by Lucy Rinaldi
Scarred
Oak Springs, Part 2
Hudson & Callie
Copyright © 2017 Lucy Rinaldi
The contents of this novel are pure fiction.
All names, places and events are in no way associated with any persons dead or alive.
Places and events are used for fictional purposes only.
Any similarity’s to real life events, places or persons are pure coincidence.
All rights reserved.
Table of Contents
One 3
Two 7
Three 11
Four 16
Five 22
Six 25
Seven 28
Eight 33
Nine 39
Ten 41
Eleven 47
Twelve 50
Thirteen 54
Fourteen 57
Fifteen 60
Sixteen 62
Seventeen 64
Eighteen 67
Nineteen 70
Twenty 73
Twenty-One 75
Twenty-Two 78
Twenty-Three 80
Twenty-Four 83
Epilogue 87
Sneak Peek! 89
Available Books By Lucy Rinaldi. 93
About The Author. 95
One
Callie
I used to love it here.
I used to feel safe here.
I can learn to love it here again.
I can learn to feel safe again.
Those are the things I tell myself every day.
I used to love it here.
I used to feel safe here.
I can learn to love it here again.
I can learn to feel safe again.
I have lived in this little town my whole life. I used to love it here. Everybody knows everyone. Which can be a little annoying because that means everybody knows your business. It’s not easy keeping things personal in a town like Oak springs. But it’s an amazing little town with very little real crime. We have tourists sometimes, it helps keep the town alive. But the place isn’t a tourist resort.
I own my own bakery/deli/coffee shop here. When tourists are in town, I make a mint. My home baked goods, sub, sandwiches, and coffee, go down a treat. My grandmother always did say I was gifted in the area of food.
I used to be the popular girl, the girl everybody wanted to be like. Why I don’t know. I was never anything special. I’m the middle child of Keller and Sidney Harper. My father is the town sheriff, my mother the high school principle. I have two older brothers, Kory and Greg. Both are criminal lawyers. My brothers own a law firm together, and together they are very successful. I’m proud of them both.
I also have two younger sisters, Lora and Della, who are my best friends, and also work with me at the Bakery between their other jobs. Lora is a part-time preschool teacher, and Della is a part time 991 operative. I have more friends than I know what to do with, but only a handful I can bear to be around these days, and two of them are my sisters.
I guess most of my friends find it hard to even look at me, which, of course, doesn’t make them true friends in my opinion. Not that people can see anything when they look at me, I make sure to keep covered with my prosthetic mask.
It’s been a year. You’d think I would have moved on from what happened. Everyone believes I have. I never knew I was such a good actress. I paint on the smile, crack the jokes, drink like a trooper. That’s the girl I was before it happened. The girl I have to make sure everyone sees. If they know she’s really gone, if they know how I truly struggle, I’ll lose myself to the past.
I can’t do that, I have to be strong.
Isn’t that what women are best at?
It would be so easy for me to lose myself, but why should I let what happened define who I am now? Even though I guess that’s exactly what happened.
I’ve taught myself to push past anything that scares me. Anything that might threaten my sanity again. I’ve been there, done that, and I will never go there again. I do it well. Or so I tell myself. No one seems to notice anything different.
“You’re so strong, Callie. We’re all so proud of you.” I heard that a lot after it happened. The attack that changed my life drastically.
Everyone found out, of course. Not like you can keep anything secret in this town. To be honest, from what I was told, I think the whole town was outside the bakery while it was happening
People were understanding or as much as they could have been. But the constant, “Are you okay?” can drive a girl crazy. Even now people ask me that. Most are concerned, most are just being nosy and just want to see if I’ll open up to them. Like that’s ever going to happen.
I can’t bear to hear the, “You’re a hero, Callie. You should be proud of what you did.” That’s what they tell me, but I don’t see myself as that. I did what anyone else would have done in that situation. I have always put others before myself. That’s just the kind of person I am.
When I was a little girl the only thing I ever wanted was to own my own business and get married to Tommy Palmer. I was three. He married my sister six months ago. The thought often makes me laugh. He and I were never anything other than friends, but the thought of being three and sharing our future dreams could be deemed adorable. Or at least by his mother.
It wasn’t until I was four that I realized Tommy had nothing on Hudson Ryker. I think I fell in love with him the moment he spoke to me at preschool. Even then he was my hero.
Why did he have to break my heart?
I could have done with staying home tonight, I’ve been working all day. My weekdays start at 5 am. I may own a bakery, but like I said, it’s also a deli, coffee shop, cafe. It wasn’t planned that way, but over time, that’s what it became.
My sister, Della, the youngest sibling at twenty-three, is a wonderful baker. I never used to get into work by 5 am, she used to. Since what happened a year ago, I have insomnia, so 5 am it is, which gives Della time to lie in with her future husband.
Lora, my other sister, twenty-four years of age, makes the best sandwiches this side of the Atlantic! And no, that is not an exaggeration. Throw in her ability to make the best coffee around, my little shop has a five-star rating.
Thank you, girls.
