When Summer Comes (Whiskey Creek #3)(68)
Author: Brenda Novak

“You know what I’m going to say—exactly what you had me tell your parents earlier.”

“Great.”

He rolled his eyes. “But I’m not sure anyone will buy it.”

“Why not? It’s summer. Your work schedule isn’t as rigorous as usual. They don’t know what we had planned.”

“One of them might see my car at the house tonight or early tomorrow.”

“The chances of them noticing are slim. It’ll be after eight before you reach Whiskey Creek. And you generally leave early for work.”

“True. Still…”

She didn’t want to think about the off chance that someone would realize he hadn’t stayed in San Francisco with her as he’d claimed. “So are you sure you’re okay to drive me home tomorrow? It’ll take you away from work again.”

“I don’t care about that. I have the freedom. Whatever you need. Call me and I’ll come.”

She smiled at the reassurance his support gave her. As soon as she got word from her doctor, she’d have Baxter pick her up and bring her to the farm—and she’d get through the long hours in between by thinking of that moment.

Her cell phone rang. Although she’d either ignored or slept through several earlier calls, this one she had to take. She raised a finger to let Baxter know not to open the door.

“Hi, Mom. How are you?”

“I’m fine. How are you?”

“Great, why?” She wondered why her mother would be calling. They’d talked just a few hours ago. Diana was the one person Callie had contacted herself. She’d been checking in religiously since she went to visit last week.

“I heard from Kyle a minute ago,” her mother said.

Callie sent Baxter an uneasy glance. “What’d he have to say?”

“I guess that Levi fellow who’s been staying at the farm is at his place.”

Bracing her weight on one hand, Callie propped herself up. “What for?”

“He’s worried about you, said you’ve been gone all day.”

“I have been gone all day. I told you earlier. I’m in San Francisco with Baxter, remember?”

“I explained that, but he didn’t seem convinced. He said he had no idea you were going to leave town.”

Callie eased herself back. Her stomach was still tender. She didn’t want to do anything to make her condition worse. “I forgot to mention it to him. Then I didn’t want to wake him. But I left a note.”

“From what I can tell, it didn’t say much.”

“I was in a hurry. Would you like to talk to Bax? He’s right here with me.”

Baxter’s eyes went wide. He didn’t like the idea of lying to her mother, especially about this. But Diana stopped her before she could hand him the phone, anyway.

“There’s no need for that. Your dad and I, we just wanted to double-check that everything’s okay.”

“Of course it’s okay.” She winced at a sudden avalanche of guilt. But she was only asking for a few more days, she reminded herself—just until Levi was gone. “It’s fine, good.”

“Okay. Tell Bax we said hello.”

“He says hi, too.”

“’Night, honey.”

Baxter was shaking his head when she hung up, but his phone went off before he could voice his thoughts. “Here we go.”

“What?”

“It’s Kyle.”

“Answer it.”

His dark eyebrows drew together in a frown. “I don’t want to answer it.”

“You have to!”

“Shit!”

“Hurry!” she prodded.

He punched the talk button and immediately put his cell on speakerphone so she could hear. “Hello?”

“Why didn’t you tell anyone you and Callie were taking a trip together?” Kyle asked without preamble.

Baxter cleared his throat. “Didn’t think of it. She was…she was supposed to come out here over a week ago, for lunch, but we decided that…you know, to make a day of it instead. It’s summer, after all, and neither of us really has a vacation planned.”

“Hi, Kyle!” Callie chipped in to let him know she was in on the conversation.

“Why haven’t you two been answering your phones?” he asked.

Baxter fielded this one. “We were out sailing, so we left them in the car.”

“Sailing.”

“That’s right.”

Callie wondered if Levi was still at Kyle’s. “So what’s going on with you?”

“The rest of us have been working.”

If he only knew what she’d really been doing….

“Hang on,” he said. “Someone wants to talk to you.”

Levi came on next. “Callie?”

She pressed her fingertips to her temple. “Hi.”

“You couldn’t have told me you were leaving town?”

Hearing the pique in Levi’s voice, she relied on what she’d told her mother. “I’m sorry. I planned to be home tonight, but…we just got off the water, so…”

“The water?”

He hadn’t heard the sailing part. “Baxter has a friend here who owns a sailboat. We spent a…a beautiful afternoon on the bay. It was so…peaceful.” She couldn’t even guess what the weather might really be like. The Bay Area wasn’t far, but San Francisco weather seemed independent of every other place. It could be cold and rainy there right now, but he wasn’t any more likely to know than she was. And she could imagine a day like she’d described; in fact, she planned to have one exactly like it if she lived long enough.

“I see.” His words were stilted, as if he wasn’t pleased.

“I should’ve been clearer. I’m sorry. I really didn’t think it would matter to you one way or the other.”

“Wouldn’t matter if something happened to you?”

“I didn’t think you’d assume the worst,” she hurried to say. “Anyway, since it’s so late, we’re going to grab dinner and stay until tomorrow, if that’s okay. Do you—do you think you could look after Rifle for me?”

“Of course.”

“And the glass company. They’re coming out to fix the window in the morning.”

“I’ll be there.” But he didn’t sound happy about it.

Fortunately Baxter jumped in. “You’ll have to come sailing with us next time, Levi. I think you’d enjoy it.”