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“Did you lose your mind in the last five years?” she jokes, still sounding worried.
“I think maybe, I’m just getting it back. I’m going to let you go, Callie. I want you to hug your pillow and imagine it’s me there with you, watching over you. Can you do that?”
“You mean fantasize about you?” she rumbles.
“Well, I’d rather your fantasies be more X-rated, but I’ll take what I can get.”
“God, you’re incorrigible.”
“I seem to have heard that before. Hug that pillow, and try to get some rest, okay, sweetheart?”
“I’ll try. Goodnight, Reed.”
“Night, Callie.”
I hang up reluctantly. I couldn’t say how long I laid there staring at my phone wishing like hell that I was in Callie’s bed with her. All I know is that I was still awake when the grandfather clock in the den struck two in the morning….
CHAPTER 25
Callie
“Reed, you’re sweet to think of it, and I don’t want to burst your bubble, but I don’t think we’re allowed to come up here anymore,” I speak up when it becomes clear where we’re going. He maneuvers his vehicle toward the road that leads up to the house we used to run away to when we were younger.
“Why’s that?”
“There’s rumors the mayor sold it before he left town, but I don’t think anyone truly knows—if they do, they aren’t saying one way or the other. Regardless, after he left a big gate was installed and nothing was ever done with the property.”
“It was sold,” he states matter-of-factly.
“It was? You know the new owner?” I ask, thinking that’s probably good since we’re going up the hill to the house.
“Yeah, I know him. He’s kind of an asshole.”
I blink. Well, that doesn’t sound good. It sure doesn’t sound like Reed and this guy are friends. “Then, maybe we shouldn’t be here?” I suggest.
“Too late, I already have a steak dinner planned, and we have a bottle of wine chilling with our name on it.”
“Reed…” I stop talking when we get to the top of the hill and the gate is wide open. I look over at Reed. He winks at me, and I start to feel like a fool. “You haven’t been staying in a hotel since you came back to town, have you?”
“Not exactly.”
“Why on earth did you buy a house here?”
He shrugs, and for once, it’s his turn to look uncomfortable. “It’s what I bought when I got my big check on my first chart topper. It felt right,” he explains ending in another shrug—which definitely shows he’s uneasy.
“The song you wrote about me.”
“You’ve heard it?” he asks.
“I bought the CD version, downloaded it on all the major retailers, and got the collector’s vinyl edition of the album when it came out,” I confess sheepishly.
“Wow,” he laughs. It could be a trick of the setting sun that is shining through the windows of the car, but it’s possible he’s blushing. “You must be my number one fan,” he jokes, and now it’s my turn to feel heat rising in my face.
“Something like that.”
He laughs and I shake my head. “Seriously, why did you buy a home in this town of all places?”
“The best memories in my life revolve around me and you and this place, Callie. If you’re asking for a specific reason, I guess the truth is, it was my way of keeping a connection with you while giving you space at the same time.”
My heart squeezes tight in my chest. I don’t know how to reply to that. We stare at one another as he brings the car to a stop. I find myself gazing out of the windshield of his vehicle and taking in the changes. He’s completely redone the entire place. It’s beautiful—like something you would see in one of those Better Homes and Gardens magazine displays. I’m not even sure how the town didn’t realize this much work was being done. It’s better than it was when the mayor built it new.
“Wow,” I exclaim as I take in all the changes. It’s a mansion and yet inviting rather than intimidating.
“Do you like it?” Reed asks, and I can tell it’s important to him that I do.
“What I see of it, there’s nothing to not like.”
“Wait until you see the inside,” he says with a grin.
Reed gets out, and I barely manage to get the door open before he’s there holding it for me. He takes my hand, assisting me, then closes the door. I look down at our joined hands, and the heat from his touch is so powerful that my knees go weak.
We walk along the brick paved drive, passing well-groomed and landscaped flower beds. I feel like I’m trapped in a movie. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I’m not the type of girl to be cast in a romcom, so I end up praying it’s not a horror movie.
