by Liz Isaacson
“I saw the gate,” she said, making her voice strong. “It’s beautiful. The shining star, and my last name….” She lifted her eyes to his. “You said I’d get to keep the ranch, and you weren’t lying.”
“I haven’t lied to you,” he said.
“Some would say keeping secrets is a form of lying.”
“Surprises aren’t secrets,” he countered. He took a breath and pushed it out. “Whatever. I don’t want to argue over semantics.” He put both hands flat against the table. “I’m sorry. I wanted to give you a beautiful space to live in and a functional, operational ranch to come home to.”
“I know,” she said. “Miah—”
He sucked in a breath so sharply that she cut off. “Oh,” she said. “You’re mad I talked to Jeremiah.”
“Yes,” he said plainly. “You said I broke a rule, but then you turn around and do the same thing.”
“Is that why you left so early this morning?”
“No,” he said, wishing he had a pastry to hide behind. But there was just him and Callie at this table, and he should probably just say what needed to be said. “My shoulders hurt from the couch, and I thought you’d like some privacy to get ready for the day. So I went jogging.”
“And you ended up here, sipping sugary coffee.”
“Life is about balance,” he said, hoping she’d hear some playfulness in his voice, though he wasn’t sure it had come through. “And I asked Jeremiah for the pictures too. You didn’t have to call him and confide in him.”
“How do you know what I said?”
“I just do,” he said. “But I know you, and he said you were upset, and I needed to call you, and then he said he’d texted you a bunch of pictures.” Liam lifted his eyebrows. “Tell me I’m wrong. That you didn’t call him and ask him what to do.”
She didn’t say anything. In fact, she looked away from him, her shoulders sinking in such a way that told him he was exactly right.
The coffee he’d swallowed burned in his gut, and everything inside him told him to get up and run again. Run away from this woman who had an emotional attachment to his brother. Run until he couldn’t think anymore. Until everything hurt, because maybe then, the biggest pain wouldn’t be inside his heart.
“Let’s go to the beach,” he said.
“You still want to?”
No, he didn’t. He wanted to pack up and get an earlier flight home. “You love the beach,” he said. “And it’ll be a while before we can come back here. So let’s just go.”
Then she could go snorkeling, and he could take a surfing lesson and then a nap, and maybe he wouldn’t have to talk to her much for the rest of the day.
“I’m sorry too,” Callie said as they stood up. Liam tossed a couple of bills on the table for a tip and looked at her. “I guess I was worried your brothers would go through my stuff and throw away things that are important to me.”
“I told you I’d enlisted the help of your sisters.” He didn’t mind if Callie had an emotional relationship with them. He wanted her to call her sisters and ask them what to do. The fact that it was Jeremiah really bothered him though. Really, really bothered him.
“I know,” Callie said. She tentatively reached for his hand, and with her touch, Liam settled even more. “I should’ve trusted you—and them.”
Yes, she should have. And maybe Liam should’ve run a few plans by her before ripping everything out and starting over. “What pictures did Jeremiah send?”
“You want to see them?”
“I haven’t seen anything,” he said. “Does it look nice?”
“Very,” she said. “Which also makes me feel stupid, but I’m trying to accept the gift, like we agreed I would.” She handed him her phone. “He texted them.”
Liam took her phone, unsure if he wanted to see the texts between his brother and his wife. In the end, he tapped and scrolled, taking in the beauty of the new floors, the new carpet, the curtains her sisters were hanging. The cabins looked completely different, as did the ranch space, the fields, the yard. And yes, the gate was spectacular, that shining silver star gorgeous in the morning light.
“Wow,” he said. “Everything is beautiful.” He handed her the phone back without looking at any of the regular text messages. “Just as I hoped it would be.”
They walked back to the hotel and gathered their beach things. Liam had hated sleeping on the couch, Callie so close and yet so far out of his reach. She still felt removed from him, though she smiled as they went back down in the elevator and got their rental car from the valet. He navigated the busy downtown area, finally breaking free of it and heading over to the east side of the island, to a snorkeling spot with pristine water, not as many people, and a fish shack right on the sand.
