by Jill Shalvis
quietly. “I should have.”
And then he was gone.
Chapter 8
Callie was still shocked that Tanner had known who she was all along. It was the end of the workday, and she’d just met with Becca and gone over more of her wedding plans. Everything was nearly handled. She and Sam were going to get married at the B&B and then jet off to Greece where they’d rent a boat and island-hop for their three-week honeymoon. But first up was the bachelor/bachelorette party. This would take place at Lucky Harbor Charters on the boat and dock.
With all that planning dancing in her head, Callie helped Becca with some of the details and then picked up dinner from Eat Me and brought it to her grandma’s house.
Halfway up the walk, she stopped short at the sight of Lucille standing in her garden smooching Mr. Wykowski like they meant business. “My eyes,” Callie said, and covered them.
The lovebirds laughed. “Gotta get it when you can,” her grandma said.
Callie clapped her hands to her ears next. “Grandma!”
“Do you think they let you have sex in the old people’s home?” Lucille asked Callie. “Because I’d really miss it.”
Callie blinked at her. “What?”
“Well, you’re here to make sure I’m not crazy, and I’m pretty sure I totally am crazy. I just want to make sure, if I end up in a home, I can bring my cutie pie here and get it when I want.”
Callie gaped.
Lucille just smiled sweetly.
“That’s probably not funny to your granddaughter,” Mr. Wykowski said in a gently chiding voice, and her grandma laughed.
While Callie tried to recover, Mr. Wykowski greeted her warmly, murmured “Be good” to Lucille, and left them alone.
“I didn’t mean to interrupt anything,” Callie said. “But you’re so busy I practically need to make an appointment to see you.”
“No worries,” her grandma said. “We save the good stuff for after Jeopardy anyway. When you get to be our age, the dark is your friend.”
Callie was doing her best trying not to let the image of that form in her head as her grandma peered into the bag of food.
“Should’ve gone to the Love Shack,” she complained. “Jax—you remember Jax, right? The hottie master carpenter? He’s co-owner of the place, and he just announced his adorable wife Maddie is having their third baby. I bet they don’t wait for Jeopardy to be over, know what I’m saying?”
“Yes,” Callie said. “But I really wish I didn’t.”
Her grandma grinned as they dug into the food. “Anyway, everything’s half off at the Love Shack to celebrate. Although really, I should get to eat there free all the time since I had a hand in them getting together.”
“You did?”
Lucille smiled smugly. “You don’t know this about your dear old grandma, but I’m known as being quite the matchmaker. In the past five years alone, I’ve been responsible for…Let’s see…” She counted on her fingers. “Jax, Ford, Sawyer, Ty, Matt, Josh, Luke, Jack, Ben, Sam, and Cole.” She beamed with pride. “All found their happily-ever-afters with a little help from moi—even if most of them have no idea I helped them. Really, I should go into the business with you.”
Callie blinked. “You mean…”
“Yep,” she said proudly. “Matchmaking. It’d make a great addition to TyingTheKnot.com, don’t you think?”
She stared at her grandma until her phone buzzed with an incoming text from one of her brides.
I know you said animals at the wedding wasn’t really a great idea but my bridesmaids all want to walk down the aisle with their pets. Okay with you?
Callie blew out a breath.
Her grandma leaned in to read and then grinned. “You going to let her do it?”
Callie pointed at her. “You don’t get to change the subject. Hold on a sec, one emergency at a time.” She typed in a response to her bride.
It’s your day. You get to decide. But isn’t your maid of honor’s pet a cow?
The response was immediate.
Yes but Sweet Pea is potty-trained.
Lucille chortled in delight, and Callie again pointed at her. “No comments from the peanut gallery.” She gave her thumbs a workout dealing with the bride, and five minutes later they’d settled on animals at the reception but not the actual wedding.
“You should let her have the cow down the aisle,” her grandma said. “You could give out little air fresheners as party favors.”
Callie blew out a sigh. “That’s not a bad idea.”
