“It’s just a little something,” she said, handing him the package. “Open it.”
Callan unwrapped the medal, his eyes widening in surprise.
“You remembered the one I lost traveling. I will cherish it, thank ye, lass.” He pulled her into a hug, the warmth of him enveloping her.
Who knows how long they would have stood there if a cat hadn’t sauntered by, instantly waking Frankie as he lunged for the feline. But Daisy was faster, grabbing the leash.
“Sit.” She commanded, and with a small whine, Frankie sat, looking after the cat, who slowly made his way down the road without a care in the world.
After they’d finished dinner and Callan had cleaned up since she’d fixed the meal, they sat in the camp chairs enjoying the warm night.
Callan told her how he and his mother had been banished by the clan when he was six, how hard it had been to make ends meet. When he was done, she shared a story from her own past.
“When I was eleven,” she began, her voice shaky, “my parents went on a trip to Portugal. Their plane was delayed on the way back, and I was left alone for five days.”
“They did not have someone to look after you?”
She shook her head. “They said it would be a quick trip and told me to go across the street to the neighbor if I needed anything, but they didn’t know, or maybe they forgot, that the neighbors had gone on vacation.”
There had been other times the same thing had happened, but this one always stuck with her.
“I ate cereal and microwave dinners, somehow made it to school on time, and spent a lot of time being afraid that someone would find out, tell on my parents, and they’d take me away.”
“You were verra brave.” Then he smiled as he took her hand, “’Tis probably why you are so messy.”
In mock outrage, she scowled, then laughed. “You’re probably right.”
It was also why she worried everyone would leave her, but she didn’t say that, knowing it always made guys run. She didn’t want Callan to run. If only he would stay. Be hers.
Now, in the habit of waking early, they quickly packed up and got on the road. Callan volunteered to drive the two hours to Richmond.
They had decided to splurge this morning and go through the Starbucks drive thru. Sipping an iced coffee, her feet up on the dash, the air conditioning on high, Daisy reached out and turned the radio down.
“Would you tell me more about your life before... well, before all this?”
Callan nodded, focused on the road. “There was a winter, the year after my mother died. I had just turned fourteen, and it was one of the harshest I can remember.”
Daisy glanced at him, wanting to know everything about him. “What happened?”
Callan took a deep breath,the memory still vivid after all this time.
“The snow fell early and heavy that year. It was the year I lived rough in a cave after I was forced out of the hovel my mum and I lived in. My food stores were low. I was still learning to fend for myself. There were days when I thought I might not make it, and I dinna care.”
He paused, the weight of the memory heavy in his chest.
“I remember huddling by the fire, my breath visible in the cold air. I rationed what little food I had, but it never seemed enough. There were nights I would wake, shivering, unable to feel my fingers or toes.”
Hunger like that was something she’d never experienced. “How did you manage?”
“I hunted what I could,” Callan continued, his voice steady. “But the game was scarce, and the cold made everything more difficult. I learned to trap small animals, to find edible roots and plants beneath the snow. It was a hard winter.”
He glanced over at Daisy, his green eyes intense. “But I survived. And after that, I made sure I always had enough food put away for winter, even if I stole some of it from neighboring villages.”
Daisy reached over and squeezed his hand. “You were very brave, and you did what you had to.”
They drove for a while, and when they were about twenty minutes from Richmond, he asked her about her own life.
Daisy sighed, her gaze fixed on the road ahead. “Well, by the time I graduated high school, I had gone to twenty-three different schools. I was always the new kid, and I hated it.”
