“Bobby Lindley,” he says.
“Oh I remember him. He was such a sweetie. How is he?” she asked.
George shakes his head almost imperceptibly. “He died in Afghanistan not too long after you left. His parents died shortly after. They are buried just outside of the city. He had no other family. I attended his funeral. Marina might need a name.”
She sips her beer and considers what he is suggesting. “A name and pictures. I went to a dance with him sophomore year. Poor Bobby. And a place to visit. Dad, this is the right thing to do, isn’t it?” She wants confirmation that more lying isn’t wrong.
“I don’t think I’m the one to be giving advice on the right thing or the wrong thing. I made terrible mistakes with you back then Victoria.” He looks older and unwell, carrying the weight of his regret.
“I’m not so sure of anything anymore, Dad. I was so sure about it all back then. The right and the wrong. The crime and the punishment. The abortion or the baby.” She whispers the last part just in case Marina is within earshot, but says it in such a matter of fact manner that her father flinches at her words.
“When I look at that girl now, it makes me sick that I was pushing you to…” he stalls as if searching for the words… “to terminate.” He keeps his eyes on their mountain. He can’t look at her and she understands.
“Dad, I am a completely pro-choice woman. One hundred percent. I just felt like it was all being swept under the rug. I wasn’t going to let a baby get swept away too. It happened and I could never pretend it didn’t.”
“I am sorry for that pretending,” George says.
“But Dad, that is my point exactly. Now that she is old enough to understand, all I want to do is pretend it never happened. I think it’s called being a parent. I think I can protect her from this.”
He looks at her like her understanding might finally give him some peace.
“Last night Callum told me that Marina had her suspicions about things. I didn’t really get it until then. Can we be okay again Dad?” She asks because she isn’t apologizing for anything.
He lays his hand over hers and nods, “We are Vic. We are okay.”
She laughs, “No one has called me Vic in a long time.” She feels a hope that this just might work. Maybe you can go home again.
“So Callum?” he asks.
“So Callum,” is her only reply.
They settle into George’s house over the next few days. Callum and Marina take on planning Christmas dinner. Victoria inquires about a nursing position at the hospital. She isn’t rushing to get back to work, but she needs to work for her state of mind, not to mention her checkbook. The rent on her house will cover the mortgage, but she isn’t one to sit back and wait for the worse to happen.
Victoria and Marina go to Asheville Middle School to register for the eighth grade. Since Christmas break is just a few days away, they agree she’ll start after the holidays. They spend their time decorating, bringing in a huge tree, shopping downtown and cooking. They all use the time to get acquainted. A few days before Christmas, Victoria decides to be a busybody and steals a number out of Callum’s phone.
When Victoria and Marina take a day alone to do some Christmas shopping, George takes Callum on a red trolley ride of Asheville. They ride the hills of the city’s downtown business district by the river and the train tracks through the art district, and the elegant old neighborhoods surrounding the stately old Grove Park Inn.
When they exit the trolley, George asks Callum. “Do you eat chocolate?”
“Yes sir, I do. As often as possible.”
They slowly walk a few block to French Broad Street Chocolate Lounge. The chocolate specialty shop showcases extraordinary flavors in a way that would bring the greatest Swiss chocolatiers to their knees. George orders chocolate mousse and Callum chooses chocolate crème brulee. They sit at a café table in the window to sip their coffee, awaiting their desserts.
“I’m resisting the urge to interrogate you about your intentions with my daughter, Callum,” George blows the steam off his espresso.
Callum likes George already. He can see Victoria’s stubbornness in him but also great warmth and kindness. He has been very understanding with Marina, spending time to get to know her, not just waiting for her to know him. Callum respects the difference.
“Interrogate away, George. You have the right as a father and as my host. Ask me anything.” Callum offers.
“I’m not asking about any hanky-panky. I don’t want to know anything.”
“Good. That would be awkward at best.” Callum smiles, mildly relieved and very amused.
“I’ll keep it simple. Where are you coming from and where are you going to?” A waitress sets chocolate laden plates in front of them. First bites go down in ecstatic silence.
“This is unbelievable. I like Asheville very much.” Callum declares and wipes a napkin across his mouth. “I have come from London. I was a chef in my own restaurant. I was a co-owner. That went bad due to my own poor choices and my even worse handling of those poor choices.”
“A woman?” George asks.
“Of course.” Callum admits, leaning back in his chair. George is a savvy old dog.
“Are you over that? My girl has eyes for you and if you are going to break her heart, you should move on sooner than later.”
Callum hasn’t really thought about Elizabeth since they left Utah. Elizabeth seems more of a distant memory.
“I am over that George. I have eyes for your girl too.”
George works on his mousse for a few minutes and lets a comfortable silence rest between them. “And?” He asks eventually.
“Oh yes, where am I heading to?”
George nods. “That is the question.”
“I don’t have an answer for that one. I am currently homeless. A man without a country.” Uttering these words feels strangely liberating.
“If you had to choose a life for yourself today, what would it be? Don’t over think it. Just answer.”
