On A Night Like This (Callaways #1)

brother saw it that way."
    "Hey, I didn't think he should be on the course at all. Sean always got hurt. He tried to climb the tree out front and fell into the garbage can. He tripped over the stairs during tag and sprained his ankle. He rode his bike into a rosebush and ripped up his legs. I could go on and on. I told him to stay off the skateboard. He didn’t listen."
    "He was the little brother. He wanted to be like you and Burke and Drew."
    "He's gone his own way now with his music."
    "He's very good. I was impressed. He has a soulful quality to his singing. It made me wonder what his story is, where he's finding all that emotion."
    "I don't know, either," he said, her words reminding him that he'd lost touch with Sean along with so many of his siblings. It had been a long time since they'd had more than a three-minute conversation.
    "How does your father handle Sean being a musician, breaking with the family tradition to do something of service for the community? Singing doesn't exactly go with the Callaway code of serve and protect."
    "I think he always knew that Sean wasn't going to be a firefighter. Sean had a bad experience with fire when he was a little kid and for months after that he'd hide under the bed when he heard the sirens. My dad tried to take him to the firehouse, break him of the bad memories, but it didn't work."
    "What was the bad experience? I don't remember hearing about that."
    "Sean was in the car with my dad. They were just coming home from the store, and they stopped at a light. My dad saw smoke and flames coming out of a house. He called it in, then jumped out of the car and ran into the house. Sean was alone outside when a little girl came running out of the house, her pajamas on fire. My dad ran after her and rolled her in the grass, but she was screaming, and I guess Sean was traumatized. He was like six at the time."
    "I can't blame him. That must have been terrifying for a little kid."
    "My dad tried to tell him that she was going to be all right, that her burns weren't bad, that he'd gotten her out in time, and that firefighters were the good guys. But Sean never wanted anything to do with the job." Aiden paused. "I thought he might follow Drew into the Coast Guard since he liked to swim, but it was always about music for him. My dad keeps telling him to get a real job, but Sean is a stubborn Callaway like the rest of us." He paused, adding, "My father hates it when he can't control his kids. We're all grown up now, and he still treats us like we're twelve. It drives him nuts when he can't make us do what he wants."
    "Then you must have sent him all the way to crazy by now."
    "No doubt."
    "Your father is lucky he has Lynda to talk him down. She always seems like she's calm and centered."
    "She does a lot of yoga."
    "Maybe I should try that. I'm far from calm and centered right now. Lynda has the perfect personality to balance your father's volatility; they're a good match."
    "Lynda does her best. My father doesn't always listen to her."
    Sara turned her gaze on him, a curious look in her eyes. "Why don't you call Lynda, Mom? You're the only of your siblings who doesn't. I always wondered why."
    He hadn't had to answer that question in a long time. "Habit," he said. "I couldn't think of her as my mother in the beginning. I was five when my mom died and eight when my dad and Linda got together. I knew she wasn't my real mother, and it felt wrong to replace her. Plus, I wasn't sure Lynda was going to stick around. My dad dated a few women in between my mom and her. For a while, it seemed like there was a new woman at the dinner every other week. Lynda was one of the few who wasn't scared off by a man with four boys, one of whom was still in diapers."
    "I didn't realize your father had dated anyone else. I suppose that was natural."
    He sighed. The death of his mother had left a hole in his heart that he'd never quite filled. He'd moved on as they all had, but he still thought about her sometimes, wondered why no one ever talked about her. "There was nothing natural about any of it," he said a moment later. "My mom was way too young to die. She got cancer when Sean was only a year old. She was in her mid-thirties – a year older than I am right now." He shook his head, filled with regret and anger that his mother hadn't had anywhere close to a full life.
    "I'm sorry, Aiden," Sara said softly. "I didn't mean to bring up a touchy topic. We didn't move in next door until you were all