An Irresistible Bachelor(107)
"But this is our home."
He stood up. "Let's be very clear. This is my home. And you are leaving. End of story."
Her mother's lower lip trembled. "Jack, don't do this."
"Frankly, I'm sorry that I waited this long. Now," he said briskly, "I'm heading into the office and I doubt I'll be home for dinner."
As he went by her, she gripped his hand. He noted dispassionately the tears in her eyes.
"But why?" she asked.
He stared at her long and hard. "You know precisely why. Do you have any idea what you did to me last night?"
"I only wanted to help," she whispered fiercely. "And, Jack, you need me."
"Maybe if you behaved less like an enemy of mine. But as you are now, no, I don't."
Callie walked into the kitchen and immediately wished she'd stayed upstairs a little longer.
Jack's mother was in tears and Thomas was looking at the woman as if he was going to have to catch her if she fainted.
"He can't do this!" Mrs. Walker wailed. "I need you to talk to him. Make him understand that I can't possibly go. He'll listen to you."
"I don't know if—” Thomas stopped talking when he realized they were not alone.
Mrs. Walker wheeled around. The moment she saw Callie, she tried to pull herself together by lifting her chin up and bringing a tissue to her nose. Moving with noble forbearance, she wiped her eyes briefly and when she spoke, her voice trembled only a little.
"I should like my breakfast in bed this morning, Thomas. Please tell Elsie to bring it up when she arrives."
And then Mrs. Walker glided by as if she hadn't just been hysterical.
Callie glanced over at Thomas. He was leaning back against the stove and shaking his head.
"I should have seen this coming," he muttered.
"What happened?"
The man looked up. "Jack kicked his mother out of this house."
"Excuse me?"
"Kicked his own mother out. Though I could see how he feels like she deserved it."
"But why—” Callie felt the blood drain out of her face.
Last night's announcement.
"Thomas, I need to know. Why?" She asked the question, even though she suspected she knew the answer and was horrified by its implications.
"That little speech she gave last night. Evidently, Jack wasn't prepared to announce anything."
"Oh, no," she whispered.
"Mrs. Walker said she'd tried to apologize, but he wouldn't hear of it. Frankly, I don't know what the big deal is. So she jumped the gun a little? Unless he wasn't going to run, after all."
A nauseating wave came over Callie as she realized the mistake she'd made. The terrible mistake. God, she had to find him and explain—but maybe it was already too late? His candidacy had been formally announced. He couldn't possibly go back, right? Or maybe he could—
"Will you excuse me?" Callie didn't wait for a reply before she tore out of the room.
She raced to Jack's study, and when it was empty, she went upstairs and pounded on his door. She threw it open, but he wasn't there, either.
She told herself that the exploratory committee wasn't meeting until the afternoon. There had to be time to catch him before he left for the office. But where was he?
She was briefly stalled in the hallway when Grace and Ross came out of their room with their bags packed.
"Grace! I need to talk with you."
Her half sister's eyes widened. "Certainly, where would you—”
Callie pulled the woman into her room and shut the door.
"I don't have much time but I need to—I'm in love with Jack and I've made a terrible mistake. An awful, hideous..."
"You're in love with Jack!"
"Oh, God, assuming I haven't completely blown it with him, I need you to understand something. I've told him a little of my past, but he doesn't know the whole story because I couldn't be completely honest without exposing you. He feels as though I must not love him because I can't trust him."
Grace's eyes widened even further.
Callie took a breath before she lost her voice. "You've got to understand. I have to explain everything to him, even if you don't want me to. If I don't, he and I have absolutely no future together. And I can't let that happen."