Chapter 8

8

I ris felt like a trespasser in Callum's house.

She had permission to be here, but it still felt... wrong somehow.

The trailer was brand spankin' new. Perfectly clean, shiny appliances, carpets that had never been stepped on. Mid-morning sunlight streamed through the windows, illuminating the jumble of boxes and furniture placed every-which-way.

It was a mess.

Some of the boxes were labeled. Extra linens . Kitchen, small appliances . Bathroom stuff .

Others were a complete mystery. She'd opened one box to find plastic bowls and plates and toddler-sized spoons. Another random box had revealed its contents to be life jackets and beach towels.

It seemed to her that Callum had started packing away the items he didn't use in everyday life in an orderly fashion. And then, when push came to shove and moving day was upon him, he'd haphazardly thrown the rest in boxes and made the best of it.

At least that was her guess.

All she needed was a box of kid clothing. The twins were identical. She'd take anything in their size.

She currently had the boys playing "drums" made of Callum's beat-up pots with wooden spoons. She'd wash them later. Probably. It kept the boys out of the way, and she could keep track of them even from the two bedrooms in the back of the trailer.

Surely the boys' clothing was here somewhere.

She knelt on the floor and opened another unmarked box. Callum's scent rose to meet her. The box was full of his clothes. T-shirts and jeans in a neat pile.

She hadn't even given a thought to the fact that he would need clothes too. He was still wearing the same track pants he'd had on when he'd been rolled out of the hospital.

Her faced burned as she grabbed the first few T-shirts. Jeans wouldn't work, but she rifled through them, looking for gym shorts or sweatpants.

What she unearthed was a flat wooden tray with a velvet bottom. A few spare coins lay inside. And something else. Something that glinted in the light.

Curious, Iris used her forefinger to push aside the coins, Beneath was the sterling silver cross pendant she'd given him as an early birthday gift a few days before he'd disappeared. He'd kept it?

Old grief swamped her.

She accidentally nudged the pendant and revealed there was something beneath it.

She shouldn't.

But she uncovered it. A simple gold wedding band, sized for a man's finger.

She hadn't yet found the courage to ask Callum about the twins' mother. Had they been married? They must've, if he had a ring.

For how long?

The past ten years of his life were an unknown to her. Had he loved his wife? Was he still mourning her?

Emotion choked her, and she replaced the jeans in the box and closed it up.

She'd lied when she'd told him she never thought about him. Even when she'd been with Georgio, she'd occasionally found herself thinking about Callum. For the first few months after she'd returned to Sutter's Hollow, she'd been assailed by memories of Callum and their time together.

She'd only been seventeen, but she'd meant the promises she'd made. She'd loved him desperately. Had wanted to get married right after her graduation.

And then he'd disappeared without a word.

She knew his disappearance had to do with the car accident that had robbed Noah of his sight. She and Jilly had left early because she'd had an early rehearsal the next morning. And because it had started raining. The three graduates, Noah, Cord, and Callum, had been sitting around a small campfire, spinning out dreams.

The next morning, Cord had been in jail and Noah had been in the hospital.

Callum had simply been gone.

Neither Cord nor Noah—after he'd regained consciousness—had said a word about the accident. Noah had been in the passenger seat. It was obvious from how the tree had pierced the windshield that he'd been sitting in that position.

Which meant that either Cord or Callum had been driving.

And Callum was gone.

It didn't take a genius to deduce what'd happened. Didn't he know she'd have stood beside him if he'd stayed?

Had something else happened?

The crazy banging from the kitchen stopped, and she forced her whirling thoughts away. Sitting here following questions down the rabbit hole wasn't going to accomplish anything.

Sometimes, it was better not to know.

And she needed to focus on Jilly. Jilly needed her.

Iris had to stay strong. The last thing she needed was to get her heart broken all over again.

Callum lay in bed staring at the ceiling. It wasn't even noon yet and all he wanted to do was sleep. Iris and the boys had returned from their trip to the trailer. She'd left a small pile of his clothing on Joe's desk, and he was grateful.

She'd prepared a snack in the kitchen while the boys had bounced on the bed, telling him every single thought that'd crossed their minds since breakfast. A ladybug they'd seen outside. What color Iris's favorite horse was. The size of the booger Brandt had pulled from his nose. And then eaten.

They filled up his heart. Had from the moment he'd held them in his arms in a tiny rural hospital.

Still, he was grateful when Iris took them outside to play. It was hard to pretend he wasn't in pain in front of his sons. He didn't want them worrying about his leg or his recovery. They were too young to be burdened with adult problems.

Like whether or not he should make a phone call.

His palm rested on top of his phone, lying on the bed at his side.

If he put it off any longer, he wasn't going to do it.

He picked up the phone and dialed. It rang. And rang.

When the call connected, his heart leapt into his throat.

And then he realized it was a recording. A robotic voice asked him to leave his message, and the tone beeped in his ear before he was ready.

He coughed. "Noah. Uh. This is Callum." With the hand not holding his phone, he pinched the bridge of his nose. Why was this so hard? "I know it's been a long time, but uh... well, I guess I wanted to say I'm sorry." His mouth twisted with bitterness and regret. "That's so lame. It's all right. You can lay into me. An apology will never be enough for what you lost."

