When Summer Comes (41 page)
“He’s got balls. I’ll say that for him.”
She blew out a shaky breath. As if the past few months hadn’t been hard enough, now she had to deal with possibly losing the man she loved for an undetermined length of time. It was so easy to understand how Levi had done what he’d done, but she didn’t expect the police to see it that way.
Baxter reached over the seat to squeeze her shoulder. “You going to be okay?”
“No.”
“Come on, don’t talk like that.”
“My liver’s working fine. It’s my heart I’m worried about.”
“You’ll get through this just like you did the surgery.”
She shifted so she could see him. “That reminds me.”
“Of what?”
“You said you’d tell Noah how you feel about him if I made it.”
His eyes slid away from hers. “No way.”
“So now you’re reneging?”
“I can already tell you how it would go, Callie.”
She didn’t argue with him, because she suspected he was right. Noah had been dating more than ever, going from one girl to the next. “He’s out of control.”
“I think he’s reacting to what he knows but doesn’t want to face.”
“Where does that leave you?” she asked.
“I’m trying to get over him.”
“Meaning you’re dating other people?”
“When I’m in the city.”
“You don’t spend many weekends in the city.”
“Yeah, well, I said I was trying. I didn’t say it was working.”
They fell silent. Callie knew he’d have to be committed to whatever he chose to do and didn’t want to interfere too much. But she wasn’t sure what else to talk about. She was too nervous to make small talk.
Baxter made an effort to keep her focused on other things. “Levi told me that before your operation, Chief Stacy tried to strong-arm him into leaving town.”
She wrung her hands as she watched people—other people and not Levi—walking out of the police station. “Can you believe it?”
“Not really. He can be an egotistical ass, but cops can be that way.”
“Once I get past this, I’m going to file a complaint.”
“Do you think it’ll do any good?”
“Maybe not. He has a lot of friends in Whiskey Creek, but I want to let him know he can’t push people around without some sort of resistance.”
Baxter propped his hands behind his head and scooted lower in the seat. “He can’t be all bad. He did get rid of Denny and Powell.”
“But the way he went about it was wrong.”
He arched his eyebrows at her. “So are you going to complain about
that,
too?”
She thought about the relief she felt to have Denny and Powell and Spike—whom they’d reclaimed before hurrying off—gone, and managed to smile. “No.”
“Nothing will happen to Stacy.”
“I know.”
For the next thirty minutes, she watched the entrance to the police station, hoping she’d see Levi walk out. When he didn’t come and he didn’t come, she started to fidget. “I’m going inside,” she said. “I have to find out what’s happening.”
Baxter got out when she did. “No, Callie. He said he’d call us. Give him a chance to deal with this.”
Feeling torn, she rubbed her hands over her face. But before she could get back in the car, Levi emerged from the station and hurried toward them.
“How did it go?” she asked.
He grinned. “You’re not going to believe this.”
“What?”
“The cop I beat? The one I put in the hospital?”
“Yes?”
“He was fired for misconduct six months ago. Apparently, after what I did, several people came forward to say he got physical with them, too—with no provocation. Even the rookie he was training, the other guy I hit to keep him from drawing on me, testified against him.”
Callie glanced at Baxter to see if he was hearing the same thing she was. “So what does that mean?” she asked Levi.
“It means the chances of the district attorney prosecuting me for that incident are slim. He knows I’d have a great case. Other than that, my record is clean. I was honorably discharged from the army. A good attorney could probably get me off with probation and a little community service.”
“You’re kidding.” He was right; Callie couldn’t believe it. This was the last thing she’d expected.
“I’m not kidding. I actually spoke to the rookie who was there that night. He said he’d tell the truth, tell the D.A. that Officer Howton kicked me twice before I reacted.”
Relief flooded through Callie as she slipped her arms around his neck. “That is such good news.”
He kissed her temple. “We have a fresh start, babe. Let’s make the most of it.”
She pulled back to smile up at him. “And how do we do that?”
“I think it’s time to plan the wedding.”
“So, will I be Mrs. McCloud or Mrs. Pendleton?”
“Pendleton. It’ll be great to use my real name again.”
With his arms loosely around her waist, he jerked his head at Baxter. “Bax, will you be my best man?”
Baxter laughed as he nodded. “Hell, yeah! Are we going to Vegas?”
“No,” Callie said. “I want a small ceremony at the church where my parents were married—right there in Whiskey Creek.”
Epilogue
I
t was a perfect October afternoon, with a butter-yellow sun shining outside and flowers adorning every pew of the old church. Callie
almost
wished she could photograph the event. She was that impressed with how it had all come together. But she’d spent plenty of hours photographing other people’s weddings. Today it was her turn to be escorted down the aisle, and Tina was behind the lens.
