All Chapters of Too Late, Mr. Hale : Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

Callie's POV Five years ago today, I married Mason Hale in a small white church with my hands shaking so hard I almost dropped the ring. Tonight I wanted him to remember that girl. I wanted him to remember how much she loved him, because she still did.I started cooking at noon. I made his favorite things, the ones his mother never thought I could get right. Beef Wellington, roasted potatoes with garlic and butter, and the lemon tart he used to eat straight from the pan when we were first married and too poor to own nice plates. I set the table with the good china we got as a wedding gift and had never used. I lit two tall candles and put a small box next to his glass. Inside was a watch with the date of our wedding engraved on the back.At six, I put on the blue dress he once said he liked. At seven, I checked my phone. There were no messages.At eight, I sent him a text. "Dinner is ready. Are you on your way?"He didn't answer.At nine, I called. It rang five times and went to voic

Callie's POV"Theo?" I said. My throat was so dry that his name came out like a scratch. "What are you doing here?"He let go of my hand only long enough to pour water into a paper cup. He held the straw to my lips, and I drank slowly. Every swallow hurt, but the cold water felt like the best thing I had ever tasted."You're at St. Agnes Hospital," he said quietly. "You've been asleep for two days, Callie. Your right leg is broken in two places. You have three cracked ribs and a cut on your head that needed fourteen stitches. The doctors were worried about bleeding inside your stomach, so they kept you asleep after the surgery." He swallowed hard. "They said you were lucky. Another ten minutes in that car and you wouldn't be here."Two days. I tried to take it in, but my mind kept going back to the same picture. Mason's back as he walked away. Kendra in his arms. The sound of his car driving off."How did I get out?" I asked.Theo looked down at his bandaged hands. For a while he didn

Callie's POVFor a long moment, nobody said anything.Mason looked at Theo. Theo looked back at him. They had been best friends since college. I had seen them laugh together at our wedding, fight over football on Sunday afternoons, and fall asleep on our couch after too much wine. I had never seen them look at each other like this."She has you," Mason said slowly. "What does that mean?""It means exactly what I said," Theo said. He walked into the room and put the discharge papers on the table next to my bed. "She's not alone. Not anymore."Mason gave a short laugh. "You've been sitting by her bed for three days, and now you think you're some kind of hero?""Somebody had to sit there," Theo said. "You were busy."The words landed hard. I saw Mason's face go red, and for a second I thought he was going to hit him. Instead, he stepped closer, so close that their faces were only a few inches apart."Be careful, Theo," he said quietly. "She's my wife.""Then you should have pulled her ou

Callie's POVI didn't roll the window down. I looked at Mason through the glass, and for the first time in five years, I didn't feel the need to explain myself to him.He knocked again, harder this time. "Callie. Open the window."Theo turned off the engine and looked at me. "You don't have to talk to him," he said quietly. "Say the word and I'll back out over the lawn.""No," I said. "Let him say what he came to say."I pressed the button, and the window slid down. The cold air came in, and with it the smell of Mason's cologne, the same one I had bought him every Christmas."What do you think you're doing?" Mason asked. He leaned down and put both hands on the car door. "You just got out of the hospital. You can barely walk. Get out of the car and come inside.""Kendra is inside," I said. "In our bedroom. She was wearing my robe."For one second, his eyes moved away from mine. "She's staying here for a few days. The doctor said she can't be alone.""So you brought her to my house and

Callie's POVI didn't sleep again that night. I sat on the couch with the lamp on and looked at the photo of Kendra in my wedding dress until the screen went dark in my hand.I didn't reply. I knew that was what she wanted. She wanted me to cry, to call her names, and to send her something she could show Mason so he could say, look how crazy she is.At seven in the morning, my phone buzzed again.This time it was a close photo of a woman's hand resting on Mason's chest. On her finger was a ring. A dark blue sapphire, set in old gold, with two tiny diamonds on each side.He picked this one out just for me, the message said. Did he ever do that for you?I stared at that ring, and my whole body went cold.I knew it. I knew every tiny scratch on it. It was not a ring Mason had picked out for anyone. It belonged to Diane's mother. On the day of my wedding, Diane had taken it off her own finger and pressed it into my hand and said, "This is for the daughter of this family." I had kept it in