Sweet Home Montana

by Lisa Mondello

  “Kas, huh?”

  “Yeah, he called a little while ago and said the judge agreed with us. I just forgot to take that notice off the door. Something I’ll do right now,” she said with satisfaction as she got up and ran over to the door. With one swipe, Katie tore the notice from the wood and then ripped it up.

  Caleb nodded. “What are we all doing here today?”

  “Making a plan.” Katie ran back to where she’d been sitting, grabbed a notebook from the seat, and showed it to him. He couldn’t see anything on the notepad from across the room. “It seems pretty clear to me that if I’m going to get this job done so I can sell the place quickly, then I’ll need a little help.”

  “I thought that’s what I was doing.” He tried to hide the sudden hurt he felt being cast aside as if what he’d done so far hadn’t been enough.

  “You are,” Katie said quickly. Then she motioned with her hand to the mess in the room. “I just figured it would be a lot easier to enlist some help to get the big stuff out of here so we can see just how much space we have to work with. It’ll go faster.”

  Caleb nodded. It was a sound plan. The job at the chapel certainly was too big for just the two of them. As illogical as it seemed, he’d expected she only needed him. But of course, he wasn’t an electrician like Racer, who was sitting there studying the new plans Katie had drawn up. And he wasn’t a plumber. She was going to need some skilled tradesmen in order to get an occupancy permit and get the job done right.

  With a smile on her face, she ran over to him and slipped her arms around his waist. “What did you come by for?”

  “I wanted to see how things went today,” he said. “I would have called but…”

  “No, it’s good you came by so you can see how things are going. Will you come by later after work?”

  He nodded. “I’ll take you to dinner.”

  She lifted on her toes and kissed him, and then smiled, not the least bit shy of showing affection in front of the others.

  And he didn’t mind at all. He wanted them to know Katie Dobbs was with him.

  * * *

  Tabby and Kas were going out to dinner, so Katie decided to stop by the diner and pick up some take-out so she and Caleb could get comfortable in front of a fireplace.

  “You look tired,” Katie said. “You didn’t wear yourself out, did you? Maybe it’s too soon after your accident to go back to work.”

  “I’m fine. I’m stuck behind a desk, which is only marginally more productive than sitting on the sofa at home.”

  She chuckled. “You don’t look fine.”

  The fire crackled softly and sounded soothing, but it didn’t calm his nerves.

  “Did you get a lot done today?”

  “Not much. Real work starts in a week or two once I get all the bids in and schedule everything. I want to make sure all the construction is done by the fall. It’ll be tight, but I think we can do it.”

  “We?”

  “The crew.”

  “Ah.” He draped one around her as she leaned against his chest and rested her head on his shoulder. He played with her hair and reveled in the feel of her body next to his.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked.

  He sighed. “Nothing.”

  She chuckled softly. “No, not nothing. I can feel you getting tense. I thought we were going to be honest?”

  “Did you talk to Sally today?”

  “You’re changing the subject.”

  “Maybe, but I’d like to talk about it.”

  “To be honest, I’m a little nervous. The offer Callahan made was really good. But…”

  “But what?”

  Katie sighed. “She said the deal was good. And I’d be crazy to walk away from it without doing another thing on the chapel, I’ll be walking away with a profit even after I pay back Kas. Kas looked over everything this afternoon and said it’s a good deal.”

  “You had Kas go over it with you?”

  “Yeah, why wouldn’t I?”

  She was right. And he was feeling slighted again, when he knew he shouldn’t be. When had he gotten so insecure about something so stupid? This was in Kas’s wheelhouse. Why wouldn’t she go to him with a real estate deal? All Caleb had was a condo in the mountains that he sometimes rented out.

  “Well, he would know about these things,” Caleb said.

  “You’re upset.”

  He lied and shook his head.

  “He’s my brother, Caleb. You are upset. You’ve been upset all day.”

  “Maybe I am. “

  “Why?”

  He didn’t want to let her go when she pulled away and turned to look at him.

  “You’ve got all this figured out.”

  “Well, sure. What did you expect?”

  “I thought…maybe you needed me. But it’s clear you don’t.”

  Her face suddenly showed understanding and he hated the fact that Katie could see how green he really felt. He didn’t know why it should matter. Four weeks ago he would have told her to do this very thing. Get out in front of it and hire a crew if you can afford it. Get the renovations done quickly and then sell the place fast.

  She’d done it on her own without advice from him. She had her brother, and knowing Kas as Caleb had all his life, he knew she was in good hands. Kas was a successful man. He’d built his fortune himself. Why wouldn’t he help his sister?

  She was about to say something when Caleb heard Katie’s cell phone ring.

  She’d dropped her purse on the floor by the sofa, so she reached in and pulled out her cell phone to answer the call. He watched her expression change as she spoke to the person on the other end.

  “You’re kidding?” she said. “Is that normal, Sally? I mean, I didn’t even have time to think about the offer he gave you this morning.”

  Needing something to do, Caleb got up from the sofa and poked the fire until sparks flew up the chimney. Then he grabbed another log and placed it on top of the burning logs.

