The Man She Once Knew (7 page)

C
ALLIE SIPPED
at her coffee as she stood in the backyard, watching a couple of birds fussing over the water in Miss Margaret’s birdbath. She’d been up since before dawn, unable to settle as she wondered how she and David could possibly work together. What had she been thinking? She didn’t know this man, and she’d gotten her life tangled up with his again, simply on the basis of a child’s assurance and a long-ago memory.

Okay, that and the mystery of a wooden angel.

Finding out more about the carving was last on her list of items to discuss now, though. She should stay as far away from the personal as possible. David clearly wished the same, and she operated better without emotion herself.

Distance, that was the key. Professionalism.

There was, however, the small matter of his freedom. She missed her Internet connection; with one, she could e-mail Randy Capwell instead of having to wait until office hours to call him. If, that is, he had e-mail access himself. Surely, he did, though. Georgia wasn’t the dark side of the moon, however much Oak Hollow felt like it at times.

Though Callie had no evidence to suggest that David would cooperate in his defense, that was no reason for her to give up. She was not a quitter, and by the end of the day she hoped to be on Capwell’s team, at least long enough to get the case on track. If she had to manage the defense herself, she would, even if it meant doing it long-distance. David might believe his case was hopeless, but she could not settle for doing less than everything in her power to clear him, if he were indeed innocent.

Not that his attitude gave her any reason to have hope. Everyone deserved a solid defense, though. If David was guilty, then he should go back to prison. But if not…she had to try her best to clear him. He hadn’t hesitated to take her side all those years ago, and she wouldn’t be able to live with herself if she didn’t return the favor.

A flutter of wings drew her out of her preoccupation as the birds launched into the sky. Suddenly she heard a cat scream, and another one growling.

She nearly dropped her cup in her haste, but righted it before it fell off the porch rail. She charged toward some tall bushes at the edge of the garden, and rounded them. “Hey!”

For a second, the two cats scattered, but then the black-and-white one pounced on the beat-up, scarred old yellow tom. The attacker was young and sleek, and determined, it appeared, to ignore her presence.

She wasn’t at all sure getting between them was smart, but there was something about the old cat that roused her sense of indignation. He seemed weak but was still trying
to defend himself. When he bared his teeth, she could see that one of the long ones was missing.

“Get out!” she yelled at the bully, who paid her no mind. Callie searched the ground and found a branch that she hoped would be sturdy enough. She moved closer and jabbed at the aggressor. “Leave him alone!”

He turned and snarled, but at least he had let go of the old one.

Emboldened, she stabbed again. “Go away. Shoo!”

At last he scampered off, hissing his displeasure.

She expected the other to run, too. He tried, but his left back leg wouldn’t cooperate. “Oh.” She started toward him.

“Don’t.”

She jolted as she recognized David’s voice behind her. Despite her resolutions, her heart did a slow somersault as she turned.

She still couldn’t get over the metamorphosis from lanky boy to tall, muscular man. He had a presence about him that took up residence right beneath her skin, whether she wanted it to or not.

“Why not?”

“You have no idea what’s wrong with that animal. He might have rabies. He could attack you if you get too close. Let him be.”

“But he’s hurt. I can’t just—”

“You’d better. Come on. Walk off so he knows he doesn’t have to defend himself from you. See if he can make it on his own.”

“But—”

He raised an eyebrow. “You plan on taking him back to the city with you?”

How could she? Pets weren’t allowed in her building, even if she had time to care for one. And moving an old cat from this beautiful place to the city…“I guess not.”

He studied her for a moment. “Nature doesn’t have a bleeding heart.”

“Neither do I.” She hadn’t thought so anyway.

David walked around her, peered behind the bush. “There. He’s gone.”

“But that other cat—”

“The way of the world.” He shrugged it off so easily.

She couldn’t do the same, making a mental note to leave some food out in case the injured cat returned.

Then she pulled her attention back to the moment. “You’re early.” She glanced at her wrist. Only seven o’clock.

