Liddy opened her eyes again. “Store? Yes. Get Debbie to help. And Danny. Such a good boy.”
As her mother drifted back to sleep, Callie sank down into a chair beside her bed. “He says hi,” she said to the sleeping woman, who stirred briefly but didn’t wake up. He had said a lot of other things, too. Callie watched her mother doze and wondered what kinds of things he and Liddy spoke about. If her mother missed her as much as Danny said, why hadn’t she ever said as much to her?
Because she was stubborn, no doubt, Callie thought. Just like her. The apple didn’t fall far from the tree.
But the pleasure on her mother’s face at the sight of her just now had been unmistakable. Too bad it took a heavy anesthetic to remove her emotional inhibitions. It was a place to start, though, Callie thought as she leaned back in the chair and watched over Liddy’s sleeping form. And maybe this time they could meet in the middle and she could get the answers she needed from her mother.
Chapter Three
Her mother’s pride and joy. Not Callie, the daughter in question thought wryly, but her mother’s gift shop: Liddy’s Little Treasures. There were no mass-produced items to be found in here, only painstakingly handcrafted oddities made by local artists. Liddy was a big believer in supporting the local economy. Even the sign bearing the shop’s name had been handmade, and from a tree that had grown not far from here. There was a history behind every single piece in the place.
There was also a lot of dust.
Callie crouched on her hands and knees with a feather duster and brushed dust and cobwebs off a row of wooden carvings of bears in hoop skirts on the bottom shelf. Clearly these little treasures were not hot items. Stifling a sneeze, she moved on to the next row. “Debbie,” she called back over her shoulder. “Why don’t we move those candlesticks over here instead? These bears have been sitting here so long that people have probably forgotten they exist. Let’s move them front and center for a while and see what happens. Mom can always change it back if she doesn’t like it.” Besides, the bears were kind of appealing. Maybe someone would give at least one or two of them a happy home.
Her mother’s lone employee peered around the corner of the shelves and adjusted her glasses, radiating disapproval. “Your mother doesn’t really like other people to rearrange her things,” the middle-aged woman said nervously.
“Then it’ll just be added incentive for her to get better quickly, won’t it?” Callie grunted, straining to move a wolf that had been sculpted out of aluminum cans a few inches further to the left where it was less likely to be tripped over.
“I, well — ”
Callie gave her an exasperated look.
“Fine.” Debbie disappeared, presumably to gather up the candlesticks or maybe to jot down a note on Callie’s interference for some future report to Liddy. Callie had a feeling she had given her plenty of material already.
Standing up, Callie surveyed her handiwork. It would do. The store, which had been closed since her mother’s accident, was neat and tidy again, and the damage caused by the falling ladder had been swept away. Callie had even created a new display in the front window to take the place of the half-finished one her mother had been working on when she fell. At its center was a little wooden mountain man with crutches and a cast on his leg, relaxing in his gnarled old rocking chair. Debbie had eyed her warily when she had seen it.
“I know,” Callie had said, unperturbed. “Sick sense of humor. But Mom will laugh when she sees it, so what does that say about her, I ask you? I’m just a product of my environment.”
She checked her watch. It was time to go back to the hospital. Her mother had had an entire night and half a day to sleep off any lingering effects of the anesthesia, so they would finally be able to have a genuine conversation. Callie had mixed feelings about that.
But there was one last quick thing to do before she left the store. Slapping a Help Wanted sign in the window, she taped its edges down securely.
There was a gasp behind her, and she turned to see Debbie staring at her in horror, her arms full of candlesticks. “But … your mother never — ”
“I can’t be here and at home to look after Mom at the same time,” Callie pointed out reasonably. “And you need someone to split the shifts with, unless you want to move in to this place. Look, it doesn’t have to be permanent or anything. Just hang on to any applications that get turned in, and I’ll handle the rest — including Mom. Fair enough?”
Debbie nodded stiffly, brow furrowed with obvious displeasure.
“I’ve got to get to the hospital. Will you be okay to finish the afternoon without me?”
The other woman nodded again, her expression still sour, and Callie reminded herself to be patient. Not everyone handled change well, after all, and Debbie clearly depended on her routines. Callie gave her a comforting pat on the shoulder as she left. The poor woman nearly jumped a mile.
Callie’s grip on the steering wheel got tighter the closer she got to the hospital. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to see Liddy; she loved her mother. But it was a well-documented fact that most mothers and daughters drove each other crazy more often than not, and Liddy and Callie were proof positive of that. The conversation between them would start out innocently enough, but sooner or later it would veer into uncomfortable territory. She’d bet good money on sooner.
As she parked the car and headed in toward her mother’s room, she searched her mind for safe opening lines that wouldn’t immediately lead to questions about her life’s choices.
Her mind drew a blank, so she went with a tried and true classic as she walked through the door: “Hi, Mom.”
Liddy looked up from a magazine she was reading to where her daughter stood in the doorway. “Callie,” she greeted her, putting down the magazine and sounding more than a little surprised.
