Page 68 of Make it Real
The secondI pulled up to my pop’s house, June appeared on the porch. I’d expected a scolding for being late, considering Ty had been the principal chef behind tonight’s dinner, but turned out she wasn’t waiting on me.
June grabbed Callie’s hand as soon as I helped her out of the truck.
“I’m so glad you’re here, come on inside,” she said, spiriting her away from me.
“Don’t mind me, your blood relation left out in the cold.”
She looked at me over her shoulder, not a bit contrite. “It’s ninety degrees out, I think you’ll live.”
Callie looked over her shoulder, too, a touch more worry in her features. “Would you bring in the cookies?”
Okay, so she’d only been worried about the dessert. I deserved that.
I gave her a nod right before they disappeared into my pop’s house. Had to laugh a little. But my heart warmed, too, seeing how well my sister got along with Callie. If a hint of dread coiled underneath that warmth, waiting for everything to fall apart, well…I’d deal with that when it struck.
Not that I’d been good at waiting. I’d thrown my past in Callie’s face like I’d needed her to remember every last one of my faults. Maybe I’d needed us both to remember. Because this thing we were playing at couldn’t be real for a guy like me. Even if she made me want to believe in fairy tales, I’d been around the block a few too many times to think a happily ever after still waited in my future.
Inside, the house had reached peak pre-dinner chaos. Ty and Marilyn were putting the finishing touches on the meal while Annie and Pop shuttled plates to the table. Wade outfitted his two youngest kids with bibs, and Dylan jumped around like he had ants in his pants. June had an arm around Callie, talking low about something I couldn’t hear and probably would rather not know.
“Callie brought cookies.” I held the container aloft like a hunting trophy, to much applause.
“I’m tempted to skip right to dessert,” Pop said.
Ty eyed him. “I’m going to overlook that.”
Pop laughed and clapped him on the back. “Now, son, you know I don’t mean any harm.”
“Ty worked hard on this ginger chicken,” June put in. “At least eatsomedinner before you dig into the cookies.”
She tried to scold, but her satisfied smile said she liked hearing Pop call Tyson. He’d always been that way with Annie, considering himself her second father, not just in law. As far as he was concerned, family was family, didn’t matter how they came into the fold. He’d be that way with Callie, too.
The image came into my mind unbidden but perfectly clear. Callie, sitting at this table for family dinners far into the future. Christmases and birthdays and cookouts, her hand laced in mine, right by my side where she belonged.
I shook my head like a dog trying to clear water from its ears, but the idea had stuck. I knew futures weren’t guaranteed, but I sure wanted that one.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t the only one dreaming of sitting by Callie. Dylan crammed his little body next to her, way more comfortable hanging out with his former teacher than I would have been at that age. Then again, my kindergarten teacher had been about a hundred years old and smelled like cough drops. Callie was endlessly soft and smelled of sweet orange flowers.
Pull it together, Evans.
Dinner progressed almost normally. Almost, because my family kept glancing from Callie to me like they’d just spotted the cutest specimens in the zoo. Pop and Marilyn especially, whose gloating grins made them look like Cheshire cats. I’d figured they’d pepper her with questions or break out with some embarrassing childhood story bare minimum, but June piped up first.
“I’m so curious how you two got together, Callie.” She watched her with eager eyes, already slipping into gossip reporter mode. “What made you decide to give this guy a chance?”
Wade chuckled at my side. “Karma’s here to bite you in the butt.”
I’d given June a hard enough time when she first got together with Ty, I probably deserved a little of it back. Didn’t mean I looked forward to her teasing. Especially considering Callie’d had a rough go with making up stories on the fly for her friends so far. This whole pretend play might come crashing down in a few awkward answers.
“Well…” She dabbed her mouth with a napkin, glancing around the table but skipping me. “I think it was when we went on that big hike.”
Okay,notwhat I’d expected her to say. I’d figured we were in for a fabricated recap of that night at The Broken Hammer, but the hike happened way before that.
“I liked how he had his eye on everyone, making sure nobody fell behind, checking in to be sure we were all drinking enough water. It was like he felt responsible for us, and I hadn’t seen that side of him before. The hike was kind of a lot for me, and I had a hard time with the steepest part. He dropped back with me, telling jokes and pointing out weird-looking trees so casually, I didn’t even realize at first how he was encouraging me along. He didn’t say anything about me struggling or even talk about the hike, really, he was justwithme, and that was enough to keep me going. I think that was when everything started.”
My lungs shut down, my heart thumping away for the whole table to hear. I remembered the hike because it’d been a bear, and I remembered Callie because I’d always noticed her. But I hadn’t thought something so small I’d done had stuck with her. If she’d said I’d looked good in my athletic shirt, I would have laughed it off, but the way she rememberedmestole my words away.
When her eyes finally hit me, her smile held a trace of worry. Like she was afraid she’d said too much, or given too much of herself away and wasn’t sure how I’d react. If she only knew.
I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and kissed her temple, gawkers be damned.
