Page 99 of Keepsakes and Kismet

“Anyway, Doug said he’s gonna be late today, so I have to work the front desk. Good seeing you as always, Peyton. Come back anytime.” Carter hurries out of the room with no goodbye to his brother.

“So,” Callum says. “Should we feed your money tree after this?”

“Do you think the local well has enough water?” I ask.

A genuine smile spreads across his face, giving me a bit of relief.

I grab his hand, intertwining his fingers with mine. “Hey, Callum. Is everything okay? When I came back from the drinking fountain, you and Carter were…” I trail off, not wanting to give too much away. “The tension seemed high.”

“Oh. We’re good. Just a disagreement about something, but I’ve got it handled.”

I squeeze his hand. “Do you want to talk about it? You know you can tell me anything, no judgment.”

“Nah, not even worth our time right now,” he says, leaning down to kiss me on my head.

“If you’re sure. I want you to know that I’m here for you.”

Callum hums and gives me a kiss on my cheek.

Pushing him away, I whine, “Gross, I’m sweaty.”

He squints. “From what, honey? Watching me work out?”

“Hey, that’s rude,” I complain, giving him a shove. “I took a walk to the drinking fountain, too. And it was a fast walk.”

“Oh, I didn’t factor in the mileage from here to the drinking fountain. My mistake.”

I pick up his hand again. “I’m doing a day trip to Cleveland today for a hypnosis show—audience insider—but do you want to come over to my place later and spend the night?”

Callum stills. Shifts his weight to one side. Looks at his shoes. “Uh, I don’t think I can. Sorry, Pey.”

My heart sinks. How else can I get him to open up? The thought of our ongoing bit lifts my spirits a little, and I give him a grin. “Tomorrow, then?”

He scratches the back of his neck. “Oh, um. Tomorrow actually isn’t good for me, either. Busy with work and stuff.”

“Oh.”

The sharp departure from our usual schedule, along with the fact that he still doesn’t want to share more of himself, makes my skin itch.

He winks. “But maybe you can hypnotize me next weekend.”

I laugh, but it comes out guarded. “Listen. It’s hard to pretend to be hypnotized. Scratching your head while clucking like a chicken isn’t for the faint of heart.”

He pulls me in for a kiss, but my whole heart isn’t in it. Nevertheless, the spiral into overthinking can wait until I get home.

Chapter 21

Peyton

Imanaged to keep myself busy yesterday with posting on social media for a traveling circus in Florida and watching rom-coms. I tried not to overthink Callum’s rejection to hang out. After a few donuts and some hot chocolate, I even convinced myself not to worry… until I got his text message the next morning.

Hi, Pey. I’m going to be off-grid for a couple days, just dealing with something (not an emergency) that I’ll explain more when we talk next. I don’t want you to be caught off guard if I don’t reply right away like normal. Talk soon, hope you have a good day. Missing you already, honey.

I know it’d be worse if he disappeared for a few days without advance notice. But in this instance, the missing details only create more questions.

When I woke up this morning to zero new messages after two days of silence, I sent him a text. And after hours of sitting in my office and waiting for a reply that never came, I hit my limit and set off for his sister’s boutique.

Caitlyn’s shop is past the town square and down Main street—only a ten minute walk from Good Taste at a leisurely pace. And while I’m not frantic, I’m far from leisurely, so I make it to her door in eight minutes flat.