“It’s not you. Guys are just more asshole than gentleman nowadays.” Well, she had a point there. Real-life men were definitely a far cry from what was dreamed up in romance novels. I sighed at the comparison.
“Well, I’d rather stay single forever than date the guys that approach me. You’ll never guess what. The new checkout boy at the market winked at me.”
I popped open the tequila and started making the margaritas. Naomi grabbed the glasses - all the while laughing her ass off. When she came up for air, she replied, “And who says you can’t get guys?”
“It’s not funny. He looked about fourteen.” I mumbled in half-hearted annoyance as she started off on another bout of giggles. I filled our glasses to the brim and slid one across to her. Taco in one hand, margarita in the other I plopped down on the couch.
“Please tell me this wasn’t the crisis you S.O.S’ed about. That was definitely not wine worthy.” Naomi sat down next to me, a grin on her face as she gave me a light nudge to the ribs.
“God, no. That happened after…” I took a sip and steeled myself, “I saw Callum.”
“Callum who?”
I leveled her with a look. The look. You’d know it, the are-you-for-real? look. “Who the hell do you think I’m talking about? Callum Scott? No, sister mine, Callum as in my ex and the father of your nieces.”
“Ughhh…” I exclaimed, jumping up from the sofa after being sprayed by my sister's mouthful of icy margarita. “Well, that was definitely the cherry on top of my day.”
“Oh god. I’m so sorry.” She rushed to apologize, only half-heartedly as she chuckled around her words. To her credit at least she went to the bathroom to get me a towel. She resumed her place on the sofa and I began patting myself dry all the while glaring at her. “I said I was sorry. I was just surprised, that’s all.”
“Okay. I’ll let it go, but I’m staying over here for the rest of the night - I don’t trust you not to spit-take all over me again.” I laughed. Naomi was ridiculous, like who actually did that in real life? I settled into the armchair by swinging my legs over the arm and getting comfy.
“So… Callum Wright, eh? God, there’s a name I haven’t heard in a while.”
“Tell me about it. He came into the club tonight.”
“What happened? Did he see you? Did he talk to you? Did you talk to him?”
“The weird thing, it wasn’t the first time. I was sure I’d seen him last week, but he ran off. Tonight was different, it was like he wanted me to see him.”
“Do you think he was there to see you?”
I shrugged in response while taking another massive gulp from my glass. I had no answer for her. I didn’t know what he was there for. It’d be hard to miss my name above the entrance, so he obviously knew I’d be there. But tonight had been so unexpected, it definitely wasn’t like anything I had imagined our first encounter would be. I’d assumed that he would have hung around a while longer, we’d never even got the chance to talk. Right at the ripe opportunity, Sasha had barged in demanding to know what went down with Brentley.
When I finally pulled myself away, I searched the entire club for Callum. He was nowhere to be found. I’d been tempted to double-check with Flank that he had indeed left but I resisted. I wouldn’t let one visit from Callum Wright make me weak and pathetic. After all, he’d found me once, he knew where I was.
If he wanted to see me, he would. Callum wasn’t one to back down from the things that he wanted. In fact, he was the most persistent man I’d ever met.
Most of all, I thought I’d moved on with my life, pulled myself away from him completely. As soon as that stick turned pink, I knew I had to detach myself from him. Until tonight, I’d believed I’d done a good job.
One freak run in and I was rethinking everything. Maybe I hadn’t detached from him as much as I’d thought after all.
I didn’t dare tell my sister that.
If she knew even a fraction of what I was feeling then she’d have been all over me, like a cat to catnip.
Her opinions about Callum and mine had always been very different. But what more could you have expected from a true romantic? Her philosophy was love and not war, no matter what it took. I don’t think she had ever said it outright but I knew that she thought I’d made a huge mistake when I let Callum go.
It was so long ago. After six years without any sign of him, I had honestly been convinced that we’d never be face to face again.
Hell! The only reason I even knew that he still lived in the city was because he still played for the Detroit Aces.
Naomi’s question continued to swirl around my mind the rest of that night. Was it just a fluke, or had he actually been there to see me?
A small, silly part of me held out hope that it was the latter.
Seeing Callum again had both struck my heart and caressed it at the same time. Bittersweet, that’s what it had been. Right now, I wasn’t sure which way the scale was tipping, only time would tell.
After such a shitty day I just wanted to go home, take a long hot shower, and drown myself in whiskey. Unfortunately, alcohol was a definite no-go.
