“Holy shit!” she screams, then continues to do so for a solid minute.
It’s loud and annoying and way overdramatic, but I find myself smiling anyway. I think that has to do with how good I’ve felt ever since we slept together earlier this week. While our conversation after leaving that seedy hotel was hard, things have actually been great since then. Sure, it’s only been five days—a fact I didn’t mention to Talia since she’d kill me for not telling her earlier—but it’s a start.
“Well, how was it?”
“I only had two bags, Tally. It was a very quick move.”
“Oh my god.” She groans. “You know exactly what I’m talking about. The sex! How was the sex?!”
“Ew, Mom!” Ian yells in the background.
“That’s what you get for listening in! You’re supposed to be doing your homework.”
“It’s a Saturday!”
“Well, that’s what happens when you decide not to do it during the week.” She rolls her eyes. “Hang on. Let me deal with him.”
She sets the phone down on her bed, and I’m left staring at her ceiling fan as she wrangles her son back to the kitchen table to work.
“Okay,” she says a few minutes later, picking the phone back up and putting it way too close to her face. “Tell meeverything.”
“I am not detailing sex with my husband for you.”
“Ugh, boo. But I’m, like, horny for it. It’s been too long.”
Talia hasn’t seriously dated since Ian came along, and while I wish she would put herself out there more, it’s not like I have any room to talk. I married the only man to ever be inside me.
“Can you at least tell me if you came?”
“Talia!” I scold.
“What? It’s an important question.”
I chuckle at her, shaking my head. “Fine, yes. I came. Are you happy?”
She squeals again, then shimmies her shoulders. “I’m very happy, but it sounds likeyou’rehappier.” She wiggles her brows up and down.
“You’re ridiculous,” I tell her, but it doesn’t stop my face from getting hot.
“Girl, you are ridiculously giddy and blushing, and it’s so cute. You aresofalling in love with him again.”
Her words shock me. “What do you mean by ‘again’? I never stopped loving him.”
“So youdoknow that, then.”
“What? Of course I know.”
“Well, you could have fooled me sometimes, like when you decided to come back from the London internship.”
My jaw slackens. “You were the one who pushed me to do it!”
“Yeah, but I didn’t tell you to stay gone for three years. That was your call, and I was shocked as hell when you did because it was obvious to everyone how much you missed him. Even your mother was urging you to go to Seattle for that interview.”
Shit. She has a point, and it’s a big one too. While my dad eventually warmed up to Callum, my mother never did. It was like she held some sort of grudge against him for “stealing my youth” or whatever. It didn’t matter how many times I tried to tell her it was my decision to marry him and he wasn’t pressuring me; she didn’t care. She blamed him.
I was surprised when she approved of the internship to write, but for some reason, I didn’t bat an eye when she pushed me to go back to Seattle. Maybe I should have. Was she trying to tell me something? Was she trying to tell me to get my husband back?
I don’t know, but I do know I’m here now, and I’m not going to waste it. Callum and I still have a lot to work through, but I’m ready to roll up my sleeves and get right in the thick of it. But, like, maybe after this wedding.
