I looked at Callie again. She was leaning against the bar now, her back almost turned to me as she played with the straw in her drink.
“Beer, brother?”
“Do they have NA? I’m riding tonight.”
“Of course they do.” She gently pushed me toward Callie. “You two catch up. There’s a castmate out there I can finally hook up with now the show’s over.”
“Eilidh,” I warned.
She grinned unrepentantly and sauntered off in pursuit of another conquest.
Heart thumping so hard I could hear the blood whooshing in my ears, I stepped up to the bar beside Callie.
Her perfume was different.
When we were sixteen, I’d bought her a bottle of perfume for Christmas, and she’d worn the same scent for the next two years.
This new scent was more intense—something fruity, floral, and spicy all at once. Sexier.
She refused to look at me, staring into her drink.
I knew her profile like I knew the back of my hand. And yet there was something different about her that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. Perhaps because the lasttime I stood this close to her, we were eighteen. All at once seven years felt like forever and no time at all.
We said nothing as I waved down a bartender and ordered an NA beer.
Callie was tense beside me but made no move to leave, so I was encouraged by that.
By the time the beer arrived, someone had pumped up the music to an obnoxious level. So, I leaned my elbows on the bar, close enough to almost touch her, and sipped my drink.
Glancing at her out of the corner of my eye, I was satisfied to see her chest rising and falling a bit too quickly.
She was as affected by my proximity as I was hers.
“I thought maybe you’d moved to France permanently,” I called over the music.
I felt her look at me and turned to meet her gaze.
“No.” She shook her head. “I never lied about wanting to stay in Ardnoch.” She gestured around us. “Just as you never lied about wanting to get out.” With an abrupt shrug, she threw back the rest of her cocktail and then strode away from the bar.
I followed her movements with the hungry determination of a starving lion stalking his next juicy meal. And there was no fucking way, now that I’d found her again, I was letting her out of my sight.
Six
CALLIE
SEVEN YEARS AGO
My stomach was in knots as I watched Lewis chat with Tyra West. Carianne’s cousin had come up for the weekend from Glasgow, and Lewis had been paying her more attention than I felt comfortable with. I wasn’t a jealous girl. Our friendship group included other girls, and Lewis talked to them all the time. Of course that didn’t bother me. But between Lewis avoiding me and now monopolizing Tyra’s attention at the impromptu party at Fyfe’s … I was getting seriously pissed off.
And seriously worried.
For the last few weeks, Lewis had been so distant. At first, I thought he was stressed about school and final exams so that’s why he always had an excuse not to spend so much time with me. But then he’d taken to being evasive when I attempted to talk about our future.
“You all right?” Carianne suddenly appeared in front of me with a fresh bottle of beer.
“Fine. Thanks.” I took the beer and gulped a huge swig.
Carianne looked over at Lewis standing by the fireplace with Tyra. She was a pretty brunette only a year younger than us. I scowled as she laughed at something Lewis said and playfully shoved him. “Need me to bitch-slap my cousin?”
