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)
It was a wee bit quieter here, with fewer people out and about at this time in the evening, despite the late summer daylight. The quiet made it even easier to catalogue the tasks on my agenda as I walked Great King Street, with its row of Georgian townhomes that housed residences, flats, and businesses.
The sound of a horn blaring on Dundas Street where the traffic was still fairly busy and there were more people around brought me out of my overthinking fog. If I got home quickly enough, I could draft a few emails that needed to be sent tomorrow before heading to bed for my early start at the gym. I hurried my steps until I reached the corner where my modern apartment building stood out against the Georgian architecture around it. Some locals called it an eyesore. But I thought the sharp granite angles and dark paned glass created a nice juxtaposition with the period buildings it was nestled among.
Relieved to be nearly home, I practically jogged down Loverose Lane and through the gates into the car park. A loud noise jolted me from my dash toward the entrance. I followed the sound and found Callan striding toward me, his training bag looped over his broad shoulder.
My entire body zinged with awareness.
I wasn’t going to analyze that.
Instead, I swiped my key card over the entrance and held the glass door open for him as he approached. He looked a wee bit tired in the eyes, but otherwise, he was as sexy as ever.
The arsehole.
I knew they’d obliterated Strathmore United last week, but today Caley were up against Dalmarnock Thistle, the team that had won the Scottish Pro League nine out of the last ten years.
And I only knew that because I might have googled some facts about the Pro League a few weeks ago.
I wondered how the game had gone.
Callan acknowledged I’d held the door for him with a nod, but he strode right by me without a word and took the stairs as if I were a stranger.
A wave of déjà vu hit me, and suddenly, I was a teenager again …
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
BETH
Nine years ago
Two weeks. Callan and I had been … well … we weren’t officially dating because he hadn’t asked me out on a date yet. But we’d been stealing secret kisses at school and flirting constantly in class. I’d spoken to Amanda, and she told me if I really liked him that much, she could let it go. Things had been a bit awkward and strained between us, but I hoped we’d figure it out. As for Callan … he had yet to ask me out.
And I was growing a wee bit desperate for Callan to ask me out.
In fact, I was pretty much consumed by the boy. For the first time, I wasn’t obsessed with being perfect at school and succeeding in every class and every after-school activity. I was too busy daydreaming about Callan Keen, and honestly, it was an awesome reprieve.
I’d never been unhappy. But it was the first time I’d ever experienced the giddy high of crushing this hard on someone. Crush didn’t seem like a big enough word.
I think I was falling for Callan.
Which was why I was worried he hadn’t asked me out on a date yet, because I didn’t want to lose him before we’d even really gotten started. It was hard to believe, but I think I’d found my person. What my mum and dad had! Mum was twenty-two when she found Dad. I thought I’d be lucky to find what they had at the same age. But I wasn’t even sixteen yet!
Sadly, I couldn’t talk to Amanda about it because of the aforementioned weirdness, and I didn’t want to tell Mum and Dad yet because Callan wasn’t technically my boyfriend. Though I was sure if he made a move, he would be soon.
I was so sure that Callan and I were meant to be that I’d stopped talking to Rachel Lang when she made a snooty comment about his family’s lack of money and how my parents probably wouldn’t approve.
She knew nothing about my parents.
Yes, they both came from privileged backgrounds, but not all of our family did, and Mum and Dad were the least pretentious people ever. They wouldn’t give a rat’s arse about Callan’s lack of money. They’d applaud his drive to succeed at such a young age.
Mum knew something was up. Aunt Ellie had joked at the weekend that I was acting like a girl in love and now Mum wouldn’t stop pestering me about it.
As Callan walked into history class, my belly erupted into a riot of butterflies. I wondered if that would ever stop. It had been nearly three months since we met, two weeks since we’d started kissing, and those butterflies weren’t going anywhere.