“Not a million either.”
“What then?”
“Would you believe none?”
“Bullshit.”
“I’m telling you the truth. Do you want to know why Carlie trusted me so quickly, it’s because I have a little sister myself. Olivia is around the same age as Carlie. They’re not that much different, really.”
“She’s in London right now with your parents?”
“No, she’s with my Nan in Lowestoft.”
“What’s she doing there? Why isn’t she with your parents?”
“My dad has always traveled a lot, so I typically took care of Olivia on my own. My mum passed away when I was really little. Olivia stays with me most days, but since I’m here, my nan is going to take care of her until I have a chance to bring her here or I go back there.”
“Aww, that’s sweet.”
“Thank you.”
“You know, you’re nothing like I thought you were.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, in the beginning, I thought you were a complete asshat. Cocky, arrogant and sure of himself.” she grinned. She as enjoying this.
“I am those things, but I’m proud of it. I know who I am, what I have and what I can do. Nothing wrong with taking pride in hard work.”
“Yeah but you’re also caring and sweet, two qualities I’m guessing you don’t show many people.”
“I don’t show too many people because there is no room in a boardroom for emotions.”
Chapter Eleven
LISA
I WOKE UP THE NEXT MORNING WITH THE SUNLIGHT SHINING IN MY DIRECTION. It’s rays peeked through the curtain giving the room a bright tone even early in the morning. For a split second I forgot where I was, then I remembered everything the night before.
Callum and I ordered room service where I interrogated him with very personal questions to which he answered them all. Respectfully, he honored my request to be taken home even though we had the hotel room for the night, I promised Carlie I’d be back. After calling the babysitter and Carlie to let them know, I’d be a little late.
Although Callum was going to take me home and say goodnight, Carlie convinced me to let him stay to watch a movie with us. For a moment, I felt this sense of contentment when I pretended that it’s always been the three of us and this was one of the typical family fun nights that we would have made up. Eventually, the moving watching ended up becoming a slumber party at Carlie’s request.
So here I was at 6:37 in the morning with Callum’s arm draped over me. Yes, he was in my bed. He was in my bed all night long. Nothing happened, however other than how amazing it felt for him to hold me for hours until I fell asleep. It felt nice to have a warm, muscular body to snuggle up against.
I slowly got out of bed and looked at Callum’s sleeping body. He looked so peaceful lying there.
Too bad this ends tonight.
It has to, that was part of the deal. We agreed to one date and then he promised to leave me alone.
Why was this so hard?
I wanted to tell myself it was because I was a scared and stupid idiot, but it had to be done. When he woke up, I was going to say to him that I wanted to end things. That this, whatever it was, isn’t working and to never talk to me again.
A part of me felt guilty for even wanting to do it, and the other part of me desperately wanted to keep him. I couldn’t, he wasn’t healthy for me, but Carlie’s safety was the most important thing to me, and I refuse to let a man break her heart ever again, even if it meant sacrificing things that I wanted.
Callum’s beautiful blue eyes fluttered open, and after an impromptu stretch, he sighed while his eyes settled on me.
“Good morning.” he smiled.
"Hi, there,” I answered. “Hungry?”
“Definitely. Come back to bed, and I’ll show you.”
“Callum, not with a kid in the house and what did we agree upon?”
“Alright, mood killer.” Callum chuckled as he sat up.
He must have taken off his suit in the middle of the night because he sat in my bed, stripped down to his boxers.
He got real comfortable fast.
That’s what I was afraid of, people becoming too interested so early in the game they start to feel too comfortable and typically overstay their welcome.
“Look, we need to talk.”
“Sure, what’s up?”
“I don’t think this, whatever it is, is going to work.”
“What, why not?”
“Like I said, I have Carlie to think of.”
“I like Carlie. I’d do anything to protect her.”
“I know you would, but you hardly know her. You just met her, and I’m afraid we’ve already made the mistake of you getting to know her so early on.”
Sitting up straighter, “Lisa, I like you. I like you a lot. I know you think that I’m some well-off playboy but that was before I met you. I want to continue getting to know you. We’ve only just begun.”
“We didn’t even start. We just can’t.”
“Why not?”
“Callum, just stop.”
“Not until you tell me why.”
“Because I only went out with you again as a promise to Jamie. You were being annoyed at the both of us, and we figured the only way you’d stop if you were distracted. I’m sorry I misled you, but we’re not happening. Understand?”
“What? You’re making that up.”
“I wish I was. I think it’s time to for me to go home.”
“I’ll take you home.”
“No, you don’t have to.”
“I insist please.”
“Alright.” I agreed. I felt terrible that I was ending this the way I did but I realized that I wasn’t thinking today about what was best for Carlie and what she didn’t need in her life was some random guy entering it. She didn’t need a guy like Callum. What was he gonna do, drop his partying to play father and watch cartoons with her?
