Eva’s head is resting on my chest, my fingers are running through her hair. I love running my fingers through her hair. It’s like silk. Feeling the strands on each of my fingertips is calming in an entrancing sort of way.
I give her temple a kiss. “Dare I say maybe we didn’t peak last night?”
She laughs and snuggles deeper into my chest.
“Babe?” I question. “Are you a little weirded out, doing what we did, here in your room? After what—”
She glances up at me and puts her finger on my lips. “Doing what we did, here, erased anything negative that’s ever happened in my bedroom, but the most important question here is, are you okay?”
“Oh yes. I’m fantastic actually.”
She laughs. “For real though, are you okay?”
“No,” I answer her. “No, I’m not. My mom lied to me. My dad tried to kidnap me. He’s following me, he broke into your house, and my mom, my mom might not be who I thought she was—”
Eva buries herself into the side of my neck. I’m ruining this beautiful moment.
“But there is one thing I’m absolutely sure of,” I then tell her.
“What’s that?” her voice comes out mumbled as her mouth moves against my shoulder.
“That it’s going to suck not sleeping next to you tonight.”
She laughs and sits up, pulling her blankets with her as she does. Her beautiful naked back is the only thing I can see. God, I can count her ribs as she twists a little to look at me. It kills me how skinny she’s gotten.
“Dinner?” she questions. “Are we going to make it to dinner? We’ve got about twenty minutes.”
“We probably should, huh?”
She nods her head and leans forward, grabbing a silk robe from the bench that sits at the foot of her bed. She drops the blankets and throws the robe over her naked body. I lie there, in awe of the confidence that still seeps from every pore on her body, even after everything that’s gone on these last three years.
She leans over me and gives me a kiss, grabbing my chin. “I’ll be right back,” she says, walking into her bathroom and sliding the door closed.
I take this moment to throw my shorts and shirt back on, and I’m sitting on the edge of her bed when she wanders out a few minutes later. She doesn’t say anything, just starts to get dressed. I watch her because there’s no way I cannot not watch her. She never once pauses as the robe drops to the floor and her body is once again naked until each article of clothing she puts on covers her back up. I blush as I stare at her. Like I shouldn’t be watching, but I can’t get my eyes to look away. She’s pulling a tight shirt down over her chest as she turns to me. Only then am I able to tear my eyes away from her body, embarrassed a little that she caught me watching her, though it definitely isn’t the first time.
She walks over and plants a tender kiss right on my lips, pulling gently at the hair on the top of my head at the same time. “No need for me to walk around acting like you haven’t seen everything already, right?”
Jesus, I about die. I reach my hand out to her. She smiles and takes it. “Have I told you lately how beautiful you are?”
She blushes. She doesn’t blush walking around naked after we’ve had sex in her bedroom, but she blushes with my words. “Maybe not today,” she grins. “But definitely yesterday.”
“You are so beautiful,” I tell her. “Every single part of your body is beautiful.”
“Thank you, Bodhi Bishop,” she smiles.
I kiss her, because I would spend every waking moment kissing Eva Calloway if I could, and then I ask, “To dinner?”
“Yes, please.”
We head out of her house and right to her dock, but she pauses before we step out of the trees. “Are you sure you’re up for dinner with everyone?”
“I am,” I tell her, which surprises even me. Normally after bad news, I drink myself into an oblivion and lose track of time for a few days.
“We can go back to my house and order pizza and lie around on the couch and watch stupid movies all night?”
“God, that sounds amazing,” I say. “Heaven, almost. But I think I owe it to the guys to not abandon them at Calvin’s though. They’ve been through a lot of shit with me. I’ve put them through a lot of shit …”
Her hand comes up to my face. “I’m glad they were always there to help you, but if you for one second feel like it’s too much tonight, we go back and snuggle, okay?”
“Snuggle?” I pull her in closer to me. “You’re making me second guess my decision here, babe.”
She puts her hands on my chest and smiles. “How about dinner tonight with our extended family,” she points over to Calvin’s. “And tomorrow, you and me, date night with pizza and a couch?”
