‘I’ll be fine,’ I replied and her face reset with grim determination. ‘Thank you.’
One more nod and she spun on her heel, marching right back out the door towards her quarrelling family.
‘Right!’ I heard her shout. ‘I have had just about enough of this! Get your arses back inside this instant and don’t you dare look at me like that, Derek McClay!’
And before anyone could follow her orders, I bolted upstairs, as fast as my legs would carry me.
It was strange to be back in my room. The Christmas tree glowed, the ornaments twinkled, the stockings were hung from the chimney with care, everything perfectly prepared for me. But compared to Callum’s room, the cosy luxury of this suite seemed overdone. I felt like a guest. This was Caroline’s room. Laura wanted to be next door.
The rooms might be different but the view was the same from both windows. Nothing had changed outside. Unaltered from the night before and the night before that. The year before, the decade, the millennium. These mountains, this loch, stood silent sentry and observed the endless lives as they came and went. They werehere before Balmaclay and they would still be there when the house was in ruins. All we had was a blink of an eye. Gone before you knew it.
I was still sitting in the armchair, staring out the window, when the door opened. The handle turned so softly I barely heard it click, ruling out Desi or Joel. Neither of my friends had ever crept into a room without making as much noise as possible in the entire time I’d known them. Derek was unlikely to be tiptoeing around my room any time soon and Lizzie had already said her piece, so there was only one other person I was expecting.
Unless it was Elsie with a shotgun.
I spun around to see Callum closing the door behind him and my shoulders sagged, thrilled to be still holding onto my head. He stayed in the far corner of the room, as far away from me as he could be while still sharing the same space. With my knees pulled up to my chin, I cocked my head to the side.
‘I’ve come to apologise,’ he said.
‘What for?’ I asked.
‘Dealer’s choice.’
There it was, that irresistible half-smile on his fascinating face. Not handsome or hot, but honestly beautiful. His massive physical presence undercut by the softness in his blue eyes, his voluptuous lips at odds with the square cut of his jaw, russet hair contrasting against pale skin. I was sure I could’ve studied him forever and still found new things to marvel at every single day.
If things were different.
‘Let’s start with an apology for what Elsie said about your family.’ Callum advanced halfway across the room, stopping short by my bed. ‘If she knew, she’d neverforgive herself. She can be a cow, I know, but she’d never.’
‘You don’t have to apologise for that and neither does she,’ I replied, light words carrying across the dimly lit space. ‘I know she didn’t mean it and I didn’t help myself. She’s owed an apology as much as anyone else.’
‘She’s not in the mood to talk to any of us right now so I wouldn’t worry about it.’
He gripped one of the posts of the bed, testing its antique strength. The canopy only trembled slightly. I pulled my legs in closer, resting my chin on my knees.
‘We’re leaving first thing tomorrow,’ I told him. ‘Shouldn’t be too much traffic on the roads, Christmas Day. You can tell your mum and dad I was angry about the argument and took off without telling you.’
The floorboards creaked under him as he shifted from one foot to the other, weighing up his next move. He unfastened his jacket, sliding his arms out the sleeves.
‘I wish we’d met under different circumstances,’ he said, laying it across the foot of my bed.
‘We did meet under different circumstances,’ I reminded him. ‘Twice. Stella and Dave’s wedding and Lemon’s naming ceremony. We were both there.’
He rolled his eyes. ‘Lemon Marge O’Brien. That poor kid. I only stuck my head in to say hello. Had to work.’
‘You were at the wedding though?’ I asked but he shook his head, his mouth a grim line.
‘Not exactly the best day of my life. It was just after Shiv moved to London and she didn’t really want to go. She didn’t know anyone and she’s never been
very good with strangers. I spent the entire time trying to cheer her up until she threw a fit and insisted
we leave.’
I looked out at the mountains and then back at Callum.
‘Do you love Shiv?’ I asked.
‘Do I love Shiv?’
