by Ciana Stone
“Or stripper?”
Jayce shrugged. “Wouldn’t matter if you had been. People do what they have to in order to survive.”
Callie was so relieved he was so gracious. “Thank you. I just didn’t want you to think—”
A sudden backfire from a truck ahead of them had her freezing. In her mind, it wasn’t a backfire at all. It was a gun and she was catapulted back in time. She couldn’t catch her breath. Couldn’t breathe.
Jayce looked over and saw her white as a sheet, gasping for breath, her eyes wide and terrified. He quickly pulled to the side of the road, parked and reached for her. “Callie, honey, what’s wrong?”
She didn’t respond. She just kept sucking in air in dry shallow gulps, her hands clawing at her throat. Jayce didn’t know what else to do so but grab her. “Callie! Look at me. Callie!”
At his touch, she screamed. A scream so filled with terror it raised goosebumps on his skin. Jayce pulled her into his arms and held her as she screamed, her body rigid and vibrating.
“Callie, it’s okay. You’re okay. I’m here. I’m here.”
All of a sudden, her body went limp. He drew back to look at her and saw tears streaming down her face. “Callie tell me what to do. Do you need to go to a hospital? What—”
“I’m—I’m sorry,” she managed before she fell into his arms, sobbing.
Jayce didn’t know what to do but hold her. It took a long time before she stopped crying. She pulled back and he dug a bandana from the glove compartment for her. Callie mopped her face and sagged against the seat.
“What happened? Callie, are you okay?”
“I’m…” She looked up at him, then down at the bandana she was twisting with both hands. “I’m sorry, I guess six months of therapy didn’t do as much good as I thought.”
“Therapy for what?”
“PTSD.”
“Did you serve in the military?”
“No. I wish it was that. When Lily was three months old, my mother died. Was killed.” She looked back up at him. “I moved back home with my mother when I was eight months pregnant. I’d almost lost the baby two weeks before. My – Lily’s father beat me up and I was in the hospital for four days. When they released me, I got my things and went back home.”
Jayce felt rage surface. Any man that would hit a pregnant woman deserved to have the shit beat out of him.
“Lily was just three months old when Deke found me. The first time he showed up, I wouldn’t let him in the house. He tried to talk me into going back to Nashville with him. I said no. He got mad but I ran inside and yelled that I’d call the police if he didn’t leave. He did and I thought that was the end of it. Then a week later, in the middle of the night, I heard my mother screaming. I got up and ran into her room and there he was. With a gun. He said for me to get the brat and my things. I said no. He said if I didn’t, he’d kill my mother. I didn’t believe him. I should have.”
Jayce waited for her to finish but she started crying again and he got the message. He pulled her into his arms. “I’m so sorry, baby. I’m so sorry.”
When her tears ceased, he released her. She didn’t speak for several minutes, didn’t even look at him. When she did look up, he saw the misery and loss in her eyes and it broke his head.
“I guess that sound…it just took me back. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean—”
“Don’t you apologize. Don’t. Callie, look at me. Please.”
He waited until she did before continuing. “What happened to you – that was horrible and it’s not something that’s easy to recover from. I think it’s remarkable that you are able to be such a good mother to Lily and such a fine woman. You’re obviously very strong and I admire that, but don’t ever apologize for having a moment when you just need someone to lean on. It’s okay. We all need that from time to time, and if you need it, I’m here.”
“Why?”
“Because…” Jayce didn’t know the rest of the words. He liked her but he couldn’t lie and tell her it was anything more. “Because we’re friends.”
Callie nodded and looked down. “Would you mind terribly taking me back to my car?”
“No, of course not.”
The return drive passed in silence. When he parked his truck, he looked over at her. “Are you going to be okay?”
“Yes. I will. Thank you.”
She hurried to get out and didn’t look back as she made for her car. Jayce watched her get in and drive away. There was a lot more to Callie Williams than he’d realized, and some of it was downright tragic.
