Flight Risk (Antiques in Flight) (9 page)

Shelby sank deeper into her chair and sneered through the tears in her eyes. “You think you know him so well because you love him or something?”

Irritation and anger clawed through. What the hell was with everyone accusing her of being in love with Trevor? “I’m a little tired of getting that particular accusation. I can care about your brother without being in love with him. It’s called friendship.”

“It sounds pathetic,” Shelby shot back.

“You know what? I’m done. I’ll wait in the car.” Ignoring her half-eaten sandwich, Callie pushed out of the chair. Em didn’t try to stop her. She was still too busy gaping at the exchange she’d just witnessed.

The anger increased with each step away. Callie couldn’t place the source of it, but it bubbled hot and heavy in her chest.

She could blame it on being used, but she’d known all along Shelby was using her. She could blame it on everyone thinking she was in love with Trevor. Couldn’t two members of the opposite sex just be friends? Couldn’t two members of the opposite sex who had a kind of weird attraction to each other still be friends without everyone accusing the woman in the duo of being some kind of lovesick, pathetic moron?

Callie wrenched the car door open and slid inside. It was such a double standard. She bet no one ever accused Trevor of being in love with her. Not that he would have any reason to be. What exactly did she have to offer? A bad attitude, a snarky mouth, and a crappy way with people.

Callie groaned and rapped her head against the steering wheel. She was losing her mind, and she wanted to blame it on everyone else. On Em for being perfect, on Shelby for being such a bitch, on Trevor for being Trevor, but the bottom line was all of her weird feelings and conflicting emotions were her own damn fault.

Because no matter how disgusted she was with herself over it, there was a part of her, a very large part, that liked the idea of convincing Trevor to stay. A part of her that might have gone along with the plan if Shelby hadn’t been so sneaky about it.

Which made Callie a total moron. About as much as sitting here sulking in her car did.

She wasn’t in love with Trevor, no matter what Em or Shelby or anyone might think, but if she was being honest she knew there was a danger with him. If things had been a little different, if she were a little different, or if he were, there was potential for
something
.

She didn’t want to think about that potential, that something. Since she’d been a baby, all of the people she’d loved and counted on deserted her. Like some sort of curse, death swept them away. Truly letting herself feel what she could potentially feel with Trevor would leave her open to all that hurt again.

She could count on one hand the people she cared for unconditionally, the people who returned that feeling, and of that small handful, Trevor was the only one who wasn’t blood. The only one who could walk away and break all ties to her without the word family bringing him back.

Callie was desperate to keep that handful intact.

The passenger car door opened and Em slid in. Callie swallowed down the lump in her throat as Shelby moved into the backseat with her dress. No one said a word, and Callie was more than happy to drive in complete silence.

When Callie pulled the car into the Steele driveway twenty-five long, silent minutes later, Trevor was using a weed eater along the edges of the front yard, biceps flexing under the weight of the long machine.

Callie put the car into park, but didn’t make a move to get out. She was glad when Em didn’t either and Shelby climbed out of the backseat.

Trevor leaned into the open window, an easygoing smile on his face. “Everything went okay?” She could smell grass and sweat on him, and when he leaned into the car, he was closer than she felt particularly comfortable with.

Callie looked at Shelby skirting the front of the car. Shelby’s expression was a mixture of anger and pleading. Something about it had Callie censoring her words.

“Yeah. Great.” What would be the point in telling him about Shelby’s little plan or their painful argument? It’d make him feel guilty about letting Shelby down. She didn’t look at Trevor, even though she could practically feel his breath on her face.

“Thanks,” Shelby said. “For taking me.”

Callie shrugged.

“Let us know if you need any help getting ready on prom night,” Em offered.

“You guys want to stay for dinner?” Trevor jabbed a thumb toward the house. “We could order a pizza.”

“Nah, we gotta get back. Work to catch up on.” Still, Callie didn’t dare look at Trevor, afraid he would see the lie in her eyes, afraid he would see other things in them as well.

Trevor tapped the sunglasses down on her nose so she was forced to look at him. “You okay?”

“Fine.” Callie pushed them back up. “See you Monday.” Without giving anyone another chance to talk, Callie shoved the car into reverse and began to back out the drive.

Once on the highway, Em finally interrupted the silence. “Why didn’t you tell him?”

Callie shrugged, kept her eyes glued to the road. “It’d make him feel bad.” Though her eyes weren’t on Em, she could feel Em’s studying gaze and it had Callie hunching her shoulders.

“You’re not going to try and convince him to stay?”

“Hell no,” Callie spat. She would be a good friend when it came to this. Selfish wants wouldn’t change her mind. “He doesn’t want to be here.”

“Maybe.”

“I know Trevor well enough to know that staying in Pilot’s Point is his own personal nightmare.”

“Or maybe you’re scared.”

“Scared?” Callie might be hard on herself about a lot of things, but she’d never considered herself a coward.

“Yes, scared. Of what you’d have to deal with if he did stay.”

Callie ground her teeth together. What was it with people? They always had to stick their noses where they didn’t belong. Airplanes never poked into her personal life, never asked her how she was feeling. Much better companionship. “Could we please get off this idiotic merry-go-round? I’m tired of it.”

“I’m saying this because I care about you.” Em touched Callie’s arm briefly, and the quick glance showed that Em’s eyes were wide and concerned. Callie hated that look. It always made her feel guilty when she had no reason to be.

“You keep walls up, Cal. With all of us.”

“I don’t know what you’re—”

“We’ll start with me. You pretend you’re fine with the relationship I have with Tom and my mom. I know it hurts you, and it makes you feel like you missed out on something. By never expressing those emotions, by ignoring them, you’re putting up a wall between us that keeps us from being as close as we could be. It’s a gulf that divides us, and it makes me sad that it does. But it’s your wall to keep me blocked enough that you feel safe.”

