Free Flight Risk (Antiques in Flight) by Nicole Helm Page A

Callie’s head. The purpose for this sudden forced niceness. This odd girls’ afternoon.
    “We can get by after the fly-in. Besides, we’re hoping Lawson will be home soon. You probably don’t remember Lawson. He’s our cousin. He moved to California, oh gosh, fifteen years ago.”
    “But, what if he doesn’t come home?” Shelby asked, effectively cutting Em off from a long, rambling story about Lawson.
    “Oh, well.”
    “I mean, if he doesn’t come back, or even if he does, wouldn’t you wish Trevor had stayed?”
    Callie shook her head. Up until that moment Shelby had done a good job of keeping her cards hidden, but now they were all out on the table. For a moment, Callie almost felt sympathy. When you lost your parents so young, it was hard to lose anyone else. Callie could understand the desperation in Shelby’s question. She could even empathize with it, but that didn’t make what Shelby was attempting to do right.
    “This is why you’re being nice.”
    Shelby’s eyes shot to Callie, a flash of guilt in her frown before she smoothed it out. “What do you mean?”
    Callie waved an impatient arm. “Drop the act. You’re trying to butter us up so we’ll help you convince Trevor to stay.”
    The innocent look immediately left and was replaced by a scowl. “So?”
    “So?” Callie shook her head. She’d been this self-absorbed once, and she wished it could make her more sympathetic, but what Shelby needed was a cold dose of reality. “That’s a shitty thing to do. Even for you.”
    “Don’t you want him to stay?” Shelby demanded, slumping in her chair and crossing her arms across her chest, the perfect picture of teenage sullenness.
    “I want him to be happy.” Callie hoped her voice sounded calm rather than snippy. “If you cared about him like you should, you’d want that too.”
    “Why can’t he be happy here?” It was nearly a whine.
    “Because he can’t. He won’t be.”
    “Who cares?” Shelby spat. “I deserve to have someone at home. I deserve to have him stay. Haven’t I been through enough already? Why does my life have to change? Why does his life get to come before mine? I don’t want to go to Seattle on breaks from school. I want to come home.”
    Sympathy petered out, because while Callie could sympathize with Shelby’s loss, Callie had gone through worse. “You don’t own the market on loss,” Callie said through gritted teeth. “Or on getting the short end of the stick.”
    “Oh, and you do?” Shelby countered. She leaned toward Callie. “Your mom died when you were a baby. You never had one to miss. You probably don’t remember your dad either. You have no idea what it’s like to lose your parents when you know exactly what it means and exactly what little is left.”
    There were tears in Shelby’s eyes now, and Callie had to fight the sting of her own. “You’re a selfish brat if you think making Trevor miserable will weaken the pain of losing your parents.”
    “Guys, maybe we should—” But Em’s quiet protests were lost as Callie stared long and hard at Shelby until the sullen teen looked up.
    “I lost a lot of people at a very young age, so don’t kid yourself into thinking you know better than me just because you think you’re smarter or superior. Losing means learning, and you need to learn that making other people unhappy won’t make you feel any better.” God, it had taken Callie a long time to learn that lesson. Even now, there were some days it was hard to remember.
    Maybe she was taking the harsh road, but if she could impart any of what she’d learned on Shelby it would be well worth it. “I won’t let you sabotage Trevor’s life because you can’t see past your own hurt.”
    Shelby sank deeper into her chair and sneered through the tears in her eyes. “You think you know him so well because you love him or something?”
    Irritation and anger clawed through. What the hell was with everyone accusing her of being in love with