Her hand lands on my chest, close to the chain I have dangling around my neck, but she never touches it. I get the sense she wants to ask questions, but I’m grateful when she doesn’t. We lie there in the dark for so long I think she’s fallen asleep.
Then she says, “I’m still sorry, Callum.”
I squeeze my eyes closed, then hold her closer. “I know, Clover. I know.” I press a kiss to her forehead. “Get some sleep.”
She sighs but nestles deeper beneath the covers, her grip on me tightening, almost like she’s scared I’m going to slip away in the middle of the night. I’m just about asleep when she says three soft words.
“I missed you.”
It’s the last thing I remember before drifting off into slumber.
CHAPTER 13
CHLOE
Eleven years ago
“Ugh.” I groan, pressing the heels of my hands into my eyes. “Did I ever tell you how much I hate learning science-type stuff? It issoboring.”
We’re sitting on Callum’s bed, me on my stomach and him resting against his pillows at the other end, three textbooks spread out between us. Even though we’re studying, it’s our date night, something we don’t get to do often now that his hockey schedule is ramping up like it is. He’s been working hard this season, and the right people are taking notice. If he keeps this up, his dreams of playing professional hockey could happen sooner than he expected.
I couldn’t be happier for him, but I also can’t help but worry about what it could mean for our future. Even though Callum and I have been dating for almost a year now, I’m still not used to it. We’re two different people on very different paths, but so far, things have been working well between us.Reallywell, actually—so damn well it kind of scares me. Are you supposed to find your person so young like this? According to my parents,no. To say they weren’t happy when they found out I was dating Callum would be an understatement.
“You’re there to focus on your studies, Chloe. Not boys.”
This was from my mother, who has always hated the idea of me dating while still in school.
“Your education is more important than a college fling. Did you read that article inThe New York Times? It says we’re on track to finding a cure for cancer in the next twenty years. A miracle!”
While I’m proud of his research and what he’s doing to advance medicine, I didn’t have the heart to remind my dad of the number of people who will still die from the disease between now and then. Or that what I have with Callum is far more than just a fling. I don’t think he would have taken that well.
They want me to focus on school, which makes sense, since they didn’t meet until way after college. They’re why I declared my major in biology. It felt like the natural path, but now that I’m almost a year into my studies, I can firmly say this is not what I want to be doing the rest of my life.
Callum laughs as he rests his hand on my ankle, almost like he can’tnottouch me. “You’ve mentioned that a time or two. Remind me again why you’re majoring in biology and not writing? You’re killing it on the paper.”
Iamkilling it on the paper. I’ve had the most front-page stories out of anyone else on the team, and there’s been some talk of making me editor next year, a position a junior hasn’t held for a long time.
But that doesn’t matter in the long term, so I shrug and flip yet another page I briefly scanned over, not comprehending a single letter of it. “Both of my parents are scientists.”
“So?”
Of course he doesn’t get it. His focus is on hockey. He says all the time that he doesn’t think he’ll get offered a contract,even though he was drafted by New York, but I think he’s wrong. Sure, my opinion might be a bit biased, being his girlfriend and all, but I thought Callum was a good player well before we started dating. It’s going to happen for him. It’s just a matter of when.
Instead of answering his question, I close my heavy textbook and shove it aside, rolling onto my back and propping myself up on my elbows.
“Let’s take a break.”
He raises a brow, a smile playing at the corner of his lips. “We just took a break twenty minutes ago.”
“And now I’ve worked for twenty minutes. That deserves another break, doesn’t it?” I pout, pushing my chest out a little more.
Callum growls lowly, then tosses his business law textbook to the floor before crawling on top of me and burying his face in my neck. I howl with laughter as he alternates between wet kisses and gentle bites.
“Shhh,” he says into my ear. “Do you really want my roommates to barge in here?”
“You did lock the door, didn’t you?”
He pulls away to look down at me, and I miss him instantly. “Yeah, but those knuckleheads will just see that as a challenge.”
