Page 89 of Let Me Be the One
Figuratively, maybe literally too, Callie staggered. “You invited himhere? Without asking me?”
“There’s more at stake than you realize.” Calm personified, her mother sipped her drink. “We need to settle some things.”
Shrill and unable to level her tone, Callie said, “It’s settled. Sutter and I areover.”
Her mother frowned. “Is that what you’re wearing today?”
Frustration imploded. “Yes, this is what I’m wearing,” she reiterated sharply through her teeth. “I have animals to tend and chores to do.”
Sticking his head in the door, her father gave her a commiserating smile. “Come on, honey. I’ll help you.”
“Frank,” Liz said. “You’ll ruin your shoes.”
“I’m sure Callie has a hose. I’ll clean them off later.” He reached out a hand to her, waggling his fingers to get her moving.
With a slow, deliberate inhale, Callie stepped forward. She picked up her own muddy boots and stepped out on the back stoop, then took a seat on the top step. While her dad closed the door behind them, she tugged on the boots with more force than necessary, silently fuming.
“Don’t let your mother rile you.” He took a seatbeside her. “I remember this place well. Reggie and I grew up tending animals, did you remember that?”
Callie wanted to hold on to her annoyance, she really did. But the pleasure in her father’s tone, the wistful way he looked around, drained away some of her irritation. “You’d both told me. Reggie said that you, as the oldest brother, caught the brunt of the workload.”
“True enough, but it didn’t do him any favors being the baby.” He grinned and confided, “He hated when I called him that.”
The affection was clear, prompting Callie to say, “Reggie loved you a lot, you know that, right? Even more than that, he was proud of you. Always.”
Looking out at the yard, her dad nodded. “Your mother and I grew up around here. My childhood home was similar to this, maybe smaller. Reggie and I always shared a room.”
“I bet that was fun,” she said facetiously.
He snorted. “It had its moments.” As if remembering his wife, he glanced warily at the door, then stood and offered her his hand. “Let’s talk while we work.”
Conspiring with him, Callie whispered, “You mean away from here so Mom can’t listen.”
“Exactly.”
Even as she smiled, Callie wondered what her dad had to discuss that was private. Overall, he tended to side with her mom on anything—including cutting off his brother at a time when, from what she’d learned, Reggie had needed them all the most.
The sun came out with a vengeance, turning the soggy yard into a sauna. The goats didn’t seem to mind. Callie was relieved to see they were all walking just fine, even the renegade who’d gotten into the woods.She didn’t say much, because then her dad might want to hear the whole story and no way was she sharing those details.
The chickens were thrilled with the amount of worms and bugs they could now find, thanks to the overnight storms. For a while, she and her dad worked in companionable silence, feeding, cleaning, and refilling water stations, and ensuring their shelters were still dry. She saw that he was still a pro, doing the chores without direction from her.
While she collected eggs, he walked the property, commenting on how nice it looked and what a great job she was doing on the upkeep. It was like throwing a shovelful of guilt onto her head, because a goat had gotten out, possibly injured, and she’d acted like a fool. Not a great job, at all.
“Dad,” she said, to give herself something to concentrate on other than the previous night, “Why are you and Mom here?”
“I’m here because Liz is here.”
Typical answer for her dad. “And Mom insisted?”
“Afraid so.” He drew her toward the garage. “You can’t tell your mother this, but I sent money to Reggie. Every month, in fact. He always sent it back. Didn’t matter how I cajoled, he told me it wasn’t money he wanted from me.” A grimace of remorse tightened his jaw. “I should have come to see him. Nothing should be allowed to interfere with family.”
Callie agreed but didn’t say so. “I feel so horrible that I stopped visiting.”
“You had a busy life,” her dad said. “Reggie understood that.”
She wished she could excuse her actions so easily.
“I still talked with him often.”
