The house was dark when I got home save for a single light in the kitchen. I stood in the doorway, watching Aunt Kat sit hunched over at the table, papers spread out in front of her. She pressed the heels of her hands against both eyes and let out a troubled sigh.
“Dammit,” she muttered to herself.
“Everything okay?”
She jerked her head up sharply as if I'd shocked her. “Callie.”
As I moved further into the room, she quickly gathered up the papers in front of her, hiding them from view. “You're home late.” She was trying to distract me.
I walked to the fridge and pulled it open. Peering inside as the cold jolted me, I grabbed a bottle of water, but before the door could swing shut, I changed my mind and pulled out a beer instead. Kat raised an eyebrow as I unscrewed the cap and set the chilled bottle in front of her.
“You look like you could use it.”
She didn't argue, taking a long swig before looking at me again.
I sat across from her. “Now, what's wrong?”
“Not anything you should have to worry about.”
“Kat.”
“Callie.”
I leaned back in the chair, crossing my arms over my chest. If she wanted to be stubborn, so did I. “I have all night.”
“When did you get so grown up?” She laughed, brushing honeyed bangs out of her face.
“It's been quite the year.”
“Yes, it has.” Another sigh. “Maybe you do have a right to know.”
“Know what?” Colby appeared in the doorway.
“I might as well tell you both.” She gestured to an empty chair. “Sit down.”
“You're scaring me, Kat,” I said.
“When your mother died, she left everything to the two of you. I'm only the guardian. The will was written, so that control goes to you the day you graduate high school. That's coming quickly.” She slid a paper across the table, and I scooted closer to Colby so we could both read it. Numbers were arranged in columns with dates along the side.
“I don't understand what this says.” Irritation was starting to get the better of me.
Colby picked it up to examine it closer. After a long moment, he looked up at Kat. “That bad?”
She nodded. “The diner has lost money every summer since it was opened by your mother. That's nothing new, but it's always been rectified once the snowbirds come to town. Winter carries us the rest of the year. The last two winters have seen more loss than profit.”
She pulled out another sheet from the pile in front of her. I jumped out of my chair to go look over her shoulder. Colby stood and laid a hand on Kat's shoulder.
“These are the projections for the rest of the spring and summer. I'm not sure there's enough to keep the doors open.”
She slammed her fist down on the table.
I stared down at her, words failing me. The diner. Our diner. Mom's diner. It was home. And now it too would be gone.
A tear rolled down my cheek. “How did this happen?”
Kat's shoulders shook under Colby's grasp. He grabbed my hand, connecting the three of us.
“I'm so sorry kiddos,” Kat choked out. “I've failed you. I've failed my sister.”
“No one believes that, Kat,” Colby said, his steadiness keeping us from falling apart. “Look at me, both of you.” We did as he asked. “We're a team, right? We'll get through this.”
Kat placed a hand over his and I nodded slowly.
“There will be some decisions to make,” Kat said. “But first, I need to go make a phone call.”
She left us standing there, the foundation on which we'd stood less stable than it was before.
A desperate calm overtook me and I donned my pajamas. A feeling of being out of control, but an acceptance that there was nothing to be done.
The rhythm that came with brushing my teeth brought about a welcome feeling of normalcy. Every night I did it. There was nothing different about tonight. Only there was. Hours ago, I'd been with Jamie, only worried about the future. Now it was the past that came unbidden to my mind.
The diner held many memories. Working there provided the stability I'd sorely needed in my life. The connection to my mother when not even the ocean called.
Kat's raised voice drifted through her door. “No. I already told you. We aren't using it for this.”
I inched closer, pushing the feeling of intrusion from my mind. Aunt Kat had kept enough from us.
“You don't understand,” she said, her voice low. There was a long moment of silence when the person on the other end of the call must've been talking. “That money is theirs. It will go toward their future. I will not sink another dime of it into keeping a failing business afloat.”
She let out a curse and then everything went silent. I pushed open her door.
“Who were you talking to?” I demanded.
“Callie.” She sighed. “Leave this alone.”
“No. Colby and I have a right to know things that will affect our lives. Maybe if you'd told us about the problems with the diner sooner, we wouldn't have been blindsided.”
She jerked back as if I'd slapped her.
“When you grow up, Callie, you'll learn quickly that just because you demand something, doesn't mean it's what you'll get. Leave. This. Alone.”
I spun around and stormed out of her room, slamming the door behind me. Stomping into Colby's room, I threw myself onto his bed.
“I'm so sick of these secrets,” I growled.
He looked up from his desk, removing his glasses as he did.
“I don't get it,” he said. “If the diner hasn't been making any money, how has Kat been paying the bills?”
“That's what I mean. She was on the phone talking to someone about us, and I got the feeling someone has been sending money.”
“Who, though? Grandma and grandpa didn't leave them anything. There's no more family that we know of.”
I leaned forward conspiratorially. “That we know.”
He picked up on my meaning. “You think?”
“We need to find out.”
