With his steaming cup of tea in front of him, steeping, he says, “I feel like a fucking tea bag.”
“Oh, Cal, your feelings are hurt. Tey told me what happened. I’m guessing you’ve never felt this way before.” Colleen reaches out her hand and covers his.
Normally, when people reach out to touch him, he retreats. But today, with Colleen, he accepts the gesture and allows her to clasp his hand in hers. He likes the warmth and comfort it brings and that surprises him. It also makes him blurt the truth and the crux of his problems. “Kids hurt my feelings all the time growing up.”
Colleen’s face turns sad. “Kids can be mean. They made fun of Taylor because of her darker skin and wild hair. It took me years to figure out how to tame her mane. Thank God for those curly hair products I found.”
Colleen would never be thankful or forgive herself for the years spent without Teyler. She regrets keeping him from his daughter…in every way but this one. Because if Teyler had been around during those rough years when kids were cruel, he would have lost his mind and probably kicked every kid’s father’s ass.
Colleen had simply explained that Taylor was special and beautiful. She’d hoped it had been enough, but once Taylor hit her teen years, Colleen had questioned that.
Taylor was a sweet girl who had a huge crush on Cody Alexander, who Colleen will never be able to think of as Cole, no matter how badly that man wants to change his name. Colleen suspects that her daughter’s feelings were not reciprocated. But she was also certain that her daughter and her crush had been having a sexual relationship since their college days.
Taylor was looking for attention from a man because she lacked it from a father. Colleen could kick herself for that, especially after the issue with their past mayor. That asshole had at least gotten his now, thanks to Maxwell James.
Callan goes on to explain that his feelings of loneliness from his separation with his friends now is worse than when kids at school, that he had no interest in, ignored or made fun of him.
Colleen points out that Callan didn’t really care about those kids or being left out from their fun. But Elliot, Ace, and the girls, especially Jordan, he does care about…a lot.
At her enlightenment, Callan sheds cleansing tears he hasn’t ever before in his life. Colleen comes around the counter and wraps her new friend up in her comforting arms like a mother would her child. Callan sobs into her shoulder as he inhales the scent of coffee and fudge from her clothes and hair.
“I think it’s time you told someone what it felt like.”
“What what felt like?” Callan asks through a muffled sob.
“The loneliness and inferiority.”
“Infer…I’m not inferior to anyone. I’m a genius.”
“I know you are. When it comes to anything other than friends, love, and social situations.”
With a deep sigh, Callan finally talks about when he first knew he was different and how he taught himself everything there was to know about computers and the Internet. He took computers apart and rebuilt them, learned how to code by watching YouTube videos and entering chat rooms he should have been an adult to access. He obsessed over the train schedule and trains for a bit too back then. But once he found sex, he dropped those interests and started watching porn, which became the basis for his sexual relationships and ones of a romantic nature too. He never questioned his one-night stand preference until he met Courtney Adams. Something about her made Callan feel different. It might have been because she got him, understood what it was like to not feel like everyone else. But he wasn’t in love with her and Callan definitely wasn’t the right man for her. She and Elliot are perfect together and her sister was the girl made for him.
“When did that change?” Colleen asks.
“What?”
“When did being alone stop being what you wanted?”
Callan sighs, but a smile pulls his lips up in the corners. “When I was eighteen and met Elliot and Ace in bootcamp.”
Callan becomes lost in his thoughts of his first days in the military. Colleen, allowing him the time to process his past and his emotions, remains silently holding his hand until they hear the bell over the door ring. Callan, sensing Jordan’s presence, doesn’t bother to turn around. The smile on Colleen’s face tells him all he needs to know.
After a quick reunion inside Spill the Tea, Callan leads the crew up to his apartment where they find Teyler still sprawled on the sofa.
With Callan Black’s relationship with Jordan looking as if it will be back on track and he and his friends returning to their normal, Colleen and Teyler know they need to find the right time to come clean with their friend and the rest of Falls Village about their relationship.
Teyler wants her to be his wife, and he doesn’t want to wait any longer.
15
1995
University of Connecticut, Storrs Campus
Teyler Walker had nothing to complain about, his life was better than most people’s. At twenty-one he was a college star on the court, scouts from the best teams coming to watch him, he knew he’d have an offer to play any day now and a contract that gave him more money than he’d ever be able to spend in one lifetime. Winning the NCAA national championship sealed that deal for both he and his best friend, Jake.
With the season over and only a few more weeks of classes, Teyler had finally allowed himself time to unwind and enjoy his youth. With his schoolwork and practices, he hadn’t had much time, so he sacrificed a social life. Not that he didn’t partake on the off seasons, but for the most part, Teyler wasn’t a partier. Sure, he had the needs of a young man and found girls to fulfill them, but when compared to the other guys on the team, he was a saint. Not that that was saying much considering they were mostly sex-crazed dogs.
Tey and Jake walked into Freddy’s, their feet sticking to the floor, as usual, with each step to the crowded bar. As they approached, others moved aside with slaps to their shoulders and congratulations on a season well played.
Teyler ordered a beer and tossed one to his best friend. They didn’t drink during the season and training for the next would kick in in only a few days, so they’d decided to live it up tonight.
Jake nodded his head in the direction of a few girls looking their way and Teyler smiled back. “You have a preference?”
Teyler shrugged. “Maybe the brunette or the redhead.”
Jake laughed. “What, not the blonde? I’m shocked,” he mocked his friend. Teyler avoided blondes like the plague.
Sending his best friend the finger, Teyler led them to where the three girls sat watching them approach with knowing smirks.
“Hey,” the redhead said. “You’re Teyler Walker, right? I saw you play the other night.”
“Yup, and what’s your name, gorgeous?”
She smiled, knowing the game well. She batted her eyelashes and introduced herself and her friends. “Nicole, this is Susie, and the blonde over there is Kathleen.”
Jake moved and stood behind Kathleen and opened his eyes wide at Teyler, wondering which he’d end up with between the other two girls and what they’d do with the third. His question got answered after only a few minutes of friendly banter when Teyler offered both Nicole and Susie his arm, saying, “Let’s go back to our place. These two can stay with me.”