Flight Risk (Antiques in Flight) (11 page)

“I’ll work on it.” She would really try to work on faith.

Em scrawled another thing on her to-do list so casually Callie figured the conversation was over, but instead of silence, Em kept talking. “Do you want to talk about what was going on between you and Trevor?”

Callie opened her eyes and looked up. “Huh?”

Em rolled her eyes, tapping her pen against her paper. “I may be naïve, but I know a moment when I see one. That was a definite moment. What was going on?”

“Nothing.” Callie replayed the moment in her head. “He said I was beautiful.” She frowned at Em’s goofy grin.

“That’s sweet,” Em said in that dreamy, romantic voice that always made Callie cringe.

“No, it’s stupid. Weird. He didn’t mean it. Couldn’t have.”

“Well, how did he say it?”

Again, the moment replayed in her mind. The way Trevor’s eyes had held hers, the way his voice had been low and serious. Honest. Trevor never lied to her. Callie took an unsteady breath. “He said I was beautiful when I was happy.”

Em issued one of those little
aw
noises, and Callie scowled.

“Then what?” Em demanded, leaning forward in her seat. Her to-do list balanced precariously on her knees, but she didn’t notice. “Tell me.”

“Then…” Callie’s eyebrows knit together, the memory of being so close to Trevor clogging her lungs all over again. She looked down at her knees, tried to focus on the here and now, but the memory took over, causing her hands to tremble just a little.

It had felt like an eternity standing there, eyes locked to Trevor’s. His breath had been warm on her skin, her heart had sped up at the proximity of their bodies, but she hadn’t been able to break the moment until he had. “He almost basically kissed me.” Exasperated, Callie looked up at Em. “Why would he do that?”

Em’s smile was sympathetic. “You don’t want me to answer that.”

Callie looked down at her knees. Come to think of it, she probably wouldn’t like any answer to that question. “No, I don’t.”

“What’s next?”

“Nothing. Nothing happened and nothing is going to.”

“Why not?”

Because I’m scared. Because I’m unsure. Because I’m not what he needs/deserves/wants.
But none of those reasons spilled out. Callie’s throat closed so she couldn’t squeak a word.

“You need to figure it out. September will be here soon enough.”

Trevor’s impending departure was as much a reason as all the others. Trevor was the only man she’d ever wanted a future with and the only way to ensure that future was to remain friends. If they made it into something more and then he left, it would all be over.

Keeping him at arm’s length wasn’t a wall. It was what had to be done. Callie was positive Trevor would be feeling the exact same way.

Chapter Seven

“Are you sure I need this much hairspray?”

Trevor stifled a yawn as Em put the finishing touches on Shelby’s prom ensemble. The whole thing was taking forever, and he didn’t know why he was being forced into the role of audience. A teenager getting all dressed up for some dance wasn’t his idea of Saturday night entertainment.

Then again, the options in Pilot’s Point weren’t any more fascinating than this.

Still, he really
really
hated when they asked for his opinion. What did he know about dresses or makeup or up-dos? Zilch. When he was eighteen he certainly hadn’t noticed his date’s hair or makeup. He’d had other things on his mind, and the thought of those things made Trevor sink farther into the couch and scowl.

“If you want to make it through the dance without a hair out of place we’ll need one more spray.” Em’s tongue pressed to the corner of her mouth as she worked to secure Shelby’s hair.

“If you used the earth killing kind of hairspray, it’d probably only need one coat.” Callie earned a warning look from Em.

Trevor snuck a glance at Callie, who sat on the same couch as him but as far away as she could get. Two weeks since their weird, pseudo-kiss moment and they hadn’t found even footing.

Somewhere in the rational side of his mind he knew he should broach the subject with her. It was the not talking about it that was making things so weird. Unfortunately, his rational side hadn’t been able to coordinate with his mouth yet.

“There.” Em looked expectantly at the two-person audience on the couch.

Trevor straightened, searched for the right words. A compliment, he assumed, was expected. “Uh, you look nice.”