Callie ventured a little further into the room but kept a guarded distance. She found a safe spot across the room from her mother and leaned against a wall for support. “You look more like yourself today. Feeling better?”
“Fair enough under the circumstances, I suppose. The nurse said you stopped by last night. I must have been doped to the gills, because I don’t remember a thing. Did we talk?”
“Not a lot. You weren’t saying much that made sense. You would have made a terrific poster child for a ‘Don’t Do Drugs’ campaign.”
“No doubt.”
They eyed each other warily for a moment, and then Liddy gestured at the chair by her bed. “Sit down, honey. No need to lurk in the corner when there’s a perfectly good chair.”
“Lurk, huh?” But Callie sat down as requested and fidgeted with the hem of her shirt. It had been months since they had talked, and years since they had seen each other face-to-face. Surely she could come up with something better to say than sarcasm and idle chit chat. She tried again. “So, Debbie’s pretty interesting.”
Apparently she couldn’t.
“You’ve been to the store then?”
“Yes. Things are up and running again. You’re going to need an extra body around there to help run the show while your hip is mending. I’m working on it.”
“Thank you.”
“No problem.”
Several moments went by, during which neither of them spoke. Finally Liddy reached out and took Callie’s hand in hers. She squeezed it gently. “How are you, Callie?”
Callie cleared her throat. “Good, Mom. I’m good.” She squeezed her mom’s hand back before releasing it and speaking with more lightness than she felt. “I haven’t fallen off any ladders lately, at least.”
“I’m not going to live this one down, am I?”
“Nope. Better just accept it now.”
“When did you get into town, honey?”
“Yesterday. Danny called me.”
“I’m sorry you had to co
me all this way. He shouldn’t have troubled you with all of this.”
“Yes, he should,” Callie returned firmly. “You’re my mother. Who else should he have called?”
She thought Liddy’s eyes looked watery for a second, but the older woman blinked quickly, and they returned to normal. “It’s just … I hate to be a bother. I’m sure I’d be able to figure something out on my own.”
“You broke your hip, Mom. Like it or not, you’re going to have to take it easy for a while and let other people help you, including me.”
“Just because the doctors say I need babying — ”
“The doctor said weeks, Mom,” Callie said doggedly, leaning forward and giving her mother a stern look. “Several of them. Probably longer if you insist on being difficult. Don’t expect to be doing anything except watching a lot of TV and catching up on your reading until the doctor gives you permission.”
Her mother made a face. “Bah. They’re just being overly cautious because they don’t want to risk getting sued for malpractice. I’ll be up and about before then.”
“No, you won’t. You’re going to do exactly what the doctor says.”
“Bossy, aren’t you?”
Callie shrugged and leaned back in the chair. “Yeah, well … ”
But her mother didn’t look too displeased by Callie’s insistence, and this time it was Liddy who had to clear her throat to cover up emotion. “It will be nice to have you visit for a while, though.”
“You might want to reserve judgment on that until you taste my cooking.”
“Hmm. There’s always take-out.” Liddy peered at her daughter more closely, until Callie began to feel self-conscious. “You look thin. Are you eating enough?”
“Yes.”
“Are you sure? Living in that big city, I wonder when the last time was that you had a decent home-cooked meal.”
They were veering into risky territory. Callie decided it might be wise to make an exit while things were still pleasant between them. She stood up. “I should get going — ”
Her mother put a hand on her arm to stop her. “Oh, don’t go yet. Danny’s on his way over. We can all visit.”
Callie stiffened. “Danny’s coming?” She was not prepared to run into him again so soon.
“He called a little while ago and said he would stop by on his lunch break. Now that you’re back in town, you two can catch up.” Her mom gave her a delighted smile.
“We caught up a little already. I should really go. I’ll come by tomorrow, okay?” She started for the door only to have it open just as she got there.
Danny stood on the other side of it, and he looked about as excited to see Callie there as she was to see him.
“Hi,” she said uncertainly.
His expression was guarded. “Hi.”
“Danny!” Liddy called out from behind Callie. “Perfect timing. Two minutes later, and you might have missed Callie.”
“Imagine that,” Callie murmured.
He heard her, judging by the way his eyes flickered briefly in her direction. “Yes, that is good timing, isn’t it?” He walked past her to give Liddy a kiss on the cheek. “Hey, Liddy. You’re looking better already.”
She patted his cheek with one hand. “Thanks. The doctor thinks I might be able to go home by the end of next week. Personally, I think I could go home sooner, but I’ll bet they’re making a mint of money off my hospital stay. You think you might be able to help cart an old lady and her walker home?”
“I can do that, Mom,” Callie said quickly. “No need to bother Danny.”
Danny gave her a look that might have been tinged with amusement, as if he knew exactly why she was protesting. “It’s no bother.”
“Honey, I think it might be better to have Danny bring me home, just in case I’m not very steady and need someone to catch me. You understand, don’t you?”
