Keeping Secrets

by Parker, Weston

  “Well, at least that’s a more realistic promise to make yourself than swearing never to drink again at all.” I lifted my glass of water to my lips and let it hang there. “Was it at least worth it?”

  She pushed her giant sunglasses into her fiery hair now that she was inside the cafe where we had arranged to meet for breakfast, letting me see the excitement in her red-rimmed eyes.

  “Yeah, totally worth it. I’m so happy Callen sang. It was the cherry on top of the best birthday ever.” She grinned and managed to waggle her brows at me, even as she massaged her temples with her fingers. “You guys disappeared early on Friday night. Did you have your own private after-party?”

  “Not in the way you’re thinking.” I laughed. “Winter was there with us, remember?”

  “And?” She scoffed. “Kids go to sleep earlier than adults. It’s like, a universal fact.”

  “Really? I think there are millions of parents out there who would vehemently disagree with that statement.”

  She waved her hand dismissively. “Okay, maybe. But I know Winter has a strict bedtime. I’ve had to make her stick to it. Twice.”

  “Callen let her stay up later to come to your party so she could hear him sing. We went to get some ice cream after that. Then they took me home.”

  “That’s a disappointment.” She swigged the water I’d ordered for her before she arrived, draining the glass in one long gulp. Wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, she held the glass up to a passing waitress to signal she wanted another. “At least you don’t feel like death warmed over today, so that’s a win for you.”

  “True.” I smiled sympathetically. “The rest of you guys carried on all weekend then?”

  She groaned and nodded before she buried her head in her hands, her elbows propped up on the table. “Unfortunately, yes. You’d think I was old enough by now not to make rookie mistakes, but I did.”

  “What did you do?” I’d never been a major partier, but I’d had a lost weekend myself here and there.

  A tiny, nagging corner of my brain thought that staying and partying with them would have been a better choice than going to get ice cream with Winter and Callen. An epic hangover probably would have been significantly better than the doubts and uncertainty I’d been having since they dropped me off.

  Thinking about that was only going to bring me down. I prompted Julia again instead. “I can’t wait to hear all the sordid tales about what you guys got up to.”

  “It wasn’t that sordid.” She sighed dramatically but then smirked. “Okay, maybe there were some sordid parts. If Callen dropped you off after ice cream, why didn’t you come join us again?”

  “Tell me the juicy parts first. Then we can talk about that. Think of me giving you free rein to gossip as much as you want to as another birthday gift.”

  She clapped her hands together gleefully, then rubbed her palms like some kind of evil villain in a movie. Mirth danced in her eyes as she leaned forward. “Okay, so you know how Tom, Dick, and Harry were all there?”

  “The triplets whose mom thought she was hilarious when she named them? Sure, I saw them.” I’d only had eyes for Callen most of the night, but I’d done the polite thing and greeted the people I knew. “What happened?”

  “After we left the bar, we decided to go to the beach. Harry said he had some vodka in his car, so we thought we’d take the party there.”

  “The way you phrased that makes me think the party never made it to the beach?” My worries about the way Friday night had ended faded a little as I immersed myself in Julia’s story. The triplets, while they didn’t hold a candle to Callen, were all cute in their own right. They were also living proof that mostly, blonds really did have more fun. Which was why their escapades were a great distraction. “What did they do this time?”

  She giggled, her expression far away for a moment as she remembered. “Tom decided it was a good idea to grab a garden gnome from a yard near the beach after we parked.”

  “Oh no.” People with garden gnomes around here were usually very, very protective of them. It was like they belonged to a secret cult where scary-looking clay people were sacred. I’d never understood it and I never would. “Please tell me he didn’t.”

  “I wish I could,” she said. The corners of her mouth pressed in like she was trying not to smile. “But he did. Richard, of course, decided that one gnome would be lonely without a friend, so he took one, too.”

  I groaned. “I’m assuming Harry didn’t let his brothers outshine him?”

