I want to be as strong as Callie. She’s the most resilient person I know. When Isabel passed, it took her all of a week to move back to Roots. One month later, she was asking me to invest in her coffee shop.
“Rhett, I don’t know what it will take to get through to you, but I promise you, one day I will. What happened to your parents wasn’t your fault. They were adults who maybe weren’t ready to have a child. What happened with Isabel wasn’t your fault either. You’re allowed to disagree with your girlfriend once in a while, and your fight had nothing to do with her getting t-boned in the Uber that night. You deserve another chance at love.”
I take a step back. I’ve never seen Callie outraged like this. Even after Isabel’s accident, she seemed pretty even keel. She’d tear up on occasion in front of me, but she always tried to suppress her emotions around me until now.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper, desperate to ease the tension.
“Don’t apologize. I just wish you could see yourself the way everyone else does. You’re so amazing. Your parents divorced when you were little and basically disowned you just because you were following your heart and got engaged young. Then you lost your fiancé a matter of months later. Yet here you are, thriving. You’ve helped me with my dream of opening a café with Isabel. You do incredible work at Copper Hill. You bake the most delicious desserts. You’ve helped countless people around town. You were there for me when we lost Isabel even though you were hurting just as badly. You’ve helped Olivia in so many more ways than I think you realize. You have a beautiful heart. I believe Olivia is worthy of that heart, and I promise you that you are plenty worthy of her too. You are plenty worthy of any woman.”
I’m speechless. I don’t know what I expected when I showed up at Callie’s door, but it wasn’t this.
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” Her words still sound angry, like she’s caught up in all the frustration she’s probably been holding in for a couple of years now. “One more thing. If you can’t give love a shot for yourself, then do it for Isabel. She would’ve wanted you to be happy. Sometimes I picture her watching us down here, and I think about how disappointed she must be.” Tears flood her eyes, but they don’t fall yet. “I just know she would’ve wanted you to be happy, and yes, you’ve done a lot of incredible things, but you’ve been doing them all alone. She wouldn’t want that for you. She’d want you to be with someone like Olivia who lights you up inside and out. I feel like I’m not doing my job if I don’t make sure you know that.”
“I’m not your responsibility. You know that, right?”
“I do, but it was always about Isabel when I was growing up. Even after she’s gone, it’s hard to shake that.” She swipes at her eyes. “My shit doesn’t matter though. Whatdoesmatter is that you deserve to be happy, and you need to recognize that you’re worthy. Can you repeat that to me, please? I need you to say it and believe it.”
“Are you serious?”
“Yes! Say it. ‘I deserve to be happy, and I am worthy of happiness.’”
I frown and cross my arms but follow her directions anyway. “I deserve to be happy, and I am worthy of happiness.”
For the first time since I showed up, she smiles. “Good! I’m going to make you keep saying that to me every day, a hundred times a day until it finally settles into that stubborn brain of yours.”
“That’s not?—”
“I’m not letting you talk me out of this. I’m so serious right now. Stop getting in your own dang way. Let yourself be happy.”
As much as her words are opening things up for me, it’s still hard to hear them after years of putting myself down and blaming myself. After years of believing I’m broken and a monster, it’s crazy to hear that someone who knows the full truth about me still believes I deserve to be happy.
I pull her in for a tight squeeze. “Thank you. I needed to hear this, even if I don’t fully believe it yet.”
“I’ll help you work on it.”
“Seriously, thank you.” I pull back. “One more thing.”
She raises her eyebrows. “Now you’re getting greedy. I only have so much wisdom to share.”
“How do I go forward with Olivia? I just pulled back from a kiss tonight, and she’s supposed to leave in six weeks. Is there even any chance of recovering from what I did? Wouldn’t I be a fool to try to put myself out there now?”
“I’m not so sure Olivia is going to leave. I know what she said tonight, but you have to look at it from her perspective. We already know she will give up her happiness for the sake of those around her, and she values stability. She isn’t just going to jump into staying in Roots until she knows she can make it happen and do so while making everyone around her happy too. Maybe if she knew she’d have the support of a man she cares about, she’d be more willing to stay.” She winks.
“Okay, so I need to figure out a feasible way for her to stay here.”
“Yes, but first you need to tell her the truth, even if it’s little by little. I don’t think you’ll ever allow yourself to be all in with her until you know she accepts you. Relationships are about being vulnerable. You need to open yourself up to her if you two have any chance at being something.”
Even as I recognize the truth in her words, I feel my stomach sink.What if Callie is wrong? What if Olivia doesn’t accept me for all that I am, for everything that has happened in my past? What if she still wants to leave after I open up to her? Can I even recover from that?
Callie begins shaking her head. “I see those wheels turning. Don’t get in your head. Olivia has shadows too. She will understand.”
I can barely hear at this point. My mind is already going a mile a minute. I need to find a way to provide Olivia with the stability she craves in this little town.
ChapterThirty-Five
Olivia
