She smiles and nods. “Okay. As long as I get to spend time with this gorgeous nugget.” She wipes the chocolate mess from Conner’s face with a napkin.
When we get back to the house, I give her a tour. It’s a nice enough place. A big living room with high ceilings and massive windows that looks out onto Prospect Park. A nice kitchen with funky blue granite countertops and cherry cabinets. A small office with built-in bookcases, which are empty because, other than my clothes and my laptop, everything stayed at Ashleigh’s. Upstairs my master bedroom spans the whole front of the house. It has huge windows, a walk-in closet and a giant bathroom complete with Jacuzzi tub and separate marble and glass shower you could comfortably fit five people in at the same time.
The other two bedrooms are fair sizes and share a nice bathroom between them. She makes a face as she walks from one bedroom through the bathroom and into the other. I’m panicked suddenly that she’s changing her mind about staying here. I know it’s stark—just a queen bed on a metal frame and a dresser—but surely it has to be more appealing than a motel in Jersey.
“Which room is Conner’s?” she asks me.
“This one. See the teddy bear on the bed? That’s Sid. He’s Conner’s favorite. He brings him every time he comes over,” I explain.
Callie smiles at that but then her face gets serious. “Sid isn’t enough, Dev. This room is stark and bare. It’s unwelcoming.”
“Well, it’s not permanent,” I say defensively.
“He doesn’t get that,” she replies and starts pointing around the room. “There should be toys over there and a poster of something he likes above the bed, and some color. Something fun and happy. He has to stay here. He should feel comfortable.”
“You think that will make him want to sleep here?”
She nods emphatically and pats my shoulder reassuringly. “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of it,” she tells me and turns to Conner, who is sitting on the hardwood floor. He looks up at her. She walks over and squats down in front of him. “I’m going to go get my stuff and check out of my motel and then I’ll come back and we can have a campout! Does that sound like fun?”
“A campout?” he asks in his inquisitive three-year-old voice.
She smiles brightly “Yep. We’ll make a fort in the living room and eat s’mores and have a sleepover.”
“With Mommy and Daddy?” he asks hopefully.
“Daddy will be there but Mommy can’t be,” she says simply, like it’s no big deal at all. “But you’ll have me and Sid. Is that okay?”
He thinks about it for all of three seconds and grins. “Okay!”
Callie stands up and smiles at me. “I’ll be back in a couple hours.”
She starts for the stairs. I don’t know for sure that this sleepover idea is going to work but Conner honestly seems okay with it.
“There’s an extra set of keys on the table in the hall. And Callie?” She glances up at me, her long, dark hair dangling behind her. “Thank you.”
She smiles. “Don’t thank me.”
She disappears out the door. I pick up Conner and carry him down to the living room. I feel better. Not much better, but a little bit better. And I’ll take anything right now.
Chapter 4
Callie
My first day on my new show was coming to an end. It had lasted fourteen hours. I was used to the long hours from previous wardrobe jobs but the jet lag and the chill of New York fall—which feels freezing to me thanks to my years in Los Angeles—and the crick in my neck from sleeping on Devin’s living room floor under a bedsheet, broom and cushion tent with Conner made the day harder than normal.
Luckily, on my way in this morning Rose had called me back. I’d left her two messages last night. Luc’s team was on an eastern road trip and she and some of the other wives and girlfriends—WAGs, as they were nicknamed in hockey—had tagged along to bond with each other and go to the games. Last night they’d been in Boston. Tomorrow they would be in Philly. I told her about Devin and Ashleigh. It was a horrible conversation to have with her, and listening to her relay it all to Luc made it even worse, but it had to be done.
“Are you absolutely positive?” Rose had asked me after I heard Luc in the background repeating “No way. No fucking way. She’s mistaken. Ashleigh would never.”
“Well, I didn’t actually see her banging him, but when I accused her of it, she didn’t deny it or even try to look innocent or shocked,” I replied, exasperated. “What does Luc want me to do, go back and get cell phone pictures of his dick actually inside her?”
“Callie!” Rose complained. She’s never been as crass as I am. “I don’t know…I just…I think he can’t believe she would do this to Devin. I know I can’t.”
“He deserves to know,” I said firmly.
“Callie.” Luc was suddenly the voice on the other end of my cell; clearly he had taken the phone from Rose. “It’s just a lot to take in. I’ll…I’ll deal with it. I’ll help Devin…but give me a minute to figure out what to do, okay?”
“Sure. Yeah,” I told him.
