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“Hello?”
Reed’s voice comes over the line just as I’m about to click off my cell.
I slowly bring it back to my ear.
“Hi, Reed.”
“Callie?” he asks, and there’s no disguising the surprise in his voice.
“Yeah, I hope it’s okay that I’m calling you.”
“Of course, it’s just…I’m kind of surprised you remembered the number.”
“Remembered?” I question.
“Yeah? I gave you the number when I left Macon.”
“Oh.” I didn’t realize it was the same one. I forced myself to tear up the number he left me. I had to so that I could survive being without him.
“You didn’t remember it,” he says. It may be my imagination, but he sounds disappointed.
“I tore your number up a while back, Reed. The temptation to call you and beg you to come home was too strong.”
“Maybe if you had called our lives would have turned out differently, Callie,” he says, his voice gruff.
“You were living your dream. You were happy. You didn’t need me.”
“I’m glad you think so,” he says, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
“What do you mean? Aren’t you happy? Your biggest dream came true. You have the life you always wanted.”
“It’s funny how we remember the past differently.”
“I’m confused….” I feel as if I’m missing something truly important—something vital.
“It’s not important. So, how did you get my number?”
“Katie gave it to me a while back. She thought I might want to call you and congratulate you on hitting the top of the billboard charts.”
“Why would she think that?” he says after a bit, his voice sounding a little off.
“Because I squealed like a little girl when I found out,” I laugh. “I jumped up and down and almost fell over my coffee table because I was so happy for you.”
“You followed my career that closely?”
“Of course, I did. You deserve everything good in this world, Reed. You always have.”
He clears his throat. “Why did you call?”
“Oh,” I murmur. “It’s Katie. She left here in bad shape. She’s upset with me, so I was hoping—”
“Why is she upset with you?”
I sigh. How do I answer that? “She was fighting with Jeff…” I hedge.
“Then, why is she mad at you?”
“I think she believes I lean on Jeff too much.”
“You’ve been seeing Jeff?” he growls.
“No! That’s not what I said. I wouldn’t do that. Jeff is just…”
“He’s what? If you two are sleeping together, I’ll kill him—”
“You’re being ridiculous! I would never do that to Katie and neither would Jeff. This was a mistake. Forget I called. I’m starting to think the Reed I love doesn’t even exist anymore,” I snap, clicking my phone off the hook.
What is this, beat up on Callie day? At this point, I think it would be better if I just bow out of the wedding completely. First thing is first, I’ll call Jeff and have him find Katie—and tell him I have a migraine and won’t be able to make the rehearsal dinner. It’s not a lie. My head is splitting. The last thing I want to do is to see Reed again—and suddenly it has nothing to do with the way I feel about him.
CHAPTER 13
Reed
I’m not sure how long it has been since Callie hung up on me. A minute? Twenty minutes? An hour? I literally have no idea. I’m just staring at my phone, and one thing Callie said just keeps replaying in my brain over and over.
I’m starting to think the Reed I love doesn’t even exist anymore.
Love. The Reed I love…
What the fuck did that mean? Does she still love me?
I thrust my hand in my hair, irritated as hell. I fucked up by accusing her and Jeff of having a relationship—or at least I’m pretty sure I did. I need to find Katie and figure out what’s going on here. It used to be when she was upset, I’d find her drowning her sorrows with chocolate covered cherries ice cream. I never understood the appeal, but when Jake finally wrote to her and told her that he needed to live his dream, she went through gallons of the shit. Maybe reading his letter and seeing the pain it caused her is the reason I kept her secret. There are times I feel like a shit friend, but Jake’s letter left lasting repercussions. Ultimately, the blame of that lies on his shoulders—and no one else’s.
I decide to go to Dale’s, a dairy bar in town. There’s a chance Katie will be there—at least the Katie I know. I grab my keys, lock up and head out.
There’s not much about Macon that has changed over the years. If my life wasn’t so vastly different, it would be easy to pretend nothing has changed at all. The only problem is everything has changed. Some of the changes have been good—but none have really been of my own choice. Maybe Kingston is right, and I gave up too easy. I know that’s not what he said word for word, but it’s close enough.
