Unfinished Ex (Calloway Brothers, #2)(7)

“Shut up.”

“And I’ll be able to say I knew you when.”

“If I’m going places, it’s only because you took a chance on me. You saw something in me and believed in me when everyone else just thought I was a weather girl. Whatever happens to me, I owe to you.”

“Remember to thank me when you write your autobiography one day.”

I pull him in for a hug. Then I kiss him on the cheek.

“See?” he says. “I knew you’d want to kiss me.”

Tears flood my eyes. I’m excited. I’m grateful. I’m utterly terrified.





Chapter Three



Jaxon




“Don’t look at me that way,” I say to Heisman as he peers at me from the end of the couch when I open another beer. “Want to trade places with me and see how you handle this?”

He lays his head back down but continues to stare.

I left Tag and Cooper at Donovan’s. I could only take so much of us ‘celebrating’ my divorce.

Not to mention having to endure Tag belittling Nicky. It’s a ruse, my being a good man. Because a good man wouldn’t let people speak badly about someone who isn’t inherently bad. We’ve all made mistakes.

The envelope still sits unopened, only now it’s on the coffee table. Why I continue to torture myself with it is beyond me. I knew it was coming. I’ve known for two years. Hell, I don’t even talk to Nicky anymore. When she left, she cut all ties. She ghosted me on social media. We only speak through our lawyers.

The only connection I have to her is her sister, Victoria, who is a senior in my calculus class at Calloway Creek High School. And she’s tight-lipped when it comes to sharing information. It’s like the day Nicky walked out on me, she ceased to exist. I don’t even try to Google her anymore. The last I read, she was working as a junior weather forecaster at some small-time TV station in Oklahoma City.

I take a sip and point the mouth of the beer bottle at Heisman. “You would have liked her. She loved dogs. We always said we’d get one after we had kids.” I huff out a pained laugh. “Sadly, she kept pushing that off further and further until… Well, you know the rest.”

He knows the story and knows it well. He gets that he was a replacement for her. Someone for me to love after the love of my life walked out on me. And fortunately, Heisman is good at keeping secrets. Even my brothers don’t know that I deserved what I got. And to this day, everyone in town thinks that she’s the bad guy who fucked over the ‘good’ Calloway brother.

Heisman jumps off the couch, tail wagging, and gazes out the front window.

“Someone here, buddy?”

He’s quick to alert me of visitors, but he’s a shit watchdog. Heisman’s never met a person he didn’t like. If Freddy Krueger himself came into my house, Heisman would probably lick Freddy as he butchered me. He may be my best friend, but he couldn’t protect anyone if his life depended on it.

It’s no surprise when the doorbell rings. I stumble over to see Calista standing under the porch light. I feel like a complete dick when I open the door. “I was supposed to call. Sorry. My brothers and I got kind of carried away.”

“Can I come in?”

No. “I suppose. But I doubt I’ll be very good company after all the drinking. I was about to head to bed and sleep it off.”

“I’ll be quick.” She tousles Heisman’s hair and walks into my house, my dog following on her heels. She turns. “There was something I wanted to ask you, though. Why didn’t you call or text me when you got the papers?”

I shrug. “Wasn’t that big of a deal.”

“Not that big of a deal? You’ve been waiting on this for months.”

“No. This is what you’ve been waiting on for months,” I slur.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means that not a day goes by where you haven’t asked me if the papers have arrived.”

“It’s been two years, Jaxon. I mean, how long can it take?”

“I told you before, we live in different states. We don’t speak to each other. It’s hard to figure things out that way.”

“Hard?” Her eyes sweep the room. “She cheated. She left. She gave you the house. She gave you everything. She didn’t want you or anything here. What was there to argue over?”

Her words sting. Probably because she’s right. Nicky didn’t want anything to do with me or Calloway Creek. Neither could give her what she wanted: a career.

“You’ve never been married, Calista. You’re not one to talk.”

“No, but I have plenty of friends who have, and their divorces took six months. Even the one who had kids only took a year.”

“Well, this one didn’t.”

She sighs heavily. “Listen, I don’t want to fight. My parents will be in town tomorrow. I was hoping we could all have dinner.”

“I’m not sure now is such a good time.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t know. I have a lot going on at school. The start of football season. The new class I’m teaching. Lots of things.”

“But you have time to go out with your brothers.”