Page 41 of Coyote
“Well, I will learn to be.” I noticed Breaker was carrying two bags, “What you got there?”
It was Callie who answered, “Breaker said you had a little houseguest, I know you don’t have any child friendly food in the house, and I didn’t know if Bethany had a chance to pack anything. So, I brought some snacks and something for breakfast.”
“Cookies!” Nessa exclaimed, her initial shyness evaporating with the thought of more sweet treats.
Callie grinned at her, “Looks like someone has had a treat already,” she reached into the bag and pulled out a pack of wet wipes and handed them to me. “You’ll soon learn that these are invaluable with a three-year-old around. They just need to look at something and they’re sticky.”
“She’s only two,” I said as I wiped Nessa’s hands.
“Really?” Callie looked at Breaker and then at Nessa. “Maybe she’s just big for her age.”
After I finished cleaning her hands, I put Nessa down on the floor and poured coffee for my sister and brother-in-law.
Callie was chatting to Nessa and seemed to be studying her closely, “How old are you sweetheart?”
“I’m a big girl!” Nessa said giggling and stuck her tongue out, it was bright orange.
“What on earth were you feeding her?” Callie asked me in a disapproving tone.
“I had some snack cakes in the cupboard. Those orange ones I like.”
My sister shuddered and turned her attention back to Nessa, “Do you know when your birthday is?”
The little girl looked thoughtful, then grinned showing off those dimples again, “Gonna go water park!”
“That sounds awesome, my kids love the water park too,” Callie said, looking thoughtful as she smoothed down Nessa’s sleep muddled hair and turned to me, “At that age kids don’t have much of an idea about time, but if she knows what her mom has planned, then maybe her birthday’s not too far away, like in the summer?”
Summer. It was May, already. I didn’t need to be a math genius to realize if this was true then this little girl was almost three. I put those thoughts to the back of my mind, Breaker and Callie hadn’t come to visit, they had come because we needed to figure out who set the fire that almost killed Bethany’s friend.
We settled down, and I told them all the details of what happened last night. Callie grew more worried, the more she heard. Finally, she asked, “Is Reggie okay?”
My head swiveled around to stare at her. “Since when are you on first name terms with Bethany’s boss, much less calling him Reggie?”
Callie’s mouth snapped shut and she looked down, picking at her sweater.
“Callie,” Breaker hissed her name in a warning tone, but she didn’t respond. Exasperated, he said, “If you’ve got enough balls to fuck with his life behind his back, you should have enough balls to answer for it when he asks.”
I told her in a stern voice, “You know I don’t like secrets, sis. Best come out with it.”
I have literally never seen these two have any kind of conflict. So, I was waiting with bated breath to hear what she had to say. Of all the things I anticipated coming out of her mouth what came next was not among them.
“Reggie and I kind of decided to do what we could to get the two of you back together. I know you don’t like me meddling, but I’m your sister and I only have your best interest at heart.”
Bethany was the most important thing in my life, always was and always will be. The thought of Callie fucking around with our relationship incensed me. “You’ve got about ten seconds to make this make sense for me before I lose my shit.”
“Bethany was the love of your life and you’ve never been quite the same since she left you.”
A feeling of dread coiled in the pit of my stomach. If she told me that she manipulated Bethany into giving me a chance, I didn’t think my heart would be able to take that, in addition to realizing someone just tried to kill her and Nessa.
“Start at the beginning,” I said coldly. “Start at the beginning and tell me everything. Walk me through every detail because this is critically important to my personal happiness.”
My sister could tell by the tone of my voice that I was seriously pissed with her interfering in my life. She swallowed thickly and started at the beginning.
“A few weeks ago, I got a phone call from a man who introduced himself as Reginald Archibald. He told me that he was a friend of Bethany Marks and asked if I knew who she was. I got really concerned that something bad had happened to her and they were looking for her next of kin. Since I know she doesn’t have anyone, I told him that she was a close personal friend and that if anything had happened, my family would step up to help her.”
“Well, thanks for that much,” I murmured.
She continued, albeit a little less nervously. “He told me she was working for him in Patterdale and lived in his pool house with her daughter. That made me curious because Bethany didn’t have a kid when she left Griffinsford. He explained that he’d just had a chat with her about my brother, how much she was still in love with him and how sorry she was to have run away instead of talking about problems.”