Page 23 of We Thought We Knew It All
“His dad taught him,” I explained. “But he got too busy to take it further.”
Busy my ass. Just uninterested.
“Can Jamie teach me?” Jacks looked from me to Jamie.
“I’m not sure he’s up for that.” I gave Jamie an out.
“What?” Jamie laughed. “Of course, little man. Your mom has to stay here with your brothers and hold down the beach.” He bent to lift the board and tucked it under his arm.
“I don’t get it,” Jackson said. “Why do they need to hold down the beach? Is it falling?”
Jamie vibrated with laughter as he showed Jackson how to help him carry the board.
I set up the umbrella and pulled my wet-suit down, stepping out of it. Sitting next to Liam and Declan, we began to build what Liam called the best castle there ever was.
For the first time in a long time, I didn’t feel as though everything would cave in at any moment.
But really, how long could any of it last?
10
Jamie
I sat down next to Callie as we watched her two older boys play at the edge of the water. Declan was asleep under the umbrella beside her, dead to the world.
A smile graced her perfect lips.
Motherhood suited her. I would have never imagined her raising kids alone. It was something we were supposed to do together.
But she was good at it. Her boys loved her in a way I’d never had the chance with my own mother. Jay didn’t even seem to feel like that for his. Callie and Colby had. It was a cruel world that ripped apart the good families and left the screwed-up ones to keep messing up each other’s lives.
“Hey.” Callie bumped her shoulder against mine. “What are you thinking about?”
“It seems so surreal to be here with you.”
“It does, doesn’t it?”
“Do you regret things?” I wasn’t sure what I wanted with that question because I didn’t know my own answer.
She thought for a moment, her gaze going from the sleeping Declan to the two older boys. “If I did, that’d be like wishing them away. I can’t do that.”
I nodded silently. “I don’t think I do either. I think we made the right decisions back then.” It was true. Joining the army had given me a sense of purpose that my life had sorely lacked. Becoming a Ranger made me into a man.
Now it was her turn to nod. “Doesn’t make it feel better, does it?”
“Did you love him?”
“Hello subject change.”
“Cal.”
She sighed, refusing to look at me. “I assume we’re talking about Dylan, yes?”
I nodded, and she finally met my gaze.
“Yes, Jamie. I loved him with every piece of my heart I had left. If you’re asking if I loved him the same way I loved you, I don’t think that’s possible. No love is ever the same.” She softened her voice. “I don’t want to hurt you, but I won’t lie to you. He was there when you…”
“Weren’t,” I finished for her, breathing deeply as the pain cut deep into my soul. I’d asked for honesty and now I had to know. My voice came out more choked than I’d have liked. “How could you move on so fast? Cal, you were married less than a year after we’d ended and had a baby.”