“You had me at snuggle, Eva.”
Coop and Beck are pulling kayaks up as Eva and I walk into Calvin’s backyard.
“Yo, Bodhi!” Coop shouts out. “This Halifax life isn’t half bad. I think I became one with a pod of dolphins out there.”
“We might move into one of Calvin’s spare rooms, that cool with you?” Beck asks, dragging the kayak up to the grass. “If you’re not going to move in, Coop and I definitely will.”
“Or Miles said we could bunk with them,” Coop tells me. “Little dudes love us. We made a lasting impression. Eva, I think you gained two new brothers.”
Eva’s hand is still in mine as we walk over to them. “Guys,” she says. “I’m going to show how much of a girl I am right now, but we need a group hug.”
The guys bust out laughing but I say, “A group hug is exactly what we need.” Then I pull my best friends and my girlfriend into a massive hug pile.
“You two high again?” Coop laughs. “When are you going to start sharing?”
“Nah, I just love you guys, that’s all,” I tell them.
“And I love you guys too,” Eva says. “I missed you guys those three years. Almost as much as I missed Bodhi.”
“Heartstrings again, Eva,” Beck laughs, grabbing at his chest. “Hits us right here.”
“As much as I love this super emotional scrapbook worthy moment we’re having right now,” Coop says to us all, “you alright, Bodhi? Eva filled us in. Way to make this summer even more fucked up than it already was.”
“Trying to keep us all entertained,” I jokingly say.
“There’s been a bit of a discovery since our rendezvous on the patio,” Eva makes known. She then tells them about the boat from the picture, and how she thinks my mom and I got back to Flagler on it after my dad tried to kidnap me.
“So that picture,” Beck questions, “do you think one of them brought you back?”
“Eva’s dad? Owen Edwards? Mr. Channing?” I list. “Maybe?”
Eva starts laughing. “My dad, Mr. Channing, thinking that one of them possibly saved you from your father.”
“Dinner!” we hear Calvin shout from behind us. “Get it while it’s hot!”
We head over to the patio to see that Calvin has created a build your own taco bar right in the middle of the table.
“Bodhi!” Rowan cries out as soon as he sees us. “Sit by me!”
“Sure thing,” I say, pulling out a chair next to him. I pull out one on the other side of me for Eva. “After you, babe,” I say to her. She smiles and takes a seat, just as Mrs. Calloway exits Calvin’s house carrying a tray of taco shells and tortillas.
She smiles at the two of us and sincerely says, “Glad you guys made it.”
“Well, let’s eat!” Calvin declares.
I’ve got to admit, growing up just my mom and I, dinners weren’t anything special. She’d make a point of us sitting at the table a few times each week, eating whatever carryout she brought home. Sometimes Coop and Beck would join us, sometimes Eva joined us when she was around for those two years, but mostly it was just the two of us.
Tonight, there’s eight of us at this table. The noise level is off the charts loud, food is everywhere, Rowan and Miles each spill their l
emonade at different times. Calvin and Mrs. Calloway crack jokes like a father and daughter, and Coop and Beck fit right in. To make the evening even more perfect, Eva sporadically puts her hand in mine, rubbing my fingers as if silently asking me if I’m doing okay.
I love every second. Extended family is the exact term I would use for everyone sitting around this table.
After we’re all done eating, Rowan and Miles abandon us when Calvin brings out some Nerf guns for them to play with. Eva rests her head on my shoulder and I put my arm around her back. We both know we aren’t leaving this table until we get some answers, until Calvin and Mrs. Calloway talk.
“Bodhi,” Calvin says my name. “I think we need to talk about your dad.”
“Yes,” I reply. “I think we do. It’s definitely time for that.”
“Should we leave?” Beck questions, pointing to Rowan and Miles as if he and Coop are expected to run around shooting Nerf guns with two four-year-old kids.
“No,” I say, giving him a confused look. “You both are staying.”
Calvin nods his head as if approving of what I just said. “Audrey tells me you think Luke is here?”
“He is here,” Eva confirms robotically.
“You sure?” Calvin questions her.
