SHELBY’S CRYING SPELL hadn’t surprised Callen as much as it obviously had her. He’d seen her emotions so close to the surface, and it didn’t matter that they were mostly good emotions. It had still brought on the tears.
Then it had set off half the room crying along with her.
The inn had run out of tissues, but as soon as the vows had been spoken, the staff had brought in toilet paper, setting several rolls on each of the tables.
“Sorry,” Shelby shouted to a crying woman who wandered past them with a roll of toilet paper in her hand. If she hadn’t shouted, she wouldn’t have been heard. Apparently, the DJ thought he needed to crank up the volume to make sure Rosy and Buck heard it all the way from the hospital.
“What?” the woman said.
“Sorry,” Shelby repeated in an even-louder shout.
It took Callen a moment to realize that the shouter was Lupe Sanchez, who had taught him a thing or two in the hayloft when he’d been fifteen. Lupe gave him a flirty smile, no doubt remembering that thing or two, but she also must have recalled that she had eye makeup running down her face. Since she obviously didn’t want that to mar his memory of her, she scurried away.
“Sorry,” Shelby continued to shout as the criers came by to add their well wishes.
Callen thought they were gaining some positive ground, though, because those just doing the well-wishing seemed now to outnumber the criers. The staff might appreciate that, too, to cut down on the run on toilet paper.
“Sorry,” Shelby said again, but this time Callen realized the apology was aimed at him. She blew her nose, and with her eyes red and puffy, it was not her best look. But he had a nice image of just how amazing her face, and body, could be.
“No apology needed,” he assured her, and because he thought she could use it, Callen pulled her into his arms for a dance. There still wasn’t a lot of room on the floor, but other dancers were weaving around the tables and in any space available.
“I made a fool out of myself,” she went on.
“Nope, you didn’t. Everybody knows how much you love Buck and Rosy, so it was expected. Not the nunchucks, though. You did raise some eyebrows when you took them out.”
“I thought I had a Kleenex in my pocket.” She frowned. “They made a lot of noise when I dropped them on the floor.”
“Very few people noticed.”
Not a lie, either. That was about the time the crying began, and that sound had muffled the falling nunchucks. What hadn’t been muffled was when they landed on Havana’s toes, but she had assured Shelby that nothing was broken and that she was certain the limp would soon go away.
Shelby looked up at him. Finally, no more tears, and some of the redness was easing up. “You’re being nice to me,” she shouted.
Since that sounded like some kind of accusation, Callen tried to follow her thought process. Nope, couldn’t follow it. “Shouldn’t I be nice?”
“No. You’re doing it because you’re leaving soon, and you’re feeling sorry for me. Maybe a little guilty.”
Callen wasn’t sure how to respond to that, but it turned out he didn’t get a chance to say anything because Shelby continued.
“I don’t want you to talk about leaving,” she went on. “Yes, I know it’s going to happen in the next day or two, but I don’t want you to mention it. I want these...moments.”
Callen was touched, and, yes, he felt guilty. But he nodded.
“Good. One more thing,” she continued. “I want you to spend the night with me at my place.” Her gaze drifted toward Lupe. “Unless you have other plans.”
“No other plans,” he assured her. Especially not plans with Lupe. “I want to go see Buck and Rosy soon, but that shouldn’t take long.”
“I want to see them, too, but I’ll wait until the reception starts to wind down. Whenever that’ll be,” she added. The crowd was still pretty thick. “I should be home around six or so.”
He nearly said “then it’s a date,” but that made it seem too casual. It wasn’t. Because it very well could be the last night they spent together.
No, it wouldn’t be.
What they had was still going strong, and he could make trips down from Dallas. She could come up and see him. But it might be the last night he spent at her place before he left town.
“Uh-oh,” she grumbled. “I know that expression. You’re feeling guilty.”
Yeah, he was.
“Well, don’t,” Shelby snapped as if he’d verified it aloud. “No strings, remember? If you need to leave, just do it. But you’d darn sure better look in the mirror. Not the one I gave you, either, but the real one in your truck.”
Since that gave him another hit of guilt and because she managed a smile, Callen asked, “Will you be naked?”
Her smile widened. “You’ll have to look and see.”
Okay. That made him feel better, and he might have gone in for a kiss if someone hadn’t tapped him on his shoulder. He turned to see the Millhouses squeezed into the dancing crowd.