*****
Callie smiled at Hannah as they got out of Hannah’s car. Hannah had invited her to lunch at the diner in town and she’d enjoyed it. She’d been feeling down for the last four days, ever since Cody told her what the town gossips were saying about her. And since her breakdown in Jayce’s truck. Her first reaction had been to think she needed to pack Lily and their things into the car and leave.
But that was a kneejerk reaction and she’d talked herself off that perilous perch by reminding herself that no one in Cotton Creek knew anything about her except Jayce, and he only knew that her mother had been killed. The gossips could, as Cody said, make up as many stories as they wanted but that didn’t make it the truth.
That had helped Callie make up her mind to ignore the gossip. No one had treated her any differently Wednesday night at the bar, and now it was Friday and the sky had not fallen, so she would just let it go.
Or at least try to. Jayce hadn’t come into the bar on Wednesday and she wondered if he thought she was a basket case that he should stay far away from.
Tonight was her night to work and maybe he would stop in. Or not. That might be something that she’d effectively stopped before it even got started. She couldn’t blame him. Even now, she had a hard time believing she’d reacted that way. She thought she’d gotten beyond the sudden panic. And it hurt to think she’d lost all hope of at least having him for a friend. Jayce was the kind of man she wished she’d met years ago. He was the kind of man a woman wanted to lasso and hang on to – build a life and a family with. Sexy as homemade sin, outgoing, good-natured, kind and hardworking, Jayce embodied everything she wanted in a man.
While she couldn’t have him, she could dream and at least bask in the mega wattage of his smile when he came into the bar or when she ran into him in town.
“Thanks again for lunch, Hannah.”
“It was my pleasure. I enjoyed it. Maybe one evening when we’re both off, we could take Lily out for dinner. The steak house is pretty good.”
“I’d like that and Lily would love it.”
“Then we’ll definitely have to do it.”
“Sounds great.”
The sound of voices raised in what sounded like anger had her suddenly stopping. Hannah stopped as well. “Do you hear that?” Callie asked.
Hannah nodded. “Yeah, afraid I do.”
Hannah had heard those voices her entire life but rarely had she heard them all raised in anger the way they were now. “I think that’s my family.”
“Oh, well…” Callie looked around then at Hannah. “How about letting me use your keys and I’ll go around to the back? I’ll close the office door and put my earbuds in or something. I don’t want to intrude.”
“Thanks.” Hannah handed her the keys and Callie headed around the side of the building.
Hannah walked inside to see Cody standing behind the bar, her hands on her hips and their parents standing in front of the bar. They were all talking at the same time and no one listening.
“What in the world is going on?”
Everyone stopped yelling and looked at her. “The Red Hats strike again.” Cody’s bark wasn’t loud but carried the threat of a bite with it.
“What have they done now?”
“Well, let’s see.” Cody held up her left hand and started counting off fingers with her right. “One. Apparently I’m a slut, because I was carrying on with Wes and then started carrying on w
ith Cooper Quinlan. Two…You apparently have the eye for Cooper, so you and I are fighting over who gets him and three…” Another finger was raised and tapped. “The way we’re fighting over that city slicker has our family all in an uproar and Mama and Daddy are so ashamed they can’t show their faces in town.” She looked over at her parents. “Did I miss anything?”
“Cody Ann, we don’t need that tone from you.” Stella’s voice carried a seldom heard ring of steel to it.
“Mama, I don’t mean any disrespect, but you and Daddy come in here all up in my face about me and Hannah fighting over some man without so much as asking if there’s a smidgen of truth in any of the crap those ladies said.”
Stella sniffed and looked at Hannah. “And do you have anything to say, Hannah Jean?”
Hannah knew when her mother started calling them by their full names, she was in a snit. “Mama, first of all, you know Cody wasn’t carrying on with Wes. You know that. And she’s never even spent time alone with Cooper, so unless they were doing the dirty deed behind the bar, there’s no way she can be accused of carrying on with him, either.”
