‘Shiv?’ I repeated then left a pause, waiting him to fill in the gaps.
His eyes closed for a brief moment, mouth pulling into a grimace.
‘My ex,’ he said, blowing out a noisy breath. ‘Shiv is my ex. Siobhan Hamilton.’
‘Girlfriend?’
‘Fiancée. Sort of.’
One thing I’d learned as a doctor was when to talk and when to listen. Not that I always managed to put it into practice outside work, no one loved a good ramble as much as me, but I could tell from the pained look on his face this was definitely a listening moment.
‘I never actually proposed,’ he explained. ‘Weweretalking about it but she jumped the gun and told everyone we were getting married, my parents, her parents, fuck even the milkman sent his congratulations. When I told her I wanted to decide for myself when I would propose, she said it was now or never.’
‘And you chose never?’
‘I don’t like being backed into a corner,’ he confirmed. ‘She didn’t take the break-up very well and neither did anyone else. It was messy, we’ve known each other since we were kids, she’s practically family. My girlfriend, my sister’s best friend, her dad and my dad play golf together. Everyone loves Shiv.’
‘How did the milkman take it?’
‘Tried to run me over with his milk float.’
I snorted into my napkin.
‘Oh yeah, it’s hilarious until there’s three hundred pints of semi-skimmed coming straight at you down a narrow country road,’ Callum replied, a smile dancing in his eyes even though he was doing his best to look annoyed. ‘Not my best Christmas ever.’
‘This all happened at Christmas?’ I asked, rubbing at my nose with the back of my hand.
‘Last year. Another good reason why I’ve been avoiding a trip up home.’
Another thought occurred to me. ‘She lives in your town. Will she be around this week?’
‘I can’t say a definite no but I wouldn’t think so. We haven’t talked much since she moved back up to Braewick. Or at all.’
Was it my imagination or did he look disappointed?
‘If I were your real girlfriend and not your fake one, this town-wide ex-girlfriend worship might concern me,’ I said lightly. ‘Next you’ll be telling me she’s a world-famous supermodel who works at an animal rescue in her spare time.’
Callum’s gaze shifted down to the table, his mouth twisting awkwardly.
‘Oh my God, she’s a world-famous supermodel,’ I breathed.
‘No, she isn’t,’ he said hurriedly. ‘She does volunteer with animals, there’s a donkey sanctuary half an hour or so from her parents’ house, that’s all.’
‘But she’s not a model?’
He took a quick drink from his glass of wine.
‘Not in any professional sense.’
Without a word, I picked up my glass of wine and necked the whole thing.
‘What about you?’ Callum asked. ‘Any homicidal delivery men in your past?’
‘If anyone is taking out a delivery driver, it’s me,’ I assured him. ‘If they don’t stop hiding my ASOS packages behind the bins, I’ll take out every single one of them. As far as I’m aware, I’m not on anyone’s shit list.’
‘No heartbroken exes I should know about?’
I looked up to find our server opening another mini bottle of red wine and dumping it directly into my glass. I did not stop her.