  “He didn’t.” She laughed. “Needless to say, it was a terrible idea. We got caught, the police were called, and we spent several hours at the station getting them out. They felt terrible about it all, so they invited the rest of us back to their place and we crashed for a few hours. But then they woke us up with Mimosas and tequila and the party was back on.”

  “Sounds like fun,” I said. “And possible liver damage, but still fun.”

  “Yeah, it was.” She raised an inquisitive brow at me. “Tom asked about you.”

  “He did?” The triplets were the subject of many crushes and fantasies around here and always had been.

  I’d known them forever though, and I’d never thought of any of them as more than a friend. Actually, even friend was a stretch. Long-time acquaintance was more accurate.

  Before I’d met Callen, I might have been mildly curious about what exactly Tom had said to Julia about me. As it was, however, I really didn’t care.

  No one I’d ever met had the effect on me Callen did. He made my heart beat faster and my palms sweaty but not in a bad way. He made me laugh.

  I felt special when I was around him, like I was the only woman he cared to look at or even sit and talk to. I even got butterflies whenever we were together. Not those tiny, every day, run-of-the-mill type either. Big-ass freaking butterflies with the wingspan of a manta ray.

  So it didn’t matter that Tom had asked me about me. If anything, it made me feel a little guilty for some stupid reason. Like I belonged to Callen and this was somehow a betrayal to him, despite the fact that the only person I truly belonged to was myself.

  A deep sigh escaped me as she nodded, enthusiasm making her eyes bright. “Yes, he did. Harry and I might be going out on a date soon. How would you feel about turning it into a double?”

  “I’m not interested,” I said without hesitating. “Before you ask, no, I’m not going on a date with another guy, not even for you.”

  She rolled her eyes at me with a sly smile on her lips. “I wasn’t gonna ask. In fact, I’ve already told him you’re not interested. I just thought I’d take a chance, since you got all weird when I asked about Callen earlier and then promptly changed the topic.”

  “I wanted to hear how your birthday went,” I protested, but it was weak. Even I knew it.

  Julia gave me a look that said she knew it as well. “I’ve let you stall long enough. As much as I want to talk about the rest of our escapades over the weekend, I want to know why he dropped you off so early.”

  “It wasn’t that early. It was past ten-thirty by the time we got to my place.”

  “Shock. Horror.” She gasped and pressed her hand to her mouth. “Past ten on a Friday night? How could I possibly have said that was early for an unattached twenty-something like yourself to go to bed?”

  “I’m not entirely unattached,” I pointed out, then realized that I was being dilatory for no good reason. Julia wasn’t going to let this go. “We ducked out of your party before it got too wild and went to the shop for some late-night ice cream. Winter was practically asleep on her feet a while after we got there, so we went home.”

  “But you didn’t go home together, obviously?”

  “No, he’s uncomfortable doing anything like that with Winter around. I get it, though. I really don’t blame him.”

  She rocked her head from side to side, then nodded. “Yeah, I think I get it too. It’s probably harder to understand since we’re not parents oursel
ves, but it makes sense. It doesn’t explain why you didn’t come back to join up with us again or why you tried to skip over the topic earlier, though.”

  “I thought about coming back to you.” I really had considered it for about a minute after I’d walked into my house. “But I’d have been a downer at the party and I didn’t want to do that to you.”

  “I knew there was something you weren’t telling me.” A protective gleam came into her eyes. “What did he do? Did he hurt you? I’ll cut his balls off if he did, but don’t worry. I wouldn’t do it when Winter was around.”

  “No. Why would you even ask that? He didn’t hurt me. Also, we’ve talked about the acceptability, or lack thereof, of violence.” I shook my head. “You don’t need to cut his balls off anyway because he really didn’t hurt me. I think it might have been the other way around actually.”

  Her eyes widened in disbelief, her eyebrows jumping high up on her forehead. “I can’t believe you would do something that could hurt him.”

