“Oh.” Penny started to panic. “Um. Well—”
“Don’t answer that question.” A blond boy ran down the steps and jumped into the aisle, glaring at the girls. Penny recognized him immediately. Drew Rylander. He was Henrik’s younger brother. He was a hockey player too, for a triple A team until just recently. He’d left the team for personal reasons. She’d watched a couple of his games that came on cable. “I can’t believe you two,” he said, scolding the girls. “I told you to leave her be, and then I take one bathroom break and you’re over here badgering her to death.”
Magnolia huffed, offended. “We are not badgering.”
“Go,” Drew said, pointing in the direction of their seats. “If Callen wanted us to know about her, he would have told us.”
Leila scowled at him. “You ruin all the fun.”
“Go,” he said again, and the girls grumpily made their way back to their seats.
Drew looked back at her. “I’m sorry about that. I won’t let them bother you anymore.”
Penny couldn’t talk. She nodded, though, and smiled. And Drew returned it. “Enjoy the game. Maybe you’ll be good luck and Callen will finally get a goal.”
He gave her a wave and made his way back down the aisle to his seat with the girls.
Holy crap. It was getting too real. Sure, this had been her plan all along. She’d get close to Callen in order to get close to the rest of them, but it was working. Now she didn’t know if she could go through with it. Would he want her to meet them after the game? Would he introduce her?
Penny glanced back at Drew. She hadn’t even known about him in the beginning. But there he was in the flesh. Drew Rylander. And then, of course, the red-haired girl, Leila. She and Henrik had a daughter together. It was when she saw the little girl for the first time that Penny officially started having doubts. She’d been only a baby then. She was probably a bubbly toddler now. There would be a chance, though small, that the little girl would remember her if she screwed this up. Penny knew too well the burdens of having a screwed up childhood. She didn’t want to disrupt their daughter’s life for her own selfishness.
Then there was Callen. What would he think of her? The real her.
Penny stood. She hadn’t meant to, but she did. She should leave. Not the game, but New York. She should pack up all her things and let them all live their lives in peace. Penny ran up the stairs. It was wrong. Everything about it wasn’t right. They were happy. She had no right to ruin that. And Callen…he was too perfect to drag him into the middle of it.
Tears spilled over the same time her hands hit the door. She burst outside onto the street of Midtown, the horns and noise of the city swallowing her whole. She’d never felt more lost. More alone. More forgotten.
When her name change finally came through, she’d leave. Then no one could follow her. She’d finally put it all behind her. She’d let the past go for good.
Esa would be gone. And she’d be alone.
Forever.
Chapter Seven
CALLEN’S SECOND CHANCE
Callen flopped down on his bed with a loud thud. He stared up at the ceiling fan and watched it go round and round. He didn’t even bother taking off his suit. Exhaustion bit hard at him. Penny entered his thoughts as she often did in the quiet confines of his room. It was difficult not to look for her during the game, but he knew if he looked once, he’d look a thousand times. and his hope of breaking out of his slump would be lost.
Not that it helped. It was another no point effort. He’d been locked in to the game. More focused than ever. He finished his checks. He didn’t stray from his position.
His phone buzzed on the nightstand, but he didn’t move. It was sometime around midnight. He immediately thought of his mom and dad back in Anahim. His dad’s heart had been giving him trouble. No good news came after midnight. Callen rolled over so he could reach his phone. He sat up on the bed and pulled his suit jacket off while he glanced at the text message on the screen.
Austin: Don’t go to sleep yet. Maggie and I are on our way to your place. Need to talk.
Callen immediately got up off the bed, typing on his phone as he quickly started to change clothes.
Callen: What’s wrong?
Austin: Almost there. Come open the door.
Callen threw on his gym shorts and exchanged his dress shirt for a faded Knicks t-shirt. There was already a knock on the door. He jogged into the living room and pulled the door open. Austin stood on the other side, his mouth turned down at the edges. Magnolia stood beside him. She looked like she was in pain.