He could get his coconut shrimp. Take his surfing lesson. Enjoy the day.
The flight home tomorrow would be brutal, and Jeremiah had already arranged a big returning-home party for the newlyweds that included a tour of the new digs. Now that he and Callie had seen the pictures, Liam didn’t see why he needed a tour.
But he wouldn’t argue with Jeremiah. His brother—all of them, actually—had done a lot for him over the past two weeks, and he couldn’t stay mad at him forever.
After all of that, Liam really had to get back to work on his CGI, as he had deadlines to meet if he wanted to keep the Marvel contract, which he did.
Callie spread her towel on the sand while Liam opened the low beach chair. He sighed as he sat down, and Callie glanced at him. “Are we okay?”
He reached over and took her hand in his, because he didn’t want to be mad at her anymore either. “Yeah,” he said, lifting her wrist to his lips. “We’re okay.”
And they were. Marriages took work, right? He couldn’t expect everything to be perfect all the time, especially when they returned to Three Rivers and had to go back to normal life.
All he could do was pray that he and Callie would be able to find a way through the rocky times, so he did that while she got out her snorkeling gear.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Callie felt like an old pro at flying by the time she landed in Amarillo. They’d flown to Los Angeles overnight, but Liam had once again purchased first-class tickets, and the seats laid all the way down like a bed. She’d slept a lot, actually, as she hadn’t slept much the night before.
Liam wrangled all of their baggage and got them out to his truck in the long-term parking lot. How he could do all of that, Callie wasn’t sure. She was dragging, and hard, glad when Liam swung through a drive-through for coffee.
He’d told her that their families had planned a big brunch event for their return to the ranch, and that they wanted to take them on a tour. Callie had smiled and agreed, though the last thing she wanted was to see all the things Liam had done without talking to her first.
Yes, her anger had faded until it was almost gone. Her lungs hardly stung at all anymore, and her worry about what had been kept and what had been thrown away had lessened. But until she saw for herself, anxiety continued to blip through her.
The drive to Three Rivers seemed to pass quickly and slowly at the same time. Liam didn’t have anything to say, and neither did Callie. He went through town and turned onto the highway leading south, and her heart really started to pound then.
Another turn onto the lane where Seven Sons welcomed everyone first, and then the Shining Star sat behind that. Even when Mason had owned the ranch, it had outclassed the Shining Star.
But as Liam turned to go down the driveway, a whole new world opened before Callie’s eyes. “The gate,” she said, because a picture didn’t do it justice. She felt like the ranch had gotten a much-needed breath of fresh air, and it was suddenly vibrant and alive in a way it hadn’t been in decades.
“Quinton Cooke did it,” Liam said. “He’s a master metalworker, and he engraved the name himself too.”
Callie knew Quinton Cooke, and she knew that star had been pricey. Her first instinct was to ask how muc
h it had cost, but she pushed against it. “It’s beautiful,” she said.
“You want me to take your picture by it?”
“Yes,” she said immediately, unclipping her seatbelt and sliding out of the truck. She didn’t care that she looked like she’d been flying all night, crammed into a tiny seat that wasn’t quite big enough for her.
Joy moved through her as she breathed in the Texas air, and she was so glad to be home. No wonder she didn’t travel much. She stood next to the gleaming star, running her fingers along the F in Foster.
“Look here,” Liam said, and she turned toward him to find a smile on that handsome face. She smiled too, and Liam took the picture. He looked at it as she approached, and she took his phone from him.
Surprise danced across his face as Callie tipped up and kissed him. “I’m sorry,” she said against his lips. Once, then twice. “I’m sorry,” she said a third time. “Will you forgive me?”
“Yes,” he breathed, taking her fully into his arms and kissing her again, this time with as much strength and passion as he did when he made love to her. “Will you forgive me?”
