‘Yes,’ I agree wholeheartedly. ‘I could tell I was in her bad books for it which is not a place you want to be. And now you’re suggesting I quit? Won’t she try to burn me at the stake?’
Callum laughs. ‘She’ll be happy for you. She knows you’re ready for a new challenge. And that challenge is no longer shouting at me. It’s going out there and showing the world what you’re made of. So you set up your own company, starting out small with a little office at home. But it expands, because you’re brilliant, and in five years’ time I am the very proud husband of Nina Moss, CEO.’
I blink.
‘Did you just say husband?’
Callum looks down. ‘Like I said, this is my dream scenario. I’d never want to assume …’ He trails off.
‘And how did you know I’d want to set up on my own?’
Callum doesn’t reply, he just watches me through those thick, dark lashes.
‘I’ve been hanging off your every word,’ I say eventually.
‘Well, there’s more, but I’m going to leave some of it to the imagination for now.’
I close my eyes, allow myself a delicious moment where all of this actually does come true. A life with Callum Bang? Who’d have thought it would sound so utterly, completely appealing?
‘So,’ he asks. ‘How did the pitch go?’
I grin back at him. ‘I’d give it a solid ten out of ten. No notes.’
TWENTY-THREE
We’re coming in to land and my stomach is in knots. Definitely not helped by the mad amounts of wind buffeting the plane. This is new. We haven’t had such bad turbulence on our descent into Perth before.
I squeeze my eyes shut and pray it isn’t an omen.
‘It’s going to be okay,’ Callum says, taking my hand in his.
I give him a weak grin, reassured by his presence but still incredibly on edge. It’s a strange feeling, getting off a plane and knowing that you are likely walking directly into the path of your own inevitable death. I’ve grown oddly used to it over the past week or so, and as I look back I realize that at times, I’ve positively embraced the screeching tyres of the luggage buggy, which is … quite dark. The more frustrated I was with the situation, the more blasé I became about my tragic and sombre demise.
I’ve read interviews with people who’ve been in life-or-death situations, and talked extensively about how it feels to face your own mortality. Without fail they talk about how their experiences have made them want to live each day like it’s their last, to seize every opportunity. And there’s the gratitude, too. The feeling of being so fortunate to still be here.
As I look over at Callum, gratitude ranks high up there for me, too. This silly world we’re living in makes no sense, and I’m so tired even my hair hurts. What is that?! But today has been the best Monday yet. With this beautiful man by my side, I feel ready to take on whatever is thrown our way. It’s so funny to look back on my decisions over these past few days. How my rose-tinted glasses made me believe that an ex-boyfriend was the way out of here. And then, when he quite clearly was not, how I thought I needed to find the strength to go it alone. But now that I think on it, I see that I alreadywasstrong. And then along came Callum, the missing piece of my jigsaw puzzle, and everything finally made as much sense as it can when you’re living in a silly old time loop.
‘I pick you,’ I tell him, reaching out to catch his passport before it falls to the floor as we walk towards passport control.
‘You do?’
‘Yup. It’s been you all along, I just needed a minute.’
‘A minute?’ Callum laughs. ‘You mean, nine months of shouting at me?’
‘You started it.’
He sighs good-naturedly. ‘I have a feeling that you, Nina Moss, are going to be trouble.’
‘That’s funny, because I was thinking the exact same thing about you.’
He pulls me close, and I savour the feeling of being tucked up against him. It feels like home.
‘Shall we?’ he asks, and I follow his gaze.
We’ve reached baggage reclaim. He grabs our bags off the carousel. We’re ready to make our way to arrivals, the scene of our devastating destiny, and it’s all suddenly too much.
I burst into tears.