Em rolled her eyes. “Nice?” Em turned to face Shelby and took her by the shoulders. “Shelby, you look gorgeous.” Em’s reassuring smile had Trevor relaxing a little bit. Maybe he sucked at the whole prom thing, but at least he had someone in tow that could give Shelby what she needed.

“Blue was a much better choice than yellow.” Shelby turned to smirk at Callie, but it lacked the kind of fierce heat their interactions used to have. Something had cooled off between the two. Trevor didn’t know what it stemmed from, but it was nice not to have to referee.

“Dan will
love
it,” Em added, stepping back to admire her work.

“Dan better
love it
with his hands to himself.” Trevor earned a disapproving look from Em and an additional one from Shelby.

The doorbell rang and some of Trevor’s tension eased again. Shelby looked excited. She looked happy. Though she was obviously trying to play it cool, she couldn’t dim the smile on her face or stop checking herself out in the mirror.

It didn’t have anything to do with him, but he was glad she could have those feelings in this moment. He didn’t want her to be sad, and with the help of the Baker women, she wasn’t.

How weird was that?

It took him a few moments to realize that three pairs of eyes stared at him expectantly. “What?”

“Open the door, moron. Girl’s gotta make an entrance.”

Trevor frowned. Of all people, he didn’t expect Callie to get the girly parts of prom, but he pushed off the couch and went to the door as Em scooted Shelby out of the room.

When he got married and had kids, he hoped to God they weren’t girls. Living through one prom night as a kind of guardian was enough for his life experiences.

On the other side of the door, Dan stood in his tux, looking a little pale. The teen clutched a plastic container that housed a little pink corsage.

“Hi, Mr. Steele.”

Trevor tried not to laugh when Dan’s voice cracked in the middle of the greeting.

“Hey, Dan. Now, before I let you in, I’m going to have to frisk you.”

Dan didn’t look worried, but he did look confused. “Um, okay.”

“It’s a joke.” Trevor moved out of the door and gestured Dan inside. Okay, maybe it would be a
little
fun to have girls. “Lighten up, kid.”

“O-okay,” Dan agreed.

“Hey.” Shelby stepped out from where Em had hidden her away. “Please ignore my brother. No one gets his jokes.”

Trevor watched Dan smile and fidget a little with the plastic container in his hands. “Oh, it’s okay. Um, here.” He shoved the corsage toward Shelby, hands shaking.

Either this whole dance thing was a first for poor old Dan, or he was acting the nerdy role to keep Trevor from being suspicious about his nefarious teenage motives.

Trevor was pretty sure it was the former.

“Why don’t you put it on her?” Em handed the plastic container back to Dan.

With shaky hands, Dan helped secure the corsage around Shelby’s wrist. It went a long way to soothe Trevor’s nerves at anything crazy happening.

“Well, we better get going so we can meet Haley and Jacob.”

“Home by twelve thirty. Not one drop of alcohol, and Dan, watch those hands.” Again Trevor had to try hard not to laugh when Dan immediately dropped his hands from Shelby’s arm. “You go anywhere besides prom, you text me.”

“You don’t get to tell us what to do.”

Trevor only had to raise an eyebrow to have Shelby backing down.

Her shoulders slumped and she sighed. “Text any change of location. Home by twelve thirty. Got it.”

“Don’t forget to have fun.” Trevor grinned at Shelby’s scowl, but she couldn’t hold it and smiled in return.

“Thanks.” She turned around to face Em and Callie. “Thank you both for everything tonight.”

Callie only shrugged, but Em offered a beaming smile and said, “Our pleasure. Enjoy yourselves.”

Dan and Shelby eventually made it out the door, and Trevor felt weird. He’d done his best, enlisted people to help out with the whole prom situation, and he hoped Shelby hadn’t felt like it was less.

But Trevor was reminded that his mother should have been there, and it hurt even him that she wasn’t. As Em and Callie began to gather their belongings, Trevor felt a sudden odd panic. He didn’t want to be alone tonight.