  Katie disconnected the call and stared at her cell phone.

  “Well?” Caleb asked when Katie hesitated.

  “I didn’t expect this. He’s made another offer that is higher than the first offer he made earlier today.”

  “What?”

  “Yeah, Sally said Littleton called this afternoon before she walked out the door and was surprised I hadn’t jumped on their initial offer. Since the judge dismissed everything, he said he wanted to sweeten the deal so we could have a quick sale.”

  “Huh. How good was the offer?”

  “It’s a lot more than I ever expected to get for it even after the chapel was finished. Kas said he had a feeling Callahan would do something like this. He probably didn’t even realize what he had until his soon-to-be ex pointed it out to him and then he realized he could make a killing if he did something with the property.”

  “So what are you going to do?”

  She shrugged. “He wants to buy the property as is with no renovations. So I won’t even have a chance to see my vision realized. But…”

  “But what?”

  She shrugged again and then bit her bottom lip. “I’d actually be able to go to design school and live off the money while doing it. I could start my company and…”

  “Live your dream.”

  She nodded. “But…I don’t know.”

  “What’s not to know?” he asked.

  She waved him off, and then sighed. “There’s this design school in San Francisco that I wanted to go to for forever. I remember me and Julie talking about it. But…”

  “But what?”

  She dropped her cell phone back into her purse. “That was kid talk. You know, the kind of talk you have when you think you can have it all and do it all.”

  “You mean like breaking into a boarded up chapel and buying it on a whim to renovate it?”

  She looked at him with wide eyes and then gave him a slow smile. “I guess I haven’t changed much.”

  “Oh, I think you hav
e. I…know you have.”

  “What do you think I should do?”

  He was torn. What kind of man would he be for telling Katie to stay and finish the project? Finish it and stay in Sweet with him.

  But she’d just said it as plainly as she could. Her dream was to go to San Francisco and go to design school. She’d wanted something more for her life. He’d only hoped that he would be part of that something more, too.

  “I think you should follow your dreams, Katie.”

  She smiled sweetly. “Really?”

  “Yeah.”

  He held her by the fire and let her jabber on about dreams and San Francisco, all the while hoping this wouldn’t be one of the last times he got to hold her in his arms.

  # # #

  Chapter Nine

  He had to be some kind of a masochist to continue hoping that the project Katie had started would be finished to completion. It wasn’t even their project. It’s Katie’s project. But ever since that day he saw the light in her eyes as she talked about what the chapel could be, Caleb could see it, too. He could see it is easily as looking at the road in front of him. He wanted to see it with her living there one day. He could just imagine, as she had, the colorful lights streaming through the stained glass windows into the kitchen. He imagined the floors that she had worried over so many times being ruined by the snow being sanded down and stained a beautiful rich color that would make the chapel feel like a home.

  It was crazy. Caleb knew it was. Katie had purchased that chapel and the acreage surrounding it as an investment with one thing in mind. She wanted money to realize her dreams. Those dreams went beyond Sweet and him. That chapel was her ticket out again. This time it was a way for her to be successful without anyone interfering with it.

  She could sell the property right now for a profit. But deep down he knew that she wanted to see that chapel finished, too. You didn’t dream for years and years of something in such detail only to give it up as if you were throwing away a candy wrapper.

  Caleb knew the money was good. Those Hollywood types that drove into Montana with her fancy cars had no problem throwing around money. He’d seen enough people get stars in their eyes and enough ranches close down and become lodges for swanky Hollywood parties over the years. He didn’t want that chapel to end up like that. And it would. That was progress.

  But more than anything he wanted to see it finished and he wanted to see Katie living in it. He wanted her to stay. And yeah, he’d even thought that maybe one day his shoes would be sitting in the mudroom and his clothes would be hanging in one of the closets, right next to Katie’s.

  It was a pipe dream. She’d made her intentions more than clear. But when he’d held her in his arms and saw the light in her eyes as she gazed up at him when he’d kissed her, he had to believe there was something more than just a fling between them. Oh, how he wanted there to be. Otherwise, he was just an adult delusional fool with his own pipe dreams.

  When had he gotten so sentimental over something that wasn’t even his? And then he knew. Katie wasn’t his. Not really. You couldn’t catch a butterfly and think you could keep it contained. And Katie had so much beauty and energy there was no way she could be held back.

  But he wanted her to stay. He’d fallen for her. That much he was sure of.

  She hadn’t made her decision yet and continued to move forward with work on the chapel. So on his first day off since going back to work, Caleb decided to stop by Buck’s hardware store to see if he could pick up some tarps to cover the floors. With so many guys walking through the chapel with cowboy boots and steel toe boots, dragging in mud and muck from the melting snow and gravel, those floors would get ruined in a heartbeat.

  He found a space in the parking lot and parked the truck. The lot was full of trucks and old beaters that the local folks used during the winter months. There were no Hollywood cars here for change. That had to be a good sign.

  But why would they be here? None of those Hollywood types did their own construction work anyway. They hired local folk from Sweet and the surrounding towns. He waved to Jamison as he saw him coming out of the hardware store.

