There was a small beat of silence where her father didn’t speak. His expression didn’t even change. Jesus, the man was unreadable.
Aspen stepped forward. “Congratulations.” She tugged Callie into a hug, then Lock. “Be good to her if you want to avoid some bruised balls,” she whispered into his ear.
His lips twitched as they separated. “Always.”
Jude’s gaze went to his daughter. “Are you happy?”
“I am.” Callie’s response was instant.
“Well, that’s all I want, baby.”
He hugged his daughter before shaking Lock’s hand. The handshake was too firm for Lock to believe he was really on board, and the look in the man’s eyes told Lock this conversation wasn’t over.
They spent the next half hour preparing the rest of breakfast. The women filled every one of those minutes with talk, and it was only when they were about to sit down to eat that Callie left the room to change her clothes. Aspen slipped out at the same time to take a call.
Lock was the first to break the silence. “Say it, Jude.”
“She was a mess after what you did to her.”
“I know.”
“No. You don’t. You weren’t here.”
The knot in his gut tightened. “You’re right, I wasn’t. And it’s something I’ll always regret. Something I will spend my life trying to make up to her. I wish Ihadbeen here. I would give anything to turn back time and do things differently.”
Jude’s frown deepened. “Son, I’m gonna be frank with you. I’m getting older and my tolerance for bullshit is low. I just need to know one thing. Do you love her?”
“Yes.” The single word came quickly, like a reflex. “I have loved her since the day I met her, and I’ll love her until the day I die.”
“What if there’s another threat in your life, and you think she’ll be safer away from you again?”
“We’ll figure out a way forward together. I will never hurt her like I did before, ever again.”
Jude seemed to take a moment to consider that before finally dipping his chin. “Good. I’m going to hold you to that, son.”
“I hope you do.”
CHAPTER 19
Callie smiled at her class as they packed up from the yoga session. Hell, she’d been smiling all morning. And it was all because of one man.
A week had passed since she’d slept with Lock. And in that week, they’d spent every night together. Mornings. Car trips to and from work. Actually, it was only while she was teaching that they were apart.
The only thing she didn’t like was being away from Aspen. Sometimes they stayed at her place so she could be with her friend, but Aspen hadn’t been home much. She was out all day, every day, finding somewhere to write or researching something for her book. And there’d been a few nights she’d stayed at her mother’s, something she hated doing but her mother tended to guilt her into it.
Callie missed her. And it almost felt like her friend was avoiding her. Why, she had no idea. Did it have something to do with Dylan? Her gut told her yes.
She moved into the back room to grab her phone from the table and sent a quick text to Aspen while she had a minute.
Callie: Hey! Want to get lunch today? We could eat in the park.
It was one of Aspen’s favorite things to do. Her friend said people-watching gave her inspiration for her books. Ideas would run wild in her head about who they were and the kind of lives they lived.
Honestly, she had no idea how Aspen came up with all the ideas for her stories. Callie could barely think of what she wanted for dinner, let alone come up with entire fictitious worlds and characters and story arcs.
She watched the screen for a few seconds, waiting for a response. Aspen was usually quick at getting back to her. Another thing that had been off this last week.
When no reply came through, Callie sighed and turned, only to run smack into a chest—Hamish’s chest.
