Now and Forever

Now and Forever, a Love Story

A novel of romantic suspense

By Jean Joachim

To Diana and Sally

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Thank you for your love and support: Larry Joachim,

Joan Leake, Marilyn Lee, Elizabeth Smythe

Chapter 1

Callie put the check for $15,000, almost half of all the money she had in the world, on the counter of the bursar’s office. Her hands were sweating. The money was left to her by Kyle, her fiancé who was killed in Iraq and she was risking it all on a Master’s Degree in education at KensingtonStateUniversity in upstate New York. She was hoping that she could do well enough to remain in the program through the first year and earn a scholarship to pay for the second year. This was a big gamble for her, one she had to win.

Callie sat on the grass, leaning against a tree near the graduate school building and thought about her last day with Kyle. It was Thanksgiving at his friend, John Weston’s house. While the turkey was cooking, some of the men played touch football. Callie went up to take a nap in the guest room. Kyle wanted to be alone with her as they only had one more day before he was deployed for the last time.

Callie undressed quietly and got under the covers. When he joined her, Kyle pulled the covers down slowly, sensitive to how bashful she was even after being his lover for several years.

“Kitten, don’t be shy. I want to remember every inch of you,” he said with love in his heart. He liked to look at her perfect body; it inflamed him, made him want her so badly he couldn’t wait.

He got into bed and kissed her passionately. Kyle was so alive, the air around him fairly crackled with his energy. He moved his hands slowly over her body as if memorizing every inch of her with his fingertips. She moaned as he kissed her beautiful breasts. He touched her inner thigh and moved his hand up, to caress her gently, as her growing passion took over her senses.

“Kyle…” she moaned while his lips and hands brought her to a fever pitch. Finally, he satisfied her need for him with the ultimate ecstasy. Afterward, they rested in each other’s arms.

Callie loved him deeply. She looked with great hope and expectation at the modest engagement ring he bought her.

“Remember, you promised to come back,” she said.

“I’ll love you forever, Callie. I’ll be back to make you my wife and then we can do this every night,” he said, kissing her.

He would be putting in his last dangerous tour of duty and then they would get married, settle safely on a base somewhere and begin their life together as husband and wife. Though he promised her he would come back, it was a promise he couldn’t keep.

The Weston’s guest room was the last place Callie and Kyle made love and spent the night together. It is a room she will never forget: the small lily flower pattern of the wallpaper, the scent of pot pourri from a dish on the dresser and the feel of Kyle’s smooth skin, his cheek needing a shave, his soft lips tempting her, coaxing her to give herself to him passionately yet again.

During their last night, after making love with Kyle one more time, Callie awoke at four a.m. Kyle was scheduled to leave at eight. This was her last chance. She put her shyness aside and turned to him, waking him with apassionate kiss, making it clear what she wanted. Kyle was touched by her desire for him and her boldness, which was unlike Callie. He traced the lines of her delicate jaw with his finger, staring at her lovely face with true love in his eyes, before he turned up the heat inside her. He wanted to please her, satisfy her hunger for him. They started slowly, both aware that this could be their last time making love forever. Callie tried to concentrate on every caress, every kiss, so she would never forget, but she was fanned to flame more quickly than she anticipated.

Soon she was urging him to take her, but Kyle wanted to wait as long as he could, trying to keep the experience locked in his heart forever. However their mutual passion took over and he took her to completion with him. As they stayed in each others arms, Callie buried her face in his neck and cried softly, afraid that he would never hold her like this again, she would never feel his touch or his lips again, never feel him make love to her again. Kyle teared up too, reading her thoughts, already missing the allure of her lips and the heat of her love.

“Kitten, no matter what happens, I’ll love you to eternity.”

“Don’t say that! Don’t say that. Say you’ll be home. Be with me. I need you so much, Kyle,” she said, crying.

“You know I will. We’ll be together forever.”

At the end of his tour, he was killed and Callie was devastated. She mourned him for two years, never forgetting the nirvana they had together both in and out of the bedroom.

Callie was counting on the Masters Degree to restart her life which came to a halt when Kyle died. Even now, he was so much a part of her; her love for him was still strong and his memory lived on with her every day. She had counted on Kyle to be her present and future after her parents died. She was only 16 then and he seemed like the smartest, strongest, most handsome man in the world, even though he was only 19. Now she was 26, he was gone, and she was moving on, alone but determined.

Callie walked around the KensingtonStateUniversity campus, trying to get a feel for the school and ended up on a bench under a Linden tree, watching small groups of students buzzing about, rushing around to get their schedules, settle into dorms and make new friends.

