“I’d return the compliment if I thought for one minute you meant it.”
The delusional pooch let out a mouthful of yappy barks. Joel ignored it.
“I’ll just leave you two alone,” the woman said, her voice deep and husky.
“Please don’t leave on my account,” Joel told her. “I won’t be staying long.”
“Why not?” Callaghan asked. “And by the way, I go by Callie now, and this is my sister Coco.”
“Nice to meet you,” Joel told her, putting out his hand as a gesture of friendship, only she didn’t take it.
“I should go,” she said, as Joel quickly turned toward Callaghan, feeling about as awkward as a chicken that had walked into a fox den.
The women hugged, then Coco began to walk away, but not before the little dog bared its teeth once more.
Joel chuckled at its spunk. “I don’t think that dog likes me.”
“He’s just emulating my feelings,” Callaghan said.
“Ouch!” Joel jerked his head as if he’d been slapped.
Callaghan or Callie wasn’t amused.
“What are you doing here, Joel?”
“I’m living in Briggs now, with Sarah’s aunt Polly. We’re fixing up the Double S Ranch. It needs a load of work, but with a little elbow grease, it’s coming along.” He knew the work on the ranch was much more than he’d anticipated or knew how to fix, but he didn’t like to admit it out loud.
He shifted his hat on his head.
Joel wasn’t used to wearing a cowboy hat. The thing weighed heavy on his head and caused him to want to adjust it all the time. Plus, his feet hurt from the new boots he’d decided to wear and he didn’t particularly like the pinch of the belt he wore, let alone the buckle that poked him in the stomach every time he bent over.
Truth be told, he was about as uncomfortable in his cowboy getup as a cat in a bucket of water.
“Takes a lot of grit for you guys to show up in Briggs and want to settle down here after all that’s happened.”
She wrapped her arms across her chest and began pacing just as the first spray of sparkling lights exploded in the sky behind her. He could tell she was saying something, but he couldn’t quite make it out over the noise coming from the rapid fire of the fireworks display.
Just as well, the look on her face as she spoke told him she wasn’t praising his decision to move to Briggs. No warm and fuzzy for him. No welcome mat or welcome anything. Instead, she seemed to be reciting the riot act, which he deserved, but was glad he couldn’t hear.
There was a break in the action so Joel tried to jump in and tell her she was wasting her breath. “Callie, I’m afraid...”
But she cut him off before he could get a full sentence out.
“You should be afraid...” she said, and went on with her muffled tirade.
She finished at almost the exact same time the last of the fireworks burst in the sky, causing a visceral reaction in him as he remembered another time when they’d watched fireworks together, naked, from the tiny deck outside his apartment off campus. They’d just finished making love when the Fourth of July fireworks had started at the local stadium. She had been hesitant to step out on the deck without even a blanket to cover her body, but Joel had assured her no one was around...until they spotted Old Man Greely peering at her from across the courtyard.
Joel immediately stood in front of her, but by then, Callaghan told him it was too late, so instead she twirled around a few times and danced back inside, undoubtedly giving Mr. Greely the time of his life.
“I’m sure I deserve everything you just said and possibly more,” Joel told her, glad he hadn’t been able to hear any of it.
“That’s your answer?” Her shoulders went down as she shuffled her feet.
“What was the question?”
“What are you doing here, Joel?”
“Like I said, I’m living here now, settling in with Polly Sloan and my little girl, Emma.”
“And where’s that wife of yours? Oh, wait, don’t tell me. She’s dumped you for another man. Maybe there is karma in this world after all.”
Her comment sliced through his heart, pulling the last breath out of his soul. He assumed... He never suspected for a moment... In a small town like this where news had to travel like greased lightning, it didn’t seem possible that she didn’t know the truth about what happened to Sarah.
His stomach clenched. “I assumed you knew, Callie. I never for a moment thought you...”
“What? Heard that your wife ran out on you? No. I didn’t know, but your showing up here without her can only mean one thing. She left you with a child to raise while she went off with another guy. Is that about right?”
He knew Callaghan well enough to see that hidden under all her bravado, she was still hurting. He didn’t know quite how to tell her what had happened to Sarah, how to break it to her gently. He decided instead to simply come out and say it.
“Callie, Sarah died six months ago in a small plane accident. I thought you knew. I’m so sorry.”
* * *
IT FELT AS if someone had punched Callie in the stomach and forced out all the air in her lungs. She took in a deep, ragged breath. Her eyes instantly reflected her emotion. She tried to control the tears, but it seemed impossible to do.
“I had no idea, Joel. I’m so sorry. What happened?”
As Joel sucked in a breath to answer her question, a blond-haired little girl, with those same sky blue eyes that Joel had, with traces of pink cotton candy on her cheeks, appeared behind him, running full out.
“Daddy! Daddy! Did you see the fireworks? Weren’t they beautiful, Daddy? Which ones did you like best? I liked the great big red ones that burst into spinning stars. Those were my favorite. You should’ve come back, Daddy. We waited for you, but you didn’t come back like you promised.”
Joel ignored all her questions and instead swooped the child up in his arms and settled her on his hip.
“I’m sorry, kitten, but I’d like you to meet someone I knew a long time ago.”
The child wrapped her arms around her dad’s neck and nestled her head on his shoulder. “I don’t want to meet anybody, Daddy. I just want to go home with you and Auntie Polly.”
Callie suddenly felt awkward and out of place. Obviously, she was the intruder in this child’s world.
“That’s not very nice, Emma,” Joel whispered to his daughter. “I taught you better than that. Where are your manners?”
“I’m tired, Daddy. I want to go home.” She balled up her hands and rubbed her tearful eyes. Callie couldn’t tell if her fatigue was genuine or if she was trying to manipulate her dad. Either way, Callie wanted the awkward meeting to end.
“It’s okay,” Callie told him, not wanting to intrude on Joel and his child.
“I apologize,” Joel told Callie. “She’s usually not like this.”
“I’m sure it’s been a long day for her...for me, too. I’ll be heading home soon, as well.”
“See, Daddy, even the lady wants to go home.”
“Okay, baby,” Joel said as he rubbed Emma’s back. “But first could you at