Only This

by Hadley Quinn

  Tyse headed for the door not because he was told to, but because he really didn’t want to be around this type of shit any longer. But he paused in the entryway and looked back.

  “Since you don’t want to fill me in, I’ll find out what happened on my own.”

  Max’s face darkened and his agitation was apparent. “You’re really messing with the wrong family. I don’t care if you’re a member of it or not.”

  “Yeah, I don’t care if I am or not either,” Tyse smiled, and he left the house, slamming the door behind him.

  He was late to work that day because his mind was everywhere except where he was headed. He’d made three wrong turns, and when he finally met up with his first patient for the morning, he was pissed with himself for allowing personal shit to set the tone to his day.

  However, when he walked through the back door to the recording studio later that afternoon, he heard two voices up front instead of just Melanie talking to Cade like usual.

  He knew to whom the second voice belonged to without a doubt.

  “Even if I didn’t think that, I’d still worry,” he heard Sarah laugh.

  Melanie laughed with her. “I know, right? So ridiculous!”

  Tyse emerged from the hallway almost cautiously. He’d wanted to see Sarah so badly since the other night, but it made him anxious at the same time.

  Both girls looked up when he appeared at the corner.

  “Hey, you’re here earlier than I expected,” Melanie smiled. “I haven’t gotten to any phone calls yet. I thought you’d be another hour.”

  “No hurry,” he waved it off. “My last patient had to cancel, so I left early.”

  He looked at Sarah to gauge her reaction to him. He couldn’t help but do a onceover on her appearance because she was always enjoyable to look at. He never cared what she wore, only that he wished he could keep that beautiful smile on her face forever. But already that was a fail because it had disappeared, and she was looking down at the floor to avoid making eye contact.

  “Well I’d better get back to the shop,” she said, speaking directly to Melanie. “Thanks for the chat.”

  “Anytime,” Mel replied. “I benefit tremendously from all the pretties I get to look at in here,” she nodded to a new arrangement of flowers that were sitting on the desk.

  Sarah waved goodbye, but instead of stopping her, Tyse just watched her leave. He wasn’t sure if he was ready for another brush-off from her just yet. Maybe he needed to give her more space.

  “You two are like lovesick teenagers,” Melanie commented as she sat down at the desk. “Why don’t you just talk to her sometime?”

  Tyse gave her a peculiar look but walked over to the counter to lean against it. Obviously Sarah had never filled Melanie in on their already-awkward acquaintance. He wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

  But what the hell, maybe he could get some insight from a female’s perspective for once. As much as he loved his brother, he wasn’t sure if Jay’s advice would do the trick. Tyse knew he meant well, but maybe he was missing something that Melanie could enlighten him with.

  “She doesn’t like me,” he stated outright, gaining Mel’s full attention. “She found out I’m a McCallan and decided to develop a very strong aversion to me.”

  She appeared instantly surprised. “She’s got goo-goo eyes all over you any time she sees you. Are you sure she’s just not intimidated by you? I mean she’s kind of reserved in a way. Not shy, but definitely not super outgoing like Kellie or Rayne. That doesn’t mean she wouldn’t jump your bones, though,” she added with a dainty laugh.

  Tyse couldn’t help but smile but shook his head. “She can’t even be in the same room as me.” He motioned to the lobby and the fact that Sarah had left. “I’ve tried. I’ve talked to her and I’ve…done things that I otherwise wouldn’t have, just to be able to see her.”

  “Done what things?” Melanie asked, but she followed his eyes to the arrangement of flowers on the desk and she sucked in a breath of air. “Oh my,” she said softly. “Wow. Okay…”

  “Yeah. And I’ve tried talking to her but she really has a disdain for some of the McCallans.”

  “Did you ask her about it? I mean that’s kind of harsh, grouping you in there with them.”

  “That’s what I said.”

  “And what did she say?”

  “That it has nothing to do with me but she just doesn’t want to be associated with the McCallans at all. She told me some other stuff, but I’m not sure I want to share that with everyone. She’s got a personal reason why she wants to avoid anything to do with them.”