Of course, I decorate the wedding cakes Della makes, which she is freaking fabulous at. I never understood how she could make such amazing cakes, but could never get the knack of decorating them the way she envisioned. I have an apt for drawing. She tells me what she wants, I draw it out, she agrees, I decorate.
Her cakes have started to take off big time. We’re making them and shipping them out to brides all over the country. Della even flies out to high paying customers to show them the designs I come up with and even gives them taster samples. She says it helps the client to meet her and know what they’d be getting should they buy from us. I agree.
I don’t agree when she tries to get me to go in her stead, though. I can’t travel alone any longer. My paranoia takes over me even thinking about it. Which, of course, leads me to a huge panic attack. Such is my life now.
As Della will be off to California tomorrow we’ve all come to Emilee’s for a drink. Not that Emilee can drink, she’s about ready to pop with her second child. I love Emilee, we met when she was seven months pregnant with her son, Aidan, who’s now three. He’s a beautiful boy, my godson, and the image of his daddy, Chase. Chase is quite a bit older than Emilee, but I’ve never known a couple so in love and solid before. Maybe my parents.
Emilee and I have been through some tough times, including the attack last year. She still blames herself, but I don’t blame her
at all, I never have and I never will.
Mia is also here. Mia is married to Jesse, Chase’s best friend. Mia and Jesse moved here a little over a year ago. Mia and Jesse have two children together, one-year-old twins, a little girl, Brooke, and a son, Jesse Junior, or Jay Jay, as we all call him. Jesse also has a son from his first marriage, Caleb, who is almost eight, and he is a gorgeous little boy. He even calls me Auntie Callie when he’s here. He also calls Mia “mom”
I don’t know how their family works, but Jesse and Mia have a very strong relationship with Caleb’s mother and his stepfather. It’s nice to know they can be grown up enough to give that boy a happy family.
Of course, Lora and Della are here, Aimee, Lora’s best friend, and Paige, Della’s best friend. Hell, we’re all best friends. Even if Mia and I are the eldest. I couldn’t cope with more people than the six of them. Not like the girl who used to love to be the center of attention at huge parties.
“I have something to tell you all.” Lora married Tommy Palmer, my three-year-old self’s crush. I think they’d been in love since school. All I ever wanted was for my sisters to be happy. Tommy makes her happy, he’s so in love with her, he would literally do anything for her. That’s the way it should be.
“Well, tell us.” Della laughs. Della is engaged to a police officer. One whom works with my father. Freddy Estella is twenty-eight years old, and the best friend of my ex’s big brother, Enzo. He’s also Paige’s stepbrother. And she’s in love with Enzo. She denies it, but she can’t fool me anymore than she can fool herself.
Freddy has been dating Della since she was nineteen. My father couldn’t have been happier, Freddy is like a son to him. Hell, he’s like a big brother to all of us. Secretly, he’s my hero, the reason I’m alive right now. One day, he’ll let me thank him for what he did, but right now, he waves me away each time I try. I think it makes him a little emotional.
I know what he did solidified his place within my family. My parents love him, my sisters, brothers. Christ, the whole town loves him.
My eldest brother, Kory, is thirty, he’s not married, says he doesn’t have time for that. That’s man code for, ‘I’m a man-whore’
Greg is twenty-eight and has recently married.
Me, on the other hand? I’m still single. I was in a relationship for a while before what happened. I wasn’t in love with the guy, we’d only been together two months. And if I’m honest, it wasn’t serious, but I thought he cared about me.
After what happened, and he realized I wasn’t what he perceived as perfect any longer, John walked away from me before I’d even been in the hospital for a couple hours. He didn’t want to be stuck with a woman who woke up each night screaming, a woman scarred by what happened to her. Not that any of that was my fault.
My brothers were more than just angry. Kory wanted to kill John. What would have been the point? He didn’t want me because of what happened. So what? It was no big deal, I was just glad to see him go. I told everyone that I was fine with it, that we weren’t meant to be.
Everyone knew he’d left because he saw me differently. It may not have bothered me that he left, but it ruined my faith in relationships with men. If he couldn’t bear to be with me because of the way I looked, how on this earth could I expect any other man to want me?
I’d rather be alone. Being alone means you don’t have to see the disappointment in their eyes when they look at your body. Not that any man has seen my body other than the doctors who fixed me up.
But it’s hard enough having visible scars on my face without anyone seeing the rest of them. Not that people see the scars on my face, like I said, I wear a prosthetic mask to cover that side of my face. I find it easier than having everyone stare at me with pitiful eyes. Which people used to do when I first came home before I got the mask.
The rumors and whispers were too much for me and I became a recluse until my plastic surgeon recommended the mask. He couldn’t fix my face because the scars were too new and too deep. He told me I would have to wait until they’d healed. Not long now and he can operate and hopefully fix the mess that resides on the left side of my face.
“Tommy and I are having a baby!” Lora yelps in excitement.
