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“Your mum wants to know if Leah needs anything for the house, now that it’s all fixed up. Crockery and stuff.”
“She’ll have to ask her, then.”
There was a long, drawn-out silence, which Callum ignored. “Right then. I’ll get going on cabin three. Come and see me when you’ve pulled the bug out of your ass and we’ll have lunch.”
Callum took a deep breath. “Sorry, Dad.”
“All good,” John said before hefting his tool kit and heading off to cabin three.
Callum swore under his breath. He needed to get his shit together. He sat on the partially finished deck and gazed out at the ocean. It was a cool spring day, with a light breeze blowing in off the Tasman Sea. Idyllic. Hardly, Callum thought, swearing to himself again. Something had to be done. Pulling his phone from his back pocket, he hesitated, pushing his fingers roughly through his hair. Then before he could give himself time to second guess, he shot off a text.
Less than ten minutes later, Juniper came strolling down the path from the Long House, bottles of water in hand. Her curls were bright gold in the sunlight, her long blue dress fluttered in the breeze. She looked just like the angel Callum needed right at that moment.
“Thanks for coming.”
“No worries.” She handed him a bottle and sat next to him, leaning against the pole that cornered the deck. When he didn’t say anything, she said, “Glad I had the brilliant idea to put these two extra cabins in.”
“Yeah.”
“I’m thinking of naming them, rather than just numbering them. Maybe an artist from each era, or genre, if you like. So, Monet, Cezanne —"
“How’s Leah?”
Unfazed by his interruption, Juniper replied, “Quiet, but what’s new?”
“She’s not upset?”
“She doesn’t seem to be.” She waited a beat before saying, “Why would she be upset?”
Callum blew out a breath. It was a difficult conversation to have, but he’d asked her to come because he could see no other way to resolve whatever the issue was with Leah. He took a swig from the water bottle she’d given him, giving himself a moment to think about how to say what he had to say. He cleared his throat. “I don’t know very much about Leah’s marriage, but I know it was shit.”
“Right,” she said when he didn’t continue.
“Right, so of course the sex was shit too.”
“Of course.”
He stared out at the ocean for a long moment, his gut roiling when he thought about Leah and her husband. The bastard had done a real number on her, as far as Callum could see. “So, ah, we’ve been… we’ve been mucking around a bit…”
“Excellent.”
“Yeah, well, we mucked around a lot last night, after everyone had left her place. She enjoyed it, but then she got really upset and told me to go away.”
“Oh, shit.”
“Yeah, exactly.” He took another swig from the water bottle. “Will you talk to her? Make sure she’s okay?”
“I sure will.” She pushed to her feet. “Right now, in fact. Thanks for letting me know.”
“No worries.”
Juniper surprised him then by pressing a kiss on his forehead. She gave him a seraphic smile. “You’re a good man, Callum.”
“Thanks.” Callum got back to work once Juniper had gone, feeling a lot lighter after talking to her. If anyone could help Leah, it was Juniper.
???
She worked her magic pretty quickly. Not more than an hour later, just as Callum was finishing up the decking on cabin twelve and thinking of having a lunch break with John, he heard footsteps on the path.
