<< Go Back

Pursued (Remembrance) (Volume 2)

By Suzie Waltner

Order Now!

PROLOGUE

Sixteen year old Callie James sat in her father’s office, quickly wiping the infuriating tears from her eyes. How could her dad betray her like this? She hadn’t meant to listen to the conversation out in the hall but the voices carried through the cracked door.

“Chris, do you have a minute?” David James called to someone.

“Sure, Mr. James. What can I do for you?” a much younger male voice asked.

“I’ve been watching you this past month and you have a talent for building. I wondered if you would like to be my apprentice this summer.”

“That would be awesome! When do we start?”

“First thing Monday morning.”

“I’ll be here.”

Callie’s chest hurt as if someone had just slammed a fist into her. She loved working with her dad and planned on spending the summer with him. She turned sixteen last fall and looked forward to working at A & J Construction ever since. Her dad always complimented her and encouraged her to keep improving. Building was their thing. So why had he offered his apprenticeship to someone else?

The office door swung open, and David James stopped short when he noticed her. “Callie, what a wonderful surprise. What brings you here?” he asked and glanced over his shoulder.

She stared at the man who had always been her hero and furiously shook her head. “Never mind. I shouldn’t have come.” She grabbed her bag off the floor and rushed out of his office.

“Callie, wait.”

“I can’t, Dad. My lunch break is almost over. I need to get back and check in with Uncle Connor.” She hurried out the door into the July heat and ran the half mile to the construction site she had been assigned to work.

“Is everything okay, Cal?” Connor Anderson asked as soon as she slowed down. She nodded at him. “Do you have a minute?” She nodded again and followed him into the small trailer that served as the foreman’s office on this site. She stepped into the hot, stuffy, metal crate and sat down across from him. “I just wanted to check on you and find out how things are going. How is everyone treating you?”

“Everybody has been very kind and helpful, Mr. Anderson.” Most people treated her like a kid sister here. She’d been around the construction sites for years with her dad, and since David James was the J of A & J Construction, no one was going to treat her poorly.

“Good. You definitely have your dad’s talent for building. You’re going to end up taking over for us in thirty or forty years.”

“Thank you,” she mumbled, refusing to let him see the sheen of tears in her eyes.

“Listen, I wanted to ask you something else. As you are aware, David and I each train an apprentice each summer. Would you be interested in working with me?”

Callie couldn’t believe her ears. Mr. Anderson was asking her to be his apprentice? Well, her dad wasn’t going to ask. “I would love to. Thank you for considering me.”

“It was a no-brainer, Calico,” he said, using the nickname he’d given her as a little girl, and winked at her. “You work hard and do an excellent job. You’re still too young to do everything on a construction site, but I’d love to teach you what I can.”

“I would like that.”

“I was surprised when David told me he was going to ask someone else to be his apprentice. His reasons make sense, though. Hey, it all works out better for me, doesn’t it?” He grinned at Callie, and she smiled back. Leave it to Uncle Connor to brighten her day.

She spent the rest of the afternoon wondering why her dad didn’t want her as his apprentice while her surrogate uncle seemed excited about the prospect. She worked just as hard as any of the guys and knew she did a good job—especially for a teenage girl. A horn blasted and Callie glanced up. Her dad waited in his silver Ford pickup. “You ready to go, Cal?”

“Give me a minute to put the tools away.” She took her time returning everything to their proper places. She wasn’t in a hurry to talk about what she overheard. Even with Uncle Connor’s offer, she still felt betrayed. After she dawdled as long as she dared, she climbed into the cab of the truck and buckled in. When he didn’t drive away, she peeked over at her dad and found him watching her. She knew the hurt showed on her face.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t want you to find out that way. I wanted to talk to you about this first.”

“Why not me, Dad?” she managed to choke out.

“Oh, Callie, I love you. You will be great at whatever you decide to do. You don’t need me. Chris Graham does. He needs someone to help him find his way.”

Chris Graham? The boy who was always getting in trouble at school? Callie had algebra with him. He rarely turned in his homework and he had been in a few fights over the past year. It would be a miracle if he graduated with the rest of the class. “Why him?”

“He’s good at construction. With some guidance, he’ll be terrific at it, but that’s not my only reason. He’s had a rough go of things, Cal. His dad died six years ago and he lost his sister last year. His brother is transferring to an out-of-state college this fall, and Chris is struggling with all of that loss and change. He needs someone he can count on right now and some consistency in his life.”

It didn’t surprise her. David James had the biggest heart of anyone she knew. She couldn’t hold it against him, either. Without his care and tenderness, there was no telling where Callie and her older sister, Amy, might be living. Their parents died in a car accident when Callie was just a baby, and David and Amanda had adopted them, raising them as their own children.

“Are we all right?” he asked.

“We’re good, Dad.” But she would never forgive Chris Graham. “Uncle Connor offered me his apprenticeship today.”

He chuckled. “I thought he might. The man’s not an idiot.”

Order Now!

<< Go Back