Calum wakes to the sound of raised voices. Josie defends her outfit, and Natalie demands the teenager change into something more modest. He pries his eyes open in time to see Josie raising her middle finger behind Natalie’s back. His lips quirk at the sight. She is becoming a force of nature herself. He only hopes she is nothing like he was at her age.
Once the apartment is empty save for himself, Calum gathers up clean clothes from his duffel bag and heads to the bathroom for a shower. He emerges fifteen minutes later and has just poured a cup of coffee when the phone rings where it hangs on the wall.
I have to get a cell phone, he thinks as he crosses the kitchen. He pulls the phone from the cradle and puts it to his ear. A familiar laugh fills his ear after he lets out a gruff greeting.
“I see you made it then.”
“Hey, Georgie. Yeah, got in yesterday.”
“And you couldn’t’a called your favorite aunt?”
He chuckles quietly and rubs at his forehead with his index finger and thumb. “Sorry. It’s been crazy.”
“Oh, I understand, kiddo.”
“Is she…?”
“She left,” Georgie says, and Calum lets out the breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. Something twinges beneath his breastbone, but he pushes it away to listen to his aunt. “Are you okay?”
“Am I—? Georgie, I just signed papers to get divorced. My life has just gone to Hell, but yeah, I’m doinggreat. Look, I have to go. I have things to do.”
“I understand. Just… Just remember, you always have a place to come back to.”
“There are too many memories there,” he replies shortly before hanging up.
He can never go back to Oak Creek. Rett lingers in everything there. She’s in the fresh spring air and the cool autumn breeze, the sultry nights of summer and the too-short winter days. Her voice lives in the rush of the river and the birdsong that fills the woods. The softness of her skin, the gentleness in her touch… It’s everywhere all at once and nowhere at all.
Loretta Cox has stained the entire fabric of the town, and Calum can never call it home again.
Sighing, Calum grabs his keys from the bowl by the front door and steps out into the humid hallway. He finds the key his mother gave him on his first visit after she moved in, quickly locking the door, and turns toward the stairs. The heat grows in intensity as he exits the building, and he squints in the brilliant sunlight and makes his way to his truck.
He was just here only a few months ago, but it feels different now. The sights are the same as they were at Christmas. The only thing that’s changed is him. He is different, and it’s all because of his signature.
Las Vegas is no Oak Creek, he thinks as he wanders aimlessly down the path in the local conservation park. The trees here aren’t the old, imposing oaks he’s known for the last eight years. The path isn’t the same worn dirt trail he walked thousands of times. Even the sunshine, the heat, the smell in the air… It’s all different.
Calum breathes in deeply, slowing to a stop, and links his fingers behind his head. Birds sing overhead, and a breeze rustles through the leaves. He closes his eyes and forces away the mental image of Rett sitting on a riverbank with a breeze just like this swirling her dark hair around her face. He can see soclearly the silver of her eyes shining in the sun as she idly reeled in a line. Never had he fished before Oak Creek, but she made it look like fun.
Natalie comes home to dinner on the table, courtesy of Calum and his inability to stay idle. His mother says nothing of his restlessness, but he can see the question in her eyes. He turns away, busying himself with grabbing cutlery from the drawer.
By the end of the week, Calum has a new job at a factory just off the Strip. He’s also bought a cellphone. He hasn’t talked to Georgie or Charles—anyone from Oak Creek. Not since his aunt told him that Rett had fled from her hometown once she got what she claimed she wanted. Calum does his best to pretend she doesn’t exist, that she never has, that she never stole his heart then gave it back in a million pieces. He devotes all of his time to work and to his family.
Time passes, as it does. The pain recedes during the day, but night brings the memories. The dark beckons for him to reminisce. To let in the memories and drown in them. He struggles against the siren song, falling into a restless sleep each night that leaves him worn out in the morning.
Natalie worries, he knows she does, but she isn’t one to talk to. She doesn’t understand, will never understand. So Calum keeps everything to himself. He’s good at that.
twenty-one
Rett
RETT SIGHS AND RUNS a hand over the short fur. Orpheus lets out a contented groan, melting further into the couch. She smiles tiredly and stretches out her legs to prop her bare feet on the coffee-table. Glittering pink polish adorns her toenails, and she wiggles her toes to watch the shimmer catch the sunlight streaming through the sliding glass door.
The bull terrier at her side grumbles when her fingers stop scratching lightly behind his ear. Rett lets out a soft laugh and resumes her task. It’s been over a month since she left Oak Creek once more with the papers signed and filed. She is now a divorced woman on the verge of marrying for the second time. At least this one will take, she thinks as the image of Austin’s face floats into her mind. She will never let him go.
Her phone rings from where it sits on the kitchen counter. Frowning, she looks at Orpheus.
“Who could that be?”
The dog barely peels his eyes open as he gives her a look as if to sayHow the Hell should I know?With a gentle pat to his side, Rett drops her feet to the floor and stands. Orpheus’s head drops back to the cushions, and she laughs quietly on her way to the other room. A familiar face fills her phone’s screen. A smile tugs at Rett’s lips as she unplugs the device and brings it to her ear.
