by Lisa Dyson
By the time she got back to the Lincoln Hotel and dug into the financial files, she was feeling a little more like herself.
At least until she had to speak to her therapist that evening.
“So tell me what’s been going on,” Dr. Hammond began. “You’ve been to see your dad?”
His question seemed too coincidental. “How did you know that? Did Tyler call you?”
“Tyler who?” he asked.
“Tyler Garrett, Chief of Police. I know you two talked when you asked him to take over my community service.”
“I haven’t spoken to him since.” Either Dr. Hammond was a good actor or he really hadn’t spoken to Tyler. “You told me you were going to see your dad. Did it not happen?”
She realized she was being paranoid. There was no way her therapist could know about yesterday. There wasn’t even an article in the local paper about it. “I’ve seen him twice since last week.”
“And how did it go?”
“Fine.” That seemed like an innocuous enough reply.
“Just fine? What did you two talk about?”
“He asked me about work, my life. You know, the usual things.” If she stuck with the first conversation they’d had, she might be able to avoid talking about yesterday or how she got him home and settled earlier today over her lunch break.
“Did he ask why you haven’t been back to see him before now?”
“No.”
“Did you ask why you haven’t heard from him in all that time?”
She swallowed the lump in her throat. “I never had a chance.”
“Why’s that?”
“I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”
Dr. Hammond didn’t say anything at first. “Let’s talk about your stepmother, then.”
“No!” She snapped her mouth shut, realizing she’d yelled and could probably be heard downstairs.
“That was an intense reaction to the mention of your stepmother. Would you like to tell me why?”
“Can’t we forget her?” Callie nearly begged.
“She’s obviously part of the problem. I don’t see how we can ignore her.”
It’s easy, Callie thought. Just move away and make a new life for yourself. At least, that’s how she’d handled her stepmother problem previously.
“You never told me what it was like growing up with her. Did you two get along?”
Callie clamped her lips shut. She clenched and unclenched her hands, knowing they couldn’t be seen on the computer screen. “I said I don’t want to talk about her.”
Dr. Hammond sighed. “I understand that. But the longer it takes you to open up, the longer it will be before I can release you as my patient.”
Callie was backed into a corner. The therapist wasn’t going to give up and she was about to endure something she’d successfully avoided for over a decade.
All thanks to her ex-boyfriend Andrew and his interference in her life.
“Fine. What do you want to know?” Blood pounded in her temples and nightmarish visions appeared in her mind. “Do you want to hear how she made me scrub the floors until my fingers bled because I couldn’t make them spotless? Or how about the time she dunked my head in the toilet when it wasn’t clean enough?” Her heart raced. She sucked in a breath. “What about the time she pushed me outside in my underwear and locked me out because I didn’t fold the clothes as well as she thought I should have?” By this time the memories were coming faster and faster. Memories she’d buried deep.
“I’m sorry. That must have been awful.” Dr. Hammond was probably memorizing every demeaning word she was uttering. Or maybe he was recording their session. “Did she treat your stepsister the same way?”
Callie let out a humorless chuckle. “Hardly. Wendy was the apple of Ellen’s eye. She could do no wrong.”
“And your relationship with Wendy?”
“We have never had one. Unless you call her hitting, kicking and spitting on me a relationship? And don’t forget all the badmouthing of me she did.”
“It sounds like it was the two of them against you. Where does your father fit in?”
Good question. “What do you mean?”
“Did he go along with your stepmother’s punishment?”
“He never stopped her, if that’s what you mean.”
“Does he know what you went through?”
“No. Not really. At least not from me.” She drew in a deep breath. “He was a long-haul trucker and gone a lot.”
“Why didn’t you go to him?”
“I did once. But he believed my stepmother’s side of the story and when he was gone, she came up with a new form of torture.” Callie became light-headed remembering the dark, the cold, the loneliness, the bugs. “She would lock me in a closet in the basement. Sometimes I was down there so long that I thought she forgot about me. Or maybe she’d hoped I’d die down there.”
“Do you blame your dad for not stopping her?”
“How can I not blame him?” Tears clouded her vision as her revelation materialized. “He never did anything to protect me from them.” She swallowed back tears. “Now maybe you can understand why I didn’t want to come back here. Why I still don’t want to be here.”
“Yes, I do,” her therapist acknowledged. “But you still have unfinished business with your father.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
TYLER WAITED TO text Callie until he was sure her therapy session was over. He’d wanted to give her time to recover emotionally after she’d told her therapist about yesterday’s traumatic episode.
Doing okay? He hit Send just as Alexis appeared in his bedroom doorway.
“Daddy?”
“Yes?”
“Is it okay if I say good-night to Miss Callie? I think she needs a hug.” The girl was extremely observant for her age.
“Why do you think that?”
“She seemed kind of sad at dinner tonight.” Alexis took a seat on the end of his bed, her expression serious as she twisted one of her braids around her fingers. She’d insisted on braids tonight so she’d have her hair kinky in the morning when she undid the braids.