Callen ran a nervous hand through his hair. “What’s going on?”
Austin stepped past him into the room. “Go ahead. Tell him what you and Leila did.”
Magnolia strutted in behind him. “I told you. Drew exaggerated. It’s not as bad as he made it sound.”
Callen turned around and shut the door. “What are you talking about?”
Austin crossed his arms over his broad chest. “According to Drew, Leila and my dear fiancée here saw a pretty blonde girl sitting in your season ticket seat tonight and decided to interrogate her.”
What little hope Callen had in his chest concerning Penny sank to his toes. He wanted to be happy because—she came to the game. But Austin coming all the way over to his apartment to tell him Magnolia and Leila interrogated her had some kind of bad news attached to it. “You talked to her?”
Magnolia tried to smile, but it was forced and awkward.
Callen frowned at her. “What happened, Magnolia?”
She winced. “Nothing. It was completely harmless.”
His voice dropped. “Magnolia.”
She threw her hands out as if she gave up. “We only introduced ourselves. Drew interrupted us before anything else.”
“Then why did Austin drag you all the way over here to talk to me?”
She looked away. “She might have left soon after we talked to her.”
“She left before the game was over?”
Magnolia’s faced contorted into a painful grimace. “She might have had somewhere to be. It doesn’t necessarily mean we ran her off.”
Callen rolled his eyes. “You two just couldn’t help yourselves, could you?”
Magnolia put her hands on her hips. “If you would have told us you were dating someone, maybe we wouldn’t have to resort to interrogating your dates.”
“I’m not dating her.”
Magnolia looked at him. Callen didn’t have a sister, but he imagined Magnolia gave him the Big Sister I’m-calling-bullshit look.
“We’re not dating,” he repeated.
Magnolia opened her mouth to speak again, but Callen held his hands up. “Look—I appreciate your concern and interest in my life, but I believe all of you have jumped to the wrong conclusion. I gave my ticket to one of the guys in marketing. The girl must have been his daughter or something.”
He started ushering them both toward the door. The lie stung his tongue, and he knew Austin noticed the repulsed look on his face as he said it. He didn’t call him out, thankfully. “Callen—” Magnolia tried, but he shook his head.
“Look, I’m tired, guys. I have more to worry about right now than some random girl I don’t know who sat in my seat. I need to rest up for what I can only assume is going to be a rough practice for me tomorrow.”
Magnolia pressed her lips together, reluctantly holding in whatever she desperately wanted to say as he guided them out the door. He gave Austin a curt nod. “I’ll see you tomorrow for practice.”
Austin nodded back.
It was guy code. Callen would have to give him an explanation, and Austin was willing to wait until tomorrow for it. Austin wrapped his arm around Magnolia’s shoulder. “Come on, let’s leave Cali be for the night.”
Magnolia, not happy, sighed. “Fine. Let’s go.” Then she pointed her finger at Callen. “That girl, Callen Copley, wasn’t some daughter of a guy you know. You lie to me if you want, but I know. And j
ust so you know, I think she was freaking adorable, and I think you should go for it.”
Callen rolled his eyes. “Bye, Magnolia.”
“I’m serious, Callen. You should have seen her cheering. She clapped when Sam scored that goal during the first period, but when you slammed Cromley into the boards on that hit, she went ballistic.”
He absolutely had to ignore the twinge in his stomach. Penny cheered for him. Enthusiastically. Now he wished he had looked in the crowd for her. He couldn’t think about it right now. He had to focus on getting Magnolia off his scent. He shot Austin a pleading look. Austin grinned. “All right. You apologized and you’ve had your say, let’s leave him be.”
“Fine,” she said, allowing Austin to lead her down the hallway.
Austin shot him a look that simply said—we’ll talk tomorrow.