“I’d own a little shop just like this one. Right here in the city, but I’d figure out how to use it to help people. Maybe teach kids with dyslexia like mine or help people learn how to work in kitchens.” Callum is surprised by his own admission. Altruism has never been his biggest priority.
“Well, that isn’t the answer I was expecting from you Callum. Let’s finish up, then I want to show you something up the block.”
“Sounds intriguing. I’d like to do more to contribute to the house George. I don’t expect a free ride.”
“I sure as shit don’t want your money.” George says pretending to look offended.
“I didn’t mean to imply…”
“You didn’t. I’m just taking that off the table. You are my guest, Callum. Wait, let me see your hands.”
Callum shows big hands, dotted with cuts and scars from years of kitchen work.
“You’ve got good strong hands. Will you chop some wood for me? I lost two trees this fall and I’d like to have done it myself but things slowed down pretty quick. I can hire help but…”
“But nothing. I’d love to cut wood. How does one cut wood?”
George smiles. Callum needs to feel like he’s contributing. When they get back home, George goes to his room and emails to cancel the haulers coming to drag off those trees. George has enough firewood for the next two winters stacked along the back fence. He’ll find room to store some more.
Callum wakes to his mobile vibrating on the morning of Christmas Eve.
“Hello darling brother. Forgive my calling at this ungodly hour, but I didn’t want to miss you.” Just hearing her voice, he misses her. “How’s that damn leg?”
“On the mend. I can hobble with the best of them now. How are your sweet girls faring in Texas with all those cowboys?” he asks.
“Clara is picking up a bit of a twang already,” Anna jokes. “Are you alright there in Asheville? Should I pull the plug on Austin and come to you instead? I would, you know
. I don’t feel right about you being without family. Without your mother, especially,” she says.
“I’m fine, Anna. This has been a good break for me. I am very happy here with Victoria and Marina. Even George.” Callum tells Anna about Victoria’s father.
“He wants me to look into opening a shop that shut down here a few months back. The owners left the area and George is considering buying the property and equipment. He is suggesting we buy it, open it, turn it into something and sell at a nice profit. I am half game to do it.”
“Are you actually considering staying there Callum? Are you and Victoria getting serious?”
He doesn’t have the heart to tell her nothing more than a kiss, albeit a very good kiss, has passed between them.
“A conversation for another time? Can I get a Christmas reprieve from making life plans?”
“Of course you can.” At his request she tells him John’s family gossip. Those Texans are interesting. They vow to spend Easter together at Osprey Island and Callum will meet everyone then.
Callum gets up and dressed and mentally reviews his to-do list for the day. They are cooking for Mindy’s family and Rosalie. Rosalie has been working with George for the better part of thirty years. She has no family of her own and they appear more like family than employer and employee. Tomorrow’s Christmas dinner will be out at the mansion with just the four of them.
As Callum is laying out the rib roast to trim and tie, he hears a knock at the door. It is only nine o’clock in the morning. George, reading the paper at the kitchen table, doesn’t budge. Callum is covered in raw meat so he says, “George can you get that?”
“I’d rather you did,” George says without explanation, keeping his focus on the paper.
Callum washes his hands quickly and when he passes through the foyer, both Victoria and Marina are at the top of the stairs. “Why is no one interested in answering this door but me? What is wrong with you people today?”
He opens the door and there is his mother. His mother, who last threw him out of her house with words that he had destroyed his own life and humiliated her by exercising very low morals with her best friend’s son’s wife. They have not spoken since.
He opens the door wide and she stands looking at him for a long time. When he left her, he was full of arrogance and anger. His hair was short and his face clean shaven. He wore only the latest fashions and he was full of himself and his success. He acted untouchable, going so far as to do what he did with Elizabeth.
A different man stands before her now. The first thing she notices is his smile. She hasn’t seen a genuine smile on his face in years. Not ironic. Not sarcastic. He is genuinely happy. His beard is short but has filled in, and his hair is longer. He looks relaxed in jeans and a flannel, resting on crutches.
She does what any mother would do under the circumstances. She forgets all the reasons she is furious at him and pulls him into her arms, hugs him and fake cries. She does a little sniffle sniffle.
She catches him off guard in every way imaginable. The crutches fall to the ground and he hugs her while teetering on one leg. He manages a sniff of his own, but his has actual moisture.
“What on earth are you doing here? How did you find me?” His shock is apparent.
“I am supposed to give you this.” She hands him a folded note with a red ribbon.
Surprise! Merry Christmas. XOX Marina, Victoria & George. (Marina’s idea)
He looks over his shoulder and they are lined up in the hallway, all looking very proud.
“I am so sorry,” he tells his mother, choosing to leave the reasons for his sorrow vague. Details seem unnecessary.
“Not another word about it. For God’s sake we are English, even if we are in Asheville, North Carolina, United States of America.” She feels his beard because it is so foreign.
By now they have progressed to the doorway and introduce themselves to Caroline Townsend. Callum is stunned and silent. As Marina and George take Caroline inside to sit her down with a cup of tea, Callum sits on the front step. His crutches got away from him and he can’t stand another moment. Victoria sits beside him.
