by Brenda Novak
He tried to stop himself, to hang on so he could provide more enjoyment for her, but she shook her head.
“It’s okay,” she murmured, and tightened her legs, drawing him so deep there was nothing he could do but let go.
* * *
“Give me a few minutes,” Levi said as he attempted to recover. “I’m really not so bad in bed.”
Callie combed her fingers through his hair, which was still wet but drying quickly. “There’s no rush,” she said. “I’m tired, anyway.”
Lately, she was always tired. She wanted to fall asleep with him lying on her shoulder, as he was now, but she had to go take some of the medication she’d hidden above the fridge, behind an odd assortment of her grandmother’s rose vases and pitchers. She hadn’t wanted him to see her swallowing pills at dinner. Then she’d gotten so caught up in the tension between them she’d forgotten.
“Where are you going?” he asked as she slipped out of bed.
“To dry my hair or it’ll be wet all night.”
“Okay, wake me when you get back.”
“I will,” she promised. But when she returned, she was careful not to disturb his sleep. She lay awake for some time, listening to him breathe and saying a silent prayer that she hadn’t done something she’d regret.
21
When Callie woke up, it was only two-thirty in the morning. She hadn’t been asleep for more than a few hours.
At first, she couldn’t figure out what had disturbed her. Levi hadn’t budged. His breathing was soft and even, and she felt warm and comfortable beside him. Rifle wasn’t stirring, either; he was dozing peacefully on the carpet by her bed. And there were no strange noises coming from outside, nothing that led her to believe Denny and Powell were back....
Then she realized. She didn’t feel well. As a matter of fact, she felt terrible. Weak. Nauseous.
Shit. She was going to throw up again. But she didn’t want Levi to hear her. Then he’d know something was wrong. She couldn’t claim she had the flu twice in such a short time. She had to get up and out of the bedroom.
Moving as carefully as possible, so she wouldn’t disturb him, she slipped out of bed and tiptoed from the room. The jingle of Rifle’s collar told her she’d awakened him. He was following her. But Levi remained dead to the world. He’d missed a lot of sleep the past week, and she was glad he had the chance to catch up.
She had to move faster if she expected to get herself somewhere she could throw up without being noticed. She considered going outside, to the barn. But there wasn’t time to walk that far. She made it to the half bath off the kitchen before everything she’d had for dinner came back up.
She tried not to make a sound until she could close the door, a feat she managed with her foot since she couldn’t leave the toilet. Rifle squeezed through first, however. He watched her, tongue hanging out, eyes seemingly sympathetic. That was enough to make her grateful for his presence.
“I’m going...to be okay,” she told him. She wouldn’t succumb to liver failure. She was going to get well. If meeting Levi had taught her anything, it was that falling in love was every bit as wonderful as it was supposed to be. Experiencing this in her condition and with someone she didn’t know anything about wasn’t ideal. But she wanted to enjoy it as long as possible, as long as Levi was willing to stay.
She leaned over the toilet as she struggled to regain her breath. If she didn’t want to end up on the floor, she had to conserve her strength. But she retched again a few minutes later. And a few minutes after that. Only this time when she lifted her head she saw a red substance in what had come up.
Fresh fear lanced through her. She was vomiting blood.
* * *
Levi woke to an empty bed. He listened for Callie, but couldn’t hear her moving around the house. Thinking she might be in the kitchen, eating breakfast, he climbed out of bed and pulled on her pink robe, since his only clothes were still wet. But the kitchen was as empty as all the other rooms. She didn’t even seem to have eaten.
The clock hanging on the wall caught his eye. It was just before six; the sun had barely come up. Where could she be?
Rifle whined. Callie had shut her dog in the mudroom. Levi didn’t know why she’d done that. She generally let him wander throughout the house.
Maybe she was afraid the dog would disturb him....
“What’s going on, boy? Where’s your pretty mistress?” he asked as he let Rifle out.
The dog looked up at him as if he had the same question.
Levi supposed Callie could be out with her camera, taking pictures. He was sure the anthill that had intrigued her so much before the fire had been destroyed. But if she was happy with an anthill, there were a lot of other bits of nature she could photograph. Maybe she’d found a caterpillar, a butterfly, a particular flower or another spider.
He was about to go outside and see when he spotted a note on the fridge. It looked as if it had been written with a shaky hand—he guessed she’d been in a hurry—but he could read the message.
“Had to run out. Will probably be late.”
Levi scratched his head. What started before six?
For the first time in a long while, he wished he had a cell phone. He wanted to call the photography studio. He could only guess that Tina was behind and Callie had gone in to help her get ready for the day.
He wished he’d been able to see Callie before she left. Last night had ended far too soon. He felt as if he’d let her down.
* * *
Baxter had taken Callie to the hospital that was part of the transplant clinic. He sat beside her bed, looking overwrought and reading a magazine he’d grabbed from the waiting room, which was pretty much how he’d passed the entire morning. She’d thrown up into a bowl the whole time they’d been on the road. Seeing her, hearing her, had upset him so badly he’d driven with tears streaming down his cheeks.
