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Callie nodded. “Yeah.”
He glanced up at her, his brows drawn. “Something wrong?”
“I just got off the phone with Mrs. Harper. Blake will be here tomorrow at five.”
Noah shook his head. “His appointment is next week. I’ll be home with you tomorrow afternoon.”
Callie crossed her arms over her chest. “No. Tomorrow at five you and I will both be here. If you can’t leave me at home to take care of myself, I will come with you. He needs to be seen. Needs to know that there’s hope for him.”
Noah crossed the room and stood within inches of her, making her tilt her head to meet his eyes.
“Of course there’s hope,” Noah told her, cupping her cheek. “I plan to do everything I can for him. I can’t imagine how he must feel. He’s been away from school for so long, first because he needed to stay away in case of infection and now because he feels he would get made fun of. His feelings must be all over the place.”
Callie nodded. “I know they are,” she whispered.
Noah stroked her smooth, unmarred cheek and laid a gentle kiss on her lips. “You’re amazing, Callie.”
“Why?”
“To stay here, to come back tomorrow in order to help a young boy. You just amaze me over and over.”
Callie shook her head. “Noah, if I can help this one boy have something to cling to, something that will give him the inspiration to believe that he’s the same kid with or without the burns, then my staying here is totally worth it.”
“He’s the same kid, huh?” Noah asked with a slight grin. “Sound like something I told you before?”
Callie shook her head. “This is a kid, Noah. I’m not the same person now. Something changed in me, something I’m not sure I’ll ever get back.”
Her heart clenched when he pulled her against him, careful of her shoulder, and lightly touched his lips to hers.
“You’ll get it back,” he murmured against her mouth. “We’ll get it back.”
How could she not cling to his strength, his faith? How could she give up when Noah was giving all he had for her?
Callie knew that if a little boy had faith, and Noah had this grand amount of confidence, she should feel the same. Fate might have taken her off her path, but she was on a new path now, and the decisions she made would alter the next course she took.
* * *
Callie waited in Noah’s office while he had the consultation the following day with Blake. She didn’t want to see the young boy, didn’t want to be reminded that people had worse problems than her. She knew that. She even felt guilty for her self-induced pity parties. But she just couldn’t see Blake, though she was eager to hear Noah’s prognosis.
Thankfully, Marie was heading up the reception desk and Callie could hide back here. She didn’t want to be out front again for a while, though now that her stitches were out and the bandage off, she didn’t feel as much like Frankenstein, but she still had a sling and a long, red scar on her face.
Callie glanced at the clock and wondered what her parents were doing. She hadn’t told them about the accident. She still didn’t want to, but they were her parents and she’d always prided herself on her honesty.
She pulled her cell from her pocket and resigned herself to the fact she’d probably be having one of the most depressing phone conversations ever.
Her parents’ phone rang and she tightened her grip on her cell.
“Hello.”
“Mom?”
“Callie? Darling, it’s so good to hear from you.”
Her mother’s smile sounded in her tone and Callie could picture the woman standing by the stove cooking, as she often did.
“I didn’t expect to catch you home, Mom. Are you not working today?”
Erma Matthews sighed. “Well, they had to cut my hours back at the grocery, so I’m only doing single shifts now.”
