The Calum (14 page)

Jo moved between them
again. “It’s a yes or no question, Duff.”

“
Yes.” He met Jo’s eyes,
his own eyes clearing. “Sorry, Joana. Yes, I’m...I’m so sorry,
I...” He looked up at her.

There was a mixture of
fear and anger in his face. Lovie could give two shits about his
fear or his anger. Or the purple bruises forming on his eye and
cheek.

“
He’s engaged, and you
said nothing, to me or to my best friend.” Her voice sounded
foreign to her ears.

“
Yes.”

Lovie closed her eyes and
took a shuddering breath. When she opened them, both Duff and Jo
were staring at her. “Thank you for the truth.”

Lovie turned on her heel
and walked briskly toward the hotel.

Dodging an irate Jo, Duff
ran to catch her. He grabbed her arm and jumped in front of
her.

She turned to
stone.

“
You really don’t want to
be touching me right now.” She couldn’t even look at him.
The hand
on her
arm made her stomach roil.

Duff let her go as if he’d
been burned. “Lovie. Jes...let me explain.”

“
Please move.” Her body
shook with fury. Her mind was boiling in it. It gnawed on her gut
and threatened to explode from her kneecaps in the general vicinity
of his groin if he didn’t move.
Right the
fuck now
.

“
You won’t even hear what
I have to say?” Lovie turned to him. Duff’s face went blank, his
eyes stony. “O’course not. Why would you?”

He took a deep breath and
moved aside.

She walked away. Didn’t
bother looking back.

Jo caught up to her a few
minutes later. She’d heard their voices fading into the distance.
Jo had given it to him good.

She’d never been
prouder.

When they reached the
hotel, she walked past Jo and into their room. The door closed, and
it took everything she had not to start screaming and breaking
furniture.

“
Are you okay?”

Lovie looked back at Jo,
incredulous. “Am
I
okay? Me? I’m pissed as hell. Are you okay? How
dare he string you along like this? Who does he think he
is?”

“
Lovie-“

“
Assholes, both of them!
We need to leave here. Right now.”

“
Lovie!” She stopped
mid-tirade. “What happened with Duff?”

“
Why are you asking me
about Duff? Hamish is the one whose eyes you should want to claw
out. And why aren’t you more upset about this?”

“
Because I kinda already
knew.”

It was then that Lovie
noticed Jo’s red-rimmed eyes. She’d been crying.

“
I’m going to kill him.”
Lovie started for the door.

“
No!” Jo jumped after her.
“It’s not worth it. I’m okay. Really, I am.”

“
Then why are you
crying?”

Jo sagged onto the bed.
“Because I’m a fucking idiot. Who does this stuff but me? Flying to
Scotland to find a book boyfriend. What’s wrong with me,
Lovie?”

Jo dissolved into
tears.

Lovie scooted next to her
and pulled her into her arms.

“
There’s nothing wrong
with you, babe. You’re just a hopeless romantic.”

“
I’m pathetic.” She
sniffled.

“
Well...yeah, but you have
a big heart and a lot of love to give.” Lovie handed Jo the tissues
from the nightstand. “What I don’t understand is why you’re not
angry with Hamish. I’m mad as hell.”

“
About Hamish? Or about
Duff?” Jo blew her nose. “I’m assuming he didn’t tell
you.”

“
No. He didn’t.” The tears
that Lovie had been fighting threatened to spill.

“
Lovie...did you and he, I
mean...”

Yeah. They had, but she
couldn’t even think about it. He’d been lying to her. A lie of
omission was still a lie. Maybe he hadn’t been so wrong about
himself after all.

Even thinking that
sickened her, but she was so angry. She couldn’t stay near him
another minute. “I know we’re supposed to stay another day, but I
need to leave this place. Like, now.”

“
Tonight? On Christmas
Eve-eve?”

“
Yes, if we can. Or
tomorrow morning?”

Jo took one look at her
and nodded. “Okay, chica. Whatever you want. I’ll get on the
phone.”

Lovie needed distance.
Home wasn’t a possibility for another week, unless she wanted to
pay through the nose. Duff had already cost her too
much.

Glasgow would have to
do.

Arrivals

Lovie welcomed the
anonymity of a big city. Glasgow had been a welcome retreat from
everything that happened in Inverness. Jo moved their reservation
so that they didn’t have to spend one more night in Duffville than
necessary.

On Christmas Eve, they sat
in George Square listening to a children’s choir and stuffing
themselves with cream cakes. Christmas day they exchanged gifts and
watched Netflix in their hotel room. It was nice. They’d spent the
week since taking in the sights, though Lovie had floated through
them in a daze.

Jo had secured an
invitation to a New Year’s Eve party, but Lovie wasn’t in the mood.
The truth was that she felt like she’d left a part of herself
behind. The question was, would she ever get it back?

“
You okay?” Jo curled her
eyelashes in the mirror.

“
Yeah. I’m
fine.”

Ever since Inverness,
their roles had been reversed. Jo had taken up the mantle of the
mother hen, making sure she ate and slept and showered. Lovie
didn’t know what was wrong with her. She felt like she’d been
turned inside out.

Maybe it was the
flu.

Jo sat on the bed. Her
sparkly, silver dress riding up on her thighs. Lovie wondered where
the rest of it was.

“
Look, my mom always says
run as fast you can toward your dreams. And if a guy can catch up
to you, marry him.” She stepped into a pair of impossibly high
heels. “No one’s caught me yet, but I’m still running.” One corner
of her mouth lifted as she squeezed Lovie’s hand.

“
In those heels?” They
shared a smile. “I’m sorry about the trip.”