“You girls want to stay for dinner?”

“Sure,” Em piped up, but Trevor’s eyes were on Callie. She didn’t meet his gaze.

“Yeah, sure,” she echoed, sounding anything but.

“I’ll walk up to Bennie’s and grab us a pizza.” Em picked up her purse and slid it onto her shoulder.

“You don’t have to do that. We can call some place that will deliver.”

Em was already halfway to the door. “Don’t worry about it. Short walk. Besides it’ll give me a chance to see if Pete’s working. Work up a little discount.” She winked over her shoulder before she disappeared out the door.

Trevor got the distinct impression he and Callie were being left alone on purpose. Unfortunately, he didn’t know what to do about it.

“Em and Pete got a thing going?”

Callie looked at her feet. “I don’t know if I’d classify it as a thing. She goes in and flirts. He gives her a discount on pizza. Since it’s about the only way I get a meal that isn’t veggie frou-frou gunk, I hope they get married and have lots of little baby pizza makers.”

Trevor forced a chuckle out, but quickly, uncomfortable silence settled over the living room. He really hated that he’d somehow managed to make things awkward between them, and he had no idea how to fix it.

“Want a beer?”

“God, yes.” She pushed off the couch and followed him into the kitchen. Awkward silence followed them as Trevor pulled two bottles from the fridge. He held one out for Callie, opened his mouth to say something and nothing came out.

Callie took the outstretched bottle from his hands. Their fingers brushed, but she showed no outward sign of reaction.

“Wanna go drink it out on the porch? I’m going to pass out from all these hairspray fumes.”

Callie nodded and silently followed him to the front door.

The warm day was slowly cooling into the perfect spring evening. The sun had begun its slow descent. Around them, bugs created a low hum of noise, only punctuated by the distant shrieks of children playing or the rumble of a car pulling into its garage.

The two big trees in the front yard gave an illusion of separateness from the rest of the neighborhood so as he and Callie sat on the small concrete stoop, almost close enough to touch, it wasn’t hard to pretend they were all alone.

Maybe he couldn’t talk to Callie about what was happening between them, but it didn’t mean he couldn’t talk period. “Should I be worried about this whole prom thing?”

Callie smiled, took a slow sip of her beer. “Nah. Shelby’s a good kid, and Dan looked like he might spontaneously combust if they even held hands. He’s afraid of you, which was adorably naïve. I think you’re safe.”

“I don’t want her to be messed up because I couldn’t do the right thing here. I can’t be her dad, but at the same time it doesn’t seem right to just be her brother either.”

Callie patted his shoulder, and it was the first initiated physical contact since that stupid moment. Maybe they were on their way back to normal.

“Don’t be too hard on yourself. You do your best, Shelby will do her best, and everything will work out.”

Trevor shook his head and looked down at the cement below him. A small trail of ants made their way across the cracked surface. “I guess you’re right. With all her faults, she’s got a good head on those shoulders. I mean, she’s not like…” He censored the thought, but a few words too late.

“She’s not like me.”

“That’s not what I was going to say.” At Callie’s raised eyebrow he set the empty bottle down. “Okay, that
is
what I was going to say, but I knew before I said it that it wouldn’t come out right, so I didn’t say it.”

Callie shrugged, picked at the label of the bottle. “You’re right, though. Shelby’s got that kind of maturity I didn’t manage to scrounge up until, oh, a year ago. She won’t make the mistakes I did. She’ll be the one who makes all the right choices.”

Trevor looked at Callie, hated that he’d put sadness back in her eyes. That he’d inadvertently pushed her guard back up. The only way he knew how to break it down again was to go back, go back to where things weren’t so murky. “You know, I almost asked you to prom senior year.” He chuckled, but when her laugh didn’t meld with his, warning bells sounded in his head.

Her mouth gaped open as she stared at him, like he’d just admitted to cross-dressing or something.