Total pages in book: 124
Estimated words: 119005 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 595(@200wpm)___ 476(@250wpm)___ 397(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 119005 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 595(@200wpm)___ 476(@250wpm)___ 397(@300wpm)
Dad studied me intensely for a few seconds and then his expression softened ever so slightly as he looked from me to Mum. When their eyes met, I imagined a thousand memories exchanged with that one look. And my goodness, I could only hope Callan still looked at me with that much love twenty-odd years later. Dad turned back to me. “I’ll give him a chance.”
I squealed in happiness and threw myself out of my seat to wrap my arms around his neck, peppering his face with kisses. “Thank you, Dad. I love you!”
He chuckled wearily, patting my back. “All right, all right. I love you too, kid.”
Releasing him, I rounded his chair only to throw my arms around Mum. “I love you.”
“I love you, baby.” Her words were hoarse, filled with emotion. “And I’m here, anytime you need to talk. Anytime. You hear?”
“I hear you.” I kissed her temple. “And I promise not to keep anything like this from you again.”
She gently pushed me away but only to hold my gaze. “You are not a failure. You didn’t fail Amanda, and you didn’t fail yourself or this family. Sometimes, we need a little help to deal with life and all it throws at us. And that’s okay.”
Emotion clogged my throat because Callan had said something similar. A weight had been
lifted when I confessed it all to my boyfriend, though not in its entirety. I knew that, because
I could feel the rest of it floating up and away. Freeing me. At least for now.
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
CALLAN
“Mate, did you check your phone?” Baird was in my face as soon as I got out of the shower room. Today had been a long, arduous training session before our big away game tomorrow.
“Why?”
“Got a text from Beth’s dad.”
“Braden?” I hurried to my jacket, fumbling for my phone. Beth was going over there today to talk to her parents about everything. Sure enough, I had several new texts.
One from Beth.
Talked to my parents. They were amazing. Will tell you all about it. Dad mentioned he might push forward your meeting if you can make it. xx
And another one.
Oh, and we need to talk about whatever’s up your jumper lately, because I just told my parents I’m in love with you, which believe it or not is a big deal.
My stomach knotted at the last. I thought I’d done a good job of pretending I wasn’t shitting myself about our relationship and how deep in it I was. Obviously, I was wrong.
I texted her back first.
Glad it went well. We’ll talk at home. I love you.
It was true. No point denying it. I just needed to get over my own bullshit.
I swiped to the next text from a number that wasn’t saved on my phone.
Callan, this is Braden, Beth’s dad. Let’s meet at my office on Monday. You free at noon?
Looking up, I found Baird staring impatiently at me.
“Well?”
“He wants to meet Monday.”
“Aye. We on?”
I nodded and texted Braden back.
We’ll be there at noon on Monday. Thanks. See you then.
Two texts came in at the same time.
Braden:
See you then.
Beth:
So what was up your jumper?
I smirked, hands flying over the screen.
Hopefully your hands, very soon.
My phone binged as I was getting ready to leave the locker room.
Only if you put yours up my dress first.
Chuckling, I strolled out with Baird asking me what I was laughing at. I didn’t answer. I felt the ache of loving someone this much fill my chest. And then promised myself not to fuck it up.
One of the things I loved most about Beth was that she “got it.” We didn’t have to have a big, long discussion about what had been bothering me lately. When I got home, I said, “This is a lot. I’m adjusting. Sorry if I seemed off. But I do love you.”
That’s all it took. She kissed me tenderly and told me she understood. And I did my best to not shut down on her again.
Monday came around fast. Our game yesterday didn’t go our way, but we were still strong contenders, so we tried not to let it get the better of us. We knew Kingston would be tough; we’d just let our win against Dalmarnock go to our heads a bit. Gaffer clearly thought so, too, with the amount of f-ing and c-ing he did in the locker room after the game. That only fired us up too. Disappointing the gaffer was like disappointing a parent you gave a shit about.
Baird and I had to put the game to the back of our minds. We had our other business to focus on. Because of our sports careers, we had a full-time manager. He looked after all the properties we’d bought and rented out and dealt with our contracts with maintenance companies, repair services, all that. Usually he’d be the one taking any meetings for us, but this was different.