I opened my mouth to speak, but she cut me off again.
“You were being an idiot, and I don’t even want to look at you right now.” She turned to my mom and grasped her arm. “Come on, Nora. Let’s go look at those hibiscus you wanted to see.”
Without another word, both women walked away from me, arm in arm. It would have been a nice sight if they weren’t both pissed off at me. I blew out a deep breath and found an empty bench to sit on. Clearly, I needed to get my head out of my ass, or I wouldn’t even get to keep Callie as a friend.
Chapter 19
Callie
“Can you just let me out at the lodge?” was the first thing I’d said to Wyatt since the incident with Ricky.
I was still so mad I wanted to yell at him some more, but that would require talking to him and I didn’t want to do that.
“Okay,” he said softly.
It tugged a little at my heartstrings, but not hard enough for me to do anything about it. He’d been dead wrong today and there was no two ways about it. Now he needed to suffer whatever consequences came from his actions, and one of those was a ticked off Callie.
“Actually, would you mind taking me home first?” Nora said. “I’m feeling a little tired and I’d like to get a nap in.”
My petty issues forgotten, I spun in my seat to look at Wyatt’s mom.
“Are you feelin’ okay, Ma?” he asked as the tires crunched over the gravel drive leading to pack lands.
“I’m okay. Just a little tired. I haven’t done this much in one day in a long time.”
My stomach clenched with worry as my eyes scanned her for anything obviously wrong. “Are you sure, Nora?”
She smiled warmly at me and the world felt a little safer for a moment. “Yes, dear. I’m sure. I just need a quick cat nap and I’ll be right as rain.”
I turned back around in my seat and slouched down as we approached the pack houses. I really didn’t need any of my packmates seeing me with Wyatt because all they’d do was talk. Pack relationships were extra difficult because there was always a large magnifying glass over the couple, allowing everyone within a three-mile radius to pick apart every little thing about them.
Even though I wasn’t in a relationship, they wouldn’t care. Just seeing me with a wolf I wasn’t related to would be enough to get the rumor mills going. And worse, if my family got wind of this, I’d never hear the end of it.
We drove in silence until we made it to the Carters’ house and Nora broke it. “Thank you so much for going plant shopping with me today, Callie. I think I’ve got a good amount of stuff to get started, but I might want to head back to that nursery of yours sometime. I hope you’ll go with me again.”
The ice around my heart melted a little at Nora’s words. Honestly, the time I’d spent with her had been amazing. It was like I’d gotten a little piece of my own mom back. “Of course, Nora. You just let me know when and I’ll be there.” We’ll just leave your son at home, I added silently.
Wyatt hopped out of the Jeep to escort his mom in the house, leaving me alone with my thoughts. I sat there for a minute, waiting for him, before I got out and started heading back to the lodge. It was close enough that I didn’t need a ride from him, and frankly, I didn’t want to be anywhere near Wyatt right then.
The confrontation between him and Ricky had knocked me off my game and I was having trouble finding my equilibrium again.
I’d never had anyone fight over me before. Not once in thirty years had someone felt strongly enough to do something like that. If I was being honest, it was a bit flattering, but only that little piece of me was flattered–the rest was annoyed.
I’d also never been out in public and in between two wolves so close to fighting. That part had been scary enough to push the flattery to the back burner. I didn’t even want to think about how bad things would have been if they’d shifted there in the middle of the nursery.
“Callie! Wait up!”
I turned to find Wyatt running to catch up with me, and I scanned the nearby houses to make sure no one heard or saw him.
“What do you want?” I asked when he got close.
He winced slightly and ran a hand over his short blond hair. “I thought I was giving you a ride back.”
I glanced up the road to where you could see the lodge and back at him. “I’m perfectly capable of walking.”
“Okay,” he said slowly. “I also wanted to thank you for coming with us today. You made my mom really happy.”
I couldn’t help the small smile that tugged at the corners of my lips. “I’m glad. She deserves it.”
He blew out a deep breath. “I know she does.” We were quiet for a while, both of us avoiding eye contact as the awkwardness intensified. “Listen, Callie, I’m sorry about today.”
“Are you really?”
“Yeah, I am.”
“Because if you were really sorry, you’d regret what you did, and I have a feeling, if the same circumstances arose, you’d do it