The things he’d had to learn to do as a single father…
“That’s probably because her daddy got hurt yesterday and he spent the night in the hospital.” Tyler figured that was enough explanation for now.
“How did he get hurt? Did someone punch him? Or was it in a car accident?” Alexis’s eyes grew wide.
He sometimes wondered where she got her imagination. “No, it was in his kitchen. He hurt his head and the doctor wanted him to spend the night in the hospital so they could make sure he’ll be all right. Good news is that he’s fine and went home earlier today.” He moved to corral his daughter back into her room. “So if Miss Callie seems sad, then it’s probably because she’s tired from worrying about her daddy.”
That seemed to satisfy Alexis and he was able to get her tucked into bed without waking Madison.
“Daddy?” She caught him just before he closed their bedroom door.
He opened it and stuck his head in the room. “Yes?” She was probably going to ask for another drink of water or one last hug. She was the queen of stalling tactics.
“If you got hurt and had to go to the hospital, then who would drive you home? Maddie and I can’t drive yet.”
Her question nearly broke his heart. “Don’t worry about that.” He walked to the bed because now he was the one who needed that last hug. “There are plenty of people who could help me out.”
“Like Miss Callie or Aunt Poppy?”
She had a point. Since he’d divorced their mother, and his dad had died, Tyler had been forced to rely on people’s good nature. If not for Aunt Poppy—who had been like a second mother to him—he and his daughters would be living in a hotel room or maybe an apartment until their house was ready to move into. Who knew what stranger would be watching the girls while he was on the job or working on their house if not for Aunt Poppy? From the moment h
e took the police job, she’d made it clear that she would be on call to watch the girls no matter what time of day or night.
“That’s right. They could help me. Or I could call a friend or even a taxi.” He pulled her covers extra tight. “Now, you stop worrying and get some sleep.”
When he reached his room again, he checked his phone. No reply from Callie. He couldn’t imagine that her therapy session went more than an hour.
He gathered his dirty clothes, as well as the girls’ overflowing hamper that he’d moved to the hallway earlier, and carried them to the basement to do a load of laundry.
He stopped outside Callie’s door and listened. No sound. He didn’t want to bug her. Maybe she needed some alone time.
He continued to the basement and started his first load. He couldn’t wash everything together and realized he’d be up late if he wanted to get the two loads of laundry done tonight.
Setting a timer on his cell phone to remind him when the first load would be done, he went back upstairs. Again, he stopped at Callie’s door.
“She’s not in there,” Gino said as he came out of his bedroom.
“She’s not?”
“Nope. I saw her leave out the front door earlier.”
“How long ago?”
Gino shrugged. “Maybe a half hour to an hour. She looked like she was dressed for a run.”
That actually made sense, although Gino’s sense of time wasn’t much help. “Okay, thanks.”
Tyler carried the girls’ hamper down the hall and set it next to their bedroom door. Then he went into his own room to check his phone. Still no reply from Callie. Maybe she hadn’t taken her phone with her.
He could call it while standing outside her bedroom, but if it was on vibrate, he wouldn’t hear it anyway.
He went into his room and decided to wait for her to contact him. She knew he was there for her if she needed him.
He refused to consider that he might be more worried about her than was healthy if they were truly going to keep this relationship a casual, short-term one.
*
CALLIE USUALLY RAN two to three miles. She hadn’t kept track, but she was pretty sure she’d gone nearly twice that length based on how long she’d been running.
Her legs complained, but she kept going. She knew the town well, which was good because the sun had set a while ago. If she had been at home, she’d want to return before dark. But here in the small town she’d spent nearly two decades exploring, she wasn’t concerned about getting back to Poppy’s before the light was completely gone.
She was within a block of Poppy’s house, running on the side of the road, when a shadowed figure suddenly appeared on the sidewalk ahead of her. She was almost side-by-side with the person when they stepped out in front of her.
Callie stopped abruptly so she wouldn’t run the person down. “What—?” She recognized the person. “Wendy?” She leaned over, trying to catch her breath. She barely had the name out when she was hit on her upper back and knocked to the ground.
“It’s all your fault!” Wendy screamed. “My mother wouldn’t be in the psych ward if not for you!” She must have been watching Poppy’s house for Callie’s return.
Callie sucked air into her lungs. She carefully brushed the gravel from her hands and gingerly stood. “I didn’t have anything to do with what happened yesterday.” She couldn’t catch her breath. “Your mother started yelling and grabbed a knife, coming at us for no reason. She put my father in the hospital.”
Wendy straightened to her full height. “No reason? Ha! You’re always to blame!”
Callie’s heart pounded. She looked around at the houses that now had lights on to see if anyone had come out to see about the commotion. She didn’t see anyone. As usual, she was alone with Wendy.
Arguing with Wendy never solved anything. Callie changed her tactic. “How is your mother?”
“She hates the hospital,” Wendy growled.
“I’m sure she’d rather be at home.” With great difficulty, Callie kept her voice calm.
“But she won’t be going home anytime soon,” Wendy said. “She’s facing charges of attempted murder, breaking and entering, and who knows what else.”
“She did do all those things.”