Lucille hooted with laughter. “Gotta love your job, honey. It’s a beaut.”
“It’s something anyway. Now about you.”
“What about me?” her grandma asked innocently.
Uh-huh. “You can’t interfere with people’s lives like you’ve been doing,” Callie said.
“Why not? It works. And aren’t you essentially doing the same thing?”
“Yes, okay, fine. But at least I get paid for it,” she said.
Lucille beamed. “That’s because you’re smarter than I am. Have I told you lately how very proud I am of you?”
Callie’s frustration drained away. Her parents had always been so wrapped up in each other. She’d long ago gotten used to being a third wheel at her own family dinner table, but she’d always had Lucille who, quirks and all, had never let her down. “I love you, Grandma,” she whispered, and came around the table to squeeze her tight.
“Aw. Aren’t you the sweetest,” her grandma said, hugging her back. She barely came up to Callie’s chin and smelled like roses and baby powder and felt a little bit like a bag of bones, but Callie held on for a long moment.
“I suppose it might be time for me to face facts.”
Callie’s heart stopped. “What facts?”
“I’m losing it.”
Oh God. “Grandma—”
“The desire is just…gone,” Lucille said sadly.
Callie reached for her grandma’s hands. “The important thing is to realize that you’re not alone.”
“Oh, honey, you’re such a joy to me. But I can’t help how I feel. I’m going to—”
“—I’m here for you, to the end.”
“—Retire,” Lucille said, and frowned. “What?”
“Retire?” Callie asked.
Lucille stared at her. “What did you think I was going to say?”
“Nothing,” Callie said.
Lucille smiled. “You thought I was telling you I was going nuts, right? That’s a conversation for another day.”
“So you are going nuts?”
“Another day,” Lucille repeated.
“Okay,” Callie said. “But we’re going to definitely discuss, sooner rather than later.”
“So you can go back to San Francisco?”
“Yes,” Callie said. “And my life.”
“Your life.” Lucille rolled her eyes. “Your life is here, with your family—me, in case you were wondering. But I’m talking about retiring from the matchmaking game, not from my sanity.” She pointed at Callie. “Right after I match you.”
“Oh, no,” Callie said. “No. No, no, no.”
“Well, why ever not?”
“I don’t want to be matched,” Callie said. “I’m good as I am. I don’t need a man.”
“Honey, we all need a man. Whether we keep him or not, that’s personal preference.”
“Grandma, seriously,” Callie said. “No matchmaking me, I don’t need or want it. You hear me?”
Lucille was suddenly very busy cleaning up.
“Grandma.”
“Hmm?”
“You heard me, right?”
“Of course, dear. I’m old, not deaf. I can hear you just fine.”
Which wasn’t the same thing as listening, Callie knew.
“You get onto my social media accounts and do your research?” Lucille asked.
Callie went still. “What research?”
“You wanted to know more about Tanner.
I left you a bunch of stuff to find. You learn everything you needed?”
Yes. And more. “I’m not interested in him that way,” she said.
Lucille grinned.
“What?” Callie asked.
“You’re pretty good at fibbing. But don’t forget who taught you how. Word is that you’re sitting with him in the mornings at the bakery pretending to drink coffee.”
Oh, for God’s sake. “We sit together so that we’ll be left alone,” Callie said. “Big difference.”
“Honey.” Lucille tsked, all disappointed. “The last thing Tanner needs is to be left alone.”
“What does that mean?” she asked.
Lucille sighed. “Tanner’s daddy left him when he turned five.”
Yeah. This wasn’t news to Callie. She’d known that back in school.
“And that boy has been wild ever since,” her grandma said. “He’s got his hands full now with the people in his life, but he’s not doing a damn thing for himself. So let me repeat—being alone is not what Tanner needs. What he needs is you.”
Callie stared at her grandma. “Even if that was true, which it’s not, what about what I need?”
“Oh, you need him too, honey.”
“I don’t,” she said, shaking her head. “I’m doing just fine.”
