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Shane would have to hear about the incident. For all she knew, he was already aware.
Agatha picked up her phone and stared at the screen as it lit up in the darkness.
“Expecting a call?” Thomas’s soft voice flitted toward her.
“No.”
The quiet filled the air between them. She could tell he was itching to ask her what she was doing looking at her phone this late at night. Heaving a sigh, she put the phone back on her seat. “I wonder if Shane heard about the fire.”
“Why would he even be up?”
She shrugged. “That young man has his fingers in everything. I wouldn’t be surprised if he bought out the local newspaper so he could control the narrative around his own company.”
Thomas eyed her. “I thought you said he was a good guy and an even better boss.”
“He’s amazing. But he’s also got a lot of money, and when a man has expendable income, they tend to manipulate the world around them to best fit their agenda. No one is immune to that. Not even Shane.”
Once again, he glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. “I don’t know. From what I have heard, the people in town idolize folks like Shane and Zeke Callahan.”
She rolled her eyes. “Don’t get me started on what your boss has hiding in his closet. And you were the one who told me about most of it.”
“Yeah? Well, maybe I was wrong. You heard what the chief said. Zeke Callahan might be protective, but at least he’s protective of a lot more than just himself. He cares about the town too. Doesn’t that make you like him just a little more?”
She shifted her gaze to the window in front of her, hands clasped even tighter in her lap. “I don’t have to like him. He’s not my boss. And as far as I’m concerned, I’m going to stay out of his hair. I’ll touch base with the motel in the morning and see if they have any long-term options, and then I’ll talk to Shane, too.”
“You can’t do that!”
She snorted. “Why not?”
“Because Zeke offered you an entire cabin to yourself. He’s not even going to make you pay rent. All those firefighters heard him do so. If you turn that down, do you know what kind of reputation you would get?”
Once again, she let out an unladylike snort. “I don’t really care what the town thinks of me. I’m not some simpering young woman who has to find a husband or risk losing everything she owns. We live in modern times, or have you forgotten that one little tidbit of information? I’m the one on the mortgage. I’m the one who has to file the insurance report. Me. I don’t have to be accountable to anyone else in this world or any other for that matter.”
The second she was done with her little speech, she sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly. She wasn’t overreacting. There was no such thing when she needed to provide for herself and the safety of her son. While the chief had allowed her to think of Mr. Callahan in a slightly better light, she wasn’t about to allow the man to infiltrate her thoughts and change her behavior.
She was about set in her thoughts when they pulled up in front of the large ranch house. She’d seen brief glimpses of the Callahan property when she’d come to pick Thomas up a few hours ago, but she’d been distracted by the party. Now as she stared at the house through the truck window, she actually had a moment to reflect. When the chief had said royalty, he wasn’t kidding. The house had an oversized porch wrapping clear around the whole thing. The paint was a classic white with accented shutters. Even in the dark, it looked impressive. If what she’d been told was true, then Mr. Callahan had built this whole place from the ground up, and he’d managed to keep it going despite raising seven girls all on his own.
She couldn’t help but feel the slightest degree of awe for the man.
What was wrong with her that up until this moment, she’d still been insisting that she didn’t need nor want to have anything to do with him? Clearly, this man had a lot more layers than he’d been letting on.
Just because rumors circulated around this man didn’t mean that he was exactly what everyone said he was.
Agatha got out of the truck and stood beside it, her eyes still drinking in the property. It wasn’t just the house that was impressive. He had several structures on the premises. There were at least two barns she could see in the distance. Then again, one might be something else. The property spread farther than her own, and she’d thought she’d lucked out when she bought the land from the previous owner.
“See? Didn’t I tell you that Mr. Callahan’s property was impressive? You only got to see the barn up close. It’s different when you’re here.”
She shot a look at her son out of the corner of her eye, not wanting to admit to him that she had been thinking something similar.
“And you’re not even seeing it in the day. When you came earlier, it was getting darker. Just wait until you see the sun come up over the horizon.”
“It’s still just a house,” she murmured. “And frankly, I’m beginning to miss ours already despite how much smaller it is.”
Thomas chuckled. “You’ll see what I mean when you get to take a real tour of the place.” There was awe in his voice as his gaze swept over the large house. She could see it in his eyes; he looked up to this man. But he barely knew the guy. How could he assume that Callahan was any better than the rest of them?
Agatha turned toward her son and took his hands in hers. She set her steely eyes on him, praying he would understand what she was about to say. “Having things… having power… it is all for nothing if you don’t have someone to share it with. One day you will find someone to share your life with, and it won’t matter if you live on a grand estate or in a tiny apartment. What will matter is the love you share with one another.”
Tom’s eyes dropped down to meet hers and he frowned. She could almost predict what was going to come out of his mouth next. “But you didn’t have that with Dad.”
