by Lisa Dyson
His entire body seemed to relax at the suggestion and he smiled back. “That’s the best offer I’ve had all day.” He held his arms out. “But first, come here.” She gratefully did as he asked, melting into him. He whispered into her hair. “I’ve missed you. I don’t want you to ever leave.”
She pulled back to look him in the eye and placed her hands flat on his chest. “You know I’m only here for a few more days. I have a job and a life that’s not here. We agreed that this was only temporary.”
His arms dropped to his sides. “Sure. Whatever.” He stepped back from her.
“Tyler.”
He looked at her, not saying a word.
“Do you want to talk about this?” she asked.
“Do you?”
Her heart nearly beat out of her chest. “Yes, I do.”
He took a step closer and looked directly into her eyes. “I know when we originally talked about this—whatever this is between us—we agreed that it would be temporary. Just until you left town.” He ran a hand through his hair. “But I like this. Us.” He paused. “I don’t want you to leave for another decade or so. I want to see where this goes.”
Her emotions were choking her. She swallowed. “I didn’t realize you felt that way.” She hesitated. “I’m not sure how we can make this work.”
He put his hands at her waist. “Do you want to figure it out?”
“I do,” she whispered.
She wasn’t sure who moved, maybe both of them, but she was back in his arms, his mouth on hers, before she could blink.
When she finally had the willpower to pull back, she said, “Do you really think we can make it work?”
“You worry too much.” He took her hand in both of his. “I’ve already got a plan. You know the fourth bedroom at my house?”
She nodded, wondering where he was going with this.
“That’s your room.”
She cocked her head. “My room?”
“Right. For when you come to visit on the weekends or whenever you can.”
“O-kay.”
“I can see you’re not getting it. Just like we do now, we can each have our own bedroom for propriety sake—aka Madison and Alexis. When you come to visit, then we’ll do the same thing we do now.” He squeezed the hand he held. “I think you coming to my room after the girls are settled will work best since I’ll have a king bed and your room’s only big enough for a twin.”
“And what if I don’t agree?” she teased.
He shrugged. “Okay, we can do it in a single bed if you want.”
She hit him playfully on the arm. “That’s not what I meant. What if I don’t want to make the trip up here every weekend?”
He pursed his lips. “Well, you could find another job and move here permanently.”
“I can’t do that.” Her response was immediate.
“Why not?” His brow furrowed.
“Because I love my job. I can’t give it up.”
He pulled her close. “But I don’t want to give you up. I love you.”
She stared at him, wide-eyed. “You do?”
He grinned. “I do.”
She swallowed. “I love you, too.” She really did. Not a false kind of love like she’d thought she felt with Andrew and boyfriends before him. This was the real thing.
She smiled at him. “Maybe it’s time for those beers.” She needed a moment to digest their conversation.
“Wait. There’s one more thing I need to tell you. It’s important.”
She froze. That phrase was never a good sign.
“I want you to know that I called your therapist,” he said.
She didn’t know what to say. “You called him? Why? Have you been checking up on me?”
“No, nothing like that.” He hesitated. “I called because you didn’t tell him what happened at your dad’s. I realized how difficult it would be for you to relive it, but I thought he should know.”
“You thought?” She couldn’t believe he’d gone behind her back like that. “If I’d wanted him to know about it, then I would have told him myself.”
“I’m sorry that you don’t agree. I just want what’s best for you. And your therapy is a big part of that.”
“So you think you know better than I do what’s best for me? You took control of me, of my life.” She’d thought he was different, but it turned out he wasn’t.
“That’s not true.”
She glared at him but kept her tone neutral. “It is true. You didn’t consult me, you went ahead and did what you thought was best. You’re no different than Andrew. He decided I needed to loosen up because I’m supposedly wound too tight.”
“Maybe he had a point.”
“What?” She wasn’t sure how long she could remain calm. Inside she was seething. And all of this right after they’d admitted to being in love with each other.
“Look at you.” He pointed at her hands, which were fisting and unfisting. “You’re extremely angry right now, but your hands are the only part of you expressing that emotion. Your tone of voice is even. You’re not storming around, banging things.”
“So? Does that make me crazy or something? You know my history. I’ve learned quite well how to keep my emotions in check. It doesn’t mean I don’t have them.”
“I know that. But wouldn’t you like to just once yell and scream?” He paused. “I get that you don’t think I should have called your therapist, but I’d do it again.”
“So you’re not even sorry?” She was incredulous.
“No, I’m not.” He took a step closer but she retreated. “I want you to be whole again, Callie. Not just for you, but for my daughters, as well. I love you, but we can’t move forward until you’ve completely healed. My daughters have been through too much and I won’t gamble with their futures.”
“And you think I’m some kind of danger to them?” She refused to think about what kind of mother she would make.
“Can you guarantee that you won’t have another break with reality?”