She moves her head off my shoulder and looks at Calvin out of the corner of her eyes. “Why doesn’t anyone believe me? He’s here. I saw him.”
“I believe you,” Calvin tells her. “I wish it wasn’t true, but I believe you.”
“Well, good,” Eva declares, her head goes back to my shoulder. “Why the hell is he here?”
Calvin shakes his head. “I’m not sure.”
“What happened between you and my dad?” I ask Calvin. I know he doesn’t like talking about him, but I need to know. There can’t be any more secrets about my dad, not when the answers are sitting right in front of me in the form of two grown adults.
Calvin takes a sip of his water. I almost don’t think he’s going to answer, but then his voice hesitantly responds. “Rose and I, we always loved Luke. We didn’t agree with his choices, but we loved him. In his late teens, he started hanging out with the wrong crowd of people. There were drugs and break-ins, and the police. No matter where we moved, he always found the wrong people to hang out with. He always found the drugs. It was like he couldn’t live without them. We tried everything.”
“My dad’s a drug addict?” I ask him cautiously.
“He is, Bodhi,” he nods. “Addicted and dealt, probably still dealing if I’m being honest.”
“Of course he is,” I mutter. “Why wouldn’t he be? Makes perfect sense to have a liar as a mother and a drug addict as a father.”
Eva turns her head so that her lips are right by my ear. “Just say the word, Bodhi,” she whispers. “We go back and snuggle all night.”
I take a deep breath and whisper back, “Baby, I’m okay, but can I still snuggle you all night?”
She’s smirking as she gives my thigh a little squeeze.
“So my dad,” I turn to Calvin. “Why did you guys stop talking?”
“Luke spent a few years in and out of rehab during high school,” Calvin explains. “And the last time, after he graduated, that’s when we lost track of him, or more so he stopped talking to us. We cut him off, we stopped giving him money. That was the only thing we could do to help him. He knew financially he couldn’t support his own addiction, but Rose and I could no longer watch him do this to himself. There was a huge fight that we don’t need to go into details about, and he ended up leaving and never contacting us from that day on. From what I’ve heard, he ended up in the Bahamas again.”
“Again?” I question.
Calvin nods. “Luke was born in the Bahamas, Bodhi. We left before he was even a toddler though. Ending up there as an adult, has nothing to do with the couple years he spent there when he was a baby. If he did indeed move there after he left Rose and I, it was pure coincidence.”
“That’s where he met my mom, in the Bahamas,” I say, not sure how much Calvin knows about what Mrs. Calloway told me earlier.
Mrs. Calloway nods her head. “Calvin knows this, Bodhi. He didn’t, but he does now. He knows everything I do.”
“I didn’t hear it all until this evening,” Calvin makes known, giving Mrs. Calloway a frustrated glance. “Nothing, until an hour ago, and I was disturbed by what Audrey said happened. I still am. Luke has always been troubled, but I never thought he’d do anything like that, threaten your mom …”
“Do you think he’s here to see you?” Eva asks Calvin.
Calvin shakes his head. “It sure as hell isn’t to see me. Luke made it clear years and years ago that he never wanted to see me again. As soon as we stopped funding his drug addiction, he wanted nothing to do with us.”
“Well, it sure as hell isn’t to see me either,” I say. “He’s had plenty of chances these last few days. Plenty of chances to get out of that damn truck and do something.”
“For real,” Coop agrees with me. “We were there the first time,” he points to himself and Beck. “Was creepy as hell.”
“You kids have to promise us something,” Calvin says. “Promise us you’ll lay low for a little while. You won’t go looking for him. You’ll go about your regular normal teenage lives and let one of us know if you see him again?”
We all nod.
“Are you scared of my dad?” I ask Calvin. “Was he that bad, all those years ago?”
His dark brown eyes, my dark brown eyes, stare right back at me. “Drugs will turn even the sanest person into a monster. I’m not scared of him, Bodhi, but I’m scared of his reason for being here, especially if that has anything to do with you. We need to figure out what that is. I want to be the one to find out that reason. Not you four. Let me find him.”
