The Resolution of Callie & Kayden(49)

I’m watching him like a hawk, waiting for him to show a sign that will let me know what the f*ck is going on.

‘Kayden, why don’t you come help me move the sofa,’ Liz suddenly says, pushing back from the table. ‘I’ve been dying to rearrange the living room and could use an extra pair of strong arms.’

I don’t bother pointing out that it’d be easier if Dylan and I moved it since clearly she’s trying to get me out of the kitchen and away from Dylan and the phone call.

‘Okay …’ I hesitantly get up from the chair and follow her out of the kitchen and into the living room.

‘So how are you doing?’ she asks as I reach down to grab the side of the sofa.

‘Good, I guess.’ I give a glance over my shoulder to the kitchen before I raise my side of the sofa up, intentionally bearing most of the weight because, like Callie, Liz is short and slender. But she seems to hold her own as she lifts her side up with almost the same ease as me.

‘Just good?’ she asks as she spins us in the opposite direction.

I shrug, letting out a loud exhale as we set the sofa down. ‘It’s been fun visiting you guys.’

She wipes the sweat from her brow. ‘I don’t mean with this trip,’ she says. ‘I mean this thing with your mom and dad.’

I’m not sure how to respond and thankfully, I don’t have to because Dylan comes walking into the living room. He’s got his phone in his hand and covering the receiver. ‘Um …’ he struggles, ‘she wants to talk to you.’

He doesn’t have to say who she is. I know it’s my mother and I jerk back like he hit me. ‘N-no,’ I stammer weakly. ‘I don’t want to talk to her.’

He looks torn by how to reply, but I think it’s because arguing with my mom is the worst thing possible since, in her eyes, she’s always right. ‘Um …’

‘Dylan, you shouldn’t even ask him,’ Liz hisses. ‘Just tell her no.’

Dylan blinks like he snapped out of a trance then quickly puts the phone to his ear. ‘He’s not going to talk to you.’

I’m not sure what she says to him, but his shoulders look heavier with each second that ticks by. When he finally hangs up, he looks like a hunched over old man as he slumps onto the sofa Liz and I just moved. He lowers his head into his hands and presses his palms to his eyes.

‘What did the evil bitch want now?’ Liz asks, sitting behind Dylan. I decide right then and there that I like Liz.

‘She wanted to tell us that’ – he lifts his head and looks at me – ‘Dad’s probably not going to make it through the next week.’ He presses his lips together and I can’t tell whether he’s upset about Dad or having to talk to Mom. ‘She wants us to go to North Caroline and say our goodbyes.’

I swiftly shake my head, flexing fingers, fighting the urge to pierce my nails into my flesh. ‘No, I can’t do that.’

‘I know you can’t.’ His expression softens. ‘And that’s exactly what I told her.’

My muscles untense slightly. ‘What about you? Are you … going to?’

Liz looks about as eager to hear his answer as I do.

‘No,’ he says firmly. ‘I said my goodbyes the day I turned eighteen.’

Shutting my eyes, I nod. I feel like I’m on the verge of crying, thinking about how I never did get to say goodbye. That the last real exchange my father and I had was when he looked down at me with hateful eyes as I bled out on the kitchen floor. I wonder if he thought I was going to die. I wonder if he was happy because of it. I want to stop wondering about all this. I want to say goodbye like Dylan did, but not to my dad, to the past. And I want to go to my future.

‘I need to go home.’ I don’t mean to say it aloud, but the moment I do is the moment I realize just how much I need it.

Thankfully, Dylan sees it, too, because he stands up and crosses the room, giving me a weird, awkward, but welcomed hug. ‘I know you do. And I think I have an idea.’





Chapter 21


#162 Have a Mad, Crazy Snowball Fight.



Callie


Before Jackson and I head to Laramie, he and my dad loaded up the truck with some furniture my mom decided to give me that was in the guestroom – the one that still isn’t finished. It consists of a queen size bedframe and mattress, a dresser and nightstand, along with a couple of barstools for the kitchen. She also threw in some of her old cooking supplies even though I told her I don’t like to cook. I think I actually broke her heart when I said that, but so did me leaving earlier. She cried the entire time she was hugging me goodbye and then while Jackson and I were pulling out of the driveway.