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“You’ve never really had much of a romantic life,” Olivia said. She held up her hands. “Not that I’ve dated a bunch myself, but you’ve always avoided it.”
“If you remember what I told you about my childhood, you’ll understand why.” Callie winced. “I still have memories of the way my stepfather would slap my mother around. And after a while she allowed him to do it to us so he wouldn’t do it to her. Only those slaps turned to beatings…whippings. Child abuse. Charming, right?”
“She did the wrong thing. But from what you said she was an addict, right?” Olivia asked. “It’s not an excuse, but it sounds like your birth mom was really messed up.”
Callie thought back to all the times her mother had been so zoned out that she’d allowed their stepfather, Frank, to discipline them the way he saw fit. She had been passed out in the bedroom or so high she couldn’t see straight. Callie had resented her birth mother for so long, but deep down she knew that she still loved her mother on some level. Moreover, she loved the mother she had been prior to hooking up with Frank, who had been a devil.
“Yes, she was an addict. In the end she paid the ultimate price for being with someone like Frank. He was the scum of the earth,” she said fiercely. “What he did to us…Mac especially?” Callie shuddered. “I know as Christians we’re supposed to forgive, but I still struggle with that concept as far as he’s concerned.”
“He was a coward,” Olivia said, her eyes flashing with anger. “Abusing children, giving drugs to women to make them dependent…and then taking your mother’s life in a murder-suicide. He was a monster. But Callie…even though there are Franks in the world, there are also great men out there…look at both of your brothers. Luke and Mac are wonderful.”
“They are,” Callie agreed. “God really blessed me on that score.”
Both her brothers were amazing men. True. Loyal. Kind. Loving.
“Even knowing that, it still scares me to think of falling in love. It sounds lame but it’s true. Mac even gave me a speech about it at the airport. He thinks I’m hiding myself away from love.”
Olivia raised an eyebrow, then gently coughed. “Well, you are, sort of.”
Callie sputtered. “And what about you? You’ve dated here and there, but just like me, none of ‘em seem to stick.”
Olivia met her gaze. She titled her chin up as if she was preparing to defend herself. “It’s hard to fall in love with someone new when my heart is already taken.”
Callie’s utensil made a clanking sound as it landed on her plate. She let out a gasp. “Olivia! Not still? After all this time?”
Olivia let out a hollow laugh. “I’m nothing if not loyal.”
“But it’s been…how long? Almost ten years at least since you’ve seen him.”
Olivia ducked her head down. Her cheeks were turning a rose color. “It’s not something I can help. Hunter imprinted himself on my soul.”
“Is this a forever type of thing?” Callie asked. She had never been in love herself, so to hear that Olivia was still pining away for someone who had grown up with them and left town almost a decade ago was shocking.
Hunter Rawlings had been the bad boy of Savannah. He had grown up poor and a little bit defiant. Underneath his brusque façade he had been a sweetheart. Olivia had fallen in love with him as a teenager. When he had roared out of town on his motorcycle at the age of eighteen in order to make his way in the world, Olivia had been devastated. And those feelings hadn’t budged. Not one little bit.
Callie made a tutting sound. “Between the two of us we’re a pair of idiots. I can’t seem to make myself vulnerable to a man, while you’ve been pining away for one for a decade. Not sure which one of us is worse.”
“It’s not a contest,” Olivia teased. “At least you have a date tomorrow night with a very eligible and good looking bachelor. One who has the hots for you.”
Callie couldn’t help but laugh at Olivia’s turn of phrase. “That remains to be seen,” Callie quipped. “Just because he flirts with me doesn’t mean he feels anything romantic for me. As far as we know, this could just be a game for Jax. He does love the thrill of the chase.”
Olivia let out an indelicate snort. “Jax wouldn’t do that to you, Callie. Face it. He’s interested in you. And he has been for a while now from what I can tell.”
“No pressure,” she murmured. She wanted to go out with Jax tomorrow night and not worry about anything deeper than two friends going out for a casual night on the town. So what if she had been crushing on him a little bit lately? She wasn’t going to fret about it.
“And if you decide Jax really isn’t your style, you can let him down easy,” Olivia suggested. “That way there won’t be any hard feelings.”
Callie nodded, although her mind was whirling with the possibilities. Let him down easy? Ha! Olivia was assuming that Callie was going to be the one leading things. What she was really afraid of, the thing that she couldn’t put into words—not even to Olivia—was that she was terrified that she would fall for Jax. Really, truly lose herself under the weight of all his magnetism and charm.
As she began clearing up the remains of the Chinese food, Callie reminded herself of Mac’s words that he had shared with her at the airport. Remember to keep your heart open to the possibilities.
Mac had never steered her wrong before. Despite her jitters about the wisdom of having agreed to Jax’s invitation, it was exactly what she planned to do on her date with Jax. She would leave the door to her heart slightly swung open. That way, in the event that things went south between them, she could always slam it shut so she didn’t get hurt.
“At the end of the day, you have to show someone that you care about them. Even if it’s hard, go out on that limb. Shout it from the rooftops.”
Jax Holden
Chapter Five