  “Well I’m not going to ask, but if she told you why, then that’s saying something.”

  “Well I think she only did because she figured I’d ask the family and get lies from them or something. I think she was in defensive mode.”

  “Or maybe she really does want to open up to you and you just need to give her a chance.”

  “When she ends the conversation with ‘leave me alone’, I kind of assume she meant it.”

  Melanie sighed and shook her head. “Well to be honest, I really don’t think she’d be doing business here if she didn’t like you. I know they’re just getting a new business started, but Sarah doesn’t seem like the type to be pressured business-wise if she really didn’t want to do something.”

  “Which makes me wonder how long she’s going to do business with me,” Tyse concluded sullenly. “I’m sure she’s ready to bail on the deal. You saw how quickly she made a beeline for the exit.”

  “Maybe so,” Melanie shrugged. “But the question is… Are you going to let her?”

  Tyse stood there for a long time without a response. Melanie only raised her eyebrows at him as a suggestion to think long and hard about it. When she picked up the phone to make a call, Tyse decided to leave on that note.

  That really was the question weighing on his mind…

  Was he going to let Sarah run from him?

  Chapter Eleven

  “I think it’s just one of those weird things that you just gotta disregard,” Rayne said as she snipped a few stems to arrange in a vase.

  Sarah could feel observing eyes on her but she couldn’t look at her friend. She’d thought of the same thing over a dozen times but still couldn’t understand the circumstances in all of this. One of the hardest things in her life had been battling the McCallans through that entire situation with her sister and Max, and then she comes across a brand new McCallan, not even knowing he was one. No, she’d barely gotten to know Tyse, but there was this draw to him from the very beginning that she couldn’t explain. Was it just his eyes like she tried to convince herself? The way he looked at her?

  If only she hadn’t stopped to comment on the building that day…

  “Sarah, I’m not just trying to lighten this up,” Rayne sighed, setting the scissors down. “I’m trying to be as objective as I can about this. For you. I love you. You’re my best friend and I never want to see you get hurt. Normally I would just say fuck it, don’t ever fret over some stupid guy. But I saw you only moments after you first talked to him. I listened to your happy voice describe him to me. Yeah you were sad about the old bakery, but that was almost an afterthought. I can still remember my very thoughts that day. ‘Damn, it is so good to see her beautiful smile again.’ And it was. It really, really was. There was something since meeting him that lit a spark in you.” Rayne picked up the scissors again and grabbed another rose. “And it’s still there,” she added casually, trying to hide a smile.

  Sarah’s first instinct was to argue, but she didn’t. Rayne was right. Why else couldn’t she stop thinking about him? His eyes. His voice. His smile… Everything about him made her heart beat faster and the butterflies come alive in her stomach.

  “I’m hanging out with Kellie this Friday,” Rayne continued. “You should come with us. I think Melanie is coming, too, and her sister, Camryn. I’ve never met her, but I’ve heard a lot about her.�
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  “Nah you have fun hanging with the McCallans,” Sarah replied softly as she busied herself with cleanup.

  “The McCallans?” Rayne repeated. “Ha. They’re just girls like us; people that don’t really care what their last name is. You may be the only black sheep in your family, but there are actually a few in theirs. You’d understand that if you spent some time trying to.”

  “Well I don’t really have time,” Sarah shrugged. “I told Ali I’d watch movies with her on Friday night.”

  “Bring her with you.”

  Sarah gave Rayne a serious look. “Like she’d go anywhere in public with me. I’m glad she’ll actually hang out at my house once in a while. If it keeps her out of trouble, that’s awesome. But she’s not going to hang out with the ‘old people.’”

  Rayne smiled. “I can’t believe she calls us old.”

  “And boring.”

  “Well we could go out and break into a bunch of businesses. Would that make her happy?”

  Sarah shook her head but laughed. “Apparently she doesn’t do that anymore.”