“That’s ridiculous. There are no guarantees in life.”
“True,” he agreed. “But don’t you think dealing with your past will give you a brighter future?”
She’d heard enough and spoke deliberately. “My future is not your concern. We will not be moving forward. Unless you need to speak to my therapist about my community service, then stay out of things that don’t have anything to do with you.” She spun on her heel and headed to her bedroom where she allowed her tears to flow freely.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
BY THE TIME Callie woke the next morning, after spending most of the night tossing and turning and shedding some quiet tears because of her breakup with Tyler, she was anxious to get to the women’s shelter. She wasn’t sure what she would have done if she hadn’t had something else to occupy her mind.
She drove to the parking lot at the diner to meet Norma as planned. When Norma decided all was safe, Callie would follow her to the shelter.
Everything went well and Callie parked her car behind Norma’s on the street. The two women walked together to the front door of a nondescript house in a nondescript neighborhood. “This is it?” Callie asked Norma before they entered.
“This is it,” Norma confirmed. “Not what you were expecting?”
“I’m not sure what I expected. It’s just another house on the street.”
“From the outside, yes. But you’ll see when we enter that appearances can be deceiving.”
Norma wasn’t lying. As the women came to the living room to meet Callie, she was amazed that there were so many people living in the small house. She had an even harder time believing that there was such an enormous demand for a protective home such as this.
As much as she’d thought she’d been doing good in her own community by donating her clothes and supporting local charities with monetary donations, she’d never been face-to-face with the actual people in need. She didn’t count serving food at the community center becau
se she walked by the homeless on a daily basis.
These women were afraid for their lives and for their children’s lives. Not because they didn’t have enough to eat or warm clothes to wear. They were afraid of the men in their lives.
Much like how Callie had been afraid of her stepmother as a child.
“I think maybe the dining room table would work best.” Norma showed her the way. “I’ve already told everyone why you’re here, so anyone interested will join you in there.”
Callie smiled at her. “Thank you so much. I really appreciate that you’ve allowed me to be here.”
“Anything that will help these women is okay with me.” Norma left Callie alone in the dining room.
She put the bag of supplies she’d brought with her on a chair and began pulling out handouts for the women. When she was ready to begin, five women were sitting around the table.
Another woman walked past the doorway, stopped, then went on.
“I’d like to start by introducing myself. I’m Callie James and I’m a financial analyst at a large firm in Bethesda.” She left out that she was in town to complete community service hours. Callie didn’t want to spook these women.
The same woman as before walked by the doorway. She stopped as if trying to decide whether to join the group or not.
“We’d love to have you join us,” Callie told her.
The woman scrunched her face as if the idea was disgusting. “Not a chance. You come in here as if you know what we need. You haven’t had a hard day in your life.”
Callie was taken aback by the woman’s vitriol. “You’d be surprised by what I’ve survived. That’s why I know the stronger and more knowledgeable you are, the better chance you have of surviving, too.”
“That’s bullshit!” The woman waved her off and left.
Callie took a few breaths and then continued where she’d left off. “I’d understand if you’d prefer not to tell me your full names, but maybe first names would be okay?”
The others at the table all nodded. They introduced themselves and then Callie questioned them about what they knew so that she knew where she needed to begin.
By the time she left the home a few hours later, she felt more useful than anytime in her life. Even with how successful she’d been in her career, this experience—helping these women take control of their lives—was more rewarding than anything she’d ever done.
*
AFTER SPEAKING WITH the women at the shelter, as well as Norma, the plan was that Callie would teach her next class the following evening. She’d taken the women’s suggestions and devised a lesson plan that she hoped would help the women she’d meet with that evening.
She began the next morning with a run, all the time watching for Wendy. Running during daylight hours seemed less risky than as it got dark. She returned to Poppy’s after her run, pleased that it had been incident-free.
By the time she needed to leave for the shelter, Callie had a well thought-out game plan and she’d even had time to work on her paying job.
Even though she’d found time here and there to get some work done since she’d arrived in Whittler’s Creek, today she actually felt she’d accomplished something. She knew most people thought numbers were boring, but she was energized by them. Stock prices, interest rates, housing costs. She couldn’t contain her excitement.
When she arrived at the shelter, she received a warmer welcome than yesterday when the women were hesitant to befriend her.
“We have two more women who are interested in your class,” Norma said as she walked her to the dining room. “There’s also a possible third, but she hasn’t made up her mind yet.”
“That’s fine,” Callie told her. “She’s welcome to join us later if she wants.”
Norma nodded and left her alone with her students. “It’s nice to see everyone,” Callie said. For the sake of her new students, she reintroduced herself and asked them a few questions about what they knew and what they’d like to learn.
“I think online banking would be very useful,” one of the new women said. She appeared to be in her early twenties and wore a fast-food uniform. “But I don’t own a computer. There’s one here to use, but what can I do after I leave?”
