“He made it clear he wasn’t bothered if I called Carl, so I don’t think he was that unhappy.” Leopards and spots.
Seph laughed. “He was. He just doesn’t have a fucking clue what to say.” He tipped his head and looked at me. “What did the dickwad come out with?”
“It doesn’t matter.” But I was still sitting in Callum’s home, talking to his brother, so it did matter. He mattered.
“It does, even if you don’t want to talk about it. You were the girl he was always hung up on. I’m not meant to tell you that because you know, bro code and all that shit.” Seph reached for the glasses that I was pretty sure he didn’t need.
“I don’t get him.”
“None of us do. He talked to Dad this weekend about everything that happened with his mum, you know…” He looked at me, making sure.
“I know. He’s talked to me about it.”
“Really? Callum doesn’t usually talk much. He did with Dad this weekend.”
“We’re they okay?” I remembered the awkward video calls while we were in Africa.
“Pretty much. Dad told him about Callum’s mum and stuff that happened. I kind of know bits but it doesn’t really feel like my business. I just want to all be okay.”
There was something innocent about Seph, despite that he’d allegedly slept with half the female population of London. He seemed to view the world through a simple filter: you lived to be happy. That was it. I wished I could have that filter.
“I’m sure they will be.”
“Don’t let him go, Wren.” Seph stood up. “I know he’s emotionally stunted, but I know he’ll be worth the effort.”
I felt my eyes well up. Had anyone been worth it? My relationships tended to be shallow and brief, mainly because I wouldn’t stick around long enough to wrap any roots around someone.
“It’s hard.”
“Maybe you should tell Callum that.”
I lobbed a cushion at him.
“It’s hard to invest, not when it’s such a risk.”
He shook his head. “What’s the worst that happens? You end up getting hurt, but you get over it.”
“I know. I get that.”
“Give him a chance.”
“I don’t know if he wants me to give him a chance.”
Seph headed towards the door. “He does. He just needs to work out how.”
* * *
Animals were my sanctuary.I treated a frog and a gorilla in the same day and spent time with Zoe who was overseeing parasite control. I missed calls from my mother and the insurance company, from my father and then his wife. Nothing was a crisis, they were just worried about me.
And I was thinking about Africa and how long it would be before I could go back and whether Callum would go with me because I wasn’t sure if I could be there without him. He was the star studded sky and the sound of the wind through the plains, the red in the flames of the fire and the soft chirp of the crickets.
“You want company heading home?”
I looked up to the doorway and saw him standing there, taking up most of the space. His dark hair was mussed and his eyes were tired. I knew he’d spent the day with the elephants, doing some general health checks and then talking to a group of second year vet students.
My heart beat a little harder.
I wanted to say no, but I knew I couldn’t. And we were going to the same place. “Give me ten minutes to change.”