***
Practice ran late the next day. Normally, Callen wouldn’t mind. You know, if it were any other day than when he needed to talk to Penny. He bypassed the option to pick up dinner and eat with the guys and went straight to the shower. He was the first one back out to the locker room. He ran a nervous hand through his hair as he glanced into the mirror. He wondered if he should take time to fix it, but he never did that. A flash of a shadow formed beside him, and then a body slid in front of him to sit in the seat at his locker.
It was Sam. Callen knew that fact without looking down. Sam was the only teammate he had who was small enough to slip through the narrow space between him and the locker. His youthful, expectant face smiled up at him. “Whatcha doing, Cali?”
Callen frowned at him then reached around him to grab his pants. “Winning the Nobel Peace Prize.” He buttoned his pants and got his lip ring out from the small box on the shelf and put it in. “What does it look like I’m doing, genius?”
Sam crossed his arms over his chest. “Why didn’t you grab dinner with us?”
“I’m not hungry.”
Sam eased over and glanced at something behind him. Callen took a peek over his shoulder, and sure enough, Austin and Henrik stood in the doorway, listening to their conversation. Austin smiled. “You’re moving awful fast for a guy who isn’t hungry.”
Sam had been a ploy to get him talking. He should have known he couldn’t escape without talking to them about Penny. Callen returned his attention to his clothes and grabbed his shirt. “What’s your point?”
“His point is—” It was Henrik this time; Austin must have told him everything, “—no one is in that big of a hurry to go home and eat dinner by themselves.”
Callen could skirt around the truth with Magnolia and Leila, but the guys, they knew him too well. They could dissect him like a frog in a high school biology class. Eventually, they would pick him apart until they found the answers they wanted. Callen turned around slowly, straightening his shoulders. “I have plans,” he said simply.
Henrik smiled. “With who?”
“Martha. She’s amazing. Today, she’s going to teach me how to spice up chicken curry.”
Henrik marched toward him. “You’re not going home to watch Martha Freakin’ Stewart. Plus, you’re grinning.”
Callen straightened his expression. “I am not.”
“Yes, you are,” Sam whispered under his breath.
Callen shot him a look. He’d get Sam back for this later.
Austin went over and sat at his locker and started taking off his clothes for the shower. “Give us a name, Cali. We already know you like this girl who came to the game.”
“I don’t like her. What would possibly make you think I like her?”
Henrik’s smile spread. “Because you’re stuttering.”
“And your face is a beautiful shade of embarrassed,” Sam added.
Callen kicked him, but Sam only laughed. The kid was too confident when he had backup. Henrik came over and threw his arm around his shoulder and pulled him in tight. “Since she came to the game, I’m assuming you’ve actually talked to this girl. Right?”
“N-n-no.”
Austin snorted. “Liar.”
Henrik squeezed him tighter. “This is huge. I’m proud of you, Cali.”
Callen squirmed his way out of Henrik’s grasp. He couldn’t tell them about her. Not now. She was probably already mad at him for the way he vanished on her at the café, and then she left the game early. She probably didn’t want to see him again, let alone talk to him. He didn’t want his friends to know about her, only to find out he’d royally screwed it up. It hurt enough without an audience.
“Look—I don’t know that girl. I haven’t talked to her. Her showing up at the game, that was a fluke. I gave the ticket to someone, who gave it to her.”
Henrik’s expression turned solemn. They all knew he was lying. “We’re your family, Cali. You don’t have to always be alone. I know some of it is by choice, and Austin didn’t push it when he wanted you to move in with him. We understand that you need your space. But there are times that you do need us. You don’t have to exclude us from every part of your life.”
Henrik was right. However, it didn’t stop his hands from grabbing his bag, and his feet from moving toward the exit.
“Callen.” Austin voice was stern. “Don’t make us call reinforcements. You know you’re like the little brother Maggie always wanted.”
Henrik nodded. “And Leila has Lucy calling you Uncle Cali, for crying out loud.”