She found peace in the beauty of WillowFalls a whistle stop town of 5,000, and the campus with its stately trees, the well-kept buildings, manicured lawns and shrubs. WillowFalls was her new home. She began to feel hope that her life might begin again and maybe that beginning would happen here.

From his office window, Mac Caldwell looked down on the main quad and the growing activity. He brushed his dark hair out of his blue eyes. He was tall and lean, except for the fourth finger of his left hand, which was slightly crooked. He broke that finger in a high school basketball game.

Another school year was beginning. The students Mac saw from his window looked hopeful, anxious and single-minded. But what about his life? Mac had made some poor choices. He married the pretty but vacant woman he had accidentally impregnated and was now divorced. He had a beautiful toddler, Jason, he adored but only saw on weekends. He was lonely; he wanted to have a family, not this disjointed arrangement. After his divorce, Mac buried his pain and concentrated on getting ahead. It had paid off when he was made an undergraduate dean.

But two years later that was no longer enough. He was 34 years old and wanted a woman in his life, but the right woman, someone you not only wanted to sleep with, but wanted to wake up with, too. He stayed away from co-eds, tempting as they could be, as they were big trouble for an administrator. He felt frustrated that his life was stalled.

As he looked out the window, he spied Callie sitting alone on a bench in the quad. She was beautiful with her shoulder length chestnut hair blowing in the breeze and her blue sundress revealing a slim figure. Mac got closer to the window. He couldn’t see her perfectly, but enough to know she wasn’t familiar. The other students rushing around seemed to be in groups, or at least pairs. This young woman was alone. He watched her as she walked toward the administration building, his eyes drawn to the graceful motion of her body.

At dinnertime, Callie found her way to Doc’s Diner a popular place with students and faculty. It was run by sixty-year-old Doc Wilson, and his wife, Mary. Doc, who wasn’t a doctor at all, took the orders and handled the cash register while Mary did the cooking.

Callie ordered the blue plate special, though she wondered why it was called that because it never came on a blue plate. She pulled out pen and paper to start a budget for the semester.

Mac Caldwell walked in. At the sound of the door opening, Callie looked up, their eyes met. He recognized her as the girl he had been watching in the quad.

“Hi, Mac. How you been?” Doc asked him.

“Fine, Doc. What’s on special tonight?” he asked, reluctantly switching his gaze from Callie to Doc.

Callie dropped her eyes to her task. He stirred something in her and it made her uncomfortable. She tried not to look at him, but couldn’t resist taking a peek when he wasn’t looking. He was older, perhaps a teacher, and very attractive. She looked away turning her attention back to her budget, which was depressing. According to her calculations, more dinners at Doc’s would be out of the question. With what she would be earning at school and her rent, there wasn’t going to be much money left over.

Mac watched her from his table, trying not to be conspicuous. His sharp eyes traveled up and down her body. She was slim, but her curves were nicely rounded. She was very pretty with a long graceful neck, big blue eyes, shapely legs and an air of loneliness and pain about her. Mac couldn’t figure out how old she was, an important factor, as an undergraduate woman was not an appropriate partner for the dean.

At Doc’s people were friendly, but this pretty, mystery woman didn’t smile, look at or talk to anyone. She must be new to KensingtonState. Mac wondered what her story was and how he could approach her.

Next stop for Callie was the bookstore. When she got up from the table, she couldn’t resist glancing Mac’s way. He wasn’t looking at her for the moment, so she had an opportunity to study him briefly; he was tall, rangy, and sat sprawled comfortably in a chair that appeared to be too small for him. Although he was different from Kyle, he, too, was attractive. Just as she was about to look away, he turned toward her and their eyes met again. This time he smiled warmly at her; she blushed, looked away and left.

Back in her rented room, Callie was dressed for bed. Her arms ached from carrying all the books she bought. The cost of her books for graduate school was astronomical and had practically wiped out her small savings, which was earmarked for books, with just enough left for one more semester. She had to learn to live on less.

Deprivation was not new to Callie. After her parents died, she and her sister Sarah had to give up their comfortable lifestyle. Sarahtook legal responsibility for Callie, though she, herself, was only 19. She gave up her life so that Callie would not be put in a foster home. While Sarah’s sacrifice was a tremendous act of love, still they were barely able to get by financially. Sarah’s heavy burden took its toll on her relationship with Callie.

