Page 107 of Untroubled Heart

Get tyre swing.

It’s all the things I pointed out when we first looked through the house. All the things I said I wanted if I were making it my own. A faint memory flickers in my mind of when we walked through that first time. “Maybe I’m just doing my homework. When the future Mrs Heart comes along, I want to know how to give her everything.”

I choke on a sob as I look at the house of my dreams, built by the man who owns my heart.

He’s been writing me into the only story he’s ever cared about.

Ours.

“Cas,” I croak out.

“Fuck. What now?”

“I need you to do something for me.”

Chapter forty

I managed to leave the house today … Okay, I managed to leave my apartment to drive to my other house. A shower and a change of clothes were involved, so I’m taking that as a win.

No one’s here. The painting’s done, and the tilers aren’t booked to start until Monday, so I’m sitting in the house I built for my girlfriend, not knowing if she’ll walk back into it.

My hands run over the new floorboards of the attic playroom where Callie and I first found the letters.

Did Greyson and Florence get their happily ever after? What did he do that he thought Florence wouldn’t forgive him for? Did she forgive him?

I pull the small notebook from my back pocket. I’m sure one day, I’ll give Callie the letters I’ve been writing, but over the last few weeks, they’ve served as my own personal comfort for working out my feelings.

My Callie,

You’re not talking to me at the moment. I’m trying to give you space because I know I hurt you by going behind your back to pay off your ex, even though I know how important it was to you to stand your ground with him. I also said that I didn’t hook up with Emilia when I had. I don’t think it’s my past that bothers you, it was me trying to hide it. It’s only because I know how you’ve been hurt before, and I never want to be someone who causes you pain or doubt. I did everything wrong, when all I wanted to do for you was everything. I’ve never experienced jealousy before. I know I’m privileged to say I’ve never wanted something I couldn’t have. Not until you. That was the first time I had chased something I was desperate to hold in my hands, and instead, you captured me by the heart. I couldn’t even fight the fall the second I learned how fierce and loyal your heart was, even when you were soft and vulnerable. You had me wanting more when you showed me how curious and daring you could be, even if you were fighting uncertainty. I never wanted to let you go when I realised the parts of me you loved were the ones no one had ever wanted before. I was never looking for home. I was looking for you.

“I thought I might find you here.”

My head snaps up the second I register her voice as real and not a beautiful figment of my imagination.

I scramble to my feet, my eyes locked on Callie, where she leans in the doorway. Her hair is down and falling over her shoulders, and she’s wearing the same outfit I saw her in the night we met. Cropped black tee, long skirt with the split all the way up her golden thigh. Black high-top sneakers. There are little braids scattered through her hair with her star clips.

“Hi,” she whispers, and it’s that hope in her voice that has me closing the distance, practically sprinting across the room until I’m lifting her into my arms.

Her legs wrap around me, and she buries her head into my neck. I squeeze her tight as she trembles in my arms, sniffling against my skin.

“I’m sorry,” she says, slipping into gentle sobs, and I soothe her with a hand up and down her back. “I was so ungrateful, and I wasn’t there for you.”

“I should have told you I wanted to pay Derek to stay out of our lives.”

She shakes her head against my neck, and I can feel the traces of tears left on my skin.

“I should have told you he tried to blackmail me.”

“I heard him do it. I could have stopped him then and there. I was trying to let you stand up to him, then I took over anyway.”

She lifts her head to look at me, her beautiful blue eyes rimmed in red. “You were thinking of our future.”

“I was.” I nod, brushing away a tear.

Her eyebrows pinch together as she twists her lips, looking at me with eyes full of resignation. “I got jealous of Emilia.”

I cup her cheek, keeping her eyes on me as I take a breath. “ I wasn’t trying to lie, I was hopelessly and desperately trying to protect your heart. She didn’t mean anything to me. You… you mean everything.”