“I already have,” she said.
“Yeah, I don’t think that’s true.” He chuckled and glanced toward the house. “But I really think you’re going to love it, so maybe you’ll be able to forgive me faster because of that.”
Callie tucked herself against his chest, a spot she fit so well. She liked listening to his heartbeat, liked the easy way his chest rose and fell, liked the safety and comfort she’d always been able to find in his arms.
“We better get up to the house,” he said. “We’re already a bit late, and Jeremiah said he made French toast sticks for brunch.”
Callie smiled, because French toast sticks were so Jeremiah, and she hurried back to her side of the truck. Liam left the luggage and instead pointed to the front yard. “New bushes. New roses. Everything is trimmed and cut back the way it should be for good growth in the spring.”
“The trees,” she said, noticing that she wouldn’t be hitting her head on the low-hanging branches when she mowed the lawn.
“Trimmed,” he said. “The sprinkling system was fixed on the side, and we put in a bunch of trees in the backyard as sort of a wind-break between the ranch and the house.”
“It’s great,” she said. “Really nice. I can probably keep it up.”
Liam cleared his throat, and Callie almost rolled her eyes. “You paid for a landscaping service, didn’t you?”
“Just for a year,” he said. “We can re-evaluate after that.”
Callie nodded, her jaw tight. Having someone come mow her lawn when she was perfectly capable made her feel weak, though she knew that wasn’t Liam’s intention.
“Talk to me,” he said as they went up the steps.
Before she could say a word, the front door flew open and Evelyn yelled, “They’re here!” She bustled out onto the porch, and Callie swore her stomach had grown to twice its size in just the past two weeks. Evelyn laughed as she embraced Callie, and then Simone joined them, also all smiles.
Callie wanted to ask Simone why she’d thought she had to move out, but that was another conversation for another time. She just basked in being reunited with her sisters, and she looked at all the right things as Evelyn started pointing them out.
New vinyl floors that looked like wood. Waterproof. Isn’t that nice?
Yes, so nice.
Liam went into the office—his office now—with Tripp and Jeremiah, while Evelyn steered Callie toward the living room. New carpet. New couches. Huge TV. The cabinets in the kitchen had been stained a darker color, and Callie absolutely loved them against her lighter countertops. The appliances were all silver, and shiny, and new, and Evelyn filled a glass with ice and then water, right from the fridge.
Isn’t this great?
Yeah, so great.
The guest bathroom was completely redone, with a shower curtain in green and gray. “This should be in a magazine,” Callie said, awed as she ran her fingers along the brushed nickel faucet.
“Wait until you see the master,” Evelyn said. “I’ve always thought those three-day kitchen and bath people were a joke, but wow. They did a great job.”
Callie walked on wooden legs as she followed her sisters down the hall. “We kept all the pictures,” Evelyn said, indicating the wall. “And we reframed them and hung them here.”
Callie slowed so she could see her family pictures from decades past. “Wow,” she said. “These are so beautiful. And you added one of you and Rhett. I kept meaning to do that.”
“I know,” Evelyn said, opening a door. “Simone’s room is a guest room now. So is mine.” She bypassed them both, as if Callie didn’t really care that two brand new beds had been brought in, with more of that luxurious carpet on the floor, and curtains in muted tones that made the rooms feel like a much-needed escape.
“So let’s see the master.” Evelyn entered Callie’s room. She stepped onto the carpet, and sure enough, it was the best stuff Liam could buy in Three Rivers. She had a brand-new, king-sized bed, with a huge wooden headboard with a carved F in it.
Her breath stuck in her chest. That was custom furniture. How had he managed to get that made and delivered in such a short timeframe?
Money, she thought. He really could do anything with money.
The dresser and nightstands—his and hers—matched the bed frame and headboard, and Callie wanted to dive into the bed and go to sleep right now. The scent of syrup and cinnamon hung in the air though, and she knew a nap was a long ways off.
