by Amber Kelly
“Graham’s not going to fight Damon,” I insist.
“You’re probably right. We may have to do it ourselves,” Erin offers.
“No one is fighting Damon. Caleb is on his way,” I remind them.
“Shoot, kids are always ruining our fun,” Jena grumbles.
“Speaking of Graham, you love him. You love Graham Tuttle,” Erin teases.
“No, I don’t,” I deny.
“Oh, yes, you do. You two are like two olives in a martini. We just heard you admit it.”
I shake my head. “I couldn’t possibly. It’s only been a couple of months. That’s too soon for love,” I insist, “but I do feel something that could grow into love.”
Jena laughs. “Girl, life doesn’t always work out on a neat timetable. The heart doesn’t give a shit about time. Our brain calculates time, but our heart just feels, and it doesn’t care if it’s been a month or if it’s been ten years. If it finds something true, it just runs with it. Let yourself run toward happiness. Don’t let your brain take the lead this time. Tell it to shut the hell up and go get that man,” she advises.
I look up at my front porch. “I think that will have to wait until I can get rid of this man.”
“No doubt,” she agrees.
Graham
After receiving Taeli’s text, Mom’s call, and Erin’s text, I prepare Caleb for what he’ll find when we make it to his home.
“I don’t understand why he’d come here,” Caleb says.
“I don’t know, bud, but you’ll get a chance to ask him.”
He nods and stares straight ahead until we pull up to the cabin.
When he spots his father on the porch, he exits the truck and marches up to him. I stay at his flank in case he needs reinforcement.
“Hey, son,” Damon greets.
“Dad,” Caleb responds.
“I just wanted to apologize for hurting you. I didn’t mean to.”
“I’m not mad at you because you hurt me. I’m mad because you hurt Mom. You made her cry. You’re supposed to be the one she can count on. The one who makes her feel good and safe,” Caleb accuses.
“Son, sometimes, grown-ups—” Damon starts.
“Don’t feed me a bunch of bullshit excuses, Dad,” Caleb shouts.
“Watch your mouth, young man,” Damon scolds.
“No.”
“Caleb!” Damon raises his voice, and Caleb flinches.
“Dad.” Caleb stands his ground and doesn’t so much as blink as he stares his father down.
Damon finally slumps and goes to a knee to look his son in the eye. “Look, I know I messed up. That’s why I’m here. I’ve apologized to your mother, and I owe you an apology too. I sorry, son. I had hoped the two of you would come home with me. That’s not going to happen, but you can still come home if you want.”
Caleb shakes his head. “No. I don’t want to go back. I like it here. I like seeing Mom smile and laugh. I like seeing her being treated like she matters. That’s the kind of man I want to be. One whose family knows they can count on me to be there for them. To love them. To teach them how to fish and change a flat tire. I want to come home to my family at night and actually be there with them. Eat dinner and talk about things.”
“I know I haven’t spent a lot of time with you. I work a lot. Too much. But I love you, son. You and your mother.”
“I love you too. I always will, but I don’t respect you anymore. Granna says that love is something you give your family freely, but respect is something they have to earn. We need both. Me and Mom. We need both.” His voice cracks on the last words.
I fight the urge to wrap an arm around him. I turn and see the same thing warring in Taeli as she clutches the seat in Jena’s car while watching her son confront his father.
“Granna is a hundred percent correct, and I promise to do better from now on,” Damon tells him.
Caleb walks the few steps that are left between them and into his father’s open arms.
“How long do we have before you leave?” Caleb asks.
Damon looks down at his watch. “Four hours. Not very long, son,” he answers.
Caleb shrugs. “It’s more than we had yesterday.”
Damon smiles at him. “That’s true. Do you want to go grab a burger or something?” he asks.
“Sure. Let me go to the bathroom, and I’ll be right back.”
He runs inside, and Damon watches as the door closes behind him. Then, he turns back to me, and I smile.
“What’s so fucking funny?” he asks.
I shake my head. “You wanting a second chance. Expecting one, like it’s your right to have it,” I answer.
“You think I don’t deserve one?”
“You were lucky to have the first chance, and you wasted it, so no, I don’t think you do.”
“You don’t know anything about me,” he snaps.
“I know you like to have your cake and eat it too. You had a fucking prize at home, yet you still needed to mess around with any woman who batted her eyelashes at you. You probably wanted to make your wife jealous. To stroke your ego. But a real man doesn’t make his woman jealous of other women. He loves her in a way that makes other women jealous of her.”
He leans into my face and repeats himself.
“You don’t know me.”
“Maybe I don’t, but I know men like you, and I think you deserve to have your ass handed to you for the way you treated your family.”
“You want to take a swing at me?” he asks.
I shake my head. “Nah, but I bet you want to take one at me.”
“I do.”
I walk toward him, and he takes a step backward. I extend my hand.
“I don’t want to punch you. I want to shake your hand and say thank you for letting her go.”
He looks at my hand like it’s on fire.
“She’s too good for you too,” he spits.
