The Bargain (21 page)

Hospital. Memories came rushing back at the mere mention of the word. The cop on their doorstep, silhouetted in the night by his patrol car’s headlights. Liddy’s terror as they rushed into the ER. And Elliot …

Eight years ago, and the loss of her brother still felt fresh. It seemed cruel, somehow, that fate would not allow the details of that night to dim from her memory.

“She fell off a ladder or something and broke her leg, I think,” Tina said. “I’m not sure of all the details. Guy just said she fell, broke something, and she’s in the hospital. Said she should be okay, but asked if you could fly out there.”

“That’s all you can tell me?”

“Sorry. I’m going on about three hours of sleep here. I wasn’t at my sharpest.”

Tina worked the night shift at a twenty-four hour bagel shop, which was one reason why she and Callie didn’t cross paths much.

“But you’re sure he said she was going to be okay, right?”

“Sounded that way, yeah. But he did seem pretty serious, too.”

Taking a deep breath, Callie bit back a frustrated response. “Who was it who called?”

There was silence on the other end of the line as her sleep-deprived roommate struggled to remember. “Danny,” she said finally. “I think his name was Danny.”

An image of him blossomed in her mind, and her pulse quickened. Sandy brown curls, damp as they so often were after a day spent on the river with Elliot. Skin tanned to a warm shade of caramel after a summer in the sun. Strong, lean. And eyes that had captured her then teenage heart the first time she looked into them …

She closed her eyes and willed the image away before it could melt her any further.

Danny. How long had it been since she’d heard that name? He must have gotten her phone number from her mother because the last time she’d spoken to him herself was long before she came to New York. And even her mother didn’t have her new cell phone number. She felt a twinge of guilt. “Did he leave a number?”

“Sorry. Couldn’t find a pencil. Don’t worry, though, Cal. Caller ID.” Her roommate paused for a moment. Let’s see … McCutcheon. Is that him?”

“Yes.” Amid the turmoil caused by the mention of his name, she felt at least some measure of relief. If Danny said Liddy would be okay, then Liddy would be okay. Then again, Tina’s recollection of his exact words couldn’t necessarily be counted on to be accurate. And she
had
said he sounded serious. Liddy was not exactly a young woman, and there could be complications with even the smallest of accidents. Callie bent to retrieve her notebook and quickly jotted down the number Tina read her. “I’ll be home as soon I can,” she said. “You can go back to sleep now.”

“Okay.” There was a poorly stifled yawn on the other end of the line. “Sorry about your mom.”

“Thanks.”

Callie dropped the receiver in its place, snatched up her notebook, and grabbed her purse from where it lay behind the counter. Ignoring the curious looks of some of the customers, she pushed open a door marked “Employees Only” and met the startled gaze of her manager, Les. He was a balding skeleton of a man who wore his hair extra long on the sides to make up for the lack of it on top. He was also lazy, a grouch, and a bully.

“What the — who’s manning the counter?” he demanded irritably, looking up from the pages of a skin magazine.

“You are,” she informed him, looping her purse strap over her shoulder. “I’ve got a family emergency, and I’m going to need to leave town for a while.”

Setting the magazine aside, he folded his long, skinny arms over his chest. “What kind of emergency?”

“My mom had an accident.”

“She going to be okay?”

“Probably, but — ”

Scowling, he picked up his magazine again. “Then what’s the emergency? Forget it. You can’t just walk out on such short notice. The schedule’s already made for next week. Maybe go the week after.”

“I wasn’t asking your permission.”

His eyes narrowed. “What did you just say to me?”

“I said I’m going to see my mom. I thought a little time off would do it, but a permanent arrangement works just fine, too, you little pissant.”

She tossed her copy of the store key at him and walked out as he scrambled to catch it. As she strode toward the front door, she nearly ran down Kalvin.

“What happened?” he asked, wide-eyed.

“A little managerial dispute. Long story short, there’s a job opening here if you’re interested, kiddo.” She gave his arm a quick, affectionate squeeze and let the front door swing shut behind her.

