LITMIR.BIZ

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no. It’s fine.” He put the girls down, purposely not looking at Callie when he answered. He’d speak to his aunt privately about his concerns.

      “Ms. Callie was telling us about when she used to go to the same camp as us.” Alexis was bouncing as she spoke.

      “Is that right?”

      “Uh-huh. And she even took a bus like we do.”

      He glanced at Callie and then back at his daughters. “You know I went there, too.”

      “You already told us that, Daddy.” Madison was very serious. “But you don’t remember singing the same songs as us. Ms. Callie has been singing them with us. She knows all the words.”

      “Well, let’s not wear her out. Who wants to go on a short bike ride before dinner?”

      Both girls raised their hands and began dancing around the kitchen. “Can Ms. Callie come, too, Daddy?” Madison had stopped moving to ask the question.

      He glanced at Callie then back at Madison. “Well—”

      “I don’t have a bike to ride,” Callie told Madison. “So you’ll have to go without me.”

      Tyler didn’t know if she was giving him an out or if she really didn’t want to go, but he was grateful for her answer.

      “Go put on sneakers and I’ll meet you at the garage after I change clothes.”

      When the girls were out of earshot, Callie said, “I’m sorry they put you on the spot. Don’t feel obligated to include me just because I’m staying here now.”

      He decided to be honest with her. “I won’t. In fact, it would be best if you avoided being around my daughters.”

      * * *

      SHE AWOKE THE next day with a feeling of dread. Picking up trash along the side of a road was not her idea of a productive day. Remembering Tyler’s advice, she donned jeans and a T-shirt. Then she put on the pair of shoes she’d picked up last night at the big-box store that had opened outside of town since she’d been gone. For ten bucks, she could afford to ruin them. She pulled her hair into a ponytail and secured a baseball cap—another new purchase—around it. She applied a slathering of sunblock to her exposed skin and put the bottle into her small backpack, along with the water bottle and energy bars already there. Then she headed downstairs to grab breakfast and the prepackaged Greek salad she’d bought for lunch.

      Driving to the community center, she thought back to her reaction the previous evening when Tyler had announced that he’d prefer she avoid being around his daughters. Her hands tightened on the steering wheel. His comment had confused her, but she’d been too shocked to question him about it. Instead she’d gone for a long run to blow off steam.

      Callie arrived early at the designated meeting place. A few people were at the community center already and she introduced herself, leaving out the real reason she was there. Tyler had told her that everyone else was there voluntarily, so no one should think twice about her participating.

      “We’re so glad to have you join us,” a tall gentleman, probably somewhere around seventy, told her. “I’m Gary, and this is my wife, Liz.” He gestured to a petite woman about the same age with neatly styled, short blond hair.

      Callie smiled and shook hands with both of them. “I’m Callie James. Nice to meet you.”

      “Are you new in town?” Liz asked.

      “Actually, I grew up here. I’m back for a visit.” That was pretty close to the truth.

      “James?” Gary scratched his head. “Are you related to Bart?”

      Callie shouldn’t have added her last name during the introduction. “He’s my father.” She’d be more careful from here on out because she didn’t want her dad hearing that she was in town before she could contact him herself. It was bad enough that Wendy knew she was in Whittler’s Creek.

      “Great guy,” Gary said before they were interrupted by others coming into the building to join the group.

      When Poppy arrived, her eyes widened at seeing Callie. “I didn’t know you were participating in this. We could have driven together.”

      “Oh, well.” Callie was surprised to see Poppy, too, and didn’t know how else to respond. She wondered if Tyler had told her the real reason Callie was there. If he had confided in her, then Poppy was very good at pretending ignorance.

      At least Poppy would be able to vouch for Callie being where she was supposed to be today. Otherwise, Tyler was relying on her honesty about fulfilling her service hours. Based on last night’s comment to Callie about not wanting her around his girls, why would he take her on her word?

      Callie was quiet as conversations continued around her. Poppy suddenly grabbed her arm and said, “I want to introduce the two of you.” She guided Callie over to a handsome man, close to Poppy’s age, with a healthy tan and thick salt-and-pepper hair. “This is Gino Borelli. He’s moving in next weekend.” Poppy and Gino made eye contact and Callie could have sworn there was a spark between them. “And this is Callie James,” Poppy told Gino. “She moved in yesterday.”

      “Hello there, neighbor,” Gino said as he and Callie shook hands.

      “Are you new in town?” Callie asked before he could ask her anything.

      He shrugged. “Not new. I lived here a long time ago. Now my business has brought me back and I can once again be in the company of this lovely lady.” He gestured to Poppy. His words would have sounded silly if not for his faint Italian accent.

      Poppy must have thought so, too, because she was blushing like an adolescent.

      “Let’s get going,” someone finally said, and the gathering moved out of the building and onto the sidewalk. Back at the community center, they’d been given reflective vests to wear. There was nowhere to hide when you were wearing bright orange.

      In all the discussion going on, Callie didn’t hear where they were going to do this cleanup. So she just followed along with the group of about a dozen people.

      They walked quite a ways before stopping. “This is our street,” a woman announced. Callie couldn’t remember her name, but did recall the woman seemed overly excited to be doing this task. “Let’s divide into two groups and each take one side of the road. I have extra garbage bags when you need them.” Along with the reflective vests, they’d been given two orange trash bags each. “When a bag is full, tie it carefully and leave it on the shoulder. A county trash truck will pick them up later.”

      That was a relief. At least they didn’t have to haul other people’s garbage back to where they’d started.

      As the group divided into two, Callie found herself with Poppy and Gino, as well as three others. Callie donned her rubber gloves and noticed she wasn’t the only one who’d brought them. Then they fanned out on their side of the street and began the arduous task of picking up garbage.

      Callie was amazed at the stuff she found. She had a difficult time deciding what was worse—the used condoms that she’d covered with dead leaves before picking them up, or the used diapers that had been neatly balled up and tossed on the side of the road.

      On second thought, that clear plastic container with a half-eaten sandwich covered with maggots was definitely the worst thing she’d had to deal with.

      She could only imagine what Tyler had in store for her tomorrow since, after today, she would still have ninety-two of her one hundred service hours to complete.

      * * *

      WHEN SHE RETURNED to Poppy’s, the first thing Callie did was strip down and shower until she felt clean again. Between the heat and the disgusting trash, she wasn’t sure she’d ever be able to wash it all off.

      Before leaving the community center, Callie had told Poppy that she wouldn’t be around for dinner. She was sure Poppy wondered

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