Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 102731 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 514(@200wpm)___ 411(@250wpm)___ 342(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102731 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 514(@200wpm)___ 411(@250wpm)___ 342(@300wpm)
Flirt.
Only ever with you, though. Love you.
Love you too, mo chridhe.
Oh you know that does things to me.
Ha. Go to sleep, you flirt.
Night, baby.
Night x
The text string had caused an ache of nostalgia and longing. All the conversations I found between us did. But I also realized in reading them that I never flirted back with her. I told her I loved her, but she was right when she’d said I was reserved. Maybe it was just being a kid and not having the kind of confidence Callie did, or maybe I hadn’t put in the effort. I didn’t flirt with her, and I’d never taken her anywhere special.
Looking back, I had taken Callie for granted.
In more ways than one.
Well, no more.
It clearly was going to take more than I love you this time to get her back. And I was ready. I was buckled in for the long haul.
The following Saturday, I woke up with plans to pop into the bakery and try one of Callie’s pastries that everyone was talking about. Mum had brought a few home and unsurprisingly, Callie’s desserts looked phenomenal and tasted even more so. I thought maybe starting small by supporting her business might be the thing to do by dropping in personally.
And it was also an excuse to see her since I hadn’t seen her all week.
I said as much to Mum when I stopped into the house for a coffee before I left.
“I think that’s a good idea.” She stared at me before she continued, “There was talk that you and Callie were seen on your bike last weekend.”
Of course there was. “Aye, I gave her a lift home from Fyfe’s.” I exhaled slowly and confessed, “After telling her I still loved her and wanted her back and being resoundingly rejected.”
Mum’s expression fell. “Is that what’s been bothering you all week?”
I nodded. “But I’m not giving up.”
“Good.” She considered me again. “I wasn’t going to say anything because I wasn’t sure if Callie was a subject I’m allowed to mention …?”
“She is,” I assured her. “Please don’t walk on eggshells around me. I don’t want that.”
“Well … she’s having a bit of a tough time at the moment. I was talking to Sloane, and Harry’s being bullied at school by the kids of some of the nastier parents who are gossiping about Callie. Apparently, they’ve been harassing Harry with the gossip.”
My skin heated with anger. “What gossip?”
Mum suddenly looked wary. “That … she’s taking advantage of Sloane and trying to take over the business … and that she was … promiscuous in Paris.”
“What the fuck?” I snarled. “What fucking century are these people living in?”
She rounded the island to press a soothing hand to my arm. “They are a small minority in Ardnoch, but they do enough yammering to ruffle a few feathers. Sloane and Walker have spoken to the school, and with the school year ending, everyone is hopeful that it’ll blow over for Harry. But she said Callie is having a hard time dealing with it.”
“Aye, you know why?” Fury at these fucking people turned my voice hoarse. “Because this place is her safe place. It has been ever since she and her mum arrived here. How dare they?” I pushed away from the island. “I want to know who’s spreading gossip about her.”
“So you can do what, Lewis?”
“Tell them that I’ll make their lives a misery if they don’t quit it.”
Mum shook her head. “You’ll only make it worse for her. Trust me. Your father and I put up with our fair share of gossip. I was the young nanny who seduced an older man who should know better.”
I blanched, because I remembered. And I remembered the kids at school who teased me mercilessly about it because they were picking everything up from their gossiping fucking parents.
“The gossip died down. And it will for Callie too.”
“I just … I just wish that I was there for her. That she’d let me be there for her.”
“That will take time too.” She reached up to cup my face and smiled tenderly. “But she won’t be able to resist you for long. Who could, my sweet boy?”
I chuckled as I took one of her hands to press a kiss to her palm. “Only you could get away with still calling me that.”
Her smile widened and she stepped back to gesture toward the door. “Go stop in and see how Callie is. And maybe grab me a pastry if there’s anything left.”
I never made it to the bakery.
I’d been walking toward it after parking behind Castle Street when I heard someone calling my name and saw Carianne waving across the street from Flora’s Café.
When she waved me over to her, I cast an impatient glance toward the bakery. The manners my parents had instilled in me, however, forced me across the street once there was a break in the busy traffic. The tourists had already started to descend for the summer season.