I dare him to say he would, and I’ll call bullshit. I’ll call bullshit on any guy who would agree to that so quickly. According to something like that is just something men said to get into the mother’s pants. The ride back to my house was quiet. Callum didn’t say anything or try and convince me to change my mind. I’m willing to bet he’s probably disappointed or angry but he’ll get over it quickly with the next woman.
When we arrived, he pulled up to the curb in front of my house, and I expected him to just sit there and wait for me to get out of his car before he pulled away. Instead, he shut off the engine and proceeded to walk around the vehicle to not only open my door, but he walked me up to my door, still not saying a word.
This was awkward, and I wasn’t looking forward to saying goodbye forever but before I could turn around and say “see you later” the front door opened up quickly, “Mommy your back!”
Carlie was standing in the doorway barefoot but in her pajamas, Jamie standing behind her.
“What are you still doing up?” I questioned as I stepped in the doorway.
“Sorry about that, she was too excited to sleep,” Jamie confessed.
“What are you so excited for?”
“For you guys to come home. Hi, Call-yum!”
“Hi, kiddo.”
“You gonna come inside?” she asked him.
I looked up at him, and our eyes met before he looked back down at Carlie, disappointment in his eyes.
“Sorry, I can’t believe kiddo. I’ve gotta go home now.”
“Aww, okay. You gonna come back later?”
“I don’t know…” he sighed. I had to intervene at this point.
“…he’s awfully busy. He has other people to take care of.” I answered, and he looked up right at me, his eyes pleading one last time.
“Maybe one day, okay?”
“Okay.” Carlie understood and walked over to Callum to give him a hug goodbye. “See you later.”
“See you, Carlie.” he smiled before looking at me. “I gue
ss I’ll see you too.”
There was a little sadness and a sinking feeling in my chest as I watched him descend the porch steps and down the sidewalk towards his beamer. He didn’t take one last look before he got into his car and drove away. A part of me wished he did, but at the same time, I was glad that he didn’t. Otherwise, I might have changed my mind about everything.
****
SAM
THINGS HAVE BEEN GOING GREAT at the Foundation since we’ve hired Callum. From his very first day on the job to now, he’s accomplished a lot of amazing things including helping us get a grip on the surge in notoriety, increasing cause awareness of our Arts programs, medical research, and scholarship fund and are other philanthropic pursuits. He has even generated more partnerships for is in the past few weeks than we have in the past few years.
It was such a whimsical decision choosing to contact Callum and the other social influencers, and I’m glad he was the only one who returned my call because he’s the perfect fit for our organization and I hope he’s enjoyed his stay here.
The most significant improvement he has made was freeing up a lot of my time. I’ve put all my trust in him to lead a piece of the organizations that it enabled me to have more free time to spend with my family and most of all with Jamie. My relationship with her is the most critical thing in my life, and I wanted nothing more than to continue spending time with her on an upward and forward trajectory, and with more free time, I was able to do just that.
After a fantastic night together, I couldn’t wait, and I woke up this morning anxious to propose to her, and fortunately, she said yes. So here we were, engaged and even more ready to start our life together. My brother Mark, asked me a year ago if I saw myself having children with her and at the time I didn’t see it as a possibility because everything was so new, but I can see it as a possibility now. Not anytime soon, but sometime in the near feature we could visit that conversation. I know it’s what she wanted and I wanted whatever she did. I wanted to continue making her happy.
Bzz! Bzz! My phone rang Sunday morning. It was Callum.
“Hey, was just thinking about you,” I exclaimed.
“Do I even want to know what thoughts you had about me?” he joked.
“All innocent, I assure you.” I laughed. “I was actually thinking about everything you’ve accomplished here, and because you’ve done amazing things, I’ve been able to let go of things and have more free time.”
“Thank you, I’ve really enjoyed being a part of the team and learning what the organization is all about. It’s very fulfilling, and I am glad you’ve been able to have time to relax now.”
“Yeah, it’s done wonders in my relationship with Jamie. I proposed to her this morning, and she said yes.”
“Really, mate? That’s amazing. Congrats.”
“All thanks to you.”
“Thank you, but I can’t take all of the credit. You’re the one that had the idea to seek me out. I’m really happy for you, I truly am. I hope you guys live happily ever after.”
“Speaking of happily ever after, how did your date go with Jamie’s friend Lisa the other day?”
“Not good, that’s why I was calling. It crashed and burned, and I don’t know what to do about it. You know Lisa more than I do, I don’t know how to fix things.”
“Maybe you should talk to Jamie about this since it is her friend after all and she would know better than I would how to fix things.”
“I think I need a lad’s perspective on this one.”
“Well, what happened?”
“Everything was going great. We didn’t quite make it to dinner, we were up in the room getting to know each other properly and in the middle of everything, right before…you know…I don’t know, it’s like she freaked out and once she did, she put a stop to everything. The idea of her and I included.”
“Did she ever say why?”
