‘Hear what?’
‘Why.’
‘I did it for you,’ Callie said undramatically. ‘Because… I still love you.’ She seemed happier for having admitted that and pushed on. ‘I don’t think I ever stopped. And you didn’t deserve to pay for that again.’
Mae’s heart pounded so much she didn’t think she’d be able to speak. But she managed to get out something. Her own truth. ‘I spent a long time thinking you’d chosen yourself,’ Mae said slowly. ‘That when it came down to it, I was only something you stepped over.’
Callie nodded. ‘I know that’s how it must have felt.’
‘Then you came back. And you made me feel that old way you used to. And then youdidn’tchoose yourself,’ Mae said. ‘Which has, if I’m being honest, confused the ever-lovingfuckout of me.’
Callie’s lips parted, but she couldn’t seem to find words.
‘I didn’t want you destroying your life on my behalf,’ Mae told her.
Callie let out a long breath. ‘I didn’t break anything that didn’t need breaking.’
They were close now, but not touching. Yet.
‘You’re an idiot,’ Mae said softly.
Callie smiled, and Mae could see the fear in it. ‘You always were the brains of this operation,’ Callie told her.
Mae reached out, and before she could overthink it, her pinkie finger hooked onto Callie’s. ‘I don’t know about that.’
Callie’s eyes widened as she let Mae’s little finger hold hers. She looked terrified. ‘I wasn’t going to come back. I was going to let you go. I didn’t think I’d bought myself forgiveness. I want you to know that.’
‘But it happened anyway. I forgive you,’ Mae said, and it was true. She’d let go of it. And when all the anger was gone, what was left at the bottom was a girl who loved her best friend.
Callie’s lips parted in a gasp. She hadn’t expected this. And it made Mae feel that old love anew.
She leaned in and kissed Callie carefully. Callie made a small sound against her mouth, hands coming up like she wasn’t sure she was allowed until Mae tugged her closer by the hem of her T-shirt.
‘Are yousureyou can forgive me?’ Callie murmured.
‘Yes, now lock that door,’ Mae said, kissing her again. Callie reached out without breaking the kiss and flicked the lock.
As the kiss intensified, Mae thought the dangerous thought she’d been avoiding for days, since she’d find out what Callie had done for her.
What had happened wasn’t fixed. But it could be.
This could be the start of repairs, the start of Callie and Mae, thirties edition. It could happen. Itwashappening. Andit had started the second they’d locked eyes through the bakery window a few weeks ago.
Mae had known on some level this would happen, hard as she’d fought. All she’d done today was stop pretending she didn’t know the truth. She wanted Callie back in her life, her heart, her bed.
And she was making big strides on that last one. Even if there wasn’t a bed, as such. But it wasn’t like the last kiss, angry and raw. It was sweet, like coming home. As Mae held Callie’s waist and gently guided her onto the couch, Mae felt that old alignment, their bodies remembering each other.
But the space wasn’t ideal. Fucking tiny, actually.
The couch was not designed for the kind of activity it was currently enduring, and it protested with a sharp creak as Callie and Mae moved against each other, flinging their clothes away at speed.
‘If this couch collapses,’ Callie murmured as she trailed down Mae’s stomach. ‘I’m not gonna stop.’
‘Don’t stop if the roof comes in,’ Mae told her, biting her own lip.
As Callie's mouth found what it was looking for, Mae’s left leg curled out fully and knocked the vanity. The mirror shuddered dangerously. Mae wouldn’t have cared even if she had noticed.
The sofa groaned in distress. The vanity rattled with further kicks. A collection of beauty products rolled off the edge and collected on the floor near a bra, shocked witnesses to all manner of action.