Austin looked up at him, serious. “We care about you enough to let you lie to us and walk out of here. The girls, though, they love you enough to track your ass down and choke the truth out of you. This is your fair warning.”
Callen nodded, and then vanished out the door. He couldn’t linger and worry about his family right now. Henrik was right. That’s what they were now. Family.
He needed to talk to Penny first. He needed to go find the girl he supposedly didn’t know and figure out if he still had a chance. He needed one more chance. Even if he’d already screwed up his career and faced a trade that would send him across the country, he still needed to talk to Penny.
***
Callen made it to the Bistro the same time rush hour hit. He stood in a long line of people who waited to see Penny. He stuck his hands in his pockets and huffed. He could see glimpses of her around the heads of the people in front of him every time she ran to the back to get something. She’d pulled her hair back into a ponytail, made up of several braids of varying sizes. She had on an elaborate display of her colorful shell necklaces, and silver pendants that hung around her neck, and of course, her ever present compass. As she turned around, Callen spotted the small white blossom tucked into the band in her hair.
When he finally made it to the front of the line, her eyes widened at the sight of him. Her hand reached for something on the counter but paused in mid-air. Was she surprised?
Angry?
Weirded out that he kept coming there?
“Hi,” he said, blurting it out like it tasted sour.
She quickly composed herself and put on a smile that looked forced with a hint of something he didn’t recognize. Her fingers absently touched the flower in her hair as she glanced around the crowded room. “Hi. Again.”
He moved closer to the counter. Closer to everything he knew he wanted. Even if he had ruined his chance with her simply by being his off-kilter, complicated self, then he absolutely had to convince her to give him a second chance. However, he first had to figure out how to get other words to come out of his mouth.
“Can we talk?”
She looked behind him at the line of people that continued to grow longer. “I can take your order.”
That knife went straight through his heart. “Okay,” he said simply.
Penny bit her lip then leaned into the cash register, closer to him. “After the rush hour, though,” she said in a whisper, “I can take a break.”
Callen’s head popped up. “That would be great.”
“Can I get something for you while you wait? From the look of
this line, it might be a while.”
“Yeah, actually. I’m starving. I didn’t eat dinner because—”
He looked at her, and she smiled. Because of her. He didn’t have to say it. She knew. The hint of blush told him so. “I’ll take the usual,” he said instead.
She nodded. “You got it.”
Penny placed his order and took his money then gave him a number. “Betsy will bring it out to you when its ready.”
“Okay.”
They shared awkward smiles, and he went to find a seat. He got a booth in the back corner. He leaned back and took a deep breath. His nerves were on fire. They burned and sparked from the tips of his toes to some weird spot behind his ears that he didn’t understand. Ten minutes later, Betsy brought out his food. She grinned at him. “Hey, gorgeous.”
She slid the tray down in front of him, and he smiled back up at her. “Hey to you too.”
“Our food isn’t that good. You know that, right? Yet, here you are…again.”
Callen shrugged. “What can I say? The service is good.”
Betsy laughed. “I love our little cat and mouse game. But, you know, these young girls, they don’t understand such indirect attempts at flattery.”
Callen grinned down at his chicken salad. “What are you trying to say?”
She placed her finger on the table, most likely an attempt to keep from pointing it at him like a scolding mother. “Give the girl your number, ask her on a date, or hell, there is a very discrete break room back there that could use some excitement in its life. Make a move, Romeo.” Then she reached up and tapped him on the chin. “Or I’m gonna make mine.”
She winked at him, and he laughed. “All right. All right. I get your point.”
“Good. Because she’s a good one, honey. I wouldn’t want you to miss your opportunity.”
He placed his arms on the back of the seat. “And what if I already have?”
Betsy laughed. “Oh, please. That girl is twenty different kinds of crazy back there right now. I think you’re good.”
The Girl With Daisies (Midtown Brotherhood #3) Page 6