Now he just seemed irritable. And tired. His thick, curly hair was smashed down on one side, since her call had dragged him out of bed in the middle of the night and scared him enough that he threw on his clothes without taking time for anything else.
She didn’t think she’d ever seen him when he wasn’t well-groomed.
Of course, he’d never seen her like this, either.
“You can leave, you know. If you have to go to work,” she said, biting her bottom lip as she studied him.
He closed the magazine. “I’m not going anywhere.”
She smoothed her bedding with one hand. “Why? I can handle this on my own. I’ve done it before.” Sort of. She’d been to the clinic for many, many tests, but she’d never been admitted via the emergency room. The fact that she’d had to do it today wasn’t a good sign.
“The point is...you don’t need to handle it on your own,” he said. “You have people who love you!”
True. But there was someone new in her life, and she was positive she’d lose him the instant he found out about her disease. She was going to lose him soon enough as it was. Why couldn’t she put off the Big Revelation just a little longer? That wasn’t asking too much, was it? If she had to die, she was at least going to do everything possible to enjoy the intense interest, desire and euphoria Levi created—without letting the reality of her situation affect him.
“I’m aware of that,” she said.
“Then why won’t you let them support you?”
She couldn’t tell him why. It would only lead to an argument. He’d say that any man who’d walk out on her while she was going through something like this wasn’t worth her time in the first place. But that wasn’t a fair assessment. He’d be speaking as someone who’d grown up with her, not someone who’d just entered her life. Levi had no reason to involve himself in the sadness of watching her die. She wouldn’t blame him if he took off as soon as he heard. There were so many other women out there he could choose from. And he’d feel whole enough to love again soon. He was beginning to heal, to get beyond what he’d suffered in Afghanistan. S
he could sense it.
“I have my reasons.”
“Yeah, well, they aren’t valid reasons.” Baxter jiggled his knee while they waited for her doctor to return with the results of her latest tests. Certain enzymes helped the liver perform its many functions. But when a liver became damaged, these enzymes leaked into the blood and could be picked up on a blood test, giving an indication of just how damaged her liver was. Her doctor had already started her on beta-blockers to control the bleeding from her esophagus.
“I slept with him last night,” she announced.
At this, Baxter dropped his magazine. “You did?”
She gave him a shy smile.
“What was it like?”
She groped for the best way to explain it to him. “Like...like you’d feel if you were with Noah.”
“That good, huh?”
“It was exactly what I wanted.” She would’ve clarified that it wasn’t because the sex itself was so great. There’d just been that one brief interlude and then he’d slept so deeply he hadn’t awakened for more as he’d planned. Technically, she’d had greater physical pleasure with Kyle. But that didn’t matter. Bad sex with Levi was better than good sex with anyone else. She just couldn’t say so, not without revealing information she was too protective of Levi to share.
Baxter sighed and rubbed his face. “Of all the times to fall in love, Callie.”
Remembering the intoxication she felt in Levi’s arms, she leaned her head back on the bed. “Falling in love now beats never falling in love at all.”
Some people had to take what they could get....
* * *
Where was she?
Levi had washed and dried his clothes, fixed the shower curtain rod again, made up the bed and filled Rifle’s food and water bowls. He’d also answered the door to Godfrey, who’d removed his stitches. Then he’d weeded and watered the garden and stabilized the empty chicken coop that was listing to one side. He would’ve started tearing down the barn after that, but the insurance adjuster hadn’t yet been by to take a look. So he spent the rest of his afternoon repairing a broken fence at the back of the property. He kept thinking Callie would pull up any minute, but when he finished working after six, she still wasn’t home.
Sticky with sweat after so much physical exertion, he paused and squinted toward the road. Today he’d gazed in that direction many times but saw no sign of a car turning in. A car with Callie inside it...
Where had she gone?
The obvious answer was the studio. She must’ve had work to do. But if that was the case, why hadn’t she driven there? Her SUV was parked where she’d left it when she got home last night.
She had to be with someone else. He just hoped it was Kyle or one of her other friends, because the more time dragged on, the more concerned he became.
Surely, Denny or Powell hadn’t gotten hold of her....
He already knew what he’d do to them if they’d hurt her. But he couldn’t think about that or he might tear them apart without any proof.
Telling himself to calm down, to fix some dinner and wait a little longer, he went inside. It wasn’t as if she’d just disappeared. She’d left him a note, hadn’t she?
She was probably fine.
Probably... But he found it strange that she hadn’t mentioned having to be somewhere so early when they were together last night. It was also odd that she hadn’t taken her car.
When he got out of the shower and there was still no sign of her, he ran out of patience. Digging his motorcycle keys out of his pocket, he put Rifle in the house and drove his bike past the Gruper rental.
Denny and Powell weren’t home. At least, Denny’s truck wasn’t in the drive and no one answered Levi’s knock. So he went to the photography studio.
No one was there, either. Reflections by Callie was dark and locked up tight. He banged on the door, just in case someone was in the back where he couldn’t see the light, but there was no response.