He'd replayed that night in his memory so many times. He could've prevented the accident if he'd insisted they sleep it off in the truck bed. It was a warm night. They would've been fine. Wet, but fine. Or he could've called someone for a ride.

But he'd been stupid and cocky. He'd thought two beers weren't a big deal. That he could handle it. The rain and muddy roads had proved him wrong.

"I'm back in town," he said now. "And I'd like to see you." Crap. He was getting choked up. "I've missed you."

He rang off before he embarrassed himself any more than he already had.

He thought about tossing the phone to the end of the bed or onto the floor, somewhere he couldn't reach it.

Then thought better of it.

He put it on his chest and rested his fingers over it.

This room reminded him too much of Joe. It smelled faintly of peppermint; Joe had carried the candies in his front shirt pocket everywhere he went. Iris had loved the candies, too, back then. The flavor wasn't high on his favorites list, but when he'd kissed her and she'd tasted of peppermint... He'd quickly become on the verge of being addicted.

It was her. She'd been his addiction.

She was a math whiz, and they'd shared a pre-calc class during his senior year. He'd spent hours staring at her from his seat on the back row. Memorizing the slope of her cheek. Every nuance of her expression. The dreamy look in her eyes when her thoughts wandered.

This morning, he'd seen more than he wanted to when Jilly had walked into the kitchen. He still felt broadsided, knowing she must have cancer. He'd wanted to ask Iris about it, but she'd turned her back to him in a clear dismissal.

He and Jilly hadn't been close during that last year of high school, though they'd run in the same tight-knit circle of friends. It was Iris who'd connected them.

Iris and Jilly were as close as sisters could be.

And he knew it had to be killing Iris to watch her sister go through this fight. Their workaholic, distant father would be no help. Callum knew that much. It would be Iris kneeling on the bathroom floor while Jilly puked her guts out from the medication. Iris who would wake up in the night to take Jilly's temperature or bring a glass of water. Iris who chauffeured Jilly to every doctor's appointment.

Who did Iris have to support her? To take care of her when she was tired or wrung out from grief?

Head aching, heart aching, he squinted into the sunlight.

And his cell phone rang. A local number he didn't recognize.

"Stewart, I heard you were back."

He recognized the voice instantly. Wade Tatum. Iris's dad. Old hate rose and threatened to choke him. He couldn't speak through the ugly emotion in his throat, but he didn't have to.

"I want you out of town. And I want the land you stole from my daughters."

"That's not going to happen," Callum grated between clenched teeth. "I bought the Red Cedar free and clear. I'm here to stay."

There was a loaded silence on the other end of the line. Then, "You want me to make life miserable for you and those boys of yours?"

A stabbing pain sliced through Callum's right eye. Tatum had never pulled punches. Of course he would go for the threat that would hurt Callum the most. Levi and Brandt.

"You wrecked the Town Hall building. Not a good look for your first day back in town. Word is the Police Chief is asking the hospital for a copy of your tox screen."

"I wasn't drunk," was his instant response. Stupid. He knew not to engage.

He didn't even know if the hospital had run a blood test. He'd been concussed with a massive headache and freaking out about his sons.

Even if they had run a test, he was clean.

But, small-town gossip could light up like a wildfire. Folks didn't ask for proof before convicting a friend or neighbor in the trial of public opinion.

And it was no coincidence that Tatum had made this threat.

"That wreck wasn't my fault," Callum said. "It was a hit-and-run."

"How you gonna prove it?" Tatum's voice was a casual drawl, like they were two buddies chatting about a fishing trip. "This ain't the big city. We don't have traffic cameras here in little Sutter's Hollow."

"I had a green light. The red truck that hit me ran the stoplight."

"Funny. Investigating officer can't find evidence of another vehicle." That couldn't be true, but as mayor, Tatum had always had the police department in his pocket. He was their boss, best friends with the police chief, and no one dared to challenge him.

"What about my crushed in front fender? That's not evidence?"

He could almost hear the other man's indifferent shrug over the open phone line. "Could've happened before you hit town."

"What are you going to do when a red truck shows up at the nearest body shop with a wrecked front end?"

Tatum chuckled. "Ain't likely. You'll be hearing from the city's attorney."

The connection went dead.

Callum held his phone in a trembling hand, blinking sightlessly against the bright sunlight streaming in the window. He'd known Tatum would be difficult to deal with when he'd come back to Sutter's Hollow. Callum'd planned to make nice with his neighbors first, then slowly widen his net. Befriend the feed store owner, grocery store cashier, Trixie from the diner.

He'd thought he'd have time before Tatum would try to make his life miserable. He'd foolishly thought that owning the Red Cedar Ranch would give him some clout.

Stupid.

He needed a new plan.

But first he needed to call his sponsor.

Before the boys had been born, he would've drowned his tension with alcohol. Rachel had verbally kicked his butt when she'd been pregnant. Told him she didn't want him in the boys' life if he was gonna stay a drunk.

His past had been there to haunt him, too. Did he want his sons to grow up without a daddy like he had?

He'd joined a recovery program and gotten really honest with himself about his past and his problems. He'd gone back to church, even attended cowboy church when he was on the road.

He'd found himself again after a long stretch out of the saddle.

He wasn't the man who drowned anymore.

He was in Sutter's Hollow to stay.