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“Does that mean you’re okay if he and I get together?”
He rolls his head toward me, a kind smile spreading over his face. “I love you, Jo. Not romantically, but as a friend. And I love the hell out of my brother. If you’ll make him happy, then yeah.” He pats my thigh. “I’m okay with it.”
“I never meant for this to happen,” I say, my voice sounding watery as I grip his hand. “You know that, right?” Dating brothers is a stress I don’t need or want, but staying away from Callahan is agony.
He shrugs. “The heart wants what the heart wants.”
“You’ll meet someone.” A man this kind and undeniably handsome won’t stay single in Windfall long. “But she’ll have to be pretty amazing to deserve you.”
He huffs out a sad laugh. “I need some time to process all of this, but you should get out of here and find Cal. Go make my brother happy.”
I nod, barely able to contain the swirl of excitement spinning through me. Today isnotgoing as I expected. “If he’s not at work with you, where would he go? Home?”
“Doubt it. Right now, he’s berating himself for hurting me, while also trying to forget you. There’s too much of you around his place to do that.”
My heart hitches. Cal must be wrecked right now. Barely holding it together, clueless to the fact that we finally have a chance to be everything we both want.
“I have to find him, Jake. I have to—”
A loud knock makes me jump.
Sandra is at the window, patiently waiting for us to roll it down.
Jake turns on his truck and complies.
“Callahan was seen driving toward his childhood home,” she says bluntly. “You can find him there.”
She spins and marches off.
Jake watches her warily. “How did she know we needed to find him?”
“Don’t question the ways of Sandra,” I say as I push the door open, my heart racing faster than I can move.
“Are you sure she’s right?” he calls. “Why would Cal go to our old house?”
“He’s not going to your house. I know where to find him.”
He’ll be at our tree house. His safe place when we were kids, because he’s likely falling apart at the seams. I need to get to him. Be there for him. Tell him he never has to hold back from kissing me again, and hope his guilt doesn’t keep him from letting me in.
chapterthirty-four
Callahan
Coming here was a bad idea. I’m parked on an old grass-covered farm road, the one that led to my family’s dilapidated barn, and I’ve been here for a while. I don’t remember the last time I’ve sat idly with nothing to do except think.
Only slivers of our house are visible from here, but I see my family playing football in the fields. My brothers and me ganging up on Desmond when wrestling in the yard. Adventuring with Jolene, chasing butterflies and pretending they were faeries.
I see the first day we drove to this place—our new home in a new town—and how I gripped my seat belt, shaky and nervous, terrified to start school. I see myself driving home in a rush the day we celebrated Des getting into Duke Law. I was so damn happy for him then. Proud of my smart, determined brother. I see Jake slinging his arm around me at our campfire, telling me I’m his favorite brother so I’d give him the last marshmallow to roast.
I see the last day we were driven away from here in a US Marshal van, E’s pained sobs echoing in the small space, Desmond growing eerily quiet. Lennon was unable to quit shaking. Jake’s jaw was so tight I was sure it would crack. Dad was already at the Safesite, leaving Mom alone with us, nearing hyperventilation herself.
Then there was me.
I barely moved on that fateful drive. Gravel crunched under the van’s tires as my family’s misery grew thick and stifling, my stomach twisting so forcefully I thought I’d puke, but all I did was stare ahead of me, helpless and in shock.
Tingling spreads below my jaw now and down my throat. Uncomfortable heat suffuses my face. I shove my door open and start moving. Running. Heading to the one place filled with only good memories. Jolene memories.
Please be there. Please don’t be broken like everything else.