“You think we can find a quiet place to talk?” Dan yelled.
Instant concern, and Callen hoped like the devil that this wasn’t going to turn into a “sorry, but we can’t take the kids” talk. He glanced around and saw no space that could remotely qualify as quiet or less crowded.
“Let’s go upstairs,” Callen suggested. He wound them through the other guests, and when they reached the stairs, he saw Mateo and Lucy.
“We asked them to wait here while we found you,” Sarah explained. She, too, shouted, of course, which didn’t make her sound very friendly.
Callen studied the kids’ faces, but their expressions were as somber as he suspected his was. “You two okay?” Callen asked.
He only got nods from them.
“Oh, I can’t keep it secret any longer,” Sarah blurted out. “We want Lucy and Mateo. We want them to be part of our family.” She threw her arms around the kids, then reached out and pulled Dan and Katie into the group hug.
Since Lucy and Mateo weren’t exactly jumping for joy, Callen motioned for all of them to follow him up the stairs. It would have been a lot easier for them to do that if Sarah hadn’t tried to hold on to the huggees. She had to finally give up just so they could fit up the narrow staircase.
The noise faded with each step, and while it wasn’t exactly silent in his office, they would be able to drop the shouts. Not the concern, though. Yes, it was still there in spades.
“What’s wrong?” Callen came out and asked them.
Lucy and Mateo exchanged glances. “We both want to go live with Mr. Dan and Miss Sarah. And with Katie,” Mateo said. “But it feels a little bad, too. Because Mr. Buck and Miss Rosy have been so nice to us. You’ve been nice to us,” Mateo added in a mumble.
“We don’t want you to think we didn’t like you,” Lucy went on. She looked at Shelby. “Because we do. And we’ll miss you.”
Callen released the breath he didn’t even know he’d been holding. Hearing them say that was a gift better than gold, and it sent a blanket of warmth all through him. “I’ll miss you, too. But hey, you’ll always be one of Buck’s kids, and since Shelby and me are, too, it’ll always make us your big brother and sister.”
Lucy nodded, and Mateo gave a sound of approval just seconds later.
That brought on relieved breaths from Sarah and Dan. But Katie looked confused. “So, does this mean Lucy and Mateo will be my big brother and sister, too?”
Callen looked to the kids for that answer and again they nodded.
Sarah squealed with delight and dragged them into her arms again. Dan and Katie joined in. Callen would have been content to stand back and watch this happy scene, but Sarah’s arm snaked out, and he was pulled into the huddle. Mateo did the same for Shelby.
It was a perfect moment, and Callen didn’t think it spoiled the mood too much when someone bumped into the singing Christmas tree, and they hugged to “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer.”
* * *
CALLEN BRUSHED AWAY the fake snow that was flurrying outside the hospital. Someone had turned off the machine, but there was enough of the white stuff on the ground and caught in the winter wind that it was going to take one hell of a cleanup.
When he stepped inside the hospital, he noticed that everyone in the entry and waiting room looked as if they had severe cases of dandruff, but there was also a giddy happiness, too. Maybe a fake white Christmas created from a machine called Sno Blow was just as appealing as the real deal.
He wasn’t especially surprised to see Judd sitting in the waiting room. Callen had seen him leave earlier, and word had got back that Judd was on his way to see Buck. Callen suspected Kace and Nico would come, too. But for now, Judd was texting or doing something on his phone.
“You’ve already seen him?” Callen asked, tipping his head in the direction of Buck’s room.
Judd nodded. “I didn’t stay long.”
With the vague description, it was hard to tell if that was Judd’s way of telling him to get lost or if he had something on his mind. Callen decided to test and see if it was the latter. He went closer and sank down in the chair next to him.
“You’ll have to give me some clues here,” Callen said. “I can’t tell if the short visit was because Buck isn’t doing well or—”
“Buck’s fine. Never seen him happier.”
All right. That eased some of the tightness in his chest. “So?” He didn’t expect Judd to spill anything and was surprised when he did.
“Avis Odell is in jail,” Judd threw out there. “Last night, I went to San Antonio and baited him into a fight in a bar.”
“Jesus.” Callen added a groan to that. “What the hell were you thinking?”
Judd shrugged, winced a little. “I was thinking I wanted him arrested. It didn’t take much. Really, I just showed up and announced in a loud voice that I was a cop. I let him punch me in the gut a few times. He cracked one of my ribs—in front of witnesses.”