Callie was left to fend for herself most evenings because Sarah was working or in school. The loss and deprivation drove the sisters apart. That is when Callie drifted into a friendship with Kyle Maine. Kyle lived with and supported his brother, Danny. Their parents were in jail for armed robbery and assault.

Friendship quickly became love and soon Kyle and Callie were inseparable; by age 20 she was engaged and four years later he was gone.

Chapter 2

Callie was busy with morning classes. She had Principles of Teaching & Learning and Curriculum Theory & History on Monday and Wednesday and Early Childhood Methods & Programs and Child & Family Policy on Tuesday and Thursday.

She wondered if she could discipline herself to do all the work necessary to get good grades in graduate school after being away from school for several years. Of course she would have no social life to tempt her to leave her books and go off dancing and drinking. But even in college, she had been committed to Kyle, so when she wasn’t visiting him, she was studying.

Afternoons and Fridays she would be working all day which would give her just enough money to eke out an existence. Callie showed up at the administration offices to work at 1pm. She reported to Daisy Jones, her supervisor, who was in charge of hiring the support staff.

“Nobody calls me Daisy around here. It’s a stupid name. They all call me Jonesy,” she said, extending her hand.

Jonesy was about 60 years old, short, round with gray hair and kind brown eyes; she was crusty and direct. She had been working at KensingtonState for almost forty years. She met her husband, Bill, there got married and stayed in WillowFalls. They never had children so the students working in the office became like children to her. She was responsible for keeping the inner workings of the school running smoothly, a job she did competently and reliably; she ran the small office like a little general.

Jonesy was very fond of the administrators Eliza Baines and Mac Caldwell. They were family to her. Her interest extended to their private lives, too. When Bill Baines, Eliza’s husband, died, Jonesy took food to Eliza’s house and helped her with her twin daughters. When Mac got divorced, Jonesy befriended him and developed an intense dislike for Audrey, his ex-wife who she saw as selfish and materialistic.

Jonesy looked Callie up and down. She was pleased that the girl turned out to be even prettier than the picture furnished by the placement office. Maybe Mac would notice, if he ever looked up from his work. She had selected Callie because she was the right age, 26, and very pretty. Jonesy knew Mac was lonely. She hoped that he would find a replacement for Audrey, but so far none had appeared. If anyone can wake up Mac, it’s this gal, she thought.

Callie smiled and shook her hand. She liked Jonesy.

“Let’s meet the staff,” she said, taking Callie by the hand and leading her to Eliza’s office.

“This is Eliza Baines, one of our deans,” Jonesy said, “Eliza; meet Callie Richards, the new girl.”

Callie and Eliza shook hands. Eliza was an attractive blonde, 40, tall and slim. She gave Callie a warm smile and a firm handshake.

“Welcome aboard, Callie. Is this your first semester here?”

“Yes, I’m getting my Masters in education,” she said.

“So you’ll be working and going to grad school? That’s ambitious. Good for you. Ihope you like it here,”Eliza said.

Callie liked her, too. So far this looked like a lucky break, an office full of nice people. When they went into the other office, Mac looked up, surprised to see her. He stood up. Callie saw him and stopped, she recognized him from Doc’s.

“Callie, this is Mac Caldwell, the other dean, Mac this is Callie Richards, our new assistant,” Jonesy said.

Mac smiled and extended his hand, Callie placed her hand in his. He shook her hand and kept it, but she didn’t pull away. Their eyes connected.

“You’re new here?”

“Yes, I am.”

“Freshman?” he asked.

“Oh, no,” Callie laughed, “I’m getting my Masters.”

“Ah, I see,” he said, not embarrassed at all. “What field?”

“Education,” she said, unable to look away from his eyes.

“That’s excellent,” he said, finally letting go of her hand.

“She’ll be working in the office with me, Mac, every afternoon and all day on Friday,” Jonesy said, awaiting his reaction.

“Great. Welcome aboard,” Mac said, smiling.

When they left his office, Callie had goose bumps. She wondered about Mac, who made her feel so bothered with one warm handshake. Jonesy noticed their connection and congratulated herself on hiring Callie; she looked forward to watching an office romance develop.

Chapter 3

The next day in class, Callie was busy taking notes and getting assignments straight. Although the class was small, it was not a friendly group. Most of the students lived in the area and worked here. They were serious about getting their Masters to increase their pay or they were preparing for career changes. Callie chewed on her pencil to relieve the tension as one assignment was piled on another. If Kyle had been there, he would have given her a pep talk. But he wasn’t and that’s why she was there instead of married to him, raising his child.