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He placed a hand over his heart. “Ouch. Did you have to bring up such a sensitive topic? My ten-year-old self was severely wounded by being thrown out of the Boy Scouts.”
Callie snickered. “Well you did smear honey all over Lyle Smith’s sleeping bag during that overnight in the woods.”
“It was a joke. And it wasn’t just me. Hunter, Luke and Case were all involved.”
Callie nodded. “It was really nice of you to take the rap.”
Jax shrugged. “Someone had to. Why not me?”
“It wasn’t very nice of them to stay in the Boy Scouts while you got kicked out.”
“That hurt. I have to admit it,” Jax acknowledged. He placed the meat and vegetables in the pan and stirred, enjoying the sizzling sound emanating from the pan. “But they were my friends. I had to forgive ‘em.”
“Why don’t I set the table?” Callie offered, reaching into the cabinet and pulling out two cornflower blue plates. She placed them on the kitchen table, then dug in the drawer for utensils and cups.
Within a few minutes Jax had finished his meal preparation. Callie handed him the plates and he served up the stir fry. Salad and bread were on the table. As they sat down and dug into the food, Callie let out a contented sigh.
“Hey! This is incredible. You really can cook!” Callie said as she dug in for another mouthful.
“I told you. I’m going to make a great husband for some lucky girl,” he boasted, shooting her a cocky smile.
“You haven’t changed a bit, Jax. You’ve always thought highly of yourself.”
“And why shouldn’t I?” he said. “For the most part I’m teasing, but I think it’s important to love yourself.”
“That’s true,” Callie said, taking a bite of the Italian bread. “If more people felt that way there would be less abuse and more kindness I think. So much animosity stems from people who don’t feel good about themselves wanting to hurt others.”
“Are you talking about your stepfather, the one who abused you and Mac?” Jax asked, half afraid to bring up the elephant in the room.
“He’s a perfect example. He hated himself. He hated his life. And all of that trickled down to Mac and me.” She shook her head, red strands of her hair swirling about her shoulders.
“I can’t tell you how much I admire your strength,” Jax said. His heart gave a little hitch at the idea of a pint-sized Callie being treated so brutally. He swallowed past the bile that rose up in his throat at the thought of someone hurting the woman he adored.
“Thank you. Mac was really the strong one,” Callie demurred.
“So you’ve said,” Jax said. “But you had to be strong to endure all the bad things and then to escape from that hell hole. And then when you were separated from Mac and brought to Savannah with your adoptive family…I can’t imagine how strong you had to be to endure all that.”
Callie let out a ragged sigh. “I guess you’re right, Jax. I don’t think of myself that way, but when I imagine my five year old self going through all that turmoil…there were so many losses. So much heartache. And confusion. When I first came to Savannah I barely had any idea of who I was anymore. Everything in my world felt as if it had turned upside down.”
Jax helped himself to more salad. “I have to tell you, when I think back to how you were as a little girl I never had a sense of you being skittish or afraid or wounded. You seemed like this perfect, happy-go-lucky girl.”
“That’s the image I projected. I stuffed my anxiety so far down that no one could see it. I didn’t do myself any favors. It only hurt me in the long run. By the time I was a teenager I was really hurting. I was questioning everything about my life…my birth family, Mac’s death, the abuse we suffered at Frank’s hands. It all came bubbling to the surface. I was a real mess.”
“How did you manage to come out the other side? To handle it?”
“I became active in a faith group at Hope Street Church.” Callie reached for her glass and took a long sip. “It’s true what they say about laying all your burdens down before the Lord. I did that. I reached out and God answered my call. I leaned on Him and suddenly my heart didn’t feel so heavy anymore. I wasn’t walking around with all this stuff weighing me down.” She laughed lightly. “Now that doesn’t mean all my hurts disappeared, but I knew that I wasn’t alone anymore. God was always with me. And I believe with all my heart that He brought Mac back to me.”
Jax put his fork down on his plate. He nodded, overwhelmed by Callie’s spiritual journey. It had moved him to hear her speak about having a stronger relationship with the Lord and how she had derived strength from Him. Lately Jax had been reaching out to God about the situation with his father. It was helping him work through his pain and shame.
“I believe that also,” Jax said. “God likes happy endings too.” He smiled at her, enjoying the way the light from the ceiling bounced off her hair and gave it an extra shimmer.
“I agree,” she said, placing her napkin on top of her plate. “I couldn’t eat a bite more. That meal was the best I’ve eaten in ages, including restaurant food.”
Jax felt a huge grin overtaking his face. He would cook for Callie any day, any hour, any time. “Thanks. My mom would be pleased by that rousing endorsement.”
Callie moved to stand up. “Let me clean the table since you cooked this delicious meal.”
Jax stood up. He reached out and lightly grasped Callie by the wrist. “Let’s leave the dishes for later. How about a walk on the beach?”