She turned to enter the bathroom, stunned at the scene before her. Everything was gray or white or glass, which was nothing like the old bathroom she’d had before.
“He did a tub and a standing shower,” Simone said as if Callie had suddenly gone blind. “And the master closet has new shelving.”
Callie just nodded at everything instead of walking through. “Wow,” she said, her voice scratching on the way out.
“And the upstairs bedrooms all got the same carpet,” Evelyn said, her voice starting to fall on Callie’s deaf ears. Blah, blah, blah. The house was simply stunning now, and Callie was supposed to be happy about it.
She was happy about it. She was just overwhelmed, and everything she looked at that was shiny, clean, and new reminded her of how run-down, old, and dirty the house had been previously. And how embarrassing was that?
She followed Evelyn and Simone into the kitchen, where all of the Walker brothers were standing in the kitchen or sitting at the table, Liam included. He came toward her, anxiety plain in his eyes. “So?” he asked. “What do you think?”
She wrapped her arms around him and let him hold her upright. “I think it’s great,” she said, and she did. She honestly did. “Thank you so much.” She touched her lips to his, and everyone started cheering.
Just get through the next hour, Callie told herself. Then she’d have time and space to process all the changes to her once-familiar safe-haven.
The next morning, Callie knocked on the cabin with the bright blue door. Her sister opened it a moment later, her face made of sunshine and smiles. “Heya, Cal.” Simone hugged her and stepped back. “C’mon in. You’re going to love these cabins.”
Callie hadn’t been able to finish the tour of the ranch yesterday. It had all simply been too much. Plus, she didn’t want to go around with Miah, as he was the main source of contention between her and Liam.
But she’d promised Callie she’d bring her some of the leftover marbled peanut butter and banana bread Jeremiah had made for brunch yesterday, and to see her new house.
“Oh, it’s wonderful,” Callie said, looking around. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been in one of these cowboy cabins, but they hadn’t looked like this. Natural light filled the area, and Simone had brought in a couple of her pieces that she’d restored. They gave the cabin a vintage-upscale feel and look that was so Simone.
The same flooring in the h
omestead ran through the space, and Simone had taken a rug from the house and put it in the living room. “It’s Grandma’s rug,” she said. “And Micah said he could build me some shelves for over here, but he had to go back to Temple first.”
“Mm,” Callie said. “Did you sew the curtains?”
“Yes.” Simone beamed up at them, and Callie wished she had a crafty eye the way her sister did. She really could make any space beautiful, and she set an old-fashioned kettle on the stovetop. “Are you upset I moved out?”
“No,” Callie said slowly. “I was a bit surprised. I didn’t realize you wanted your own place.”
“Well, when it was just me and you, I didn’t. But I don’t need to be in the homestead with you and Liam.” Simone cut her a look out of the corner of her eye. “You love him, right?”
Callie nodded, unable to vocalize that yes, she loved Liam.
“Then you deserve your own space,” Simone said.
“I can’t have kids,” Callie said. “I don’t need a house with six bedrooms in it. You should’ve taken it. Liam and I could’ve lived out here.”
“His computer station takes up a whole room,” Simone said with a smile, getting down a pair of teacups.
“Yeah, and this cabin has two bedrooms, right?”
“You belong in the homestead,” Simone said. “The ranch is yours.”
“Yeah.” And Callie was starting to wonder why she’d fought so hard to keep it. Who would she pass it on to?
“Do you like the changes?” Simone asked. Callie sighed, and her sister laughed. “Ah, I see you don’t.”
“I do,” Callie said. “It’s just a lot to take in all at once.”
“I can see that,” Simone said. “But I’m telling you, the Lord put those brothers next door to us for a reason.”
“Oh?” Callie’s eyebrows lifted. “So is there some truth to the rumor I heard?”
“Depends,” Simone said, turning her back on Callie. “What did you hear?”
“That you and a certain Walker brother were flirting shamelessly while I was gone.”