The Moment She Knew (2 page)

“Well based on your loving words I’m going to end our conversation now and I will be seeing you later.”
Callie would be grabbing lunch with her family as she did on most weekends. She could get the list of what was wrong with her then. Now, all she wanted to do was relax.

“Ok fine. Call me when you are on your way.”
Callie ended the phone call and stretched in her bed again. As she was petting Charlie, she looked around her small bedroom. Her bedroom was relaxing, she loved the cream and light blue that surrounded her room from the walls to the décor. Callie followed many do-it-yourself blogs and this came in handy with her nightstand, dresser and closet organization. The dresser was a light blue color she hand-painted and the knobs were replaced with ones she found at a local thrift shop. Most of her apartment was from a thrift shop that she renovated to make it her own.

She
laid in bed, mentally planning her day. She was done teaching for the semester and had to help with graduation. Graduation was a big deal with guest speakers and a big venue. The college had become popular over the past couple years and the auditorium no longer could hold the graduating students and their family members. She stretched one last time visualizing the long weekend ahead of her.

Chapter 2

It was Sunday night and Callie was watching Netflix, per her usual Sunday night. She just finished
The Book Thief
and
had
to watch the movie to compare notes. This was good research for her since she had this outlined in her syllabus for her fall class. Callie started as a part time adjunct teacher after working her ass off to get her Master’s degree. Having attended the community college helped, they thought it was great an alumnus wanted to come back and teach. After a few semesters the teachers were impressed and hired her full time starting this fall, they even let her design her own curriculum. So she thought about her love for novels and the comparisons to the movie versions. This was a literature class that the school had approved and she was now going to teach.  

That knock she learned to love came at her front door.
Ryan stood in the hallway looking much better than he did a couple nights ago.

“I would ask you to not hate me but being that you have seen me in that state before I’m
going with you love me, I love you and now I am going to raid your fridge.” Ryan walked in and helped himself to the bowl of grapes.

“You did have some sweet moves this week, I will give you that. Did it take you two days to recover?”
Callie hadn’t seen Ryan in that bad of shape recently.

“No just mostly Saturday and I had to do errands today that I didn’t do Saturday. I don’t bounce back like I used too. It was my
‘hoorah’ now that school is done and I didn’t kill anyone this semester. I wish you would have come out but I know you had a date. So how was your date?” A few winks and arm nudges came along with the question. Why was everyone so interested in how her dates went? They all ended the same, so why did people bother asking.

“Oh you know
, it went like they always do,” she said with an eye roll.

“At least you got a free meal, right?”
Ryan replied with a mouth full of grapes.

“Not exactly
,” she looked at the tiles on the kitchen floor.

“What
? Shut the front door, YOU paid?” Ryan’s eyes were bulging out of his head.

“No it was more of
split-skis kind of thing.” She didn’t mind, she hadn’t listened to the guy and honestly couldn’t remember his name. Plus she liked paying for her own way.

“What asshole takes a girl out to dinner and doesn’t pay? Well, have you e
aten dinner tonight?” Ryan asked, heading for the door.

“Actually I haven’t now that I think about it
,” she started to rub her stomach. Binge reading always made her forget that life was going on; sometimes it was for the better.

“Well baby girl I’m buying you dinner tonight. So get dressed because we are hittin
g up Louie’s.” Louie’s was a dive bar within walking distance from Whitney Manor. Their buffalo wings were the best in town. They offered a nice drink selection and various bar foods at reasonable prices.

“Its 25 cent wing night isn’t it?”
Louie’s was known for their random 25 cent wing nights. 

“You bet that sweet ass it is. And if you play your cards right
, there might just be a hard cider with your name on it,” he said as he wiggled his eyebrows.

“A hard cider too
? My gosh, you sure know how to wine and dine a lady!” Truth be told, beer and wings were one of Callie’s favorite things. Callie grabbed her bag and pet Charlie goodbye. As they walked to Louie’s she listened to the tale of Ryan’s past Friday night excursion.

Chapter 3

It was Monday morning in early-May. Spring was finally making an appearance. Graduation was in three weeks and there was still so much to do. There was going to be this big guest speaker who turned out to also be lecturing a few summer classes. The speaker wasn’t her concern, everything else was.

Callie was
headed to the faculty meeting she dreaded so much. She took her usual seat and saw Ryan walk in, heading off to the front of the auditorium. He took his seat next to a guy in a baseball hat; Callie had never seen him before. She thought about going over but decided against it. The view from the back of their heads was going to have to do. She noticed Mr. Baseball Hat look at a watch in his pocket and then one on his wrist.
I feel your pain
she thought looking at her phone to check the time. The Dean walked in as well as the administration staff and the meeting began.

“I would like to thank you all for coming today as we talk about graduation and the start of our summer classes in a few weeks. We have so much going on this summer and
then this fall. We not only have additional certification programs we are offering but additional courses being taught by previous adjuncts as well as new adjuncts. I want to thank Mr. Sterling of Sterling Technologies, who is not only our guest speaker at graduation, but who is also dedicating his time to help our students by offering to lecture this summer about his experience and success as an entrepreneur. Everyone, please give Mr. Sterling a warm welcome.” 

Everyone clapped as the man in the baseball hat stood up hesitantly and waved a quick hand, you can tell
the attention made him uncomfortable. The Dean went over a few other items on her list and as the meeting came to an end, Callie got up to head over to Ryan and Mr. Sterling. Before she got to them Mr. Sterling rushed out of the room.