“The greatest gift a father can give his children is to love their mother and to treat her with respect. My pop taught me that, not with his words, but by the way he looked at, spoke to, and handled my mother every day of my life. He didn’t need to say it. He lived it, but you’re gonna have to live with the guilt of what you put your wife and the mother of your child through. I know that she left because she was ashamed, but you’re the one who should feel shame for the rest of your days. And I know she’s too good for me, but I’m willing to spend the rest of my life trying to be good enough for her.”
He looks over my shoulder to where the girls are sitting in the car.
I know they can hear every word.
I don’t care.
The front door opens again, and Caleb reappears.
“I’m ready,” he calls.
Damon smiles at his son. “So am I.”
He calls out to Taeli, “I’ll have him back before I head to the airport.”
“Okay. Just text me when you’re on your way,” she yells out the back window.
Caleb looks at me. “Can we check on the theme park tomorrow?” he asks.
“Sure we can. You go have fun with your dad.”
He breaks away and runs down to me. He wraps his arms around my waist and squeezes. “Thanks,” he says.
I place a hand on his head. “You’re welcome.”
“That four-hour window is dwindling, Caleb,” Damon says.
He releases me, and then he trots back over and takes his father’s hand.
Taeli, Erin, and Jena exit the vehicle and stand with me as we watch the two of them drive away.
Erin pats my back. “You handled that well, big boy,” she praises.
“Yeah, I would’ve kneed him in the nuts, for sure. Way to keep your crazy tucked in,” Jena adds.
“Uh-oh. Here come the blue-haired gangsters,” Erin says as Leona’s Jeep comes screeching to a halt in front of us, my mother riding shotgun.
“What are you doing?” Taeli asks when they step out.
“Coming to help,” Leona say
s.
“Help how exactly?” I ask.
She shrugs.
“You’re here to watch the carnage,” Taeli accuses.
“No, we’re not.”
People rush to see the wreckage and delight in others’ suffering. It might sound cynical, but it’s true.
Traffic is brought to a standstill while onlookers gawk at an accident by the side of the road. Bystanders use their phones to video a fire or an arrest. Viewers watch footage of damage caused by floods or hurricanes with bated breath.
Cyberbullies sit behind a computer screen and tear some teenagers down for their amusement. It’s all just one big, ugly crowd-pleaser. Like when we’d all go running outside to watch when someone yelled, “Fight,” in the school cafeteria.
“Yes, you are. But it’s okay. We all do it. Why do you think Jena rushed over with the popcorn? The ancient Romans actually forced people to fight to the death for sport, and the people of Massachusetts cheered at the Salem witch trials. We’re all masochists at heart. It’s human nature,” Erin says.
Leona turns to her. “You scare me sometimes.”
Erin just grins.
Taeli
Mom and Sara-Beth stay long after Erin and Jena head home.
They raid my refrigerator and throw together a chicken Alfredo for dinner.
I’m too nervous to eat as I wait for Caleb to return home. I hope his time with his father isn’t spoiled by our drama. Hopefully, Damon is able to set our adult bullshit aside and focus on his son.
“You’re going to pace a hole in the newly refinished floor,” Mom says as she hands me a glass of wine.
I take a huge gulp and continue my path to the window and back.
Graham catches me as I turn again, and he wraps his arms around me.
I let him hold me and absorb his strength.
“Thank you for staying with me. I don’t think I could have handled Mom alone right now.”
He leans back and takes my face in his hands. “Where else would I be?” he asks.
My eyes fill with tears. He dips his head and kisses the corner of my left eye to catch one before it flows down my cheek.
“Calm down. Caleb is going to be fine,” he assures me.
I relax against him.
“There, that’s better,” he says.
“I’m sorry about Damon. I can’t believe he said all of that to you.”
“I can. He could see it, and it was killing him,” he says.
“See what?” I ask.
“How much you and Caleb mean to me and how much I mean to you guys.”
I go still.
“How much do we mean to you?” I ask. I regret the words as soon as they leave my lips.
“Everything,” he whispers, and I feel the depth of that one word in my soul.
“Graham.” His name is a plea on my lips.
He leans in and kisses me. It’s a long, deep, and claiming kiss.
A throat clears, and we break apart to see Mom and Sara-Beth at the door.
“We’re going to go. You can have Caleb call me to check in when he gets home,” Mom tells me.
“I will. Thanks for everything, Mom.”
“Oh, I should be thanking you, kiddo.”
“For what?”
“Bringing my family home.”
She blows me a kiss, and then they are gone, leaving Graham and me alone.
“What do we do now?” I ask.
“I can think of a few things that might distract you,” he growls.
“Don’t threaten me with a good time, mister,” I tease.
He starts walking us toward the bedroom when the front door swings open. Caleb finds me in Graham’s arms, and I don’t step away.
He looks at us and grins.
“Gross,” he says. “You two aren’t gonna walk around, kissing each other all the time now, are you?”
“Probably so, kiddo,” I admit.
“Try to keep it to a reasonable level, okay?” he requests.
“We can do that.” Then, I ask him, “How did things go with your dad?”
