Callum tipped the hash browns onto an oven tray. ‘We talked about the storm. She thought she was to blame.’
I shook my head as Callum slotted the heaped tray intothe oven. There must be a predisposition in his family to take on responsibility for things they shouldn’t.
‘She was upset.’ Callum gestured at the slimy lines across his jumper, evidence of Bonnie’s humanity. ‘Do you mind if I shower?’
I kind of did. Not the actual showering, but the being-apart-from-each-other-again bit. Much like a boundaries-deficient goat, I followed Callum through to the bathroom. Watching him undress was never a chore, but sadly he disappeared behind the shower curtain.
‘I think things might be better between me and Bonnie now.’ Callum’s voice held a hint of wonder, like the concept of being on speaking terms with his remaining sibling was something he’d barely dared dream of. ‘She didn’t want to talk about the storm because she didn’t want me to hate her, and I was scared she would blame me. That’s cleared out of the way now.’
‘Is it weird to say I’m proud of you?’ I perched on the closed toilet lid. ‘Does this mean you might come with me to lunch the next time Bonnie demands our presence?’
‘I don’t think I could handle the teasing. Let’s hope she doesn’t have another lunch while you’re on the island.’
The reminder that I would soon be gone stung, but I was easily distracted. The shower shut off and Callum pulled across the damp curtain. I would have—on another day—been in favour of derailing this conversation to get all up on that flawless golden skin. But even though Callum said he trusted me, I felt unsure of where things stood between us. Would everything revert to how it had been? Or would we have to work back to enjoying thrice daily orgasms together?
Perhaps purchasing the jumbo pack of condoms had been too optimistic. I trailed Callum into the bedroom andhungrily watched him dry himself. Re-clothing wasn’t one of my favourite things, but he looked good in a pair of jogging bottoms and a worn T-shirt.
I followed him through to the kitchen, where he washed and chopped a lettuce, then grated cheese. Tim demanded a bottle, which occupied me for a few minutes, before I went back to lingering like a clingy clinger around Callum.
The oven timer went off and Callum piled plates high with hash browns. He threw cheese on top and tucked lettuce to one side. As he brought my plate over, Albert was already eyeing the green stuff with interest.
Callum settled on the sofa, his thigh pressing into my leg. ‘Will you tell me about your afternoon with Frank?’
I paused with a hash brown midway to my mouth. ‘You really want to hear about it?’
Callum nodded. ‘I don’t have a problem with magic. I was worried about the lying.’
I tilted my head to the side, chewing a cheesy hash brown pensively. ‘How did you know I was lying, by the way? Did Kit call you or something?’ My brain skipped over that, since the answer wasn’t too interesting. ‘But anyway, let me tell you about the wonderful world of being a witch.’
It hadn’t felt particularly special before, but Frank had opened my eyes to what a great thing being a witch could be.
‘I can’t help but be a bit sad too,’ I said, after detailing my whole time at Frank’s. I picked up my final hash brown and placed the plate on the floor so the ravenous goats could have at the lettuce. ‘My dad did the best he could, but I’ve missed out. If Mum was still alive, she would have taught me this stuff.’
Callum placed a hand on my knee. He didn’t say anything, but he didn’t have to. If anyone understood theaching sadness of not only losing someone but also losing all the ways they would have helped you be the best version of yourself, it was Callum.
‘Hopefully I’ll get a chance to see Frank again before I leave but, in the meantime, he gave me a book. I’m always up for a bit of reading, but I’m not sure how helpful this one is going to be. I had a flick through on the drive up here. There are ace chapters about all kinds of magical things I want to try, like rings of protection and stuff, but there also chapters that have to be made up. There’s a whole section about mystical beings. I swear it said about fairies and werewolves. I’m an open-minded lad, but that stuff can’t be real.’
Callum’s face mirrored my incredulousness. ‘Frank gave you a book with information about werewolves in?’
‘Yeah, but I swear it’s legit.’ I reached over the back of the sofa to grab my bag. ‘I’ll show you. The erroneous mystical beings bit is one tiny section. The rest is great.’
I yanked open the zip. Another person could have extracted the book without revealing the sex supplies stashed in my bag. However, I pulled out the book and managed to not only dislodge the jumbo pack of condoms but also split it open so that the foil-wrapped packages scattered across the sofa and floor.
To complete the wonderful image, the tubes of lube rolled right into Callum’s lap.
Wonderful. So dignified. Exactly how I wanted to broach this subject.
Callum’s eyebrows perched high on his forehead as he picked up one of the expensive tubes. ‘I assumed you’d gone to the pharmacy for a medical reason.’
‘Um, no. Not so much.’ I dropped the bag and the book and tried to collect the condoms back into the ripped box. Itwent incredibly well. ‘So. I bought this stuff when everything was hunky dory. It’s not like I expect us to hop into bed right after everything that’s happened today and go straight to anal penetration.’
Callum’s face shuttered. ‘You don’t want to have sex any more?’
I abandoned my condom wrangling and focused on him. ‘That’s not what I said. I’m just not assuming we’re going to kick back off from where we were, or try something new. I’m okay with going slow.’
Callum stared at the lube in his hand. ‘You want to go slow?’
I shifted my weight. ‘No? Today was a lot, but I like you as much now as I did earlier. I want to get my hands and other parts on every bit of you.’