“Kat and Noah are going down to Tampa for a couple of days this week.” Colby wasn't usually one for breaking the rules.
“We can go through the stuff in the attic.”
“Monday.” He nodded.
Waiting that long was going to be torture.
32
Callie
I sat next to Jay on the beach wearing a sweatshirt and jeans, but wishing I was in my wetsuit. That'd get me out of this funk, clear my mind.
Colby, Jamie, Morgan, and Parker ran the length of the beach kicking a soccer ball between them. Jamie shouted something at Colby, laughing at the top of his lungs as he dribbled around him before passing to Morgan.
Jay bumped his shoulder into mine. “Can I ask you a question?”
I looked into his worried face and frowned. I couldn't take any more bad news.
“Sure.” I bumped his shoulder back, finally getting a smile.
“Is Jamie doing okay? I can't get him to talk to me.”
“You guys have never been very brotherly.”
“Cal, I just need to know that he's okay. He may not care one ounce for me, but I still worry about the knucklehead. He just can't see past my relationship with my father.”
“To be fair, your dad is an ass.” Looking toward Jamie, I knew I'd defend him to anyone, even my best friend.
He ignored my comment, but the corners of his lips pulled down. There were some things we didn't talk about. “Jamie doesn't seem like himself these days.”
My shoulders sagged under the weight of that statement, and I couldn't honestly refute it.
“He's changed,” I admitted. “The other Jamie is still there, he's just more, I guess.” I met Jay's eye. “He's kinder than he ever was before. He tells me what he's feeling. Before, when we were sneaking around, I was sure he'd be done with me quickly.”
“Not you, Cal,” Jay admitted. “Jamie has had
this thing for you since we were young. I thought it had gone away until the two of us started dating. Did I ever tell you he hit me?”
I choked out a laugh. “No.”
“He'd been drinking. Called me a bastard.” Jay looked away. “I told him I wasn't the bastard in the family. The only time I've ever thrown that in his face.”
I closed my eyes for a moment as Jay continued.
“At the time, I thought I was in love with you too.”
My eyes snapped open.
He smiled sadly. “I think the two of us just wanted to love each other.”
“Would have been easier.”
“Do you love my brother?” he asked.
I couldn't help the smile that came to my lips. “I do.”
“I wasn't okay with this initially, but I'm happy for you. Just please watch out for him. He's always been the kid who got by fine despite the lack of direction in his life. But the real world is coming, and he can't survive it being the little lost boy anymore.”
The ball came sailing toward us. I snatched it out of the air and glanced up to see a now shirtless Jamie running toward us.
“Aren't you cold?” I laughed.
“Nah.” He shrugged.
“You're nuts.”
“Aw, babe, I love it when you talk about my nuts.” He smirked.
I kicked sand at him and threw the ball as hard as I could toward my brother so he could dribble away from Jamie.
Jamie shrugged as he plunked down in the sand near me, wrapping his arm around my shoulders.
“Ew,” I shrieked. “You're all sweaty.”
“I want a kiss.” He rested his chin on my shoulder.
“What if I don't want to kiss you?”
“Oh, you do.”
He was right, of course. I tried for something quick, uncomfortably aware of Jay sitting on the other side of me, but Jamie wasn't having it. He took what I gave and demanded more, sliding his warm tongue into my mouth with a groan. His hands held my face in place until he finally let up. “I love you,” he breathed, releasing me and jumping to his feet.
“Are you coming, lover boy?” Morgan yelled.
With a final wink, Jamie ran after them.
“That is not my brother.” Jay laughed, shaking his head.
“Jay, you ask me to help him, but what if he's not the only one who's lost?” I turned toward him.
“Callie…” He didn't know what else to say.
“This year has been hard. I've done things I never would have dreamed. My life has been invaded by all these doubts and fears. The shooting changed how I see the world. It changed me. And now I don't know anything anymore. We graduate soon, and after that, I can't see my life.” I lifted my eyes to his. “Everyone at school is talking about college. Colby has a full scholarship. I haven't told anyone this, but I didn't even apply.”
“Seriously?” He looked stunned. “Why not?”
“I had a few colleges picked out, and then everything happened. After that, I realized I didn't want to do something just because it was expected. In that locker-room, all I could think was that I was going to die, and all I'd ever done was sat in a classroom. So, I watched the deadlines pass.”
“So, what do you want to do?”
“I don't know.” I leaned forward, wrapping my arms around my knees. “Get out of Gulf City I guess.”
“How does Jamie fit into that?” he asked.
“I don't know that either.”
He sat still for a while before pulling me into a side hug as we turned our attention to our friends, their carefree laughter standing as a strange backdrop to our thoughts of the future.
“Is she gone?” I asked as Colby peered out the front window.
“Just pulled away,” he confirmed.
I jumped up from the couch and followed my brother out into the garage. He pulled out a ladder and placed it under the door to the attic before climbing to the top and pushing up on the ceiling panel that was our access. He slid it out of the way as I positioned myself near the bottom.
