I was about four streets away from where Callum was living and I knew for a fact he wasn’t at work this afternoon. He was a vet at London Zoo, finally having come home after spending a couple of years in various countries specialising in treating elephants and rhinos. Not quite wanting to head to the last house on my list and needing to distract myself from how irritating Jon had been, I headed to Callum’s on the off chance he was in.
He was, appearing at the door in just a pair of sweatpants that hung too low and looked too worn. “Mum would kill you if she saw you wearing them,” I said, eyeballing him.
He shook his head. “But she isn’t here. What’s the matter?”
“Why does something have to be the matter for me to turn up here?”
He opened the door wider to let me in. Callum’s house was a rental and I was desperately trying to get him to invest in a property for two reasons: one, he’d make a profit by owning a house rather than paying rent, and two, it meant he was staying. Callum had spent long enough away from us and I wanted to be sure he was staying nearby.
“Because I’m your favourite big brother and it’s me you come to when something’s up,” he said, automatically flicking on the coffee machine. The whirr of the motor as it ground the beans was soothing.
“Hot date tonight?” I said, surprised at the lack of words from him. Out of all of us, he was the one who should’ve been a celebrity, although he almost was. His hair was the darkest shade of brown and his jawline and cheekbones made him look like a contender to play Clark Kent. He was a vet at London Zoo and finally seemed to have lost some of the wanderlust that had taken him all over half the world tending to animals. And women.
Callum Callaghan was a manwhore. Or at least he had been. Since he’d been home he hadn’t been as prolific, which was a concern in itself although Claire thought it was something to do with Max, Jackson and herself finally settling down.
“No, I’m back at work. One of the elephants is due to give birth so my job is midwife.” He leaned back against the counters. “How’s Eli?”
I tried to act as if I didn’t understand.
“Don’t bother, Ava. I saw you together when Dad had his mini-stroke and it was obvious you were more than friends. And I heard Max asking him how you were,” Callum said.
My shoulders sank. Callum was not the most observant, so if he’d noticed then everyone else would’ve too. “It’s… not serious,” I said, struggling with the words. It wasn’t serious but it was easy. “I’m staying with him at the moment while I sell the priory and put an offer in somewhere else.” Which was problematic in itself as the places I was looking at weren’t habitable at the moment.
“Okay,” he said. “Why haven’t you told us? You know, we see you and Eli together pretty much every Friday because you’re out with the law lot and he’s there too. Why the sneaking about? I don’t get it.”
He sounded mad. Callum was different from Max and Jackson. He was the youngest, like me. My three eldest brothers and Claire were the children from our father’s first marriage. His wife had died when Cal was two or thereabouts and the other three had pretty much been his parents. He’d been babied in the same way I had, the only difference being that by the time I was born, Dad had known what to do. Cal’s relationship with him was strained, especially because he hadn’t gone into law and the family business, becoming a vet instead.
“Because it isn’t serious. And I don’t want anyone putting pressure on me to make it serious,” I said. “We got together at Jackson and Vanessa’s wedding and a couple times after.”
“So it’s friends with benefits?”
I nodded. Eli was my friend. He had been before we hooked up and now even more so. He was the person I would call if I was lost or drunk or in a mess somewhere, and the one I’d call when something great happened. “He’s a good man. And he’s coming from the same place.”
“I’m sure he is. But don’t you think we would’ve accepted that? I’m not saying that Max and Jackson wouldn’t have told you that he was good for you and you should hold on to him, but we would’ve understood the not serious bit. Does Payton know?” Callum passed me a coffee.
“No,” I said, wrapping my hands around it. I could predict what he was going to say next.
“For fuck’s sake, Ava. She’s going to completely go fucking ape-shit,” Callum said. “You need to tell her and explain why you didn’t when it started. And she’s going to go mad at Eli.”
“He was fine with keeping it quiet. He was worried about what you’d say because of the age gap,” I said. “But he’s kept it quiet mainly because I asked him.”
“Ava, you need to talk to her. Just not this week.”
“Owen?” I said.
He nodded. “She’s in bits after the other night at Cases.” Cases was the name of the chain of bookstores that Payton’s boyfriend – or not – owned. She’d found out he had been married before, but not from him, which meant she was now undergoing a crisis.
“He’s not great himself,” I said. “I think Claire and I are going to stage an intervention. See what we can do.”
Callum rolled his eyes. “Look, Ava, tell her after this weekend. Sunday maybe – if she and Owen do get back together. And I really hope they do.” He looked downcast.
“What’s the matter? You get an STD?”
He half-laughed. “You know I’m particular about cleanliness.”
“Joke, brother. What’s up?”
He put his mug down and folded his arms. I swear he and Seph were having some form of competition to see who could grow the biggest muscles humanly possible. “You can’t tell anyone. I’m waiting to see if I can change things.”