Callie swallowed against the emotions that flooded her throat. Maybe part of that was true, but she didn’t consider it a wall. By not expressing some of those stupid feelings, she was keeping her and Em as close as they could be. Expressing them would only make that gulf wider. It would be doing what she’d just warned Shelby against doing, hurting Em so Callie could feel better. It wasn’t right.

“Then with Law. Whenever he calls you never express how angry you are with him. Not once in the past year have you asked him to come home or told him how much it would mean to you—to us. You pretend you totally understand why he’s still in California and you pretend it’s okay. Another wall.”

“I am fine with your family situation, and I do understand why Lawson is still in California. He’s got kids, Em. I’m not a total selfish bitch.”

“Maybe intellectually you understand, but it’s obvious that emotionally it hurts. You’re not a selfish bitch, but you try to be because it hurts less than all the caring you’d do otherwise.” Em’s voice was soft, almost pleading. Callie knew it was meant to be comforting, to be helpful, but it only served to have her pushing her foot harder onto the accelerator. If they got home, she could make her escape from Em’s psychoanalysis.

“Then you add the fact you’re not being honest with yourself or Trevor about how you feel about him. How many more walls will you build?”

“I know exactly how I feel about him,” Callie muttered. Okay, maybe not exactly. Sometimes she got a little fuzzy on what she was feeling, but she did know what she wanted to feel for Trevor and that was platonic friendship. Neither of them would benefit from anything more.

Em sighed. This time when Em’s hand reached out to touch her, it rested on Callie’s elbow and remained there. “I’ve let you deal with everything that’s happened in your own way, probably for too long. Now, it’s time you faced some of the issues all this death has caused. I’m worried about you. I want you to be happy. Life keeps going. We should be happy.”

“Em, cut the hippie bullshit, please. You’re not a shrink, and I’m fine.”

“Deflecting. Another wall. Do these walls make your life what you want it to be?”

Callie’s throat constricted, and she squeezed the steering wheel hard. Maybe Em wasn’t totally off base because all the normal tactics weren’t getting her sister to back off. She’d try a little honesty. “Maybe they’re what I need to make it through the day.”

On a sigh Callie recognized as defeat, Em’s hand slipped off Callie’s elbow. “Maybe. Or maybe you’re keeping yourself from truly being happy because you’re too afraid of feeling good. I don’t totally disagree with what you said to Shelby, but I wonder if it’s another lie. Maybe it’s not the people you love you’re trying to protect. Maybe it’s yourself.”

Callie didn’t like either answer. She swallowed. “Is there something so wrong with protecting myself?”

“If it leaves you alone and unhappy, I’d say yes.”

“And your suggestion is?” Her tone was snippy, but there was a part of her buried deep under all the sarcasm and fear that really wanted to know.

“Let some of the walls down. Maybe you’ll find out you can be happy after all.”

Callie pulled the car into AIF, looked at the home her grandfather had built, the place that meant the world to her. If she let some of those walls down, what more would she lose?

Maybe it was time to find out.

Chapter Six

Women made absolutely no sense to Trevor. At one point in his life, Callie had made sense, but the more he spent time with her, the more he realized she was just as confusing as every other woman on the planet.

It had been over a week since the weird little shopping trip, and ever since things between everyone had been a little off. Trevor had never gotten to the bottom of the whole thing, but something had happened, something had altered.

Shelby was now quiet and accommodating at home, there was some kind of awkward distance between Em and Callie, and when he was in a room with any three of them, they seemed to be studying him, trying to figure out some problem.

But he didn’t have a damn clue what problem he represented. He felt about as edgy as they all were acting.

The sky was darkening as Trevor pulled into AIF. Shelby was out with Dan and he’d been too bored to sit around the house all evening. He was feeling restless, missing Seattle, missing having a life that didn’t revolve around his teenage sister.

If he sat around the house much longer he would be tempted to read through his email reports, which was a downward spiral into wondering if he could get out of Pilot’s Point earlier than his original six-month plan.

So, he’d decided to head out to AIF. The only place he didn’t actively wish for his old life.

Lights shone from the small window of Callie’s shop, and the quiet tinkling of music melded with the cacophony of spring peepers from the ponds.

A cool breeze rustled the leaves of the trees, and the sky to the west glowed as the last sliver of sun disappeared. Some of the dissatisfaction lifted, filtered away as if it was sinking with the sun.

He didn’t know what it was about this place, but he was beginning to think it was magic, and he was beginning to understand what made the Bakers so fiercely loyal to a bunch of metal buildings and antique planes.

Trevor stepped onto the concrete step of the shop and looked in the open door only to find the cluttered room empty, despite the faint strains of a rock song from the ancient radio in the corner. Frowning, he stepped inside and noticed the door attaching the shop to one of the hangars was also open.

When he stepped into that doorway, the image that met him stopped him in his tracks. Callie wasn’t working on the plane, she was sitting in the cockpit. The main hangar doors were closed but she looked out at them as though they were open sky.

She looked unbearably sad, miserably lonely, and it made his heart ache.

When he stepped into the hangar, the sudden movement had Callie’s head jerking to face him. “Hey,” she greeted, quickly climbing out of the cockpit and jumping down to the ground below. “Thought you were gone.”

She skirted the plane’s tail to cross to him, but her eyes didn’t meet his.

“Yeah. Shelby’s out on a date. I got bored.”

“Oh. I’m just…” She looked up at where she’d been and trailed off.

“Can’t think of a plausible lie?”

She shrugged, still not making eye contact. “Guess I was daydreaming.”