“Thank you,” Cody interjected.
“Thank you,” Hannah acknowledged her sister then turned her attention again to her parents. “And finally, you know you raised us better than that, Mama. Cody and I would never fight over a man. Heck fire, our whole lives we’d never even date a boy if both of us liked him. And since we’ve been that way our whole lives, so what makes you think we’d suddenly change?”
“She’s got a point, Stella Mae,” Billy said quietly.
“Amen,” Cody added.
Stella cut Cody a sharp look, then heaved a sigh. “Pour me a shot, Cody Ann.”
“A shot?”
“That’s what I said.”
“Well, sure Mama. What do you want a shot of?”
“Jim Beam will do nicely, thank you.”
Cody looked over at her father. “One for you, Daddy?”
“No, I’m fine.”
Cody poured her mother a shot as Stella took a seat at the bar. Hannah walked behind the bar to stand beside Cody. “Mama, why are you letting those ladies get you all upset?”
“I don’t know.” Stella tossed back the shot and blew out a breath. “I didn’t at first. But after the tenth person in town asked me if it was true, I guess I hit my fill.”
“Them dang women don’t know how to keep their traps shut,” Billy said as he climbed onto a stool next to Stella. “But girls, despite the way they can embellish, there’s normally a kernel of truth in there somewhere. Now, the way we hear it, Hannah was spotted in town this the other morning with Cooper Quinlan. Any truth to that?”
Hannah and Cody looked at one another and Cody raised her eyebrows. Hannah scowled and turned to their parents. “I ran into him when I was leaving the bakery. I was looking in the window of the new boutique and he came up and said hello. We chatted for a few minutes and that was it.”
“Well, that’d be enough for the Red Hats,” Billy said.
“That’s the gospel,” Cody said, then added, “Mama, if I’d have thought for one minute you’d be upset, I would’ve called and told you when Nancy from the beauty parlor stopped by and said something about it.”
“You mean you knew they were gossiping about you?”
“Yeah, but so what? Mama, every person in Cotton Creek with half a brain knows those women make up ninety percent of what they say. People don’t take that stuff to heart. And even if they did, I know that Hannah and I haven’t done anything to be ashamed of. Like Hannah said, you raised us better than that.”
“Yes, we did,” Billy agreed, but at a look from Stella, added, “Still, it does give us some concern to see either of you girls starting up something with Cooper Quinlan.”
“Why?” Hannah asked.
“Because he’s an outsider,” Stella answered.
“An outsider?”
“Yes, honey. He’s not from here and not likely to stay. Once he and Wes get this oil thing off the ground, he’s likely to head back to the Dakotas and none of us will ever see him again.”
“I doubt that will happen,” Cody said.
“And just what makes you say that?”
“Because he’s got nothing to go back there for. I told you and Daddy about him and Liz and about what their father did. When Cooper signed on with Wes to do this deal, he cut his ties with his father. Heck, he couldn’t go back if he wanted to. His father disowned him and Liz. Liz told me last week. She and Cooper each received a copy of their father’s new will. They’re not even in it.”
“That’s horrible.” Hannah had not heard that. “How could anyone treat their children that way?”
“Exactly.” Cody looked over at her. “You and I can’t understand it because it’s not the way we were raised. But Cooper and Liz didn’t have a dad they could count on through thick and thin and now, for all practical purposes, they don’t have a dad at all.”
“I know what you’re doing, Cody Ann,” Stella said. “You’re trying to play on my sympathy.”
“No, she’s not.” Hannah defended her sister. “She’s simply telling you the truth. And anyway, what if he doesn’t plan on staying here forever? What difference does it make? He’s a nice man.”
“So, you are interested in him.” Stella pinned Hannah with a look that spelled she was going to have the truth.
“I didn’t say I was—”
Hannah didn’t get to finish the lie before Cody stepped in. “Okay, it’s time for a come to Jesus moment.”