“She made up some excuse about her daughter not being influenced by some random man only to have them leave short term after and that she couldn’t let that happen to Carlie again. I don’t know what she’s talking about, I’m not the ditch ‘em kind. Is that what the kid’s father did? Just leave them high and dry?”
“I think so, I’m not sure of the entire story.”
“What a wanker. Surely she can see that I’m not even like him, we’re two different people.”
“I don’t think she sees a difference. Losses as great as that prevent a person’s ability to rationalize between different things. Looks like she’s mistrusting of all men now and she probably doesn’t want someone to enter her life, have an impact on her daughter only to have them leave again.” I explained.
“She can’t put me in the same category as the wanker when we just started things. Why can’t she realize that she’s had nothing but an amazing time with me?”
“Well, she must have really cared about you to freak out so much and early on in the evening.”
“What do I do then?” he asked.
“Have you told her how you felt?” I wondered.
“Yes, I have. She must know.”
“Have you really told her how you felt? Did you try and make her understand?”
“I’m sure I could have done more, I don’t know honestly.”
“I can tell you this, something similar happened to Jamie and I a year ago. She fell for me first, and I was at a stage in my life where as much as I thought she was a wonderful person, I just didn’t want to bring someone into my life.”
“So what happened? How did it go from nothing to being engaged?”
“She never stopped letting me hear the end of it, and when she finally accepted things, she made me see that when she was gone. She was really gone. She didn’t even want to be friends.”
“Ah, well that’s not the same. She doesn’t want her daughter getting attached to me, so she doesn’t want to be friends at all.”
“Then the only choices you have are to really fight for her or give her the space she needs,” I suggested.
“I’m not one to give up, but I’m not sure if pushing the situation is wise.”
“Only you know the best mate, but I don’t see anything amazing happening no matter what you choose. It’s going to be a tough situation to deal with either way.”
“Thanks, mate. I better get going. I’ve got some work to do, and I really need to think about what my next steps are.”
Chapter Twelve
CALLUM
IT TOOK ME TWO WEEKS TO MAKE THE DECISION to push the issue with Lisa and another two weeks for me to summon up the courage to do something about it. I was dead set on giving up on the whole thing and accepting the fact that she didn’t want me in her life at all and never would. What could I do when someone is adamant about not being in their life, hope that she changes her mind? That’s foolish. There was a slim chance she would, and I’d rather not wait forever hoping she would. I’d be sitting there waiting forever for something that wouldn’t come.
That’s when I decided to take matters into my own hands. I wanted to make a grand gesture but I wasn’t prince charming, plus she would laugh at me if I showed up in a suit of armor riding a white horse. In the end, I came up with the idea to just do something simple and be so persistent she couldn’t say no.
I waited until Friday evening to take no for an answer. I waited a week so that I could be a little bit methodical about it instead of just showing up willy-nilly without a plan and fail. It was nearly 9:00 pm when I finally showed up to Lisa’s house.
Shutting off the engine, it was so quiet outside. I couldn’t even hear the crickets chirping over the sound of my own nervous breathing. I glanced toward the passenger seat at the bouquet of lilies and a stuffed teddy bear. Would it be enough and did they convey my seriousness? Sam said that simple gestures may not work and sometimes the best thing was to open up and say what I wanted. Again, to take no for an answer.
Picking up the bouquet and bear, I strolled up to her front door which onl
y made my nervousness and anxiety increase.
I pressed the doorbell slowly, the chiming echoed throughout the house. I waited patiently on the doorstep and eventually heard the click of heels hitting a wooden floor.
“…I don’t care if it’s on, it’s late, and you still haven’t taken your bath.” the front door opened with gusto to Lisa in a minor tiff with someone, presumably her daughter Carlie. It took a while before she realized she had answered her front door before looking in my direction. “Callum, what are you doing here?”
“I came to see you.”
“I thought we agreed that we weren’t going to kid ourselves.” she reminded me yet again.
“I never agreed to that. You’re the only one who wanted to give up.”
“I didn’t give up, I made the best decision that I could have for my daughter, so you’re just wasting your time.”
“I don’t think so. I’m not leaving here until you give me a shot. A real honest shot.”
“Who’s at the door? Call-yum!” Carlie shouted as she squeezed through the doorway.
“Hey, Kiddo!”
“You’re back!” she ran and wrapped her arms around my legs. “Is that bear for me?”
“Yes it is, do you like him?”
“Yes!” she hugged it tightly.
“Carlie, what do we say to people who do nice things for us?”
“Thank you, Call-yum. You gonna watch cartoons with me? I gotta take a bath first.”
I eyed Lisa hoping she’d give me an indication as to what she was going to allow to happen.
“Fine, then he’s gotta go home. Now, go take your bath!”
“I’m going! I’ll be right back Call-yum!” Carlie squealed with glee and ran back inside.
“Wanna come in?” she asked.
Twelve Nights (Serendipity Book 3) Page 7
