AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He frowns in thought, trying to piece together the logic of my statement, and walks away. This should take him a while to figure out, since what I said makes no sense.
“I’m pretty sure that’s not how the past works,” Dave comments, but he seems happier, which was what I was going for.
“Eh, history is rewritten all the time,” I reply, and then I motion to the hotdogs on the grill. “These are ready and cheese free if you don’t want to wait.”
His tone is casual, but there’s something deeper in his eyes when he answers, “I don’t mind waiting.”
Not wanting to unpack that in front of Steven and Jack, I announce brightly, “One cheeseless burger, coming up!”
It doesn’t take too long for the new burger to cook, and Dave is sent on his way so the next person can be served.
Casually and not so casually, different guests come by and chat, telling me stories and explaining inside jokes, parceling out James’s history. It’s different from my welcome home party, where everyone was trying to trigger memories that no longer existed. This time, it’s done like a highlight reel, each person explaining how we’re connected.
For the first time, everyone treats me like I’m someone new, separate from the James they remember. It feels right, as if I’m sharing the day with him. We’re celebrating who he was while I’m also free to be me. I share the “new” things about myself since the accident, like my sudden gift with math and my interest in robotic engineering. Steven beams with pride, bragging how I’m getting privately tutored by one of my teachers because I’m so far beyond my classmates. It’s nice to hear him excited about something I’m actually good at. I’m trying with baseball, but no amount of training will put me on the same level as James. He was truly gifted.
Donovan, Connor, and Nolan keep to themselves for the most part, not really gelling with everyone else. Even on their best behavior, they stand out, something about them marking them as other or more than the rest of us. It never occurred to me how much effort they put in to blend in every day, and what it meant that they invited me, an ordinary human, into their circle. Kaleb is running himself ragged to fit the mold of “normal,” a never-ending balancing act of being exceptional within the proper confines of expectation. He’s wearing his “on” face, smiling and pleasant, and I just want to tell him it’s okay to sit down with the rest of the guys. For just a little while, he can relax and be himself.
I’m starting to get the hang of things when Callie comes outside with a pensive look on her face that turns into a forced smile when she sees me. Handing the grilling responsibilities back over to the pros, I walk over and pull her into my arms. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” she answers with a shake of her head, but it’s a poor lie.
Knowing I’m not going to find any privacy out here, I lead her back inside and toward the stairs. Teammates joke that we shouldn’t stay up there too long, because it’s not that kind of party. I laugh awkwardly, which I hate. It’s a nervous reaction instead of what I should do, which is to tell them to shut the hell up. However, Callie is distressed, and I’d rather get to the bottom of what’s going on with her.
Once we reach my bedroom, I tug her inside and close the door. “It’s just us. What’s going on?”
She wrings her fingers together and looks around the room. “You know, I’ve never been up here.”
I pull her against me, her back to my chest, and kiss the top of her head. Gently turning her at the waist, I point at various things in the room. “There’s the TV, the closet, the bed, the desk, and…” I spin us all the way around. “The dresser. You’ve now had the full tour of my bedroom.”
“Lots of green,” she comments, leaning back to observe the forest green striped wallpaper.
“James’s favorite color,” I explain, resting my head on top of hers. “It’s starting to grow on me.”
Callie places her hands on top of mine. “What’s yours?”
“Orange, but like the darker burnt orange, not the neon, highlight color,” I answer and flex my fingers out until they intertwine with hers. “Are you going to tell me what happened?”
“It’s nothing,” she repeats, but there’s a hitch in her voice. “I’m just being sensitive, and I don’t want to ruin today for you.”
My jaw clenches, but I do my best to keep my voice even. “Who said what?”
Her shoulders droop as she sighs. “After I left Jayden playing with his toys, I was going to offer Sandra some help, and I overheard her talking to her sister, Kathy, in the kitchen.”
“About?” I press, disappointed that the little progress we made as mother and son earlier is about to be dashed.
Gently extracting my hands from her, she moves to sit on the side of my bed and begins running the hem of her dress between her fingers. “I think she misses Bree. They seemed to have a really close relationship, and I’m not her.”
I kneel in front of Callie, resting my hands on her bare knees and ignoring the impulse to slide them up her thighs. Having a libido again is really distracting sometimes. “What did she say?”
“She said that… she wished you two could have worked it out,” Callie answers reluctantly, chewing on her bottom lip.
“And what else?” I ask, knowing that alone wouldn’t distress her to this degree.
Her dress falls over my fingers when she releases the hem to cross her arms. This does nothing to help my distracted state, since I’m eye level with her cleavage. “It was implied that there is only one reason a teenage boy would choose to be with a girl who has multiple boyfriends.”
Feeling guilty, I rip my hands away and sit next to her on the bed. “You know that’s not true, right?”
Callie looks at me like I said the dumbest thing ever. “Of course I know it isn’t true. You’ve seen all of the horrible things I’ve been through firsthand. If all you wanted was sex, then there are much easier ways to go about it, even as a ghost.”