The rising sun slanted over his face, throwing his rugged, handsome features into relief. “You didn’t say a time.” His jaw muscles flexed. “Thought I remembered you as an early riser.”

And just like that, the past was a living, breathing entity between them.
Thought I remembered you
…He’d been an early bird, too, and he’d sometimes shared breakfast with her at Miss Margaret’s before he’d driven her to school during that fall and winter after the summer that had changed both their lives.

Beneath the bill of his cap, his eyes were too shadowed for her to glean any sense of his mood.
Strictly business
, she reminded herself, but perhaps common
courtesy would ease the tension between them. “Would you like a cup of coffee?”

He shook his head.

“I haven’t eaten yet. Would you—shall I fix you some breakfast, too?”

Another curt shake. “Just give me your list, and I’ll get started.”

“I—I thought we could visit each house together. I’d like to hear your opinions as we go through them.”

The blasted cap prevented her from seeing his expression, but the stiffness of his shoulders told her a lot, none of it encouraging. “Then I’ll work on things around here until you’re done.” He stalked away before she could respond.

Damn you, David. Stop being a hard-ass.
She didn’t know whether to put him in his place with a reminder of who was working for whom or leave him alone, as he clearly preferred.

She watched him go, recalling the glimpse she’d had of his despair, his certainty that he was doomed, and found enough patience to say nothing. She should eat to fortify herself for what was certain to be a difficult day. Meanwhile, there was no question that much was needed here at Miss Margaret’s to repair the place.

Callie went inside. And left him alone.

V
ISIT EACH HOUSE
. Together.

Of course she couldn’t possibly just hand him a damn list. Couldn’t let him be and trust him—not when she had put herself in charge of his whole life, now, could she?

No, she had to stand there in front of him, with those big brown calf eyes he’d never fully erased from his mind, the curves of a grown woman replacing the young teen’s, with the scent of some expensive perfume that could make a man want to howl at the moon.

Didn’t she understand how long he’d been locked up without a woman? How he’d tried losing himself with a stranger one time, only to discover that the purely physical release left him more empty than ever?

Then Callie showed up, and she was nothing like before—
nothing
—yet she kept dragging the past out of the box where he’d had it so firmly locked away.

This isn’t you. What’s going on, David?

She was gutsy, just as she had been at fourteen, but there was strength in her that she hadn’t possessed before. That strength was too tempting to lean on—he hadn’t relied on another soul in more years than he could count, and he couldn’t start now.

You didn’t start the fight with Patton.
Her certainty had a lure all its own, if only he could believe in it. She was a temporary fixture in his life, though, and he didn’t trust her motives. Something was off-kilter with her, though he couldn’t put a finger on it. He didn’t have faith in what he didn’t know—hell, he didn’t have faith in anything, period. The stupid, idealistic boy had learned a lot of harsh lessons behind prison walls, and one of the most enduring was that everyone had a breaking point. No one was as strong as they thought.

He’d go back to jail because he had no choice, and he could survive it again, but he had to enter that zone
again where he didn’t consider the future and didn’t remember the past. He just lived moment by moment until enough days and weeks and years had passed that his time was done.

But hope might very well break him.

Callie, with those big eyes and that slender body and that will of steel, wanted him to hope. Had some crazy idea of defending him. Wouldn’t be scared off, however hard he tried to shove her away.

He couldn’t say if he’d loved her when they were kids. He’d felt sorry for her, but then, lusting after her, acting on it, had robbed them both of the chance to grow into love. They’d hopped on the high-speed train to adulthood when neither was ready for it.

They’d survived the train wreck, but just barely.

He’d teed off on her unfairly the other day, accusing her of ruining his life. His attraction to her, his own decisions had done that.

But here she was in his life again, and she wouldn’t get the hell out. Her courage was as magnetic as her beauty, and he could afford to respond to neither.

She was too damn gutsy for her own good, and he couldn’t explain to her why he would have to keep shoving her away.

The stakes were too high if he didn’t.

C
ALLIE WASHED
her breakfast dishes and couldn’t help looking out the window over the sink more times than she should have.