  “I’m not sure if I did. When they dropped me off, like I said, Winter was already sleepy. She told me she loved me when I got out of the car, and I think that it made Callen uncomfortable. It might even have hurt him. I just don’t know.”

  Julia’s posture relaxed, her frown disappeared, and an easygoing smile spread on her lips. “Is that what you’re so worried about? Girl. Chill. Kids say ‘I love you’ to anyone. I have a niece who used to say it to the UPS guy. It’s not a big deal.”

  I chewed on my lower lip. “Really? You think so? Because it looked like it bothered him.”

  “He was probably just tired,” she said, confidence giving her voice strength.

  “That’s what I thought at first. I just hope we’re right.”

  “We are right.” She held my gaze. “I wish you’d have told me over the weekend you were worried about this. You could have saved yourself the headache of spending the weekend mulling it over.”

  “And given myself a headache by drinking with you instead?”

  She winked at me. “Exactly. Now can we order? I need to get a ton of bacon into me if I’m going to be able to get through all my clients today.”

  Julia and I ate our way through a huge mound of bacon, pancakes, and scrambled eggs, sucking down a virgin Bloody Mary each before we took off to open our shops. As I flipped the sign on my door to open, my phone rang.

  I pulled it out of my pocket and scrunched up my nose when I saw it was my mother. I had to answer, unless I wanted her to make another unexpected visit to my place of work.

  “Hey, Mom, what’s up?”

  “Tiffeny. Hi, darling. Nothing is up. I am doing well however. How are you?”

  I bit my tongue against a retort at her lesson in etiquette. “I’m fine.”

  “Good. Are you still seeing that Callen Grimes?”

  “Yes, Mother.” I hoped she wasn’t about to invite us to dinner again. Julia had set my mind at ease over the whole “I love you” thing, but I’d still feel a little weird calling him up to ask about dinner with my parents before we’d gotten a chance to talk about it.

  “Excellent,” she said, surprising the living daylights out of me. “I’ve looked him up and he’s rather famous. His former band was quite successful. Did you know?”

  “Yes, Mom.” So that’s what’s up. “I’m assuming that’s why it sounds like you’re so much more supportive of our relationship now?”

  “You know what I say about making assumptions, my dear, but yes. In this case, you are correct. He’s a much better match for you than I initially realized.”

  “Thank you,” I said, but I doubted she’d pay any attention to the sarcasm in my voice. “Was that all you wanted to talk about?”

  “No. Callen seemed quite taken with you at dinner the other night and I wanted to ask you not to screw things up with him like you’ve managed to do in every other facet of your life. He would make a good partner for you to make a future with.”

  At first, I thought I’d heard her wrong. It really isn’t like her to say screw things up.

  Then I realized this was my mother and that saying something so rude and hurtful was just like her. Blood boiled in my veins and rang in my ears.

  I squeezed my eyes shut and forced myself to take a deep breath in a deliberate attempt to calm down. If I didn’t, I was going to say something I’d regret before this call ended.

  It felt like she’d slapped me across the face, but she’d still raised me better than that. Or at least, my nannies had. “Yes, Mother. Thank you. I’ll try my best. Goodbye.”

  I hung up the phone and tossed it down on the counter, sinking down onto my haunches and covering my face with my hands. I let out a muffled shout of frustration before standing back up.

  I didn’t know exactly where I stood with Callen right now, but everything felt okay. If one of us was going to screw it up, why did my mother automatically assume it would be me?

  Chapter 25

  Callen

  “Uncle Clark,” Winter cried out when she found him in our kitchen on Wednesday morning. “You’re here!”

  “I’m here, kiddo.” He dropped off his stool and opened his tattooed arms up wide. A giant smile appeared on his lips as she smacked into his chest. “It’s so good to see you. It’s been too long.”

  “So long,” she agreed. “We haven’t seen you since we moved.”

