He handed her a plastic fork.“I talked to Hayden after you went missing.”
“Oh…” She winced.“I bet that wasn’t a great conversation.”
Callum waffled his hand.“We last talked again right before we geared up for the data center.I sent him an update but haven’t heard from him since.Between shitty connections or being sent out on assignment, he’s difficult to get a hold of.”
She nodded, knowing that all too well.
“But be prepared for your overly protective big brother to talk your ear off when he gets you on the phone.”
Callum opened the lids.Steam wafted, and they dug in, eating in silence.The nurse and Asal popped in with Grace’s discharge papers as they finished their meal.
He lifted his eyebrows and shoved his hands into his pockets.“Ready to go home?”
The worst feeling of losing him came over her.She wasn’t.He was still by her side.Literally, her ride or die.But there was a chasm she couldn’t explain.“Yup.Let’s go.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
Callumpulledhisnewtruck into the driveway and tried to hide the dread creeping into his bones.He glanced from the Willoughby house to the one he’d grown up in and back to Grace’s.It had been so long since he had stood on her parents’ front porch and watched her sit in the passenger seat of Dominic’s car.Their lives would be so different if he had walked down those stairs and told Grace how he felt.
He’d done that now, and it was time to give her the space she needed.His body physically ached to let her go.
“Are you going to visit your dad?”she asked, fingers tugging at the hospital bracelet on her wrist, which she hadn’t been ready to cut off.
“Yeah.I’ll pop in for a minute if he’s home.”
Her head turned.“You didn’t call?”
Callum shrugged.“I’m not that far from here.I can always come back.”
He needed her to understand that the offer was always on the table.He would come back for her, without question, at any time.He’d be anything she needed, and right now, she’d made it clear he needed to return her to her family and the start of a stable life lived on her own terms.“I’m a phone call away.”
“This feels… strange,” she admitted.“We’ve been together every moment since I knew you were back.”
“Now that you’re alive,” he gave her what he hoped was a lighthearted look, “we can do this whenever we want.”
What did he expect?It’s not like they would finish a couple of crazy weeks and, what, move in together?The truth was, they had both been on shaky ground before they collided.Not exactly logical to think they should cement themselves together and pretend life would work out unless… he didn’t know, they didwork.Work on themselves.Work on staying together.Yet, he wasn’t sure when he would see her again.That was shredding his insides.“You need some time to pull your life together.”
She nodded, tugging her lip between her teeth.
“Grace, this isn’t goodbye.”
“I know.”
“Hang out with your parents.Ease into permanent decisions.”Like him.“Figure out what you want without fear forcing those choices.”Want him.
She did.He believed that, and knowing it made leaving her harder.
“I will,” she said.“I haven’t seen them in so long.”
Another car pulled up in front of the house.
Hayden jumped out, blindsiding them both.
“Oh my God,” Grace cried.“Hayden!”She turned to Callum, eyes wide and smile hinging into jaw-dropping territory.“Did you know?”
“No.I haven’t been able to get a hold of him.”Callum should have been thrilled, but the arrival of his best friend was the final nail in the coffin.The conversation was over.They couldn’t stay in his truck any longer.
“I can’t believe it.”She jumped out and ran to her brother.