“Jesus,” Callen repeated. But this time he skipped the “what the hell were you thinking?” and moved on to a big concern. “You could have lost your badge.”
Judd gave him a not a chance deadpan look. “I never laid a hand on him. The local cops that I’d called before I even went in showed up just about the time of Avis’s third punch. He got charged with assaulting a police officer, and since he’s on probation, that’ll be revoked. And it’s his third strike. He’ll be behind bars for a long time. I’ll make sure it’s as long as it can be.”
Callen wasn’t going to cry any tears over that, but Judd didn’t seem to be celebrating, either. “You’re thinking Kace won’t like you doing something like this?”
“He won’t,” Judd readily admitted. “In fact, he’ll rip me a new one when I tell him.”
“I won’t rip you a new one,” Callen assured him. “Heck, I’d thought about doing it myself.”
“Figured you had. Figured it’d be better coming from me. I’m older than you and I’ve got a badge.” He paused. “I thought it would put an end to this mess with Avis. Maybe even put an end to the past.”
Everything inside Callen went still. “Did it?”
“No.” Another pause. “But it felt good.”
Callen suspected that was about the best they could hope for. He moved to stand up, but Judd stopped him with a question. “What are you going to do about Shelby?”
Now it was Callen’s time to shrug. “To be determined. My life’s not here,” he added. “Hers is.”
“Well, you know what they say,” Judd commented, looking back down at his phone. “You can’t go home again.”
Yeah, but sometimes you couldn’t get away from it, either. “Merry Christmas, Judd.” And Callen went down the hall to Buck’s room.
As they’d been instructed, Callen used the hand sanitizer from the dispenser mounted on the wall. A precaution they’d have to take for a while. When he peeked in, he saw Buck sitting in the bed as if he’d been waiting for him. No Rosy because the limo had taken her to the inn, where she could spend some time with the guests who were still at the reception.
Even though Buck was wearing a mask, it was easy to tell he was smiling because it made it all the way to his eyes. “I was hoping you’d come by for a visit,” Buck greeted him.
“Wouldn’t want to miss the chance to give best wishes to the groom. It was a nice wedding.”
Buck nodded. “Won’t hear me complaining despite being in this hospital bed.” He lifted his left hand to show off his new wedding band. “Married to the love of my life.”
And soon Buck would be able to start that life. Things were definitely heading in a good direction, and that didn’t just apply to Buck’s health.
“The Millhouses want Lucy and Mateo,” Callen explained. “They’re a great family, and the kids seem happy about it.”
Buck’s whole face lit up. “Good. That’s very good.” He patted Callen’s hand. “I knew you could do it.”
“I wasn’t nearly as sure,” Callen admitted, “but it’s going to work out. Plus, the kids will be back to ride their horses, so you’ll get to see them often.”
“Rosy told me about the present you gave them. Generous, but then you always were.”
Callen shook his head. “You’re mixing me up with Nico. I’m the hard-nosed, hardheaded Scrooge.”
But Buck only smiled. “Generous,” he insisted. The smile faded, though. “Judd told me about the trouble you had with Avis.”
Of course he had. As a minimum Judd would have done that just so Buck wouldn’t be blindsided if Avis showed up at the hospital. “I don’t want you to be troubled by any of that.”
“I’m not. I knew you’d work through it in your own way. I wish dealing with Avis was something I could have fought for you, but it wasn’t my fight.”
“No,” Callen agreed. “And it all worked out.”
They sat there, comfortable with the moments of silence that followed before Buck motioned toward a pink gift bag on the table next to his bed. “That’s for you. I had Rosy bring it over. Not exactly a Christmas gift, but she wanted to put it in a nice bag anyway.”
The moment Callen glanced inside, he knew what it was. The wooden memory box Buck had made for him when he was fourteen and had first come to Coldwater. The very one that Callen had never actually used.
“Figured you’d finally have some good memories to put in there.” Buck patted his hand again. “I know you didn’t want to come back here, but you did it for me. Thank you. You made a lot of things right, Callen. You fixed things.”
Talk about an unexpected compliment, and Callen was pretty darn sure it wasn’t even warranted. But that was when he realized something. Why Buck had really asked him to come back. It wasn’t to fix things but to fix Callen himself.
And by damn, it had worked.