“
I’m not!” Jo exclaimed.
“As for Hamish-” She shrugged. “Sure, he looked like The Calum, but
he was a total douchebag. I knew that even before...you know. And
he sucked in the sack, so good luck to whats-her-name.” She grinned
and then turned serious. “Honestly, I’ve had a great time, all
things considered. For one, I’ve never seen you lose control. It
was worth it for that alone.”

“
Whatevs.” Lovie grinned,
shaking her head. “Thanks for...I dunno. For being you.” Lovie
squeezed her hands, grateful.

“
You wouldn’t want me any
other way.” Jo gave her a nudge. “So...nothing else from
Duff?”

He’d sent her a text on
Christmas. No more apologies, just ‘I hope it’s merry.’

“
No.” Lovie released Jo’s
hands and stood. “And I don’t expect to hear from him anymore. I
think I’ve made it pretty clear that I want nothing to do with
him.”

“
Are you sure that’s what
you want?”

Lovie’s mouth dropped
open. “After everything, you can still ask me that?”

“
Of course! He made you
happy.” Jo seemed completely unaffected by his betrayal. “Sure, he
fucked up, but he wants to make amends. That makes him a good guy
in my book. And you know how I am about my books.”

Lovie wrapped her arms
around herself, forcing away the memory of his. “He’s the worst
kind of guy. He pretends to be one thing but, really, he’s
another.”

“
It wasn’t Duff’s idea for
Hamish to lie to me about Sofia. He lied to Duff too.”

“
Sofia? So, that’s her
name. Anyway, whether it was his idea or not, he didn’t tell me. Or
you.”

“
He did, though. Plus, I
think he broke Big Red’s nose on my behalf.”

“
Only because he got
caught out!” This conversation was damaging Lovie’s calm. All week
she’d tried to push Duff out of her thoughts.

It had been easier during
the days. Unlike Inverness, Jo had never left her side. Not even
when she met a bona fide Gideon in the VIP room at
SugarCube.

Jo dragged her to museums,
shops, and restaurants, never letting her stop long enough to
brood. They’d ridden the hop-on-hop-off tour bus, taking in every
sight on the route.

The days were cake, but
the nights…the nights had been
friggin'
awful.

Duff invaded her dreams,
whispering words of desire in her ear until she woke up feverish
and aching for his touch. Or crying, hating him.

“
Look, I don’t want to
talk about Duff, it just pisses me off more.”

“
Because he matters to
you.”

“
I only spent a few days
with
the guy,
it’s not like we...like we were...”

“
Falling in
love?”

Lovie let out a bark of
laughter.

Love?

Seriously?

The guy was a mess. And
the
son
of a
mess. Feeding her some sob story about his family, probably just to
get into her pants. And she didn’t even know his full name! Or
where he lived, for that matter.

He was probably lying
about being a photographer. Except that she had seen his work, and
it was incredible.

But so what?

Stupid jerk. With his
opalescent eyes and cupid’s bow mouth. And that body.

Okay, sure. He fucked like
a god, and could be so unbelievably sweet, but he was also a lying
liar who lied.

Love.

Hmmph.

“
You need to step away
from your Kindle, Jo.”

“
I understand why you’re
upset, believe me I do, but you’re wrong, Lovie.” The humor wicked
away from Jo’s voice so quickly that Lovie’s head snapped up. “I
talked to him.”

“
You what?
When?”

“
He came by the hotel the
morning that we left Inverness. Not to see you, but to see
me.”

“
What for?”

“
To apologize. The way he
talks about you...” Jo had that dreamy look in her eye. She was
such a hopeless romantic, even after Hamish. “All I’ve ever wanted
was someone to talk about me that way.”

Lovie shrugged. “Talk is
cheap.”

Jo studied her for a
moment. “What would it take?’”

“
For what?”

“
For you to let him back
in.” She offered a sad smile and pulled on one of Lovie’s curly
locks. “I’ve never seen it before, you letting someone in. Other
than me, of course.”

“
It doesn’t matter. I
didn’t matter enough for him to tell us the truth.” Lovie closed
her eyes against the onslaught of emotions. “There’s no coming back
from that.”

****

He must be crazy - stark
raving mad - to think it would make a difference, but he was all
out of options.

Joana knew Lovie better
than anyone. If she thought he still had a chance, he had to take
it. He’d been shocked as hell to get her call and broke land speed
records to get there in time.
Be honest
with her.
She’d said.
She needs to know that she matters to you. It’s
simple.

Simple.

Nothing about this was
simple, but Duff cracked his neck, walked up to the door and
knocked. A shadow passed in front of the light the other side. The
figure moved toward the peephole, and then there was a
gasp.

“
Lovie?” He took a step
forward, catching her unmistakable ‘stay the hell away from me’
vibe through the door. “I know you’re there, love.”
Silence.

He double-checked the text
that Joana had sent to his phone after she left. It was the right
hotel. Right floor. Right room.

Hopefully, it was the
right thing to do.

Duff placed his ear
against the door. He could hear her breathing. “Won’t you let me in
so we can talk? Please?” He ran his fingertips down the surface,
tracing the lines in the grain of the wood, wishing it were her
skin. “I’ve come all this way.”

The bell from the lift
sounded. Two girls
emerged,
each dressed to the nines and carrying bottles of
champagne. They flashed bright smiles, and he nodded. One of them
winked as they passed him. “Happy New Year.”

He nodded.

Behind the door, there was
silence. Time for plan B.

“
Awright. Jus’...I’ll
leave this for you. Okay?”

Duff unzipped his jacket,
his fingers shaking, and pulled out a large envelope. After kissing
it for luck, he slid it under the door, held his breath and
listened for any movement. Watched for any change in the
light.