  “I haven’t had a chance to congratulate you,” Caleb said.

  Jamison’s smile was wide. “Thanks. Wasn’t sure we were going to make it to the hospital. But the baby held off until they wheeled my wife into the ER.”

  Caleb laughed. “That’s good news. So what was it? Boy or girl?”

  “A little boy. Devin Michael.”

  Caleb shook Jamison’s hand. The tug in his chest was that of envy even though he was truly happy for Jamison and what he had. They were good people.

  “Make sure you tell your wife congratulations from me.”

  “I will. There is a potluck down at the Granger Hall in a week or two. You might get a chance to be introduced to my son then if you’re around.”

  “Even if I’m on duty, I’ll make a point to stop in.”

  They said their goodbyes and Caleb walked through the door into the store. He made a beeline to the back of the store where Buck kept the tarps and other rolled papers that he might be able to use on the floor. Halfway down the aisle he stopped short. Hunter Williams was crouched down looking through a box of nails. Hunter got up slowly and turned to him. Caleb hadn’t seen Hunter since he’d confronted him or the black eye he’d given him, which was now turning yellow as it healed.

  “I guess I owe you an apology,” Caleb said, swallowing a big lump of pride. “It was wrong of me to jump on you the way I did.”

  “Yes, it was,” Hunter said. “But I appreciate the apology. I’m not sure what you think I know and don’t know about Julie and what happened. I can assure you that it isn’t much.”

  “How about we talk about it over beer down at Bojangles sometime,” Caleb said. “I think I owe you one.”

  Hunter nodded. “That’d be good. But I don’t know what else I can tell you beyond what you already know. Seems you knew more about what happened than I did and I was here.”

  “You said you didn’t know Julie was pregnant. I accept that. I’m not sure she told anyone.”

  The pain that crossed Hunter’s face looked as if it was etched in stone. “I don’t know why she wouldn’t tell me something like that herself.”

  “We may never know.”

  “You know, Caleb, she didn’t just leave you. She left me too. I wondered for a long time where she’d gone until I realized I couldn’t keep her down if she didn’t want to be held down. I have had to make peace with that for long time. I’m not sure I fully moved on from that. I guess I’ll always wonder what went wrong. I wasn’t the same guy back then.”

  Katie had mentioned the same thing in passing. At the time, Caleb wondered what she was talking about. Caleb had been gone for four years. He didn’t really know Hunter before he’d left for the military. He’d only gotten to know him when he returned and joined the police force.

  “Well, people change.”

  “I guess,” he said. “I was a bit reckless back then. I had demons…” He shook his head. “Don’t we all. But mine were bad. It made me selfish. And I can see I didn’t appreciate Julie when I should have. I want you to know that. Man-to-man.”

  Caleb wasn’t going to try to slug Hunter again. But it didn’t make him feel better to hear the words. Still, he knew Hunter needed to say them. And it would have to be enough.

  “Let me know when you’re up for that beer,” Caleb said extending his hand to shake Hunter’s. They shook hands and then said their goodbyes. Caleb walked down the aisle in a fog wondering why he’d even come here. He’d forgotten.

  * * *

  Caleb drove to the chapel with enough surface shield rolled paper to cover the entire chapel floor. As he’d expected, Katie’s car was parked in the lot and to his relief, it was the only car.

  He pulled two rolls of paper out of the back of his truck and carried them into the chapel. The door was open, making it easier. Katie was still picking up debris fro
m the room and scooping it into the rubber barrels around the room.

  He dropped the paper rolls on one of the pews and walked over to her. He didn’t think he could work the day and not know what was going on.

  “I need to talk to you, Katie,” Caleb said, taking a piece of wood from her hand and dropping it into one of the barrels.

  “Okay. What’s going on?”

  It was ridiculous. He was a man and he was looking at a woman he’d known his entire life. And yet, suddenly he felt like an imbecile searching desperately for answers when he wasn’t even sure he had a right to ask the questions.

  “I’m not sure. That’s what I need to know. I want to know what your decision was about the chapel. Did you decide to sell?”

  She studied his face. “I put in a counter offer this morning.”

  He blinked. “You did?”

  “Yeah. Kas thinks—”

  “I don’t want to know what Kas thinks. I want to know what you think. If you sell this property for the price you counter offered then you could easily leave Sweet and go to school, and start a life somewhere else. Or you could have a life here.”

  Katie shrugged, not meeting his eye. He hated that. “Well, that was always the plan. For me to go to school in San Francisco.”

  “Are there are no design schools in Montana? Do you not want to be here at all?”

  “I don’t know. When Bruce took off with all my money and all my hopes for life somewhere other than in Montana, I had no choice but to come home. New York is expensive. I could’ve easily stayed with my brother. I know that. But somehow sleeping in the guest room or on his couch didn’t seem like a good thing for woman who wanted to strike out on her own. I’m his younger sister, but that’s not all I am. I’m a woman now.”

  His body reacted to her words in a way that made him uncomfortable. But only because he felt so vulnerable. “I haven’t forgotten that, Katie. I know damn well you’re a woman. And I know you have dreams just like Julie apparently did.”