His head and torso disappeared into the small attic.
“There isn't much up here.” His voice was muffled coming through the ceiling.
“Let's bring it all down,” I called.
He ducked out of the attic, box in hand, and stepped down a few rungs before handing it to me. This was repeated until we had stacks of about ten boxes. Neither of us had ever had much interest in what was up there, but now it seemed to be the only thing that mattered.
I hoisted a box into my arms, carrying it inside and dropping it in the middle of the living room floor with a loud thud. Colby followed suit as I headed out for another one.
Once it was all there, right in front of us, we both froze as the enormity of what we were doing crashed down around us.
“Our father could be in there,” he whispered reverently.
I looked at him, scanning his face until our eyes met. My brother had never before shown an interest in learning about our past. Our entire lives, I'd been the one asking questions, hounding Mom and Aunt Kat. Maybe he'd just been hiding it well, because now, in his eyes, all I saw was a desperation that matched my own.
He gave me a small smile and a nod. It was time. We moved as one toward the boxes, lowering ourselves to sit in front of them on the floor.
I lifted the lid off the first one as Colby got to work on another. Memories of my mom flooded out - knickknacks and other inconsequential things Kat hadn't been able to bring herself to get rid of. Family heirlooms I recognized. Mom used to show us these things with pride as she talked about her parents who were gone by the time we were four.
I moved on to the next box and then the next. More of the same. An hour passed, and we were no closer. I picked up a framed photo of my mom as a child and smiled for just an instant before slamming it down.
“There's nothing here.” I shoved the box away with my foot as the disappointment closed in around me.
Colby took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. “There's one more.” He gestured to the small final box, resignation dulling his movements.
The final box was full of pictures, nothing more. Colby scooted toward me, and we began to lay them on the floor in front of us.
Mom smiling - as always. Mom and Kat. Mom, Kat, and their parents. Kat and some man.
Mom sitting on her surfboard in the ocean next to a man I didn't recognize.
I turned to grab more pictures to sift through.
Wait.
Snatching the image off the ground, I held it closer.
“Do you have something?” Colby asked.
The beat of my heart pounded in my ears, drowning out all other sound. This was it. Him.
I turned the photo over to see mom's familiar messy scrawl.
E and A. Always.
“E and A,” I muttered. I knew who A was. Allison. Mom. “Who the hell is E?”
Colby took the picture from my shaking hands, his eyes lighting up when he read the back.
“This has to be him, doesn't it?”
I only nodded.
Faceless man from my dreams was faceless no more. The picture had to be at least nineteen years old because it was before mom was pregnant. I didn't recognize the beach they were near, so I focused on the man whose blood ran through my veins.
He had brown hair a few shades darker than mine and Colby's. Deep chocolate eyes stared toward the camera, a stubborn tilt to his chin. He wasn't smiling like the woman beside him. No, he seemed different. Strong arms rested on tanned thighs, the relaxation in his pose in stark contrast to the grim determination on his face.
“He looks like you do when you surf.” Colby eyed me curiously.
If that was true, I knew what he looked like moments after this picture - riding a wave instead of waiting for one. His muscles would strain and flex, doing what they were made to do, and his face would soften as his mind went blank.
We didn't know his name.
We didn't know where he lived.
We didn't know why he left.
There was only one thing we were sure of.
This man was our father.
33
Callie
We didn't find anything else that would give us clues as to who the man was.
Kat had proven time and time again that she wasn't going to share what she knew.
We were at a dead end.
Colby did better moving forward than I did. He started looking toward graduation, working harder than ever to keep his grades up and training non-stop to head into his first college soccer season in the best shape of his life. I had less to distract me.
Trying to cut costs, we scaled back open hours at the diner. Kat let one of the cooks go, forcing herself to spend a majority of her time in the kitchen while I ran the front.
The worst part about that was that it didn't seem to be helping our bottom line. We grew even slower as the snow birds made their great escape north after Easter.
I had my back to the door when the bell above it chimed, signaling a customer - our only one at the moment. I spun around.
“Hey Morgan,” I called.
She smiled at me and then called something behind her. Her mom appeared seconds later.
I took a step back, the smile falling from my face for an instant before a fake one replaced it. I hadn't seen this woman since my birthday party at her house. Certainly not since she lost her son. What was I going to say to her? Nothing. That's what I had. Absolutely nothing.
Morgan had been slow to recover, and even now there were times where I could tell the bubbly girl she'd once been was gone. But she was trying. And she had us to help her.
Her mom was a different story. Morgan told us of how she spent most of her time closed up in the house. She refused to talk about Troy.
Just seeing her brought it all back. We'd all done our best to forget. Okay, maybe forget was the wrong word. That would never happen, but we wanted to let go.
“Mrs. Cook.” I recovered quickly. “How are you?”
“Hi Callie,” she said softly. “We're just stopping in for a coffee.”
Invincible- The Complete Set Page 17