Her assistant would do a great job. Callie wasn’t worried about that. She was too happy to worry about anything, except maybe Kyle. Along with Ted, Baxter, Riley, Noah, Dylan and Simon, he stood in front, next to Levi. She could see the whole line—including Gail, Cheyenne, Eve and Sophia on her side—when she poked her head out of the small antechamber where she was waiting for the wedding march to begin. Dressed in tuxedos or lovely champagne-colored dresses, they were all smiling in anticipation. Kyle, however, looked slightly uncomfortable, and she knew he had reason to be.
She probably shouldn’t have hired his old girlfriend to plan the wedding, Callie thought. Kyle wasn’t over her yet. Callie had known that, of course. She’d considered trying to find someone else, but there were too many other factors. Everyone in Whiskey Creek hired Olivia. It would’ve seemed like an intentional slight to go with someone else. Not only that, but Callie had photographed Olivia’s wedding. How could she not return the favor?
Besides, Olivia honestly deserved the business. She was quick and efficient and personable. With only eight weeks to pull off an event of this magnitude, she’d done an outstanding job.
“You nervous?” Her father was waiting for her. He kept straightening his tie and shifting on his feet as if this were the biggest moment of his life.
Callie slipped her arm though his in an effort to calm him. “No. You?”
“A little,” he admitted. “But seeing you so in love... This is one of the best days of my life.”
“Mine, too.” Callie could see Olivia slipping through the guests crowded along the side of the church, carrying her clipboard and wearing a purposeful expression that indicated they were minutes away from starting. Olivia’s sexy husband, Brandon, watched her with a proud grin. Although they didn’t have any children yet, he’d given up extreme skiing to settle down and have a family. Word had it he was going to open a ski shop in town. There’d even been some recent talk that he might simply go into business with Noah and expand Noah’s bike shop to include items for other sports. Callie wondered if he realized that his stepbrother was still in love with the woman who’d become
his
wife.
“You two all set?” Olivia asked, entering the vestibule.
Her father stepped out to take a look at how things were going. “I think the whole town has turned out,” he said.
It certainly felt that way. Besides the people pressed up along the sides of the church, there were rows and rows of guests standing at the back. Callie should’ve been overwhelmed, but she wasn’t. She knew these people, loved them. They’d been part of her life since she was born. The only person she didn’t know was Levi’s father. At first, she hadn’t been sure that encouraging Levi to invite Leo was the right thing to do, but now she was glad. Mr. Pendleton, who sat in the front row next to her mother and Godfrey and Mina, had thanked them both for letting him come at least three different times.
“I’m all set,” she said.
Olivia gave her arm an encouraging squeeze. “You’re one of the loveliest brides I’ve ever seen.”
Callie smiled. She’d bought a long white gown with a fitted bodice at Miosa’s Bridal in Sacramento. “Thank you.”
“And the ceremony is going to come off without a hitch,” Olivia added with a wink.
It wouldn’t matter to Callie even if it didn’t. She felt fortunate just to have the opportunity to promise herself forever to the man she loved. So what if they ran out of candy in the candy decanters? She had her life back, and she had the person she wanted to spend it with waiting to say “I do.”
“I know it will,” she said. “Thanks again for everything.”
The swell of organ music signaled that it was time to walk down the aisle. She glanced up at her father, saw tears sparkling in his eyes and felt the lump grow in her own throat. Three months ago she’d been lying in a hospital bed, fighting for each breath. And now, thanks to what was, to her, a miracle of generosity on the part of a stranger, she was getting married.
“Here we go, Callie girl,” her father muttered, and they started off.
Her friends waited at the end of the aisle. She could see them blinking to hold back tears or actually wiping them from their cheeks. And in the center of the people she’d always loved the most was Levi, looking more handsome than she’d ever seen him.
He grinned at her as she came toward him and she grinned back.
“Take good care of her,” her father murmured.
Levi’s warm hands gripped hers. “Yes, sir. I’ll do everything I can to keep her safe and make her happy,” he said.
* * * * *
We hope you enjoyed this Harlequin ebook. Connect with us for info on our new releases, access to exclusive offers, free online reads and much more!
Subscribe to our newsletter:
Harlequin.com/newsletters
Visit
Harlequin.com
We like you—why not like us on Facebook:
Facebook.com/HarlequinBooks
Follow us on Twitter:
Twitter.com/HarlequinBooks
Read our blog for all the latest news on our authors and books:
HarlequinBlog.com
ISBN: 9781460303320
Copyright © 2013 by Brenda Novak, Inc.
All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
® and ™ are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and in other countries.