“Hey
Callie. Sorry, I had to sit next to my cousin and figure out a few details, plus he didn’t know anyone,” he said with a shrug. 

“Your cousin is Mr.
Sterling?” Callie asked. Ryan hadn’t mentioned it before. They started walking out of the auditorium and headed down a hallway.

“Yea he is lecturing this summer. He started a technology company at an early age and it
took off so I asked him about lecturing at the college. He’s smart and I think the students could really get motivated by what he has to say. The business department could use some help anyway.” She was going to have to look this Mr. Sterling up later.

“Is his degree in Business or Technology?” Callie had worked for a technology company briefly but it was more administration work.

“He doesn’t have one. He started his company a couple years after high school.”

Callie was puzzled.
“So he doesn’t have any degree?”

Callie
had to bust her ass to get her Master’s degree before the college would even consider letting her teach as an assistant. To work at most universities and colleges she needed her PhD, which she was looking into.

“Well they see how successful he is plus he is donating to the school.”
Well that always help
s she thought. She was mad but it wasn’t going to consume her thoughts, she had too much going on right now.

“Oh. So what were you figuring out?”
She asked as they continued down the hall.

“He is staying at my apartment so I had to make him a key and get him situated. He is from New York and I’ll be working opposite his days so there isn’t much time for me to be spending showing him around.
I want to get the important stuff out of the way.” Callie walked with Ryan and listened about her temporary new neighbor. Yea, she was going to have to look up this Mr. Sterling later.

Chapter 4

Callie was in her living room folding laundry, it was a battle to get the clothes put away before Charlie and Lo tried to sleep on them. She was telling them about her day when her phone went off. A text from Ryan appeared on her screen.

Need a date for this weekend.
Business/charity/fundraiser event. Reasons why you should go… 1. It’s for the kids 2. There will be food 3. There will be wine.

Do I have to wear a dress?

Yes you do, it’s kind of fancy.

Then no.

Pleasseeeee. I ain’t too proud to beg.

You just quoted TLC.

Yes. Yes I did.

Sorry but it’s still no.

Ok what if I throw in a night of all you can eat wings at Louie’s and TWO hard ciders?

Make it three ciders.

Damn woman, you really know how to negotiate. Ok deal!

I’m all yours then.

Ok ill email you the invite with further information. We have to leave earlier though to catch the train.

Train?

Yea btw it’s in NYC.

Callie tossed her phone on the couch. She exhaled with a loud puff of air. She
didn’t do fancy.  She looked at her surroundings and saw what her wardrobe consisted of. She loved her yoga pants and tank tops but she would need to buy a dress. Most girls loved shopping, Callie wasn’t one of them. In the past she knew what clothes shopping entailed. She would go from store to store, finding not one style or piece of clothing she liked, but she would try them on regardless. Next, the tears would come fast as she looked in the faulty dressing room mirrors with horrible lighting; they made even the skinniest girl look frumpy in clothing. Last she would leave the store with no garments and even less self-esteem.

With her recent weight loss she could use a new wardrobe but couldn’t afford a new one at the moment.
She was going to need help and she sent Dani a quick text. Dani’s father-in-law was Mayor of a surrounding town, so Dani had been to her share of formal events.

The thought of the train ride lead
Callie back to her dream about Reed. As night time approached, with the warm May air flowing throughout her apartment, Callie started to think of him.

She appeared in a park.
She knew this park; they had been here many times. Following the path past the willow tree and near the bench, there he was. She stopped before reaching him. She rarely had the chance to view him from afar. He sat on a bench, gazing at the pond.

“
Are you going to say hello, Callie? Or are you just going to stare?” He smiled as he turned in her direction.

“Hello Reed,” she walked over to the bench, feeling embarrassed for having been caught staring at him.

“How have you been?” He asked, really wanting to know.

“Good, I guess
.” She didn’t really know how she was doing. She had been feeling a bit out of sorts lately.

“Good? That’s all?” He smiled. There was always something comforting about his smiles.

“Graduation is almost here and then summer classes start. I’m more worried about the fall time I guess. I just wonder how I will do teaching full time. I’m nervous. I have to keep telling myself, I got this, I keep repeating it so I start to believe it.” She was starting to feel more relaxed. Talking to him did that to her.

“Don’t be nervous, y
ou will do great. You always will in life,” he said with a head nod of certainty like he knew how her life would end up.

“
Man I hope so. I really have been busting my ass for a while.” Callie closed her eyes and tilted her head towards the sun. She took a deep breath, “ah the park, nice place to pick. I feel like it’s been a while since we’ve been here.” The chirping birds in the trees, the worn out wood benches, the all-around atmosphere was relaxing.

“
I like the park, it’s calming. I like the pond, watching the birds with their families.” She could tell he was deep in thought and the way he hung on the word ‘families’ made her wonder. She made Reed up, so he didn’t have a family but did he want one? She talked about hers all the time.

“Is everything ok?”
She asked.

“Of course
, how could it not be?” He instantly smiled again, but it didn’t reach his eyes.

“You just seem to be somewhere else
,” she put her hand on top of his hand, which was placed on his knee.

“I’m just enjoying my time with you
,” he placed his other hand on top of hers, lightly patting it.