"All right." I let her go and slap her ass. "Get back to work."
We finish up at ten-thirty, which is later than I'd planned to work, but I was getting a lot done so I just kept going. And so did Callie, even though I told her she could go home. But she wanted to stay.
After working all those hours, I told her she could skip coming here in the morning and just stop by in the afternoon, but the next day at eight-thirty, she's back at my house, going through more of the boxes.
I'm starting to think that, despite what she says, she doesn't really like being alone. Actually, I'm starting to doubt a lot of the things she says.
Chapter Nineteen
Callie
"Lou, I need more flour," I call back to him. He's in his office doing paperwork.
"I just filled that thing," he says, walking into the kitchen. He keeps the flour in a big rolling bin, but when it's empty I can't fill it because the bags are too heavy. I tried doing it once and flour spilled out everywhere so Lou never let me do it again.
He rips open the giant bag and dumps it in the bin.
I cough as flour dust fills the air.
"You gotta stand back until it settles," he says, shaking the bag to get the last remnants of flour out. He tips the bag up, and as he turns to toss it out, he stops, his eyes on me.
"What?" I touch my face. "Do I have flour on me?"
He drops the bag in the trash, still eyeing me. "What's going on with you?"
"Nothing. Why?"
"Is it that guy?"
"What guy?"
"Your neighbor."
"What about him?"
"Are you dating him?" He crosses his chubby arms over his expansive gut, a slight smile on his face.
"We're not dating," I say defensively. "I already told you we weren't. He's just my neighbor. Oh, and he fixed my walkway so you don't have to worry about me tripping on it. It's completely smooth. His brothers helped him. They did a really good job."
He cocks his head. "So you had all those people at your house last weekend?"
He knows I don't let people in my house. He doesn't know why and he hasn't asked. He knows better than to ask me about anything personal, although lately that seems to be all he's done and it's getting really annoying.
"They only came into the house to use the bathroom," I say. "We ate lunch outside."
"You had lunch with them?" He sounds surprised because I've had virtually no social interaction since the accident, other than my interactions with people here at work.
"I thought it would be rude not to eat with them," I say.
"And how'd it go?" He uses a cautious tone, hinting that I'm incapable of interacting with people. It angers me, and I turn away and get back to rolling out the cookie dough.
"Callie," he says, not going away.
"It went fine," I snap. "God, Lou, I'm not that messed up. I can have lunch with people."
"I didn't mean it like that. I was just surprised that you—"
I whip back to face him. "What are you, like Katie now? Telling everyone I'm crazy and never leave the house?"
He holds my arm, his brows furrowed in anger. "She did not say that about you."
I nod. "She did. At the bar. Saturday night."
"You went out?" His voice is hopeful.
"Nash talked me into it. We all went out. Him and his brothers and me."
"And Katie was there?"
I nod again, the scene replaying in my head, causing a lump to form in my throat. I can hear Katie's words. The town loser...hides away in her house all day...she's crazy. Any other time, that probably wouldn't have bothered me. It's just Katie being mean and immature, but the fact that she said it to Nash made it so much worse.
"What did she say to you?" Lou asks.
"She said..." I look up at the ceiling and bite my lip, willing myself not to cry. "She told Nash I'm crazy. She told him about the counting. That people in town talk about me and..." A tear runs down my cheek.
"Oh, Callie." Lou forces me in his arms. I take a few long, deep breaths to stop the tears. I don't want that bitch making me cry. She doesn't deserve all that power.
I pull away from Lou, wiping my face and looking at him. "Is it true?"
"Is what true?"
"Do people talk about me? Don't lie to me, Lou."
"No." He shakes his head. "I've never heard anyone talk about you. Hardly anyone here even knows you, other than the people who see you here at work."
He's right. Living here only in the summers and being on the remote side of town meant that my family didn't meet many people. We mostly stayed home or went to the nearby state park for picnics or hiking or to sit by the lake. So when my family died, nobody here really knew or cared, which is why I moved to this town. I wanted to be where nobody knew what happened. I didn't want people talking about me, but now I'm wondering if they are and Lou just doesn't know or won't tell me.
"I'm never letting Katie step foot in here again," Lou says.
"No. Lou, don't put your business at risk because of this."
"She had no reason to say those things. She was being hateful and I don't allow people like that in my store."