Page 57 of Soaring Free
“Hey baby,” he calls as he gets out of his car. He pulls carry out bags from the backseat and what looks like two dozen red roses in a beautiful arrangement. “I promise these aren’t apology flowers.” He winks, not one to be outdone by my ex-husband. “These are I get to see my girl tonight and she’s hot roses.” His schoolboy-like grin makes me laugh as I stand on my tip toes to kiss him hello. I take the flowers and lead him inside. Simply beingnear him is helping calm my nerves, even though I’m dreading explaining what we need to do before we can enjoy dinner.
“What did you bring for dinner? It smells good.” He smells good too, maybe I’ll just have him for dinner.
“I got that angel hair pasta you liked from Luigi’s.”
“Aw, I got that on our first date.” I grin at him.
“I know, that’s why I knew you’d like it.” He winks as he sets the carry out bags on the kitchen island. Turning to me, he pulls me into his arms for a proper hug and kiss hello. His arms wrapped around me ground me in a way I needed after the last twenty minutes. As we separate, I exhale a sigh I didn’t know I was holding. He tilts his head at me and examines my face. “What was that about? What’s wrong?”
Goodness gracious, nothing gets past this guy. “I had a little situation, and uh ... I actually, I was hoping you could help.” I explain how I found the missing latch, and we walk up to the ensuite so he can inspect it.
“When did this happen?” he asks as he opens and closes the door to inspect it.
“Um. Well, that’s the thing, I’m not quite sure. I noticed it when I was getting ready tonight because it was slightly ajar, but then I realized I can’t actually properly close it. What do you think happened?”
Theo hums at me but doesn’t say anything. “I already called Finn and he’s going to come by tomorrow to measure for a new door, but I don’t know that there’s a way to secure it until then.”
Unfortunately, Theo agrees, and next I know, Finn is at my house to secure the rogue door and our dinner date night is delayed while he and Theo board up my balcony door. “This seems a little extreme, doesn’t it? Can’t I just put a chair or a dresser in front of it so it can’t open?” I ask them and they both look at each other like I suggested using scotch tape. Give me some credit, I would have picked a heavy dresser.
“Baby, it’s extreme that someone took an essential part of your doorknob to make it impossible for you to shut the door, let alone lock it. And especially without knowing when ithappened, and why or who is responsible, I think we’re being mild in just boarding this up. I’m half tempted to call the police and file a report,” Theo says as Finn secures the final board.
“I’ll patch those holes when we install the new door, but I will get it ordered tonight with a rush order,” Finn explains as he packs away his tools. “And I don’t disagree with Theo at all. You should at least consider filing a report.”
“I took photos before we boarded it up, and we can go to the station in the morning to do just that,” Theo responds. I nod but don’t say anything. I know they’re both right, but I also know this is going to become an even bigger thing than just a simple broken doorknob. If the police ask who I think is responsible, what do I even say? I don’t honestly think one of my daughters was messing around with the mechanics of a doorknob, but I also have no explanation other than the most terrifying one: I don’t know who did this.
“The douche doesn’t have a mechanical bone in his body, but do you think Shane is behind this?” Finn asks as Theo watches me intently.
I shake my head. “To what end? He has house keys and the code to get into the keypad locks. There’s no reason for him to do this, he has full access to the house.” Liam would’ve notified me if there was something strange with Shane accessing the house. My brother has all kinds of safety precautions set up at our houses, most I don’t even understand.
“Unless he’s doing it to mess with you somehow,” Theo suggests. Finn nods in agreement, and I can’t dismiss the suggestion. Historically, I never would have considered Shane to do something so insane, but this year, I’ve seen sides to him that I never knew were there, and I hate to admit it, but anything is possible at this point. I never would have imagined him yelling at me in public or aggressively cornering me either.
“Finn, do you think you can please wait to alert The Cavalry about this until tomorrow? Please? I don’t want to ruin Walker and Vivian’s date night, she was so excited to have an evening alone with Walker in Nashville,” I ask my brother.
“I can hold off on the full Cavalry alert, but you should know Liam already knows because I talked to him on my way over here. But, lucky you, he was about to go dark for twenty-four hours so he won’t alert anyone before the morning.”
“Your brother leads an interesting life,” Theo says, referencing our elusive brother Liam.
“You don’t know the half of it. And honestly, none of us do,” Finn jokes, but he’s right. Whatever Liam does, I know he travels a lot and works with all the alphabet federal agencies, and probably some groups I don’t even know exist for my own safety. Sometimes his job requires him to go dark for periods of time, but thankfully, that’s less common than it was five or six years ago when it felt like he was out of touch more than not.
Finn loads up his tools and takes off, promising to let me know as soon as the new door arrives. One of the things I love about the Callahan men, is when they say they are going to do something, I don’t have to follow up or bug them about it. I don’t want to even think about how many times I mentioned that door to my ex, and I refuse to let him dampen my mood—especially when I have special plans for tonight.
Chapter thirty-four
I brush a rogue hair from my forehead as a frustrated sigh escapes while I wait for our now cold carryout dinner to reheat. “I’m sorry, I doubt this will be as good reheated as it would have been fresh,” I tell Theo. But really, I’m also sorry that there’s drama in my life, and it feels like there has been a plethora of it in the last eight months.
“Hey now, don’t do that.” Theo comes up behind me and pulls me flush against him as he wraps his arms around my waist. I tilt my head up to look at him. His sincere gray-blue eyes are so beautiful, it should really be criminal. I gaze up at his handsome face that is accentuated by well-defined cheekbones, a strong jawline, and prominent straight nose. It’s not just his eyes; he is beautiful all over. “You didn’t choose to have someone mess with your door, or risk your safety, and while I am going to enjoy the dickens out of my risotto, nothing else comes before your safety. Okay?”
I lean into his embrace a little more. “I’m safe. You’re here.”
“I am here right now.” He leans down and kisses my forehead.
“And maybe you could … stay here?” I ask as I try to put on my big girl pants and ask the man for what I want. “If you wanted, of course, but you could spend the night here, with me.”
Pressed up against him, I can feel the rumble in his chest as he replies, “Is that what you want?”
“If you want to stay.”
He shakes his head and tries again. “No, baby. That’s not what I asked. Is that what you want?”
