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shouted out Mae, running to cling at her skirt.
    “Hello, Pumpkin,” she said, lifting her up to kiss her. “How was your day?”
    “Good. What’s that?” Mae asked, pointing to the basket of fruit.
    “It’s grapes and lychees and strawberries and papaya,” she held up a strawberry for her.
    The young girl took it eagerly and ran out with it.
    “You shouldn’t have brought that home,” Jared grumbled.
    Tara flared. “You know what shouldn’t have been done? You shouldn’t have come to Callum’s Hill. You shouldn’t have embarrassed me at my job! If you hate the Callums so much, then why don’t you just stay the hell away from them?!”
    “I can’t stay away from them if you keep crawling back to them for their money!” he shouted back.
    “We need the money, Jared! When are you going to get that in your head?!”
    “What’s wrong with what we have? You have a roof above you, food on your table and most of all you’re safe.”
    She snorted. “Who is ever safe, Jared? No one is safe.”
    “And you won’t be if you keep running up to those people.”
    “Those people? Those people are the ones who have showed me some concern if any for my family. Those are the one s who keep calling back to offer me work regardless of the so many times you’ve embarrassed me.” She picked up a fruit harshly and held it up to him. “And this is from one of those people who you think doesn’t give a crap about how we live. And you know what, I’m gonna eat it and I will enjoy it without feeling guilty about it; because I’ve never tasted a lychee before, nor has my kids. I don’t care what your reasons are any longer, Jared, but I do know one thing- everything can’t be about you. Your resentment for the Callums is unreasonable. It’s unreasonable because it doesn’t make sense anymore!”
    “Tara,” her mother growled softly. Their argument had caught her attention as she was preparing dinner. She had been expecting a squabble between her two children. They stood poles apart on their perception of the Callums. But seeing Jared now, she knew something was different. He was far more affected than he usually was. He sat quietly at the table thinking, his fingers playing thoughtfully with a glass bottle filled with wild flowers Mae had collected on her day out with her friends.
    “No, Ma. I’ve had enough,” Tara continued. “ I’m a single mother and yes, I am dependent on you and Jared. But that doesn’t give him any right to embarrass me like this. This is my life and I will do what I want with it. It’s time Jared understands that he is not Da! He can’t run our lives!”
    Jared stood up abruptly and walked into his room.
    “Jared,” his mother pled, following after him. “Where are you going?”
    He collected his hunting gear and stormed out.
    “Yes, run,” cried Tara. “Run like you always do. You’ve created this mess. You! You shouldn’t have come to Callum House. But you’re stubborn, Jared. You always are! I know you’ll never admit that you were wrong! You pretend you’re a man but you’re nothing. Nothing but a boy! Because a man will never run from his problems!”
    “Stop it, Tara!” his mother shouted at her. “Jared, honey,” she ran after him. “She doesn’t mean it, son. She’s just hurt and angry. Come back .”
    He stopp ed and turned to her slowly, gathering her in his arms. “I’ll be back soon.”
    She sobbed against his chest , clutching onto his shirt. “Where are you going to go at this time of the night? It’s too dangerous. Come back inside, son.”
    “I’ll be fine,” he said softly, and gave her a kiss on her head.
    He let her go, marching into the darkness with Wolf at his feet.
     
    *****
     
    Stella Ryder stumbled back into her house. She looked up sadly at her daughter crying on the sofa.
    “Is he gone?” Tara blubbered.
    “You shouldn’t have said all that, Tara,” Stella said quietly as she sat down tiredly beside her.
    “I didn’t mean