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Lauren made it sound so simple, and maybe if her emotions weren’t involved, it would be. Unfortunately, she couldn’t turn her emotions off.
“You might be right, but I’m not ready. I can’t explain it. Something tells me now isn’t the time. Besides, I can’t take time off now, you know that. Once school ends, I’ll reconsider.”
“If you say so.” Lauren frowned. “But I think you should give him a chance, Callie. Meet with him at least once. You could end up having a great relationship with your father and his family.”
Callie and Lauren finished their lunches and threw away their trash in silence. The students were due back from recess at any minute.
Standing, Lauren started toward the door, which connected their rooms, but then stopped and turned back around. “Callie, you’ve got a brother and a sister. Well, a half-brother and sister.”
The room around her seemed to tilt and spin, and Callie clutched the closest desk to steady herself, as she took a few deep breaths. Lauren was right. Warren Sherbrooke and his wife, Elizabeth, had a son and a daughter in their mid-to-late twenties. She should have realized sooner that she had half-siblings. Somehow though, her brain hadn’t made the connection. It was so focused on her mother’s lie and Warren himself that she hadn’t thought of the bigger picture. This new development only added to her emotional turmoil.
“I’ll talk to you later.” Lauren’s voice broke through the fog just as Callie’s students came barreling into the classroom. Sending her friend a little wave, she tried to focus on her afternoon lessons.
That night, Callie scrolled through the hits her Internet search found. When she’d sat down, Callie only intended to write a few email messages before losing herself in a book. Instead, she’d brought up her favorite search engine and typed in her father’s name. She’d done a very brief Internet search after learning the truth about her father, but this time she intended to do a more thorough job. In seconds, the Internet came up with well over one million hits.
Thank goodness for modern technology.
Like most of America, she already knew the basics about Warren Sherbrooke. While that meant she knew more about him than she did any other stranger, she still didn’t know a lot about him. While the Internet couldn’t give her all the answers, it could help fill in some of the gaps.
Dylan Talbot could tell me even more. Callie eyed his business card. At first, she’d considered throwing it away, but at the last minute, she’d changed her mind. Now the card sat on her end table near the house phone, which she never used.
“For now, this will have to do,” she said. She refused to call him. If she called him, it would look as if she wanted a meeting with her father, and she still had not made up her mind.
Moving the cursor over the first Internet link, she double clicked. Instantly, an official political website popped up.
Over the next hour, Callie scanned through the various sites. Many of them contained the same information, much of which she already knew. As she read the articles regarding Warren and the Sherbrooke family, the same question kept plaguing her. How had her parents ever met? They came from completely opposite backgrounds. Callie couldn’t imagine anything that would’ve brought them in contact with each other, let alone allowed them to be intimate.
He came from a wealthy, well-connected family. Ruth Taylor, on the other hand, had grown up in Rhode Island where her parents had owned a small deli and convenience store in Newport. Sometime before Callie’s birth, her mom had moved to Massachusetts. So how had it happened? She was dying to know. Unfortunately, the only person who could tell her the truth was her father.
***
The proper thing would’ve been to call, Dylan thought as he rapped his knuckles on Callie Taylor’s weathered apartment door three days later. He’d considered calling, but had decided against it, although he didn’t know why. Perhaps it was because he knew she might refuse to see him. How could he persuade her to change her mind if she wouldn’t see him? He was good, but not that good. Dylan knew how important this was to his stepfather, and even though he was against them meeting before the election, he didn’t want to disappoint Warren. It would be like disappointing his father.
Through the door, he heard her dog barking and then her voice scolding the mutt. Without asking who it was first, she pulled open the door.
Since their first meeting, he hadn’t thought much about Callie’s appearance. Rather, he’d been focused on how he could change her mind. Yet with her standing only a few feet away, he couldn’t ignore what a beautiful woman she was. Silently, he watched her lips form a smile, which didn’t quite reach her eyes.
“It’s nice to see you again.” Callie paused for a moment and Dylan wondered if she would invite him in or not. “Please come in,” she finally said as she took a step back.
Dylan could tell she wasn’t pleased to see him again. Although her words were polite and friendly, her body language gave away her true feelings. He doubted she realized just how much her rigid stance and crossed arms told him about her feelings regarding his visit. Dylan knew most people didn’t know how much their body language revealed, but he’d taken a sociology course as an undergrad that had spent more than a month on this very topic. It was amazing just how handy it was when dealing with business executives.
“I hope I’m not disturbing you.” Following her into the sweet, chocolaty smelling kitchen, he forced himself to keep his eyes locked on the back of her head and her long dark ponytail rather than the gentle sway of her hips. “I thought we might be able to arrange a time for your meeting with Warren.” He watched her sit down at the table, which was covered with trays of freshly baked chocolate brownies.
Her fake smile faltered for a moment. “I told you the other day, Mr. Talbot, I’m not ready for any kind of meeting. Even if I wanted to meet him now, I can’t take a lot of time off. It’s just not possible as a teacher. It’ll have to wait until at least June, when school ends for the summer.”
Take it slow and easy. Making her angry won’t help matters.
“We could arrange something for a weekend then.” He made the offer, fully suspecting she would still refuse.
Initially, he hadn’t expected her to be so resistant. In fact, he’d thought she would be excited about the prospect. After all, it was Warren Sherbrooke who wanted to meet her. Most people would be thrilled to learn he was their father. Callie Taylor, however, seemed to be just the opposite, and even though it made his job more difficult, he liked her more because of that fact.
Callie folded her arms across her chest and leaned back in her chair. “Mr. Talbot, flying somewhere for the weekend isn’t in my budget. I’m sorry if you don’t understand that.”
Her movement had his eyes moving instinctively to her breasts. During his first visit, she’d been wearing a loose, baggy t-shirt that had hidden her body well. However, today she wore a fitted purple tank top and a pair of well-worn jeans, both of which showed off her curves.
Keep focused, Talbot. Despite the mental command, his body didn’t want to cooperate.
Forcing his eyes back up to her face, he ignored her clipped tone and thought about how best to reply. While he didn’t know any teachers personally, he knew they weren’t paid a fortune. However, if the cost of travel was the only problem, that could be easily rectified.