Callie’s days there had been numbered anyway. At four months, it was one of the longer jobs she had held, and she was beginning to get that familiar flicker of restlessness that told her it was time to move on. She knew it wouldn’t be hard for Les to find a replacement for her. He just didn’t like to put down his magazines long enough to conduct any interviews.

Pausing in the sweltering heat, she took a deep breath and dialed the number Tina had given her. It went to voicemail. She wasn’t sure if she was relieved or disappointed.

“You’ve reached Danny McCutcheon’s voicemail. You know what to do.”

It was a short recording, but it was enough to make her pulse speed up. His voice was casual in the message, warm and mellow. Very different from the last time she’d heard it. She stood there in the middle of the sidewalk with her mouth open, rattled and unable to think of anything to say. Abruptly, she ended the call. Forget it. She’d try again later.

She used the walk home to search online for flights with her cell phone, and by the time she got to her apartment building, she already had a red-eye flight lined up for that evening. There was no boyfriend to say goodbye to and no pets to worry about, not even a potted plant that would need watering. That was the great thing about being a nomad, Callie thought as she threw some clothes into a bag. No strings to tie you down or hold you back.

• • •

Between packing and dealing with the usual chaos at the airport that happened with a last minute flight, Callie found plenty of excuses to put off trying to reach Danny again. At least for a few hours. But finally, as she settled into a seat near her gate of departure, she fingered the phone in her hand before slowly and reluctantly dialing his number.

Voicemail again. She let out the breath she hadn’t realized she was holding and cleared her throat, determined to speak this time.

“Danny? It’s Callie. I’m at JFK right now, and my flight leaves in about twenty minutes. I’ll have a few layovers, but I should be in Portland by about 10:30 tomorrow morning, coming in from San Francisco.” She glanced at her watch. It read 12:02. No wonder she was so tired. “I mean, 10:30
this
morning, I guess. I’ll rent a car or get a cab; I haven’t figured that part out yet. Hopefully I’ll be at the hospital no later than noon.” She paused, feeling that she ought to say something more but struggling to think of the right words. He deserved more than simple pleasantries from her, but she couldn’t bring herself to say anything too personal without opening doors best left closed. “Thanks for calling me, Danny. And for being there with Mom. Tell her I’ll see her soon.”

A woman’s voice came on over the intercom to announce that boarding for her flight had begun.

“Gotta go. I’ll call you later.”

It was a typical red-eye with few people on board, but even with the entire row to herself and the lateness of the hour, Callie remained wide awake and restless. Her mother would be fine, she told herself. Broken bones could heal, and modern medicine would take good care of her. And Danny would see that she was being cared for properly. He had always been good at that, doing his best to fill the hole Elliot’s death had left. The two of them had been more like brothers than best friends, and Danny’s loyalty ran deep.

Callie leaned back against her headrest and stared out of the window beside her. There was nothing to see but darkness and her own reflection, so she turned away from it and closed her eyes, thinking about home. It would always be the only place she thought of as home, even though she had been in such a hurry to leave it. At eighteen, she had bypassed college and gone to LA for a while — much to her mother’s horror — and from there she’d traveled up and down the coast of California, popping back home now and then to reassure her mother that she was still in one piece. They’d argued about it quite a bit: college was too important to skip, life on the road was no life for a girl her age, anything could happen to her … Her mother never ceased to come up with a reason why everything Callie wanted to do was a bad idea, but it hadn’t stopped Callie from leaving.

Then there was a stretch in Mexico, followed by some time in Louisiana and Georgia. After that she headed north, and the visits and phone calls home had begun to grow fewer and farther between. The conversation was always the same, so it hardly seemed to matter if she called home less often. It only led to more frustration for both of them when she did, anyway.

Liddy had accused her once of leaving just to punish her for her decision to cut everything having to do with Callie’s father out of their lives. That was not the reason why Callie had left, at least not consciously, but she knew Liddy didn’t believe her. For someone who loved words so much, Callie had a hard time making other people understand why she couldn’t bear to stay in one place for too long. Probably because she didn’t fully understand it herself. She had met some fascinating people in the process, though, and found plenty of things about which to write.

