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)
But lying in bed next to him two weeks ago, it felt like the first day after we’d broken up.
It hurt so badly.
I couldn’t give him that kind of power over me again, so I’d slunk off without waking him, thinking worst-case scenario I might see him at Christmas if he deigned to visit his family.
Yet, somehow, he was here.
Standing outside the bakery, staring at me as if he hadn’t seen me in years.
“You’re here.” Fyfe reached out to pull his friend into a hug and they made quite the picture, two big, handsome guys giving each other a manly thump on the back. “Are you all unpacked?”
Unpacked?
What?
Lewis looked at me. “Aye, the annex is mine until I can find somewhere, so I’ll be inviting myself to dinner whenever the chance arises.”
“Happy for the company, mate.”
“Wait.” I swallowed hard, my mouth dry. “Unpacked? Annex?”
What on God’s green earth was happening?
Lewis’s gaze was intense and searching. “I’m home, Callie. I took a job at my dad’s firm.”
At my gaping nonanswer, Lewis spoke again, this time over the rushing blood in my ears. “I’ve moved back to Ardnoch. Permanently.”
Thirteen
LEWIS
Well, that could have gone better. I didn’t know what I was expecting. But Callie spluttering “Nice to see you both” before hurrying back inside the bakery and locking the door behind her wasn’t it.
Was it foolish of me to hope that our night had meant something to her, too, and she was just scared to admit it?
Maybe I needed to give her time to adjust to the idea of me being back, but I was afraid if I left it too long, she’d fail to understand that she was the main reason I’d come home.
“Go and see her.”
I looked up from my coffee. Mum stood on the opposite side of the island, sipping tea, watching me carefully. I’d come across from the annex for my morning coffee only to discover Dad was already up and out buying groceries. Mum was dressed especially nice for the day. I would have said as much, but she was studying me with a look I knew well. Ever since she came into our lives, she’d always seemed to understand what Eilidh and I were thinking.
“She ran away,” I reminded her.
“It’s big news for her.” Mum leaned on her elbows, expression sympathetic. “Before she left for Paris, Callie did a good impression of being fine on the surface, but I know from Sloane that it was far from the truth. Now, we’ve tried not to bug you two about what happened all those years ago—as much as it kills us not to know—but Sloane said Callie lost something that day. The sparkle in her eyes. And you did too.” She reached over to touch my hand. “You didn’t come back only to be with us … so don’t overthink things. Go after what you came home for.”
“What did you come home for?”
The question came from behind. We both turned to watch my wee sister Morwenna descend the stairs. Our home hadn’t changed much over the years. Designed by my father, it was a timeless piece of architecture that I’d only begun to appreciate as I got older. What a privilege it was to grow up in a house that had been built to capture the ocean views while withstanding life on the coast. It was open-plan living so that light spilled in from the glass walls facing out toward the water.
Morwenna was the spitting image of our mum with her copper-red hair, chestnut-brown eyes, and dimples. Her coloring was so different from mine and Eilidh’s it was the only giveaway we had different birth mothers. Sometimes it was difficult for me to reconcile the tall teenager in front of me with the wee girl who’d asked for constant piggyback rides when I was a teenager.
“All of you,” I answered her question.
Sliding onto the stool next to me, she gave me a far-too-knowing smirk. “So not Callie, then?”
“What do you know about it?”
“I was seven when you left for uni, Lew, not a fetus.” She shrugged. “Callie stopped coming around after you left. Suddenly, she’s back from Paris and now you’re here. It doesn’t take a genius to work out.” After that dry and correct supposition, she turned to Mum. “Do I have to go today?”
Mum pursed her lips. “Yes, you do.”
“But it’s a baby’s birthday party.”
“What’s this?”
Morwenna sighed. “Mum is making me go to Rose’s fourth birthday party, even though I’m in the middle of the best book ever.”
“All your cousins will be there.”
“Under duress. Like me.”
“Actually, unlike you, they enjoy spending time with their family.”
“Forgive me if I prefer the company of faeries.”
At that, I looked at Mum and mouthed Faeries?
But she was too busy glowering at my sister. “What is so wrong with your family, young lady? You have a wonderful family, and you should not take them for granted.”