“That’s a good question,” Callie said. “The library’s computers are an option. Of course, it’s better to use your own because of security reasons, but if you have to use a public computer, then always remember to sign out of your account and close the window and application you were using. That will lessen the chance of the next person using that computer being able to get into your account and access your information.”
Callie answered a few more questions concerning electronic banking and was about to move to another subject when Norma came to the doorway. “I have a new student for you.” The woman stepped into view and Callie’s jaw dropped.
“Wendy.”
Callie’s stepsister looked as stunned to see Callie as she was to see Wendy.
“Yeah, so what?” She turned to Norma. “I don’t need to stay. She won’t teach me anything I don’t already know.”
She knew she should try to urge Wendy to stay, but Callie was busy trying to process the fact that Wendy was residing in a battered women’s shelter.
“Of course, that’s up to you,” Norma told her. “Is there a problem?”
When Wendy didn’t speak up, Callie filled Norma in. “Wendy is my stepsister.”
Norma looked from one woman to the other. “I take it you’re not close?”
“Ha!” Wendy said. “That’s exactly right.” Before Callie could add anything, Wendy turned and left.
“Can we speak when you’re done here?” Norma asked Callie in a tone meant for her alone.
“Of course,” Callie said, hoping Norma wasn’t going to tell her that she couldn’t come back because she and Wendy didn’t get along.
Norma left and Callie continued with her class. Putting Wendy from her mind, she enjoyed the women and their interest in learning. When she reached the end of what she’d planned to teach them that evening, she said she’d like Monday’s class to focus on saving. She got a lot of strange looks.
“How can we save money when we don’t even have enough to live on?” one woman asked, and several heads bobbed up and down.
“That’s what we’ll discuss on Monday. I think you’ll be surprised when I show you how regularly saving even just a little bit will make a difference when you get to a point when you need it. A car repair or an unexpected medical bill can throw you into debt that you might not be able to recover from. I don’t think any of you want to be dependent on someone else if you can help it, correct?”
The women agreed heartily with that statement.
“Then I’ll see you Monday night, same time.”
Last time she left them they were very reserved. Tonight the women stood around her, asking more questions while she packed up her things. She finally broke away and went to find Norma.
“There you are.” Callie popped her head into the kitchen. “You wanted to talk?”
Norma stopped what she was doing and gestured to the back door. They both went outside to a small patio with an old redwood picnic table. Norma’s limp seemed more pronounced as she made her way to the table and sat across from Callie.
“I didn’t want anyone to overhear us because I want to talk to you about your sister,” Norma began.
“Stepsister.” It was an automatic correction. “What about her?”
Norma tapped a pointed fingernail with white nail polish on the table. “I can’t figure her out.”
And Norma was looking to Callie for answers? “I’m afraid I don’t know much about Wendy or her life. We’ve had no contact for years.”
Norma nodded. “I was afraid of that. Let me ask you this. Is there anyone else who might be able to fill in the blanks, especially about this husband of hers? She’s refused to press charges against him when it was obvious upon her arrival late last week that she had visi
ble bruises that were healing.”
Callie recalled first seeing Wendy at the drugstore shortly after arriving in town. She’d appeared to have fading bruises at that time. “I don’t know of anyone.” She’d never even met Wendy’s husband. She only knew that he’d been a few years ahead of her in school. Then she asked, “And you think he was the cause of her bruises?”
Callie couldn’t imagine how much worse her own childhood would have been if she’d had to endure physical abuse on top of everything else.
“Nine times out of ten, it’s the husband or boyfriend where these women are concerned.” Norma stated it as fact. “If you find out anything else about her situation, please let me know.”
“I will.” She hesitated. Just as Norma moved to get up, Callie said, “You should know that she’s suspected of being involved in a crime. The Whittler’s Creek police have been looking for her to question her about an embezzlement case.”
Norma’s eyebrows rose. “Really? Then I’ll need to contact Chief Garrett right away. We don’t hide criminals here.”
“He’ll appreciate that,” she told Norma. Callie was relieved that she wouldn’t have to speak to Tyler herself, something she’d avoided since their argument.
“I’ll call him tomorrow morning and we can arrange a time for him to question Wendy.”
“You would allow him to come here?” Callie was surprised after how complicated it had been for her to come to the house.
“No, I think the best option would be for him to go to where she’s working. The women here get a little nervous when they see law enforcement. The men in their lives have beaten them down emotionally so they sometimes assume an officer is here to take them back home.”
After what she’d endured as a child, Callie could actually imagine how confused and afraid these women probably were.
*
THE NEXT MORNING Tyler received a call from Norma as soon as he got to his office. He didn’t usually go into work this early unless he was called in for something, but today his reasoning was twofold. One, he was avoiding Callie, afraid he’d lower his standards when it came to her mental health. And, two, he needed to clear up the embezzlement case.