I nod my head. “Hey, Calvin?”
“Yes, son?”
“How do you know Owen Edwards?”
Calvin glances at Mrs. Calloway, we all see this.
“Please don’t lie to me,” I say in a whisper.
Calvin lets out a little sigh. “I grew up with Owen. We grew up here together as kids. We were close for many years. Owen got the hell out of Flagler after high school though. We all did. We needed too, all of us. We had all been through a lot. Owen’s father had died and everyone needed a change of scenery. Rose and I came back home after everything that happened with Luke, while Owen continued to just pop in every now and again.”
“Did he know about Luke?” I ask him.
“He did,” Calvin responds. “He only met him as a baby. Never as an adult though.”
“He did meet him as an adult,” Eva tells Calvin, then she turns to her mom. “Mom, how did Owen Edwards know Calvin was Bodhi’s grandpa? And why did he tell you?”
Mrs. Calloway folds her arms across her chest. “Eva, what do you mean he did meet him as an adult?”
“You answer my question, I’ll answer yours,” she replies to her mom.
Mrs. Calloway looks furious, but she continues. “I only knew Owen from the random times he’d come over here for dinner when he was in town, when we lived here. He’s met you a few times, Eva, as a little kid, but he’s done business with your dad and Mr. Channing as well. They know him a lot better. Before Owen left Flagler the last time—”
“Before he disappeared,” Eva interrupts her.
“Before he left,” Mrs. Calloway sighs. “He saw me out with Lenora one day in Ormond Beach, right before the accident. The two of them … they acted as if they didn’t know each other, but I have a feeling they did, though I’m not sure how. Lenora was very quiet after running into him, like she had seen a ghost almost—”
“Dad,” Eva says. “He knows Owen Edwards. You were keeping your friendship with Lenora a secret. Did you not worry at all that Owen would say something to Dad about seeing you that day?”
Mrs. Calloway shakes her head. “Not at first. If Lenora didn’t know him, and Owen didn’t know her, what was there to wo
rry about?”
“I’m sensing there’s a but coming up,” I announce.
Mrs. Calloway nods. “Owen showed up at our house a few days later, asking me if I remembered my old neighbors, Calvin and Rose Sullivan. He told me he believed they were the grandparents to Lenora’s son. A friend, he said an old friend told him it was important to figure this out.”
“And you believed him?” Eva questions her.
“No, I sat on it for a few days. I didn’t even know Calvin and Rose had a son. But Bodhi,” she looks at me. “You look so much like Calvin. I couldn’t deny that, so I called Rose. This was right before she passed away. First, I asked her if they were still friends with Owen Edwards.”
Calvin speaks up. “Rose and I went all throughout school with Owen. Like I said, we grew up together. Much like the three of you.” He points to me and the guys. “But we hadn’t seen him in years.”
“That’s what she told me,” Mrs. Calloway agrees. “I then told her that Owen thought they had a grandson here in Flagler, and that I knew their potential grandson’s mom very well.”
“What did Rose say to that?” I ask her.
Mrs. Calloway looks over to me. “She ordered a DNA test for herself, if I could get a sample from you.”
My eyes grow large. “Did you get one?” I ask her.
Mrs. Calloway’s face turns red. “Not one of my finest moments, Bodhi, but I stole your toothbrush.”
“I just want to say,” Calvin blurts out, “I had no idea this was going on. All I knew was that Rose decided it was time to head back home to Flagler. I knew nothing, until Audrey called me and told me, after Rose had passed away.”
“Did Rose know?” Eva asks. “The results? Did they come back in time?”
Mrs. Calloway nods her head. “Yes. The results came back a few days beforehand. That conversation was the last one I had with Rose.”
Coop raises his hand. “Can I ask a question?”
“Of course,” Calvin responds.
He sits up straighter in his chair. “If you both,” he points to Mrs. Calloway and Calvin, “were so close all these years, how did you,” he points to Mrs. Calloway, “not realize Bodhi’s dad was Calvin’s son? Did they never talk about Luke? Did Lenora never tell you the name of Bodhi’s dad?”
Confession Page 34