He shrugs.
“We ate burgers.”
Well, that’s a very male answer.
I roll my eyes.
“Anything else to report?” I prompt.
“He wants me to come to Chicago for Labor Day and meet my baby brother.”
“And how do you feel about that?” I ask.
“I told him that as long as there are no fireworks or Boy Scouts events that weekend, I’ll consider it.”
Graham laughs.
Caleb cuts his eyes to him.
“So, are you guys boyfriend and girlfriend now?” he asks.
Graham looks at me and smiles. Then, he clasps my hand, interlocking our fingers. “We are.”
“Good. I like you, and if you two end up married, Tucker and I will be cousins, which would be super cool.”
I cough.
“No one is talking marriage,” I assure him.
“Bummer.” He heads for his room.
“I guess that means we have his blessing,” I say.
“Whew. He had me sweating there for a minute,” Graham states.
“Me too,” I agree.
Caleb’s door clicks shut, and Graham grins at me.
“Where were we?” he asks.
“We were about to clean the kitchen,” I tease.
He rests his forehead against mine.
“I’ll need a cold shower first,” he mumbles, and I burst into laughter.
I wrap my arm around his neck.
“Looks like you don’t have to envy the trees any longer,” he whispers against my lips.
“Nope. I’m ready to let go and let the new in.”
“We’re going to be a great adventure,” he promises, and then he kisses me, and then we get to cleaning the kitchen.
Taeli
One Year Later
“I have one!” I squeal, as I reel in the gorgeous rainbow trout.
I’ve been honing my fly-fishing skills this past year. It’s something that both my guys enjoy and has become an unspoken competition among the three of us. Caleb keeps a mental count of catches and weights. Graham is in the lead, but Caleb is right on his heels. I’m determined to overtake my son.
When Graham asked if I wanted to go out today, I jumped at the chance. Caleb’s baby brother’s first birthday was last weekend and he flew to Illinois to attend the party; therefore, I have a chance to advance in the game while he’s gone.
Graham steps forward and takes the fish in his hands and uses a set of pliers to remove the hook. Once it’s free from my line he holds it up.
“It’s a beauty. I bet this one will come in around twelve pounds,” he praises.
“Every ounce helps,” I declare.
He takes the trout and adds it to our cooler of ice.
“Do you want to go again?” he asks.
I look up. The sun is beginning to set, and the sky is aglow in a breathtaking array of pink and orange. I will never tire of the beauty of dusk in the Tennessee mountains.
“It’s getting late,” I muse.
He follows my gaze and agrees.
“Yeah, but I think we can cast one more time before it’s dark. You may even be able to slip into second place if your able to pull in another ten-pounder.”
Second place? I didn’t think I was that close.
“Really? Caleb is going to accuse me of cheating for going out while he’s at his dad’s.”
He shrugs.
“So, what? He’ll pass you again next weekend.”
That’s true. I don’t stand a chance.
“Let’s do it,” I decide.
He smiles and walks over to take my rod.
“You want to try a wet fly this time? Caleb and I tied a few ourselves. Grab one out of my tackle box,” he instructs, and I trudge my way out of the water to the blanket holding our gear.
“Which ones are the wet flies?” I ask as I lift the top of the box.
“The second row from the top. There should be a bright yellow one on the right,” he calls.
“Got it!”
I gasp when the light from my headlamp catches a glint as I snatch it from the kit.
A large round diamond ring is dangling from the lure.
I turn on trembling legs to find that Graham has made his way to the edge of the creek and is standing behind me. He reaches out and takes my hand to steady me.
“What is this?” I ask.
He sinks to one knee before me and looks up to meet my eyes.
“I never thought that I could find love again. I was perfectly content living the rest of my life alone until you and Caleb came barreling into Balsam Ridge and into my path. I love you, Taeli. I love your son. I know you’ve been through hell and so have I, but we’ve both been given a second chance and I’d be the happiest man on earth if you’d agree to be my wife. Say yes, and let’s grow our family and build an amazing life together.”
I cover my mouth with my free hand and let the beauty of the moment wash over me. This man is on his knee with the sunset at his back, pledging to love me and Caleb for the rest of our lives.
How did I get so lucky?
“Please?” he whispers.
I laugh as I let the tears I’ve been holding back flow down my cheeks and choke out my answer.
“Yes, yes, yes!”
I fall to my knees in front of him as he unties the ring and slides it on my finger. Then I wrap my arms around his neck and press my lips to his.
Graham
She said yes.
I stand bringing her up with me and twirl her in my arms.
I was so nervous trying to pull this moment off and the weight of that rolls off my shoulders and all I feel is relief and immense joy.
“I have another surprise,” I whisper into her neck.
She bears back and looks at me.
“Really?”
The glow of happiness that she is wearing makes my heart skip.
“Yep, let’s get packed up and head to the truck.”
We gather our things and strip out of our waders.
I drive us to my parent’s home sitting on top of the mountain overlooking the valley.
Our friends and family are waiting inside to help us celebrate.