support.
“Callie, we’re worried,” her mom said. “You just aren’t yourself.”
She scrubbed a hand over her face and heaved another sigh of resignation. “I met someone while I was in Europe.”
Adam got this pinched look on his face like he did when he wanted to kick someone’s ass. Lord but this wasn’t the way she wanted to introduce Max to her family.
“His name is Max. We had a…misunderstanding.”
Seth snorted beside her. “What kind of misunderstanding? Is it the type of misunderstanding that I need to track the son of a bitch down and kill him?”
She twisted her hands nervously in her lap and peeked back up at her fathers. “He’s here. In Clyde, I mean.”
You could have broken a brick on their faces. Ethan’s eyes narrowed and Ryan scowled.
She held up a hand. “I want you to meet him.”
“Maybe you need to explain this misunderstanding first,” Adam said.
Holly got up from her position between Ryan and Ethan and moved over to where Callie sat. With a flick of her hand, she motioned Seth from his seat and then settled next to her daughter.
“What happened, baby?”
Oh Lord but she wished her mother had stayed across the room. Callie’s lips trembled and her nose drew up and stung as tears burned her eyes.
It was all over with the moment her mom pulled her into her arms. She buried her head against her mother’s chest and allowed some of her misery to pour out.
Holly rocked her back and forth and stroked a hand through Callie’s hair. Several long moments later, Callie gained control of herself and immediately felt like an idiot.
“God,” she groaned against her mom. “Make them go away, Mom. This is humiliating.”
Holly chuckled. “I’m afraid you’re stuck with them.”
“Lily can stay,” Callie said mournfully.
“Callie.”
Ryan’s voice reached her ears. It was a soft command. Full of love. She looked up, unable to deny her father.
“If you really want us to go, we will. We love you. It’s been hard watching you hurt and not being able to do a damn thing about it. We only want to help.”
Callie smiled and wiped at the damp trails on her cheeks. “I don’t want you to hate him.”
“I can’t promise to like him if he hurt my baby,” Ryan said evenly.
“He wants us to be together,” she said.
“And what do you want?” Adam asked.
She drew in a deep breath. “I want us to be together too. If I can forgive him, I want you to be able to forgive him too.”
Holly squeezed Callie’s hand. “I’m sure we’ll love him.” She shot a challenging look in her husbands’ direction. “We have to meet him first, of course. And I have to be sure he’s someone I can trust my daughter with.”
The sharpness in Holly’s tone made her sons snicker. She silenced them with a look.
“Did Max have anything to do with what happened the other night at the bar?” Dillon asked.
Callie shot him a glare. “Who told you?”
Dillon stared balefully at her. “It’s my bar, Callie. Did you think no one would say anything?”
She scowled and pressed her lips together.
Her fathers’ collective sigh echoed in the room.
“It was nothing,” she said defensively. “I might have hit Max when he showed up at the bar. I wasn’t expecting him. I was pissed.”
“How do you maybe hit someone?” Michael drawled.
“Okay, so I decked him. At the time he deserved it.”
“And yet you’re ready to be with this guy again,” Adam said with a scowl.
“Look Dad, it’s complicated. He had to leave Europe because his mom was dying. I thought he dumped me.” She left out the part where he’d done just that for all practical purposes. It wouldn’t put him in a very good light with her already skeptical parents. “He found me here. He apologized.” Or as much as Max was capable of apology. More like he demanded she forgive him. Which wasn’t the same thing at all. “He wants…me.”
Ethan sighed. “We’ll give him a chance, Callie. What do you know about this guy, anyway? What does he do? He’s not planning to take you away from here, is he?”
At that statement, she got scowls from her dads and her brothers. Even Holly frowned and looked at Callie in question.
“I…” Hell. It made her sound ridiculously stupid, but the truth was, she didn’t know a whole lot about what Max did. She knew he was wealthy. She knew he had a job. Or maybe it was that he owned his own business. Finance? Truth be told, she hadn’t cared whether he had money. She hadn’t cared what his job title was.
“Callie?” Adam prompted.
“He’s in finance,” she mumbled.
“I think we should meet him before we make judgment,” Lily said in her sweet, soft voice. “We shouldn’t make Callie feel worse than she already does. She’s been through a lot. Our support means a lot to her.”
Oh damn. Callie was going to cry again. She looked up and smiled gratefully at Lily who still stood beside the couch where Callie sat.
Ryan cleared his throat. “Invite him to dinner. The sooner the better.”