The usual tightness wrapped around her chest. “He says he’s fine.”
“But…”
Of course there was a but. Callie rounded the desk. “But I wish he’d let me take care of him more, like he did for me when I was in a hard situation. I want to help him.”
Her father was a stubborn man, but he was also kind and protective and the entire reason she’d come home.
Aspen dropped her leg to the floor and stepped forward, setting a hand on Callie’s arm. “You being hereishelping him. You’re his whole world, Callie.”
Guilt swamped her. Because it was true. She was his whole family, and he was hers, and she’d left him for two years. And during those two years, her father had started having symptoms and had to deal with them himself. It was only after he’d finally gotten his diagnosis that he’d told her.
“Thanks,” Callie said.
“Of course.” Aspen nibbled her bottom lip. “Now, there was also something else I wanted to talk to you about before I head out on my search for story inspiration.”
Callie’s belly dropped…because she knew exactly what her friend was going to ask. “I haven’t seen him yet.”
Aspen nodded slowly. “I did.”
Oh God, she didn’t want to talk about this. She’d heard he was home. In the small town of Misty Peak, it was impossible for anything to go unnoticed.
Lock was back. And every day since learning that, she’d almost been afraid to step out of her house. Eventually she’d run into him, and she was nervous as hell for that day.
“Where did you see him?” she finally asked.
“I was walking down the street near Meridian, and he was coming the other way with one of his brothers.”
She almost asked which one. Lock had four brothers and a sister. The sister no longer lived in Misty Peak, but all his brothers did.
“I think he was with Jace,” Aspen said, as if reading her mind. “The two of them seemed to be deep in conversation, and I almost thought they wouldn’t notice me. Then Lock looked up.”
His ocean-blue eyes flashed in her mind. The image cut off her breath. “Did you talk to him?”
“No. He stopped talking to his brother and almost looked like he wanted to say something to me, but I looked away and walked faster. It was for his own safety. If I’d stopped, I probably would have kicked him in the shin.”
She shouldn’t ask. She knew she shouldn’t, but… “How did he look?”
“The same. Tall. Broad. Serious. But also different.”
“Different how?”God, Callie, stop.
She lifted a shoulder. “I’m used to seeing him with you.”
What did that—
“And he was always happy with you.”
Her heart thumped. Yep, she really needed this conversation to be over. “You should go. You’ve got a book to write.” She went to step away, but Aspen grabbed her arm.
“Hey. I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“I’m sorry he’s back. I’m sorry that it’s going to be hard for you before it gets easy.”
It wasn’t hard. Hard was waking up at six a.m. while it was still dark outside. It was learning to play the piano when you’d never played an instrument before.
Being back in the same town as the man she’d loved more than anything in the world, only to have her heart broken, wasn’t hard. It was excruciating.