“Oh, Lor,” I grab her and hug her to me. I wondered why she refused a glass of wine. I also wonder if she’s been worried about telling me. No one should worry about telling me they’re going to become a mother. I think bringing new life into this world is wonderful. “I’m so happy for you.”
My beautiful sister is pulled around everyone and congratulated again and again. They deserve this. It’s all Lora has talked about since she and Tommy got together in school.
I guess in reality, having Tommy’s baby is all Lora has wanted since she was eight years old. It’s not like she didn’t tell us over and over how she’d one day be his wife and the mother of his children. We all laughed, of course, but we should have foreseen it. When Lora sets her mind to something she won’t stop until she gets it.
My friends are all becoming mothers. I know it won’t be long before Della falls pregnant. She’s spoken of nothing else since she was a little girl. A lot like Lora. My mother’s ideas of being a wife rubbed off on my sisters at a very early age. Get married, have children.
Simple, right?
Not at all!
Her ideas might have rubbed off on my sisters, but not so much my brothers and me. That might have something to do with the secret we hide. A family secret that we never speak about. It’s easier for Lora and Della, they don’t remember the way my brothers and I do.
My mother always told us that you find the right one, you get married, have children. But even with children, it doesn’t mean a woman has to stop working. A woman can do it all. I loved that about her. She made sure we knew we didn’t have to give up our independence once we were married. No matter what your other half said.
Looking back, though, I believe my mother was a little contradictory in some ways. But I don’t think about it much. What’s the point? It’s just who she was.
“You okay?” I nod at Emilee without looking at her. She followed me into the kitchen. I know what’s coming next, it’s the same thing every time we get together. I don’t think she’s as over what happened as she makes out. She shouldn’t be thinking about it in her condition. She’s literally got days to go before the birth. “Cal, I…”
“Em,” I place the wine glasses in the sink and turn towards her. “It’s been a year. You have to stop apologizing. What happened wasn’t your fault.”
“It was my fault. I wish I could…”
“Seriously,” I smile and cup her face in my hands. Emilee became my best friend from the moment I met her. Yes, she’s two years younger than I am, but when she arrived in town she needed a friend. I, provided that friendship, a job and a place to live. She’d left her husband and didn’t want to talk about it.
She confided in me eventually what had happened to her after she left Chase. I found it all to be so horrific, who would do such things to a pregnant woman? Not Chase, he’d never hurt her, but the man I saved her from not once, but twice.
“I know you keep telling me it’s okay, but I don’t understand how you don’t hate me” Tears form in her eyes. “You protected me, and you…”
“Stop it, Em. Please. I don’t hate you, I love you. You’re my best friend. If I had to do again what I did back then, then, believe me, I would. I don’t regret it. I never will. You need to forgive yourself. I want you to. Let it go and move on. You’re about to give birth.” I smile while placing my hand on her swollen stomach. “You have a wonderful husband, a beautiful little boy, and they both adore you, Emilee. And this little one will adore you just as much. Please don’t keep torturing yourself.”
“Oh,” The word came out as a sob. She pulls me into her tightly. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.” I wink.
Two
Callie
The girls and I sat in Emilee’s living room,
laughing, joking, making plans for Della’s wedding, and talking about Lora’s unborn baby. The girls then all sat talking about their men and how great they are.
Paige has just started a relationship with a guy who I went to school with, Kyle Harrison. She seems happy enough but there’s no spark in her eyes. She’s not in love with him. He doesn’t rock her world. I feel like she’s just settling. I’ve tried to talk to her about it, but she shrugs it off. I know it’s Enzo that she wants, but I know he sees her as nothing more than his best friend’s little sister. I look at Paige sometimes and I see the heartbreak in her eyes. What is it with the Ryker men and breaking girls’ hearts?
Assholes!
Looking at my friends I’m starting to feel like a spinster. I haven’t dated anyone since John left me because let’s face it, who in the hell is going to want me looking like this? It repulses me to look at myself, I won’t put myself through the hell of a man looking at me in disgust when he sees what I hide. I would rather be alone for the rest of my life than put myself through that.
“It’s time for me to go,” I say with a smile while getting to my feet. “I have a class first thing.”
I teach an art class Saturday mornings at the community center before work. I also attend Krav Maga classes Saturday evenings. I have to keep myself busy. Every day, I work, every evening, I attend classes of some kind or help out at the old folks home. I may hate the way I look, but I know I need to try and move on from what happened.
There’s hardly a moment in my waking hours that I’m not doing something. My Krav Maga classes are something my big brother encouraged me to do once I was well enough to learn. Which hasn’t been all that long. And if I’m honest, I have to sit out a lot because I get so tired so quickly. But learning the art of self-defense is something I should have done years ago.
Truth be told, I’m rarely seen in daylight. When at work, I’m out back, no one can see me there. My classes, apart from the art I teach, are of an evening, and those that attend only see me in my mask. But even with the mask, I’m so self-conscious that I often feel the panic rising.
“I’ll drop you home.”
“That’s okay, Lor. You don’t need to leave yet. It’s still early, you don’t have work tomorrow.”
