Page 12 of We Thought We Knew It All
I put my hand over hers, letting it linger until she pulled away abruptly, leaving me to hold the ice pack myself.
“Jay’s having a harder time than he lets on. His mom won’t come home from D.C. to be with him. He hadn’t been getting along with your father over the last year. Jay had been running your dad’s firm while he was in D.C. and they didn’t agree on a lot of the decisions. It started about six months ago when your dad disappeared suddenly during a big case and didn’t return for a few days.”
“So, what does this have to do with me being here?”
“Jay hasn’t told me a lot of this since I wasn’t living here, but Amber filled me in. He feels very alone right now. She thinks me being back will help, but he doesn’t think he has much family left.” She looked away and I could have sworn there were tears in her eyes when she whispered, “you disappeared.”
“Callie.” I reached out, but she shook her head, and I let my hand drop.
“He may not know it, but he needs you. How long are you staying?”
“I don’t know.”
She looked disappointed at that, but shrugged it off with a weak smile.
“Welcome home, Jamie.”
6
Callie
Our possessions arrived a few days after us, and it became real. We could stop camping in our own house and become true residents of Gulf City, Florida.
Colby was back at his apartment and resumed work at the local hospital. He was only a few months out from his oncology residency and loving it. I didn’t know how he did it, but then, I’d never been good with people.
I didn’t know what I was going to do now. The book was making plenty of money for us to live on and live comfortably. My publisher wanted another one, but I didn’t have another story to tell.Emmawas a part of me. It was real. Creating a story from scratch seemed too daunting.
No, I’d have to find something else.
Jackson was enrolled in school although I couldn’t imagine him walking the halls of the high school when he got older. The same halls that’d filled me with terror on that single night.
Liam started a new pre-school and Declan was set in his first daycare.
That left me to my own devices for the first time since Jacks was born. I found myself missing the boys, but also enjoying the quiet as I unpacked box after box.
Around lunch time, I needed to get out of the house. Grabbing my purse, I slid into my car and pulled away. Without knowing it, I’d driven toward the old diner. It was a route I knew well, and a sadness overwhelmed me. Mom’s diner was no longer ours. At the time of its sale, I’d been eighteen and wanting to run out of town as fast as I could. Now I found myself wishing it was still there waiting for me.
The familiar parking lot was freshly painted and everything looked so… new, rather than charming. I looked up into the bright Subway sign and sighed. The people we’d sold it to only wanted the location, not the diner itself.
I got out of my car, despite the desire to drive away, and walked in. Moments later, sandwich in hand, I slid into a booth in the back and pulled out my phone, wanting to hear a familiar voice.
She answered right away.
“Callie,” Morgan yelled. I pulled the phone away quickly to keep from going deaf.
“It’s been a while.”
“Yeah, like six months. Sorry about that. I’ve been busy.” She laughed, and I found I missed the sound.
“Where are you now?”
“London still.” She’d been there for the past year, but before that she never stayed in one place for long. After high school, she’d traveled with her sister for a year before attending a small college in England and hasn’t sat still since.
“Guess where I am.”
“You know I don’t know L.A. Cal. I’ve only been there to see you like three times.”
“Then, it’s a good thing I’m in Florida.”