“See now, that’s the beauty of it,” Lucille said. “Of course you don’t need him need him. You support yourself, blah blah. But you’ve been hurt by life too, and let down. Your parents did the best they could, but they could’ve done better by you. You deserved more.”
“I had you,” Callie said, and had the pleasure of seeing her grandma soften and put a hand to her heart.
“Aw, honey,” she said. “I love you so. But truth now. You’ve felt alone and vulnerable. With Tanner, you’d have something you’ve always been sorely missing.”
“What’s that?” Callie asked.
“An ‘us.’”
For a single heartbeat, Callie’s chest tightened in yearning, but the feeling faded quickly. If she was being honest, she was a little afraid of the us. She busied herself with cleaning up for a long moment. “I do love you, Grandma,” she finally said. “So much. But you’re wrong. I’m good as I am. I don’t need the complication in my life right now.” Maybe ever. Bending, she kissed Lucille’s cheek. “I gotta get home. Please stop meddling in people’s lives, okay? For me? Promise?”
“Hmm?”
“Grandma.”
“Oh, all right, sure. I’ll try.”
The next day Callie had meetings straight through breakfast and she skipped the bakery. She told herself it was for the best but she had to admit she really missed the doughnuts.
And maybe also Tanner.
That afternoon she walked down to Lucky Harbor Charters to take measurements for decorations for Becca and Sam’s bachelor/bachelorette party.
The docks were a perfect spot for a party. As she got there, the late-afternoon November sun was just touching down on the water, casting a halo glow on everything.
Gorgeous.
She stood there taking in the view thinking that, with outdoor space heaters, this could really work. The lighting was perfect for pictures, the kind of lighting that would make anyone and everyone look good. It’d be a wonderful spot for their wedding photos too, which made her laugh a little. Here she was thinking to eventually move on from this job when she had decent savings and yet her eye for all things romantic and wedding-perfect never seemed to stop.
She was so messed up.
She heard a boat and shaded her eyes to see that it was the Lucky Harbor Charters’ boat.
Cole was behind the controls. When he navigated close to the dock, Tanner leapt off the boat, limped to the stern, and caught something tossed to him by his Mini-Me still on board.
A rope.
Tanner crouched low and tied the boat to the dock, then straightened and caught a second rope.
Callie found herself frozen in place, watching him move with confident ease in spite of the clear fact that his leg was bothering him. She watched as he efficiently and effortlessly tied that rope off as well and then looked up and said something to his son.
The body language of the two males told her that all was not well on the home front. Troy said something to Tanner.
Tanner spoke back calmly.
Troy said something else, not calmly.
Tanner didn’t speak again, just held his ground with steady, firm eye contact.
Troy broke it, spun on his heel, and stormed off.
And only when he was gone did Tanner’s expression change. From that easy calm to…deeply troubled.
Hollow.
It was a deeply personal moment, one Callie knew there was no way he wanted to be caught in. So she started to back up and go home, but then he turned his head and met her gaze.
Sorry, she mouthed. He gave the slightest head shake, nothing more. He didn’t approach her and she didn’t make a move toward him. And though she had the oddest urge to hug him, she left him alone.
That night, with Becca and Olivia sitting on her kitchen counter keeping her company, Callie made them all grilled chocolate sandwiches. It made her think of Tanner.
Okay, that was a lie. She’d been thinking of him since she’d left the docks earlier.
“I didn’t know you could cook,” Olivia said, chowing down on her second sandwich.
“I do okay,” Callie said. “If the recipe has chocolate in it.”
“Yeah, I’m going to need you to make a lot more of these,” Becca said.
“Is that why you’re stuffing them into your mouth like you haven’t eaten in days?” Olivia asked.
Becca grinned. “Been burning lots of calories lately.”
Olivia laughed softly and Callie sighed deeply. Then she realized they were both staring at her. “Sorry,” she said. “Sex envy.”
“Listen,” Becca said earnestly. “I know that being around the two of us when we’re stupid in love has got to be superbly annoying, but I promise you, you’ll find the right guy too.”