“Of course.” But she could feel her face turning red. Callie looped her purse strap up and over her shoulder. “I really am going to get going this time. I’ll see you later, Mom. Bye, Danny.” And she made her escape.
Or at least she thought she did, but his voice stopped her before she got very far down the hall. “Callie.”
She turned, tensing up.
He closed the distance between them slowly, almost reluctantly, and with each step he took, her tension grew. To her relief, he stopped when he was still a few feet away from her. “Look, about yesterday … ”
She waited, holding her breath.
“Don’t think I’m not glad you’re home. Okay?”
“Okay.”
He looked as if he wanted to say something more, but then thought better of it. “I’ll see you,” he said finally, turning to go back in to Liddy.
It was a small olive branch, but she would have to be a fool not to grab onto it with both hands. “Danny?” she said quickly, unwilling to let the fleeting moment of warmth end so soon.
“Yes?”
“Thanks for everything you’ve done for Mom.”
“It’s Liddy,” he said, shrugging it off. “Of course I’d help.”
“Still … thanks.”
He nodded, and she watched him walk back the way he had come. Lame, she thought sourly at herself. She should have said something more. But of all the people she had ever met, he was the one who had always left her most at a loss for words. At least for words that really mattered.
• • •
The end of next week came, along with the doctor’s approval, and Danny was as good as his word. Up until now, Callie had managed to avoid any more awkward encounters with him by immersing herself in Liddy’s shop and only stopping by the hospital in the middle of the day when Danny was likely to be guiding tourists down the river. Now, awkward as it was, she was going to have to figure out a way to make conversation with him. As she waited for him to pull into the driveway with her mother, Callie restlessly rearranged furniture downstairs to make it easier for her mother to maneuver, rolling up area rugs and clearing wide paths for a walker.
She stacked an armload of books and magazines beside her mother’s bed, enough to keep her busy for months, let alone weeks. For a moment she considered including a copy of a magazine that had printed one of Callie’s pieces … No, she decided finally, wistful. There was a reference in it about Callie’s father, vague but still a reference that Liddy would notice. This was not the time.
She turned her attention back to the task at hand and gave the bedroom a final appraisal. There was a television on top of the dresser, but no DVD player. Maybe Callie could figure out how to hook one up before Liddy got bored and tried to get out of bed before she was supposed to do so. Knowing her mother, she might just have to strap her down for her own good, and then possibly sit on her.
The sound of tires on gravel made her look out the window. They were here. Taking a deep breath, she went out to meet them, still self-conscious about Danny being there despite the tenuous way they had made up. As he turned the engine off and got out of the driver’s side, Callie opened the door and helped her mother swivel around in her seat.
“Thank you, honey. I think I’ve got it now. Danny’ll bring the walker around.”
“I still think we could have managed just fine on our own,” Callie murmured to her mother, her eyes on Danny as he retrieved the walker from the back of his truck. The sun had left natural highlights in his sandy hair, and she caught herself staring first at them and then at the bronzed skin of his forearms.
“Don’t be silly,” her mother said. “He doesn’t mind helping.”
Callie averted her eyes and spoke more briskly than she intended. “That’s not what I — it’s just that he has a business to run, Mom. We shouldn’t take him away from it any more than we have to.”
“He does have other river gui
des working for him, Callie. I mean, what’s the point of being the boss if you can’t take a little time off from work now and then, right, Danny?”
Danny appeared in the open door in time to hear the last part of their exchange. “Sure,” he said agreeably. “Why?”
“Callie says I shouldn’t have called you.”
Biting back a retort, Callie felt her face grow warm.
He glanced at her. “She does, does she?”
“But I knew you wouldn’t mind. You’re a good boy, Danny.” Liddy took the arm he offered and poked her good leg out the door. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.” Using her new walker for support but relying mainly on Danny, Liddy stood up. “Oh,” she breathed, wincing at first but then looking at her house. “It is so good to be home.”
Avoiding Danny’s eyes, Callie turned back to the house. “I’ll get the door,” she said shortly.
She held the front door wide open as Danny assisted Liddy up the front walk. He took such care with her mom, and despite the tension between him and Callie, she was touched. Her mother had taken it for granted that he would be there when she asked him to, and apparently she had good reason to do so. Maybe that was one reason why Callie had felt free to leave home years ago, because she knew Danny would be there. And maybe that had been unfair of her.
He helped Liddy into the bedroom, careful not to jostle her any more than necessary.
“Ah,” she said with satisfaction, sinking down onto the bed. “This looks like a place I could settle into for a good six weeks or so. We’ll call it rehab central.”
Danny adjusted the many pillows Callie had arranged on the bed. “Okay?” he asked.
Liddy sighed with pleasure as she nestled back into the pillows. “Home,” she breathed again. “Oh, my darling house, I’ll never take you for granted again.”
Callie brought a tray in from the kitchen with a glass of water and a plate of crackers and cheese. “Here,” she said, placing it on a small folding table beside the bed. “There’s fresh fruit in the fridge, too, if you’d like some.”
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