Page 42 of Sunflower

Letting out a quiet sigh, I glanced at Callum. He’d stopped making his glass sing, his fingers now curled into fists resting on the table while his eyes were pressed tightly shut. I leaned against him, shoulder to shoulder, and let my hand drape across his thigh to give it a light squeeze of support.

A slow but shaky inhale was the only reaction before he hung his head and shook it slowly from side to side.

“Well…” Dad said hesitantly, looking at me with a grimace.

I shrugged my shoulders in response. We all knew what sort of temper Erin had. It would burn bright and fast, but now that she’d said her piece, and it was over, the hurt could still linger.

“I was a fool,” Callum muttered quietly.

“No, you weren’t, son,” Dad said with a resigned sigh. “I understand your reasonings.” He glanced at me. “Allyour reasonings.” He refocused on Callum. “But I can’t deny it’s been hard on your mom. Maybe go and talk things out with her, let her know you didn’t realize how much she missed you? Just tread carefully, okay?”

Callum nodded before scooting his chair back and leaving the table to go in search of Erin.

Dad and I sat at the table in silence until we heard Callum knock on our parents’ bedroom door with a soft word before it opened, then closed with a click.

“You think they’ll work it out?” I asked Dad quietly.

He chuckled before he stood up and started gathering the empty dishes from the table. “I have no doubt. It wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without some form of family fight breaking out, and they haven’t been in the same room for any decent length of time outside of the wedding for years. All they need to do is find their feet with each other again, that’s all.”

Nodding, I rose from my chair and grabbed what I could to help Dad clear the table and haul it all to the kitchen for cleaning up or storing any leftovers that remained. “Hey, Dad?”

“Yeah?”

“How come you’re okay with Callum and me being together?” I nibbled at my bottom lip. “I’d figured that if there was going to be an argument today, it would have been that that caused it. Callum said that you knew to expect it and would be okay with it, but I guess I didn’t really believe him until I saw your reaction for myself.”

Dad paused, his hands full of condiment dishes, his form half stooped over the dining table and glanced at me curiously. “How much did Callum tell you about what he told us?”

“He said that he told you both about his vision, and that you understood why he had to leave.” I grinned at the memory of our discussion last night. “He said he thought you were impressed with him for the restraint he showed.”

“He’s right, I was.” Dad chuckled and stood up properly, his hands full, but still watching me carefully. “Tell me Joey. How much did he tell you about the vision itself?”

I gulped and stared at the things I was putting in the dishwasher before I responded warily. “He may have mentioned something about our wedding…”

Dad laughed, his shoulders easing from tension I wasn’t aware he was even carrying. “Good. That means I can speak freely, then.” He placed what he was carrying on the kitchen island and lightly gripped the edge of the bench top, thinking hard about what to say.

Before he could open his mouth, however, I mentioned something I knew I should probably talk to Callum about. I’d mentioned it in passing last night, but he hadn’t plucked that conversational strand, instead focusing on the bigger picture. But my memory of that night plagued me, even now. “I heard you both that night. Just for a moment. Did you know that?”

His eyes widened in alarm. “You knew about his vision for this long?”

“No.” I shook my head sadly. “I wish I did. All this time, I thought he left because he hated me. I heard you ask him if he was sure about something, and he essentially told you that he couldn’t stay while I was here. That it would bea disaster if he stayed.”Raising my hands for finger quotes, I settled on a tiny, sad smile. “I assumed that meant he couldn’t stand the sight of me and had to leave before he punched my lights out.” I let out a quiet puff of laughter. “It’s why Istolehis jacket and hid it for so long before I started wearing it. It was my revenge on him for hating me so much.” I looked at Dad and rolled my eyes at my folly and shook my head again. “Served him right for leaving it here and all that, you know?”

Dad chuckled.

“Yeah, I know. Stupid, huh?” I sighed, still smiling that sad little smile. “If only I’d heard more than that. It’s obvious now that there was so much more to that conversation he had with you, but I was working with what I’d overheard. I spent so long thinking that he hated me.” I looked up at Dad, my brow furrowed in confusion. “Why did you let me believe that?”

“Oh, Joey.” Dad came around the kitchen island and enveloped me in a hug. “I thought we were protecting you. I was so angry with him when he first told us about what he saw. My mind automatically went down a path it shouldn’t have, thinking horrible things about Callum’s character. When he explained everything though, when he explained why he needed to leave, everything made more sense.” He squeezed me tighter. “I’m so sorry, Joey. I should’ve made sure you didn’t think badly of him for the choice he made. It was the right one to make. I still believe that.”

I turned my head to the side so I could speak more clearly. “Is that what you meant when you said that you respected him for leaving?”

“Yeah.” He let me go, taking a step back and taking a deep breath in before releasing it slowly. He leaned against the island, his arms crossing in front of him as he settled his thoughts. “If he hadn’t walked away, if he’d stayed, he could’ve influenced you. Groomed you.”

I winced. Dad made a fair point. I was still only fifteen at the time, and already looked at Callum like he hung the stars, even after only a single, brief meeting. Things could have gone very badly had Callum not been so upstanding.

“It says a lot about a person’s character when they choose, entirely on their own, to walk away from something they hold so very dear. And he held you so very dear, Joey. Even then.” Dad smiled fondly at the memory. “It’s obvious that he still does. If I had been in his position, I don’t know if I would have had the backbone that he showed that night. He chose to wait, but from as far away from you as he could get so he wouldn’t tempt himself. Callum earned my respect that night for making the right decision. And that respect has only strengthened, because he stuck to his morals and stayed away until you were of age.” He raised an eyebrow when he smirked at me. “And single. Although I wouldn’t have minded in the slightest if he’d come back last year and chased Amelia off.”

My jaw dropped open. “You loved Amelia!”

Dad threw his head back and laughed. “We did, initially. But she said something in passing one day. I can’t even remember what it was now, and it made Erin wonder. She read her the next chance she got. And yeah…” He shook his head ruefully. “Let’s just say that things went downhill pretty quickly after that.”

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