She brightened immediately. “Remember Clay?”
My blood chilled instantly. “Clay Callahan?”
Nodding excitedly, her face betrayed every emotion flitting through her mind. “I always thought he was handsome, but when I ran into him in town yesterday, I couldn’t believe he actually wanted to see me.”
“Billie—”
“I know he’s not all there anymore, but he was so sweet when he asked me out. I just couldn’t say no.”
The thought of her going anywhere near the Callahan family made my gut twist with unease. Wyatt was okay, but Clay? He was always around Austin. I wasn’t even sure he could be considered a functioning adult, which meant Austin was most likely behind him asking her out.
“Billie, I don’t like the idea of you meeting Clay.”
“Why not?” Her good mood instantly vanished. “Because he’s not Liam? Is he not good enough for me?”
“No, but his brother?—”
“You work for Wyatt, Bailey. How could you be so judgmental?”
“Listen,” I snapped, getting her attention. “You don’t know this because you’ve been gone for the past four years, but the family has only gotten meaner as time goes on. Clay doesn’t even function likean adult, which means Austin is most likely behind him asking you to meet him.”
But my sister was never one to listen to reason. In fact, if I told her the sky was blue, she would argue with me just because she could.
“Right. He couldn’t possibly be interested in me for me. It has to be that someone else is putting him up to it.”
“Yeah, it does when Clay has the mental capacity of a ten-year-old,” I argued. “I’m telling you, something isn’t right here.”
“You know, it’s just like you to try and ruin this for me. Just like you did when Colt liked me. He wasn’t good enough for me either, but now he has his own butcher shop.”
“Colt is ten years older than you, and when you wanted to date him, you were a senior in high school.”
Scoffing, she stomped up the stairs. “He would have been perfect for me.”
“Well, you have your chance now. Go ask him out. You’re an adult and perfectly capable of asking any man out!”
She stiffened at my words. “He’s already seeing someone.”
I rolled my eyes as she stomped into the house. My little sister had the uncanny ability to convince herself that anyone she had a crush on also had a crush on her. Colt had never been interested in her, and when Brody told him about Billie’s crush, the man laughed and assumed he was joking.
But there was no point in arguing any further about any of this. If Billie wanted to see Clay, she was going to find a way to go.
“Momma?” I called out as I walked through the front door.
As expected, she scurried out of the kitchen, her whole demeanor different from the last time I saw her. She no longer wore her hair up to test a new style. She wore her pajamas she only put on when she was depressed, and the house smelled of chicken noodle soup—something she only made when she was sick or if someone was sad—i.e., me.
But I didn’t give her the sad version of Bailey she expected.
“Hey, Momma!”
“Oh, my baby,” she whispered, her lip trembling as she hurried over to me and wrapped me in a warm hug that only she could give.
It took everything in me not to fall apart like I wanted to. After all, I was strong, and I would not let a man tear me to pieces.
But as she held me in her arms, all I wanted to do was break. I hadn’t expected that. I thought I would come over here and the very sight of her sad face would put me into fight mode.
How wrong I was.
“Oh, this looks like a mother/daughter moment,” Billie frowned. “I think I should slip out and give you two some space to talk.”