  “Oh, my bad. What illegal activities is she into these days? We could snort a couple of lines with her. Would that make us cool?”

  “Don’t be so mean,” Sarah smiled good-naturedly. “She’s just a lost kid getting mixed up with the wrong crowd lately.”

  “I know. I was just kidding.”

  “She can be difficult, but I really do want to spend time with her instead of ‘babysit’ her, like she seems to think I’m trying to do.”

  “I admire you for how loving and dedicated you are, I’m not questioning it. But what if we have Ali come with us? I don’t know if there’s anything already planned, but I’m pretty sure the other girls won’t mind making it acceptable for a sixteen-year-old.”

  Sarah slowly shook her head. “I don’t know.”

  “Would you trust me for once? Just say yes. You don’t have to do anything but come along for the ride.”

  With a sigh, Sarah paused. She was okay with being social, but for it to be with the one family that had literally forced her to live inside herself for the past five years was pushing it.

  “Fine, I’ll try,” she finally answered. She expected Rayne to make a big excited deal over it, but all her friend did was smile and return to work.

  Sarah hoped she wasn’t going to regret it.

  ***

  When Sarah got home that evening, she paused at the side of her house and rolled her eyes. Escaping from a bedroom window next door was the subject of her most recent conversation with Rayne.

  “Ali, what the hell are you doing?” she asked.

  Startled, Ali whipped around to face her and held a finger up to her lips. “Shh!” she hissed.

  Placing her hands on her hips, Sarah shook her head. “You really think I’m going to let you sneak out of your house and not say anything about it?”

  Ali came across the lawn that separated the two houses.

  “Come on, Sarah, I’m just going to the library,” she practically whined.

  “Going to the library?” was Sarah’s response as she tried not to laugh. “You’re sneaking out to go to a library?”

  Sarah pointed to the side door of the house she lived in to direct Ali inside with her. It was a converted garage space she rented from a widowed elderly woman, and it was very comfortable for just herself. It was apartment-like with its own entrance, one bedroom with a small living room space, and a kitchenette.

  “So where are you really sneaking off to?” Sarah asked Ali as she headed for the refrigerator. She grabbed a couple of sodas and sat down on the couch, patting it for her young neighbor to join her. “I wish you wouldn’t lie to me about where you’re going,” she added.

  “What does it matter?” Ali replied.

  “I care about you. If you’re sneaking out, it can’t be for anything good.”

  “Maybe I’m just grounded and need to get out for a bit,” Ali challenged.

  “Are you grounded?” Sarah questioned.

  After a brief pause, Ali rolled her eyes. “No, not this time. I’m supposed to be doing homework but I don’t feel like it.”

  “So where were you headed?”

  “The lib—”

  “I know you’re not going to the library, so cut the crap. You don’t want to do your homework but you’re heading to the library? Was I born yesterday?”

  “Pssh, fine, don’t believe me,” Ali sassed.

  “Well I don’t believe you. But I also care about you and just want you to be safe. I don’t know why you lie to me and hide everything you’re doing, but I can only assume it’s because you’re doing things you know you shouldn’t be.”

  “Whatever,” came the standard response.

  “That doesn’t help your case.”

  “I’m not trying to,” Ali rolled her eyes. “It doesn’t matter what I say to you, you still think I’m lying.”

  “Because you are!” Sarah laughed out loud. “Ali, I’m not an idiot!”

  “Well my parents are. They don’t exactly care anything about me.”

  Sarah stared at her for a few seconds, trying to decide if this was another one of Ali’s “poor me” statements. She always used her parents’ lack of attention as an excuse in every argument, and even though Sarah felt there was always a bit of truth to it, she really did get sick and tired of hearing it.

  “You can always look at the bright side of things,” Sarah told her. “You have a place to live. You have clothes and food and you sleep in a warm bed. You have me next door. I just want you to be safe, happy, and to know that you can tell me anything.”

  Ali didn’t argue back, roll her eyes, or head for the exit. Instead, she slipped off her flip-flops and tucked her legs under her on the couch.

