Page 118 of Bad For Me (Rock Canyon, Idaho 5)

“I have to go,” Callie said.

“I’ll be right up front.” Everett gave her a deep, searching kiss before releasing her hand and heading for the exit.

She was all alone.

AS CALLIE WALKED to the microphone, her heeled boots clicked across the stage and echoed throughout the auditorium. The sign above her head read, Healthy Solutions to Trauma.

Adjusting the mic, she cleared her throat. “Good evening. My name is Callie, and I was asked by the lovely people of Healthy Solutions to talk to you about my experience. Of course, I’m sure some of you are thinking you can handle your own problems, and you don’t need help. I thought the same thing.

“I was just fifteen when I met a boy I thought I’d love forever. For seven years, we grew closer and finally, after we graduated from college, he asked me to marry him. I, of course, said yes.

“I didn’t know that a few months later, the man I thought I’d spend my life with would get sick. That one night he’d suffer a psychotic break and murder my mother. And our dog. And finally, when I came through the door, he would stab me eight times in my chest and abdomen.”

The lighting changed, but Callie didn’t need to look behind her. The entire room gasped as they saw pictures of her wounds. She had given the organization the photos and permission to use them.

“The doctors told me how lucky I was too many times to count. I never felt lucky, though. I felt scared. And foolish. And guilty. But above all, I felt angry. At myself and at him.

“I didn’t know what to do with my feelings. Without any family or support system, I was lost and struggling. I couldn’t sleep without pain pills, and when those ran out, I added alcohol to the mix. Anything to help me forget.

“But the next day, everything would come back to me, and on top of that, I’d have a hangover. You ever heard of ‘the hair of the dog that bit you’? Well, that was me. Soon my drinking wasn’t just limited to nights, and I came close to flushing my career down the toilet.

“Once I hit rock bottom, there was no place to go but up. Only even though I got sober and started over, I still hadn’t dealt with the pain of my past.”

Callie searched the crowd for Everett, finding him in the front, next to his family and her friends.

“It wasn’t until I met someone else, years later, that I took a hard look at the choices I’d made. At the way I dealt with stress, and I decided I wanted to change. To be happy. I went to therapy, and I started talking to the people I love. Opening up about what I was feeling and thinking. And I know I’m making this sound simple, but it’s not. It’s reprogramming your whole response to stress, and it is a long, uphill battle.

“I am still working through the process, but it is working. It’s day-by-day, step-by-step. I’m not here to patronize you. I just want you to know that if you want something more than fear, hurt, guilt, anger, and helplessness, then take the first step. Ask someone for help. Thank you.”

The room broke into thunderous applause, the loudest cheers coming from the front row where Everett, Fred, Justin, Val, Gemma, Travis, Gracie, Mike, Caroline, and so many more stood. Callie’s eyes filled with tears, clouding her vision. It had taken her nine years, but she had finally found what she was looking for.

The ability to accept the things she could not change and forgive herself.

“HAVE I TOLD you how much I love you?” Callie asked.

Everett pushed her higher on the old plank swing, smiling. “Several times.”

“Well, I just thought you’d want to know.”

He did, every day. Since the night she’d shown up, baring everything to him, he’d never gotten tired of her love. And he couldn’t be prouder of who she was. She had done exactly what she promised, working on herself even as she opened up to him, a little more every day.

“You were amazing tonight,” he said.

Callie dragged her feet across the dirt, coming to a stop. Everett grabbed the ropes on either side and came around to look down into her beautiful face. The moonlight caught her pale blonde strands amid the gold and brown, and he still thought she looked like an angel.

“Only because I had you. When I think about all those kids who have no one, I just don’t know how my story will really help them, you know?”

Everett knelt down next to her and took her hands in his. “You told the truth. You opened yourself up to a room full of strangers to help people going through what you dealt with alone.” He leaned up and kissed her gently. “If you made even one of them think, then you accomplished everything you set out to do. You are a hero, Callie.” Then, reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a black velvet box.

“Oh my God,” Callie whispered.

Everett looked her in the eyes as he opened the case, displaying the simple white gold band. “I never thought I’d meet anyone who made me feel alive again. Not until I heard your voice on the radio, and I couldn’t get you out of my head. And having you with me has made me happier than I ever thought possible.

“But I want more, still. I know I’m always asking you to give me everything you got, and this probably won’t be the last time, but I’m hoping the woman you are, the one who has brought every part of me pure joy, will give me just a little bit more. I want you, Callie. I want every part of you, even the dark parts you don’t like anyone else to see.”

He pulled the ring out of the box and, with shaking hands, held it out. “What do you say, Whisky? Can you love me forever, dark and gnarly parts and all?”

Everett suddenly found his arms full of sobbing woman, and he fell to the ground with her on top of him.

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