What now? he asked himself. He didn’t have her cell phone number, or even a cell phone of his own to call her with. But this was a small town. Everyone knew everyone else. He figured he’d ask around.
He went to the Gas-N-Go first, since that was the place he was most familiar with. Joe had just finished for the day, but Levi managed to catch him before he could climb into his truck.
“Hey!” he shouted above the noise of his bike as he rolled to a stop.
“What’s up?” Joe asked. “You gonna be able to come in tomorrow?”
Levi killed his engine. “Tomorrow?”
“You didn’t hear? I left Callie a couple messages, trying to get hold of you. I’ve got a busy week coming up and one of my techs will be out on vacation. I could use a hand through Saturday if you’re around.”
“I’ll be here first thing in the morning.”
“Eight or nine is fine.”
“Okay, but...speaking of Callie, when you called, did you actually talk to her?”
“’Fraid not. Got transferred to voice mail both times. Why? Something wrong?”
Levi didn’t want to throw everyone into a panic. This could be nothing. “I doubt it. I just...I expected her home by now, thought I’d check on her.”
“Where is she supposed to be?”
“She didn’t say. Would you mind trying her cell again?”
Joe seemed mildly surprised by Levi’s concern, but he pulled his phone out.
Levi waited, hoping for the best, but he knew he wasn’t going to learn anything new when Joe shook his head.
“Voice mail.” Joe held the phone out so Levi could take it and leave a message if he chose to, but Levi waved him off. He didn’t see any point in telling Callie he was worried and wanted to know where she was, not when she’d have no way of calling him back.
“What about Kyle?” Levi asked.
“You think she might be with him?”
“Could be, right? They’re friends. Do you have his number?”
“No, but I could get it from my sister—”
“Maybe you could just tell me where he lives and I’ll go by there.”
“This time of day he’s probably still at the plant,” Joe said, and gave Levi directions.
It turned out that Kyle was gone for the day, but the house on the corner of the property hardly looked as though it belonged to an employee, even a manager. The place was too nice. Levi guessed Kyle owned it, so he took a chance and stopped there.
Sure enough, Kyle answered the door—and was visibly shocked to see him. “What’s going on?”
“Do you know where Callie is?”
Kyle hesitated as if all the doubts he’d had about Levi were flooding back, but he seemed to put some effort into reserving judgment. “No, why?”
“She left early this morning and hasn’t come home. You haven’t heard from her?”
“Not a single word.”
Kyle didn’t add, “Since you came to town everything has been different,” but Levi got the impression that was implied.
“You’re worried that Denny might’ve...hurt her?” Kyle guessed.
“I am. Something feels off.” Considering Kyle’s previous relationship with Callie, Levi couldn’t explain some of the nuances that figured into his concern. Like the fact that they’d made love last night and he thought if she had to get up early and leave, she would’ve mentioned it. Or that he was impatient to see her again because they had unfinished business. He hadn’t meant to sleep for hours, hadn’t meant to leave her unsatisfied as if he didn’t care about her fulfillment. That was a small thing compared to her overall safety, but the way their time together had ended contributed to his sense of unease. Maybe she was so disappointed she wasn’t in any hurry to come home....
“Do you think it’s too soon to go to the police?” He hated the idea of contacting Chief Stacy. Their last conversation hadn’t gone well. But he knew he’d do whatever he had to.
“Have you tried her parents?”
“I don’t
know where they live.”
Kyle opened the screen door and held it wide. “Come on in. We’ll give Diana and Boone a call.”
* * *
Callie couldn’t get the doctor to release her. She was feeling better, wanted to go back to the farm. As confident as she was that she wouldn’t have any more problems, the doctor said he preferred to keep her overnight so the hospital staff could monitor her progress. If she experienced any more internal bleeding, there was a chance she’d need a transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt. Then it would be a few days before she could go home, and only if she remained free of infection.
“So what are you going to tell everyone again?” she asked Baxter.
Despite her protests, he’d insisted on staying the whole day, had sat by her bedside even while she slept. Occasionally when she woke up, she’d find him frowning at all the equipment, the tubes running into her body, instead of thumbing through his magazine, as he did when he knew she was watching. Reading was all he could do. He’d left home in such a hurry he didn’t even have his computer. But now it was after dinnertime. He needed to go eat, shower and get some rest.
“You know what I’m going to say—exactly what you had me tell your parents earlier.”
“Great.”
He rolled his eyes. “But I’m not sure anyone will buy it.”
“Why not? It’s summer. Your work schedule isn’t as rigorous as usual. They don’t know what we had planned.”
“One of them might see my car at the house tonight or early tomorrow.”
“The chances of them noticing are slim. It’ll be after eight before you reach Whiskey Creek. And you generally leave early for work.”
“True. Still...”
She didn’t want to think about the off chance that someone would realize he hadn’t stayed in San Francisco with her as he’d claimed. “So are you sure you’re okay to drive me home tomorrow? It’ll take you away from work again.”