“How?” he asks.
“I stole your phone for her number and called her. You should really change your password. I guessed Mise on the first try. I told her about the accident and how you have been with us, helping us and it just worked. She was done being angry and ready for this. Is it okay with you? Or are you mad that I butted in? It was a little risky.” She smooths a single, out of place, strand of his hair as an excuse to touch him.
He takes her face in his hands and in the simplest way possible, grazes his lips over hers. He is not seducing her, he is letting her know he cares for her. She gets his meaning.
“I will never be able to thank you for this Victoria. Never.”
“You already have,” she says and rests her forehead on his for a moment before gathering his crutches and leading him inside so they can spend Christmas with their families.
The day is spent getting to know one another. England and western North Carolina have very little in common culturally, but George and Caroline both come from a long line of people who appreciate good manners and they make it work. Caroline is on her best behavior, but Callum knows she is used to getting what she wants.
Around the table on Christmas Eve, Callum marvels at the candlelit smiles he sees. These people have so much history, so much shared pain and an overwhelming amount of love. Callum hasn’t spent a Christmas like this since he was a boy and his father sat at the head of the table where George sits tonight. When his father died, all of this died with him. Callum remembers that last Christmas with his father and Jeremy’s family. In his memory, it looks like a British Norman Rockwell painting. The goose and ham, twinkling candles, the smell of pine, his father’s easy laughter and his mother’s smile. She had a real smile back then.
Six mothers later, his father was dead and Callum was getting tied up and left alone for hours, all for the pleasure of a fuck. Life can turn on a dime.
On Christmas morning Callum builds a big fire in the fireplace and sets a Christmas music Pandora station. Barbara Streisand’s voice fills the room. It is a little cheesy, but he loves it and sings along to Jingle Bells. He mulled cider overnight and warms it over a low heat before a gift is touched. Smells of cinnamon and orange fill the house.
“Callum, come on!” Marina pleads.
When everyone is seated with cider, Marina distributes gifts. Earrings purchased at the last minute go to his mother. Callum gives George a tablet and George pretends not to know what it is to cover his surprise at Callum’s generosity. Marina gets a smartphone.
“Callum you didn’t,” Victoria cries, watching Marina dance across the living room.
“I did. It is prepaid for two years. After that you have to get a job.” Marina throws her arms around Callum and Victoria wonders if they are getting too attached. She can’t imagine being here is anything more than a long layover for Callum.
When Callum hands Victoria a box, she can’t help the quick thought I wish it was smaller and a ring. It is completely unconscious and not even how she really feels. She’s just seen too many romantic holiday movies about getting engaged under beautiful trees like this one.
She opens a box to find two tickets to see Andrew Bird performing at The Orange Peel. She saw him play there years before. It is one of her best teenage memories. He is coming back next week. Under the tickets is a soft sweater wrapped in white tissue. She lifts it out of the box and it pours all the way to the floor. It is a luxurious, camel colored cashmere sweater. It is stunning and probably cost as much as that diamond ring.
“No Callum, this is too much,” she says, feeling it against her cheek.
“It is just enough Victoria.”
She shakes her head in protest.
“Be quiet and put it on.” He takes it from her hands and holds it up behind her. Her long hair spills across the back. It is the perfect color for her and she
pulls it close.
“Callum, I absolutely love it.” She kisses his cheek. This kiss does not go unnoticed by the eyes surrounding them.
Marina gives Callum a collection of books on tape so he can avoid reading to himself. George gives Callum an axe, gloves and a how-to video about chopping wood. They share a big laugh and Victoria has no idea why. When Callum opens Victoria’s gift, she holds her breath in, hoping he’ll love it. The package holds a set of professionally graded knives. He left his behind at Mise.
“Victoria, I can’t accept this,” he says, even as he runs his finger lovingly along the black leather case. “It is far too much.”
“You are a chef and you need real knives. Do you like this kind of a knife?” she asks.
“Not like, love. But they are too much,” he protests. They are very costly knives.
“They are just enough Callum, just enough,” she says.
He is stunned by her thoughtful and generous gesture, and won’t argue it with her further. “Thank you,” he says because there is nothing else to say.
Caroline hands Callum an envelope. “Something for you,” she says. He opens it to find a return airline ticket to England. He tucks the ticket back inside and closes the envelope.
“Thank you Mother.” The tone of his voice is anything but grateful and keeps anyone from asking what is in the envelope.
“Give us about fifteen minutes to get breakfast on the table. Marina?”
Marina hops off the couch, thanking her grandfather for the horseback riding lessons. Victoria stays behind to keep an eye on the parents.
In the kitchen, he pulls a strata from the oven. Eggs have cooked over the breads and sausages and the cheeses are bubbling. Marina slices a platter of fruit and Callum pulls maple coated bacon from a baking sheet.
“That smells so good.” Marina comments before whispering, “Callum, what did your mother give you?”
Forever Falling Page 12