Pain eviscerates my chest, and the tears flow. We were only kids back then, but our love never felt like some fleeting teenage puppy love. It felt real. No matter how young I was, I had no doubt I had found the person I was meant to spend my life with.
Believing none of it was real was the only way I survived their betrayal. Allowing myself to believe any of it was real just set me back. In order to heal, I had to rewrite our history. So,I conditioned myself to believe in a new narrative, one where Gwen and Callan were the villains all along.
Except now I’m in Ryemont again, it’s too hard to keep the memories contained, and in freeing them, I know that isn’t true in Callan’s case. His parting statement is keeping me awake at night, and what Darcy and Ana said earlier is also playing on my mind.
Thereismore to this story.
Am I brave enough to uncover the hidden chapters?
64
ASTRID
“Come in,” I call out the following morning when someone knocks on my office door shortly after eleven.
My heart thumps wildly in my chest when Callan steps into the room, wearing a sharp navy suit with a white shirt unbuttoned at the top and carrying a small box and a takeout coffee cup.
“You can’t be here.” Even though Seán is working from Stowe today, I still anxiously scan the hallway outside, terrified he’s going to appear and freak out. We patched things up last night after I returned from my non-walk, and Seán made love to me for the first time in days. There was no animosity when he kissed me goodbye earlier, and I want to keep it that way. If he discovers Callan showed up here, after promising he wouldn’t set foot on the property again, all hell will break loose.
“I need to make sure you’re all right,” he says, approaching my desk.
“As you can see, I’m fine, so please leave.”
“Are you safe, Astrid?” He sets the box and paper cup down on my desk. “I didn’t like the way he was speaking to you last night.”
“I’m not your concern, Callan.”
“You will always be my concern.” His eyes penetrate mine, and suddenly it’s harder to breathe. He always had the most beautiful hazel eyes. Expressive and all-seeing. When Callan gives you his undivided attention, it’s hard to look away, and that’s one thing that hasn’t changed.
I snap out of it, lowering my gaze to the table. I need him to leave. “Couples fight,” I say, composing myself before I look up. “But that doesn’t mean he’s mistreating me because he isn’t. He treats me like a queen.”
“That’s not how it looked to us.”
“He knows what you did, Callan, and he’s protective on my behalf.”
“He doesn’t know what I did becauseyoudon’t know.”
“I have a busy schedule today, and I’m not discussing personal matters at the workplace.”
“I am ready to talk whenever you are,” he calmly replies, producing a plastic fork from his pocket. He hands it to me, and I stare at it in confusion.
“What’s this for?”
“The maple cake.” He pops the lid on the box, and I stare at the generous slice of cake resting inside. “It’s not as good as the one you used to get here, but it’s close.”
“Why are you buying me cake?”
He shrugs before setting the fork down on the desk beside the cake and coffee and shoving his hands in the pockets of his dress pants. “Like I said, I wanted to make sure you were okay, and I guess old habits die hard.”
“You can’t buy me things.”
“It’s a piece of cake, Astrid. It’s not like I bought you a giant diamond.” His gaze sinks to my ring.
“I don’t want it.”
He chuckles, but his expression sobers when he sees I’m not laughing. “Don’t say you don’t like cake anymore because I won’t believe it.”
“I eat cake.” I slot the lid back in place before handing him the box and the fork. “But never maple cake. The last time I ate it was at college, three days before Gwen answered your phone and my heart shattered into a million pieces.”