  “I was meeting Robby Sheridan,” she admitted. “My parents don’t want me seeing him.”

  “How come?” Sarah asked.

  “Because he’s a senior. And he drives a big truck. Apparently that means he’s no good.”

  Sarah smiled at the sarcasm. “And what do you think? What do you like about him?”

  Ali shrugged. “I don’t know. He’s hot.”

  Sarah waited for more but got nothing. “And that’s it?”

  With another shrug, Ali asked, “What do you want to know?”

  “Is he nice? Does he treat people well?”

  There was a pause for several seconds, but she finally said, “He’s nice to me. Isn’t that what matters?”

  Sarah was tempted to be very blunt about teenaged boys and their intentions. She wasn’t sure if that would be the best way to get the point across with Alison, but she could try.

  “Sometimes you can tell what a guy is really like by the way they treat other people around them,” she said. “Or people that they don’t expect things from.”

  Ali gave her a funny look. “Are you saying he’s nice to me because he wants to have sex?”

  “Well, to be blunt, maybe,” Sarah smiled. “I’m just saying if you really want to know what someone is like, notice how they treat other people, especially people they don’t know.”

  “Hm, well I doubt he’s in it for the sex because I’m not exactly a girl with that kind of reputation. I do stupid stuff, but not that kind of stuff.”

  “I wasn’t making any assumptions about your reputation, Ali. I’m just trying to give you some advice.”

  “Well thanks, but I’m definitely not needing it right now,” she chuckled lightly. “But anyway, I gotta get going.” She stood from the couch and motioned to the Pepsi. “Thanks for the drink. I’ll be sure not to drive.”

  “You’ll be sure to go back to your house, Alison,” Sarah told her sternly.

  Ali rolled her eyes and groaned. “Oh come on, Sarah! I’m sixteen! Why does everyone think I’m a kid and incapable of making my own choices?”

  “Because you live under your parents’ roof and have to follow their rules.” Sarah stood and walked with Ali to the doo
r. She opened it, and then placed her hands on the girl’s shoulders to guide her the right direction to her house. “Back home, missy,” Sarah told her, giving her a slight nudge forward.

  “Fine, I’ll tell Robby my mean, bitchy neighbor told on me.”

  “Fine by me,” Sarah smiled.

  She watched Ali climb back into her bedroom, but just before she shut the window, Ali playfully stuck her tongue out.

  Smiling, Sarah returned to her couch and flipped on the television. It was just a mindless distraction, though. Lately her thoughts had been drifting to Tyse every night, wondering what she should do about him. She really did want to give him a chance, but then all the bullshit with the McCallans always came rushing back to her. She was sure she’d gotten over it, and then Tyse stormed into her life and seemed to ignite her memories all over again. She’d basically been living a nice, quiet life for the past five years, just to remain out of the public’s eye. Even her father didn’t know where she lived or what she was up to. He just didn’t care as long as she didn’t make trouble in his life.

  Maybe Tyse wasn’t just a coincidence in her life. Maybe he was a way for Sarah to finally develop some kind of closure on those things she hadn’t been able to understand yet.

  Perhaps she really should give it a chance and see where it could take her.

  The following morning was sunny and gorgeous. She was beginning to think it was a waste of money to even own the Honda that was parked on her street as she walked the mile to work. But she liked feeling renewed by a morning jaunt when she could, and maybe she felt ready to take on a new challenge that day.

  But as she approached the cross street before the music studio, she hung a left to avoid passing by it. It took a couple extra minutes to get to the flower shop, but even though she knew Tyse was most likely not there in the morning hours that day, she still couldn’t risk it.

  Maybe she wasn’t ready to brave a new resolution for that day.

  It turned out to be a fulfilling, productive day at the shop, so by the time Rayne mentioned going out the next night with Kellie, Melanie, and Camryn, Sarah actually felt comfortable enough to agree to it. She wasn’t sure if it was a mistake or not, but she had told herself she would go if Ali was willing to go with her. Bailing on her was the last thing she wanted to do.