David was on a ladder, reattaching the gutter to one
corner of the house. From a sheer physical standpoint, he was an impressive specimen.

From a personality standpoint…not so much.

She heard a shout, and his head whipped around. When Jessie Lee skipped into view, his face was transformed by his smile, and Callie’s hands fell slack as she watched.

He became another person with Jessie Lee, grinning and teasing as the girl danced around the ladder, gesturing wildly as if telling a story that amused both of them.

Callie couldn’t have been more shocked. Or more seized by longing. This was the man her David could have grown up to be.

Was she the difference, the reason he was so surly and distant? Was his resentment reserved solely for her?

Not that she could blame him. The chain of events that had led to his prison sentence wasn’t yet clear to her, but there seemed no question that her arrival in Oak Hollow that fateful summer had been the first link. If she hadn’t gone out of her way to strut herself in front of him—the town’s golden boy, an irresistible target for a girl who fancied herself bad to the bone—would he have granted her a second’s attention?

She’d never understood exactly why he’d wanted to spend time with her back then, except for the obvious attraction a willing girl presented to a hot-blooded teenage boy. He’d kept his hands off her with amazing restraint, though, until they’d formed a bond made of long walks over these mountains and quiet conversations of a surprising depth. By the time they’d gone all
the way, she’d fancied herself in love with him, even knowing that their romance was drawing to a close.

If it had all ended there, how would they have remembered each other? Who would they be now?

Callie watched David with Jessie Lee and couldn’t pinpoint exactly what it was about him that drew her so.

Deeply unsettled by him, whatever the reason, she finished the dishes without looking outside again. Then she headed for the phone to call Randy Capwell to make a case for her participation in David’s defense.

“I’
M PLEASED
to meet you, Mrs. Chambers,” Callie said to Jessie Lee’s grandmother a little while later.

The older woman fingered her apron. “If it’s about the rent…”

“It isn’t. We’re here to inspect the condition of the property. I want to have a full picture of what repairs need to be done.”

Mrs. Chambers glanced past Callie to the silent man at her side. Callie might not have noticed the slight shake of his head had Jessie Lee not spilled the beans when they first met. Callie started to speak but glimpsed Jessie Lee’s pleading eyes.

Callie frowned but went along. “Mr. Langley has agreed to help me survey the properties, since what I know about construction wouldn’t fill a teacup.” She smiled to put the older woman at ease. “My guess is that as Miss Margaret’s health declined, she might not have expended as much energy maintaining the properties. If you have concerns, please let me know.”

“House is fine, just fine.”

Even an unpracticed eye could see that the outside needed painting, so Callie persisted. “Are you certain there’s nothing?”

Mrs. Chambers’s hand tightened on her apron. “I’m positive. No need to spend any money here.” Even Jessie Lee and David tensed.

Then it hit her what the problem might be. Hadn’t she been a renter often enough herself to know that when landlords had to pay out money, the rent went up? “Might I speak with you in private, Mrs. Chambers?”

The older woman didn’t answer immediately. Squaring her shoulders as if to ward off a threat, she stepped aside in the doorway. “Come in. Jessie Lee, you stay outside with David.”

Callie felt the protest from the man in question, though not a word was spoken. She shrugged it off. She was the outsider and not to be trusted. If she were to cross that hurdle, she had to do it on her own. “Your home is lovely,” she said to soften the awkwardness. It was painfully neat and scrubbed within an inch of its life, the shabby furniture softened by a jelly glass full of flowers on the coffee table.

“Would you like some coffee?”

“No, thank you. I’ve already exceeded my limit.” Callie smiled and sat. “Please, Mrs. Chambers. I’m not here to cause you problems, I promise.” Observing the guarded expression, she went on. “First of all, let me tell you that I have no intention of raising the rent.” As the woman seemed to relax slightly, Callie heartened. “I’m
new at this, Mrs. Chambers. I’m just feeling my way. I’ve never owned a home, and neither did my mother. I can only imagine what it’s like for you to be raising a growing child, and it’s not my intention to make your life harder.” She paused to smile. “She’s a wonderful girl. You must be proud.”