Wendy looked as angry as ever at Callie’s statement. She wouldn’t have been surprised if Wendy decided to throw a punch. Just to be safe, Callie took a few steps back.
“I need to get home,” Callie told her, planning to end this encounter sooner rather than later. “I hope your mother gets the help she needs.” With that she jogged away, giving Wendy a wide berth.
“You’ll pay for what you did,” Wendy yelled after her.
Callie was almost halfway down the block and could still hear her clearly. Probably just like all the neighbors could.
*
WHILE HE WAITED for Callie to return, Tyler decided to call his sister.
“Hey, Isabelle,” he greeted her. “How are you?”
After a few minutes of catch-up, he got to the reason he’d called. “Do you know anything about what was going on in the Jameses’ home back when Callie was living there?”
“What are you talking about now?” Isabelle asked. “What kinds of things?”
He hit the main points of Ellen’s breakdown, leaving out the part about Callie admitting to being locked up by her stepmother. He wanted to know why the abuse had never been noticed or reported. He also wondered if her dad had any idea about what had gone on. “It’s what I heard Callie’s stepmother say when she was talking to herself that concerned me most.”
“Oh. What was that?”
“She insinuated that she would lock Callie up. Do you know anything about that?”
Silence.
“Isabelle?”
When she finally answered, her voice was so soft that he could barely make out her words. “I heard something like that, but I never believed it.”
“Who’d you hear it from?” A rumor recounted by someone unrelated to the situation wouldn’t be credible.
Again she hesitated. “Wendy. She’s the one who told me. It was after the homecoming dance. She’d been drinking and she started spouting off about how good it felt to get Callie into trouble so she’d get locked in the basement closet.”
Tyler’s pulse pounded in his temple. “And you never told anyone?”
“No! Almost as soon as she said it, she claimed she was just kidding. So I always thought she was making the whole thing up. I swear she never said anything else about it.”
Tyler recognized the panic in Isabelle’s voice. She was definitely telling the truth. At least, the truth as she knew it.
“So she really did get locked up?” Isabelle asked in a meek tone.
“That’s what I’m trying to figure out.” Callie had basically admitted it, but hadn’t explained further. “Is there anything else you know about that family that might help to sort things out?”
“Not that I can think of,” she said. “But I’ll let you know if I remember anything that might be useful.” She paused. “Ty?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m really sorry I didn’t say anything to anyone. I honestly thought Wendy made it up.”
“I know.” And he did know. He also wished he’d been the one who’d heard Wendy say it. He would have loved to have saved Callie from the abuse she’d endured.
When Tyler and Isabelle disconnected, his bedroom felt too restrictive so he went downstairs to wait for Callie. He’d no sooner taken a seat in the living room when he heard the front door open.
“Good run?” He rose from the couch and met her near the bottom of the staircase. She didn’t answer. “Are you okay, Callie?” He reached for her hand but she pulled it away. He grasped her wrist and turned her hand palm up. “You’re bleeding. Did you fall?” He took a step back to take in her entire body.
“Something like that.” She had a trickle of blood coming from her knee that stopped halfway down her shin.
“Let’s get you cleaned up.” He took her elbow to lead her to the kitchen. “Aunt Poppy has first-aid supplies in here.”
She pulled away from him. “I’m fine. I can wash off in the shower. That’s all I need.”
“Wait a minute.” Something didn’t seem right. “I asked if you fell and you said ‘something like that.’ What does that mean?” She was keeping something from him and his police training made him naturally suspicious. Especially considering recent events.
She was halfway up the steps when she stopped and turned to answer his question. “It was just fallout from the other day.” She shrugged and turned away.
“Go on.”
She spoke without looking at him. “I ran into Wendy again. A block or so from here. I think she was waiting for me.”
“What happened?”
Callie shrugged. “Just like last time. She caught me unawares. She shoved me and I landed on the street.” She climbed a few more steps. “I’m fine. I just need a shower.”
He gave her thirty minutes before he knocked quietly on her bedroom door, two bottles of beer in his other hand.
He was about to knock again when the door finally opened. She wore a deep blue tank with matching plaid pajama pants and bare feet. Her hair was still damp and her face was flushed pink. He couldn’t imagine her looking any more sexy than right this minute.
But that wasn’t why he was standing at her door. He was worried about her. He hadn’t been this concerned about anyone other than his daughters and his dad in a very long time.
She tipped her head against the door frame. “I’m really not in the mood.”
He wasn’t surprised and tried to lighten things up. “You’re not in the mood for a beer?” He twisted off the cap on one and offered her the bottle. “You didn’t think I was here for something else, did you?” He winked and her lips twitched slightly, but her smile didn’t come close to reaching her eyes.
After a two-second hesitation, she took a bottle and stood to the side for him to enter her room. She shut the door behind him.
“How are you? Physically, I mean.” He opened his beer and pocketed the cap before sitting on the love seat.
“I’m fine,” she said, taking a seat on the edge of her bed. He tried not to think about what the two of them had done on that mattress. “I’m more upset that she caught me by surprise again. I should have been on guard.”
