“I read it six times.”
“Okay, so let’s talk about organizing time each week for you to video call Til.”
“I don’t want to video call my daughter! I need to see her. Please come home.”
“Are you moving out?”
“Of course not.”
“Then you’ll need to work out times with the lawyer—”
“And then what? I see my little girl every second weekend or on some bullshit video call? And when do I get to seeyou? When canwetalk?”
“Never.”
“Erin… I…”
I said nothing, filling in the silence by watching Matilda poke the fairy crystals and tumble and roll in the dew, her woolly jacket glistening from sprigs of wet grass.
“I’m so, so sorry,” Jeremy said. “I didn’t… I didn’t realize how far apart we truly were. I’ve been a zombie. I threw myself into work and slept at the office because I couldn’t bear walking through the door knowing you and Til weren’t here. You two are my whole world. Please, Erin. I’ll do anything.”
“Talk to my lawyer about all the things you’ll do.”
I hung up.
My phone instantly blew up with another call from Jeremy.
I rejected it.
And the next one, too.
My head swiveled to admire the grand old house. In the distance, I could just make out Callan, his shoulder casually leaning against the towering cream column, his gaze on the sky. I tilted my head. The sight of him high on the hill was familiar, but…
That wasn’t the Callan I remembered. When had he transformed into this…man?
When I’d first impressed him with my cartwheels at eleven, he’d been a chubby-faced boy with burnt copper hair and fair skin bursting with freckles. Then, he was the easygoing teenager trying to coax a laugh out of his moody older brother or mediating another fight between Mim and Bronte. His face changed after the accident. It had changed even more in the years since—the clawing, purple scars and even his burnt copper hair had faded with age, but his brow sat heavier, and his cheeks hollowed to a boxy jaw.
The changes weren’t just physical. Something had shifted inside him, too. His walk. His voice. He used to drop his chin to hide his face from people passing by, but he didn’t do that anymore. His passion for running the farm had brought out a whole new side of him.
How had I missed the man he’d become?
As if hearing my thoughts on the wind, Callan’s head turned. Could he see me all the way down here? I raised my palm. When he waved back, my heart thumped faster in my chest, but I didn’t know why.
My phone buzzed.
Jeremy
I’m sorry if I hurt you. Knowing how much you’ve been through, I should have been patient. I made a terrible mistake.
I love the life we have together. I love you. I promise I can be the man you need if you give me another chance.
Numb to Jeremy’s empty promises, I switched off my phone.
My gaze drifted back to the homestead. Callan was gone. No, he wascloser. He walked with confident strides down the hill, always so at ease on the land, and when our eyes met, he smiled.
“Cal!” Matilda cried, racing to him, her new gumboots squelching through the wet grass. “We catching fairies!”
Callan scooped her up in his arms. “Not hollering like that, you won’t.” He tossed her in the air, and toddler giggles bubbled over the valley. “You’ve got to be quiet to catch fairies.”