She opened her eyes again. There was a man she had known in one of those places, one she’d allowed herself to get close to for a time, only to regret it. He had been hurt by the fact that she hadn’t wanted him as much as he’d wanted her. She couldn’t help it. Somehow, the men she met always fell short. Father issues? Or maybe it was something else. Maybe it was because none of them were Danny.

The last time she had seen Danny had been nearly four years ago. Thanksgiving.

She was in town to visit her mom for the holiday and to break the news that she was headed to the East Coast. Her mother was disappointed. So was Danny.

“So far away?” He had frowned at her. “Why? You hardly see your mom as it is. Family is important, Callie. Don’t be so quick to take it for granted.”

He disapproved, and she had resented that. So when she left, it was not under the happiest of circumstances, and she thought they both said things they regretted. She wasn’t sure how it had escalated but suspected that her part in it had at least something to do with pent-up frustration over the fact that he persisted in seeing her as a kid instead of as a woman. Remembering it now, she smiled humorlessly. For someone who had wanted so badly to be seen as an adult, she behaved rather childishly, and she had spoken to him more harshly than she had intended. Maybe that was why she’d stayed away for so long.

Sighing, she deliberately turned her attention away from Danny and told herself to go to sleep.

But her mind was too busy to allow for much rest. By the time the final leg of her flights landed, Callie was bleary-eyed with exhaustion. She stumbled off the plane, considering her options. A cab would be the more comfortable way to get to the hospital since she could sleep in the back, but it would also cost a small fortune to travel that way over such a distance. A rental car made more sense, she supposed. Throwing her bag over her shoulder once more, she wearily trailed after other passengers through the gate. It had been a few years, but she thought she still remembered the way to the help desks.

“Callie?”

Hearing her name, she blinked in surprise and turned around.

A familiar figure stood off to one side of the crowd, hands tucked casually into the pockets of well-worn jeans as the throng of people jostled past him. In four years, he hadn’t changed much, and he looked as much like a lean and tanned man of the outdoors as ever.

Funny how eight years could suddenly disappear and she was right back where she had been as a teenager, at a loss for words at the sight of him.

“Danny?” she managed finally, staring at him. “I — what are you doing here?”

He crossed through the crowd to get to her as easily as if he were crossing water. People just seemed to make way for him, some without even seeming to realize they were doing it. That was always the way with him. He didn’t ooze the flashy sort of charm her brother had, the charm that always seemed to win Elliot hordes of female admirers, but Danny McCutcheon had an appeal all his own — one that radiated a quiet, solid sort of confidence.

And Danny had never lacked for female admirers either, much to Callie’s teenage chagrin.

He stopped in front of her, his eyes taking her in and impossible for her to read. She felt flustered and had to resist the urge to duck her head as she might have done years ago. It had been a long time since she had trouble looking anybody in the eyes. “Thought you could use a ride,” he said.

“Yeah, I could,” she said awkwardly, torn between her pride and her sudden desire to throw her arms around him. It was so good to lay eyes on him again that it was almost painful. She hadn’t realized how much she’d missed him until he was standing right in front of her. She wondered if he felt anything even remotely like that about her.

They couldn’t stand there in the middle of the airport and just stare at each other forever, so finally she gave him a quick, one-armed hug that probably seemed too perfunctory and a little stiff, but it was too late to take it back. “It’s good to see you, Danny.”

He still smelled like the outdoors, and it still made her lightheaded.

She released him, and his hand brushed against her waist as they separated. “Been a while.”

It might have been a rebuke, or it might have been a simple statement of fact. Apparently she had been away long enough to forget how to read him. “How’s Mom doing?” she asked, changing the subject.

His face was a mask, expressionless as he studied her. “She’s having surgery this morning. Probably be out of it by the time we get there.”

“Surgery? For what?”

“She broke her hip. Doctor says if she can avoid infection, she should mend all right, though. She’s going to need some looking after.”