23
CALLUM
Callum was relieved Tasha hadn’t needed him to stay any longer. At least now he could go and find his sister and warn her to stay out of Brooke’s way until Tasha had found a way to calm the poor woman down a bit.
As he drove up to the house, he pictured Riley’s face and felt some satisfaction that the man had seemed startled by Brooke’s reaction. Serves him right, Callum thought, parking the car and going into the main house. Riley needed to learn there were consequences if you trampled over another person’s feelings. As far as Callum was concerned it was about time the man had to deal with repercussions.
Not wanting to alert the rest of the family to the dramas unfolding down at the cottage, Callum made his way from room to room downstairs looking for his sister. He came across his father and soon-to-be stepmother Betsy sitting in the orangery and sharing a bottle of wine as they discussed the success of the party.
‘Hello there, son,’ James Preston said, raising his glass of red wine to Callum. ‘Care to join us? This is a rather good Bordeaux your grandad insisted we enjoy.’
‘No, thanks. I’ll probably have to go out again later. Have either of you seen Erin?’ A thought occurred to him. ‘Did she have to open the salon today?’
‘Yes,’ Betsy said before taking a sip from her glass. ‘She said something about two important clients being booked in to see her today. If you’re looking for her you’ll probably find her there.’
‘Thanks.’ He wondered where his grandad had got to. ‘Grandad still out with his friends?’
‘Yes, he’s been treated to another meal somewhere by a few of them.’ James laughed. ‘I think he has enough bookings in his diary for the week to keep him busier than he has been in a long time.’
‘He’ll love that,’ Callum said, cheering up. He thought of the newspapers and the photos that had been included of some of the party guests. ‘Has anyone seen any of the official photos taken by the photographer we booked, do you know?’
James laughed again. ‘Oh yes.’
Callum wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not. ‘What did they think?’
His father chuckled. ‘It depends.’
Anxious, Callum asked, ‘Oh hell. On what?’
Betsy batted James’s arm lightly with her hand. ‘You are such a tease. Stop winding the poor guy up.’ She rolled her eyes. ‘The party photos were generally very good and people are choosing the ones they’d like to order. As far as the ones taken by that paparazzi bloke, the consensus seems to be that those who found themselves in the photos were delighted, including your grandfather. A few of the other guests seem to be a little put out that they didn’t have something to show off about.’
Callum couldn’t work out why anyone would be upset to be excluded. ‘I’m not sure I understand.’
‘Well,’ his father said, ‘I think it had something to do with the wording in the articles. Whoever sold the story led the journalists to believe this was your grandfather’s home and that the family were some sort of aristocracy over here. I think they liked the idea of people believing they were related to someone that grand.’
Callum laughed. ‘Grandad isn’t at all grand though.’
‘I agree.’ He took another sip from his glass. ‘But you know what it’s like when a big family get together and the one-upmanship starts. People lose their usual reason.’
He didn’t have any experience of that happening, but not wishing to waste time before going to see Erin, Callum nodded. ‘I see.’ He raised his hand in a wave. ‘Please tell Grandad if you see him that I’ll catch up with him later.’
‘Will do, son.’
Callum drove straight to St Helier and parked as close to Erin’s salon as possible, not wanting to waste any more time before checking on his sister.
Having been stopped several times by people he knew on the short walk to Erin’s hair salon, Callum was feeling more and more relieved Erin had needed to be away from the house and distanced from any confrontation with Brooke.
He entered the plush salon, thinking as he always did each time he came here how much his younger sister had accomplished. When he thought back to how she had yearned to be a veterinary nurse when she was younger, it had been a surprise to them all when one day she had completely changed her mind. He watched Erin standing behind a client styling the woman’s hair while she chatted to her, looking over the woman’s shoulder into her reflection.
Not wanting to interrupt while Erin was working, Callum went over to the reception and sat down.
‘Hi, Callum,’ Toni the receptionist said. Callum stood and moved away, not wishing to get in her way, but she raised her hand. ‘No, you’re fine there. I’ve yet to wash one client’s hair.’ She looked over at Erin before returning her gaze to him. ‘Your sister won’t be long now and will have a few minutes to chat while I look after the other client.’
‘Thanks, Toni. How’s things with you?’
‘Fine.’ She moved slightly closer to him and lowered her voice. ‘Erin was telling me all about the party… and the photos.’ She spoke the last part of her sentence so quietly Callum struggled to hear her. ‘Told me about Riley Sharp, too.’ This bit was mouthed but it was clear who she was referring to. ‘Lucky Erin, if you ask me.’
Callum scrunched up his face. ‘Really? You don’t think he’s a bit pretentious? Full of himself?’ He stopped himself adding anything worse.