  “I know, baby girl.” Releasing her, he ran his fingers through her loose hair and cupped her face to press a kiss to her forehead. “That’s why I came. I missed you too much. How are you?”

  “I’m good.” She wound her arms around his neck again before clambering onto her stool. “It’s nice here.”

  “Yeah?” He grinned as he took his place again, wrapping his fingers around his steaming mug of coffee. “Glad to hear it, even if it means I had to follow you across the country to get to see you.”

  “Please say you’re not leaving soon,” she said, the corners of her mouth already turning down in anticipation of his answer.

  Winter had gotten so used to all of us constantly being on the go that I knew she expected Clark to leave within the next few days. It was a not-so-subtle reminder of why it had been the right thing to do to turn him down, even if I had found myself doubting my decision once or twice over the past two days.

  Clark exchanged a look with me and then shook his head. “I’m planning on staying for a few weeks actually.”

  She blinked, then threw both arms into the air while her lips split into a massive smile. “Yay! You have to come see my classroom and meet all my friends. And my teacher.”

  “I definitely will, honey,” he promised as he sipped his coffee. For all his faults, he was extremely devoted to Winter.

  I didn’t doubt for a second that he really had come here to spend some time with her as well as trying to lure me back to work. He shifted in his seat so he was facing her. “That’s why I came by this morning. I was hoping to see you before you left and then come with you all to drop you off today. How’s that sound?”

  “Yes.” I nearly rolled my eyes at how excited she was about Clark, but it was too sweet to go through with it. “We have a vegetable garden especially for our class. I watered the squash yesterday.”

  “You did? Wow. You’ll have to teach me how to grow vegetables. I think it’d be pretty neat to have my own vegetable garden.”

  I snorted, raising a brow at him. “Who would attend to all your vegetables while you’re on tour?”

  He scratched his chin with his middle finger as he turned his head toward me, flipping me off discreetly. “Maybe I’ll make one on the roof of the tour bus when we buy one. Ever thought of that?”

  “The roof is rounded,” I deadpanned.

  “I can always request they change that,” he retorted, but then a serious expression formed on his sharp features. “Seriously, if it’ll get you back, I’ll give the Audi back and get them to get us a tour bus instead.”

  “Keep the bus,” I said
and crossed the room to get the cereal and three bowls. At least that was one breakfast food no one could fuck up. After swiping the milk from the counter behind me, I set everything down on the island. “Okay, guys. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, so let’s dig in, shall we?”

  Clark shot me a look that let me know he wasn’t done talking about this, while I just shook my head to say not now. If I ever considered going back on the road, I wouldn’t break it to Winter like that.

  He nodded his understanding. “Tell me about your friends, baby girl. You said you’d made some at your day-care center?”

  Clark and Winter spent the rest of breakfast catching up. After coming to see me on Monday and looking over a few of my new songs, he’d had to get settled and attend a bunch of meetings online.

  The label had also rented him space at a local studio so he could keep working on recording. Between that and making arrangements for longer-term accommodation at his hotel, he hadn’t been able to come see Winter until this morning.

  I let the two of them chat as long as I could before we had to leave. “Okay, guys. Time’s up. We have to get going.”

  Surprisingly, Winter didn’t complain. She got up and fetched her backpack before walking to the car with Clark hot on her heels. After strapping her into her seat, he climbed into the front with me.

  “Tiffeny isn’t a friend from school, but you have to meet her as well,” Winter said as we backed out of the driveway, continuing their conversation from the kitchen. “She’s the best. Daddy is friends with her, too. We get free ice cream from her shop.”

  “Really?” he asked, a mischievous gleam in his eyes. “I’d love to hear more about Tiffeny. What’s she like?”

  I’d already faced the inquisition, but it looked like he still wasn’t satisfied. I narrowed my eyes at him in the rearview mirror as a warning, but he ignored me. “Tell me about her.”

  “She’s so cool,” Winter said. “She’s nice and funny and really, really pretty.”