“And the universe presented you with a solution to your problem.” Haley shifts her gaze in Callum’s direction. I follow her line of sight, butterflies flitting in my stomach when he beams a charismatic smile that would have me dropping my panties if we were alone.
“You think some real estate development firm wanting to swoop in and buy this property is the solution I need?”
“I do,” Haley says evenly.
“We both do,” Grandma Estelle adds.
I blink, unable to believe what I’m hearing. If anyone was going to fight alongside me until the bitter end, I would have expected it to be Estelle. She was my mother’s best friend. Helped my parents transform this property. I pictured Grandma Estelle strapping herself to the giant Norway spruce as an act of protest when the bulldozers showed up.
Now she’s telling me that Callum’s offer is the universe giving me what I need?
“How? I don’t—”
“Your mother often said that the universe works in mysterious ways.,” Grandma Estelle begins. “That sometimes we think we need one thing when in reality what we really need is something else. I think this is the universe showing you what’s important. And it’s not a piece of property.”
“But it’s not just a piece of property,” I protest. “My parents built this into what it is today. This was their dream.” I gesture at all the people roaming the grounds. “This was my childhood. All the memories…” I shake my head, struggling to come to terms with the idea of it all going away, even if that’s becoming more of a reality every day.
“And you’ll always have those,” Grandma Estelle insists.
“No one can take them away,” Haley adds.
“Maybe this is the universe’s way of telling you that you’ve been clinging to those memories for too long now.” Grandma Estelle touches her hand to my arm. “That you’ve been clinging to the past for too long now. Maybe it’s time to stop living in the past. To start looking toward the future. Start making memories of your own instead of doing everything you can to keep your parents’ memory alive.”
“I don’t—”
“Your mother dreamed of restoring that barn in the hopes of hosting weddings here,” Grandma Estelle interrupts. “Isn’t that right?”
I give a subtle nod.
“She hoped to see you get married here, Parker. She would hate to know you sacrificed your own happiness just so you could ensure your parents’ dreams for this property are realized. You were always the most important thing to them. They would have given up everything to make sure you were happy.” Grandma Estelle waves her hand at my surroundings. “Including all of this. The sleigh rides. The tree. The pictures with Santa. It’s all great. But it’s not what’s important.”
I part my lips, about to renew my argument. I can’t, though. She’s right. Hell, if my parents were still alive, I have no doubt they’d tell me the same thing.
“Even so, that doesn’t change things.” I straighten my spine, smoothing a hand down my coat. “We had an understanding when we started...whatever this is. We agreed it would end when he checked out.”
“But you made that agreement almost a week ago,” Haley reminds me. “Things may have changed. I know they’ve changed for you.”
I shrug, pretending to remain unaffected, not wanting to admit that, over the past several days, Callum Reed has weaseled his way into my heart. Every conversation, every smile, every thoughtful word has made me care about him more. Even without him going out of his way to ask Eloise Moore to help, I would have felt this way. But knowing he was willing to risk his own future plans for this property ripped through the last remnants of the wall surrounding my heart.
“Maybe they’ve changed for him, too,” Haley continues. “You’ll never know unless you ask. Do you really want him to leave and always wonder what if?”
I slowly turn my eyes back toward the rink, my throat tightening at the idea of saying goodbye to Callum tomorrow morning and never experiencing anything remotely close to what I do with him.
But can I really put my heart on the line, knowing he has the power to destroy it?
Can I really risk it all with him?
CHAPTERTWENTY-FIVE
PARKER
I shouldn’t be this nervous. It’s only dinner with the guy I’ve been sleeping with the past week.
But it doesn’t matter how many times I tell myself it’s only dinner.
Deep down, I know it’s so much more than that. Especially with Grandma Estelle’s and Haley’s words weighing heavy on my mind. Can I really take that leap, share my true feelings in the hopes Callum has also had a change of heart?
Throughout the day, I’ve tried to convince myself there’s no way Callum Reed is the solution to my problem. He’s trying to buy this place from me, for crying out loud.