“I beg your pardon?” Stella wore an incredulous expression.
“You heard me. Mama, you know Hannah and I love you and Daddy more than anything. You’ve been the best parents anyone could ever wish for and we appreciate every single thing you’ve done for us. But we’re not kids. I’m almost thirty and Hannah is nearly twenty-eight. We’re not children. We’re grown women and we can decide who we want to spend time with. It’s not something that’s up for debate or a family choice. So, if Hannah is interested in Cooper, that’s her business and our business as her family is to hope that she enjoys his company and that he’s nice to her.”
Hannah heard the conviction in Cody’s voice when Cody looked at her. “Because God knows, if he’s not, he’s going to have hell to pay.”
Tears threatened but Hannah blinked them back and faced her mother. “She’s right, Mama. We’re not kids anymore. We’re grown women and you’ve got to start treating us that way.”
Stella looked from Hannah to Cody and then at Billy. “Well, what do you have to say?”
Billy cleared his throat, looked around at everyone, then took Stella’s hand. “I say we’ve raised two fine women and it’s time we trusted them to run their own lives.”
Stella nodded. “I’m not trying to run your lives, girls. I swear I’m not. I just—”
“I know,” Cody interrupted. “I didn’t get all my temper from Daddy. I know you get mad when someone says something like those women did and you want to protect us. But there’s nothing to protect us from, Mama.”
“Right,” Hannah agreed. “And it’s like you always said, if you have nothing to be ashamed of or guilty for, then you don’t have to pay any attention to that stuff because it’s not true and it doesn’t matter.”
“Besides,” Cody added. “We all know that they only make up that stuff because they don’t have anything else to occupy themselves with.”
“Ain’t that the truth?” Billy commented.
“It is indeed,” Stella agreed and slapped the bar with one hand. “Okay, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to come down on you that way, and I apologize. I’m not going to lie and say it doesn’t concern me that you’re interested in Cooper Quinlan, Hannah, but it is your choice to make.”
“Thank you, Mama.”
“And shots all around.” Cody grabbed three more glasses and put them on the bar.
“Oh, I can’t do another,” Stella protested.
“Su
re, you can.” Cody poured the shots and then raised her glass “To our family. A bunch of people who might be a tad high-strung, quick-tempered and at times downright ornery, but people who are honest, honorable, always love each other and are always there for one another. I love you all.”
“Amen to that.” Billy raised his glass.
“Amen.” Stella raised hers.
Hannah smiled and raised her glass. She cut a look at Cody and saw the smile on her sister’s face.
What Cody said was true. Her family was always there for one another, and she counted herself lucky for that.
Chapter Six
Callie stared at herself in the mirror for a full minute. What was she doing? When Cody and Hannah had first suggested having karaoke night, she’d thought it sounded great. Get people in the bar on stage, participating in the entertainment and having fun.
Cody, being the one to always mix things up, had refined the idea. They’d make it a contest. People had signed up and there would be a winner at the end of the night with a hundred-dollar cash prize. The catch was that no one knew what they would sing. The songs would be picked from a hat, so to speak. Hannah had liked the idea as well, so for three weeks they had promoted it, posting flyers all over town and talking it up at the bar.
What Callie hadn’t counted on was being signed up to participate, but Cody said more people would take part once they saw others do it. Callie didn’t have a problem with taking part – in fact she’d always liked karaoke and did a pretty fair imitation of a lot of female country western singers. She supposed Cody volunteered her to participate because she’d mentioned once that she had tried to make it in Nashville as a singer before Lily had been born.
So here she was, all signed up. Cody and Hannah were doing a duet, and then one of the cooks, Sammy Ray, would sing. Then it was Callie’s turn.
Callie wasn’t a shy person by nature. Since she’d performed in front of people before, she wouldn’t have normally given it a second thought. But she didn’t want to draw a lot of attention to herself. She didn’t know why she worried and told herself to stop.