AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Leah sighed. “I need a shower.” She left Juniper and Mikayla gazing at the painting. Standing under the stream of hot water, Leah refused to let the tears go. They were there. Clogging up her throat and stinging her eyes. But this was not the time for tears. This was the time for action. She washed her hair, soaped her body. When she stepped out of the shower and into her bedroom, she felt a clear resolve. She was getting out of here. She dried and dressed quickly and with her hair still wet, grabbed a suitcase from her wardrobe and started packing.
“What are you doing?” Mikayla’s question had an edge of panic in it.
“Packing.”
“Where are you going?”
“To my parents.”
“You don’t want to stop and think for a minute? Talk it through?”
“No.”
“Please, honey. Tell us what happened.” Juniper entreated, her voice soft. Careful.
“I need to get out of here.” Leah took a deep, shuddering breath. Then another. “I’m sorry.” She glanced at her friends, then quickly away. They were standing in her bedroom doorway, their eyes filled with kind concern. If she started talking, she’d stay. And staying meant seeing Callum. And she just couldn’t do that. Her overriding instinct was to flee. So she was fleeing. With her suitcase packed, she hunted high and low for her phone charger, finally finding it under the couch. Juniper and Mikayla watched on wordlessly. She turned to them when she was ready to go.
“Will you let us know when you get to Melbourne?” Juniper wrapped her in a tight embrace. Leah nodded, her throat too tight for speech
“I’ll punch my brother when I see him.”
A hug for Mikayla and Leah was out the door. She dragged her suitcase outside just as the sound of a truck rolled down the track. She hurried to the car, throwing her suitcase in the trunk, slamming it shut as Callum pulled up.
Leah barely glanced at him.
“Leah.”
“I have nothing to say to you.”
“Sweetheart —”
“Don’t call me that.” She reached for the car door handle.
Callum, just behind her, wrapped his fingers around her wrist. “Leah, please. I love you.”
She felt her heart tear at his words. Not now. He couldn’t possibly be doing this to hernow. Not when she so desperately needed to run. Not when she couldn’t possibly believe him. “Let me go,” she said in a low voice, her back to him. “I need you to let me go.” She felt the burn of tears when he dropped her wrist. Letting her go. Without looking at him, she got in the car, turned the ignition, slammed the door shut and pressed her foot on the accelerator. She drove up the track and turned left, her eyes blurry. She wept all the way to Melbourne.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Callum watched Leah’s car moving slowly down the track, his heart stilling in his chest when the brake lights came on. She was stopping. She was coming back. But the indicator flicked on and she eased out onto the road. And was gone. He stood there for what felt like an eternity, until Mikayla came out. She stood next to him, slipping her hand in his. He flicked her a glance. Her eyes were shining with tears. He couldn’t do it. He pulled away, walked to his truck on stiff legs, and drove back to his parents.
Bluebell whined when he walked in the door of the unit, scooching up to him when he flopped down on the couch. Scrubbing a hand over his face, he wondered how he’d fucked it up so badly. He was supposed to be telling her how much he loved her. He was meant to be making her promises that he wanted to keep for the rest of his life. But instead…The things he’d said to her. The look on her face. He rubbed his hand against his chest. Jesus, his heart hurt.
He pulled his phone from his pocket, found the video, pressed play. Watched it all the way through. Then watched it again. And again. Christ, she was absolutely lovely. Even back then. He could see the shyness in the way she covered her face. But then, the way she smiled at him when he kissed her cheek. He tortured himself some more by replaying what had happened out the front of the pub after the gig. He had no idea why she’d told him her name was Annie. He’d remembered Annie, somewhere in the furthest recesses of his mind. He’d remembered her as the one that got away. But he’d never made the connection between that version of Leah and the one he’d met again years later, after life had dealt her some pretty harsh blows.
Maybe he’d just dealt her the harshest one of all. Callum swallowed around the lump in his throat. She hadn’t deserved the things he’d said to her. He’d just been so shocked when he saw the video and so angry that she hadn’t told him. If she’d walked in just a minute later, he might have had time to get his thoughts together. But she hadn’t. So he’d given her all the raw emotion he’d felt. The rage. The betrayal. The hurt. She’d lied to him. For months. That was all he’d been able to think about. He hadn’t given either of them enough time to ask or explain why she’d done that.
He watched the video through once more, then reached for a pen and paper and his guitar. Bluebell sighed as he strummed the first notes, resting her head on her paws and watching him.
???
Leah pulled up in her parent’s driveway, utterly, mind numbingly exhausted. Her father came out and retrieved her suitcase from the trunk without a word to her. He was a short, stocky man with a bald patch on his head and a permanent scowl on his face. Her mother greeted her at the door. “Hello, darling. You made good time.” Lynne Kaplan was an older, paler, more diminished version of her daughter.
“Hi, Mum.” Leah kissed her mother perfunctorily before moving inside. She looked around, not really sure what to do. She’d never lived in this house. It wasn’t her home. Scott had secured it for her parents as part of a development deal that he’d been part of. Leah remembered thinking that it didn’t seem that great a deal, compared to other houses in new developments in the area. But as Scott had said at the time, what would she know? Her parents bragged about it at church. Their oh so clever son-in-law. Looking after them. Leah sighed.
“Can I get you a cup of tea?”
Leah nodded. She desperately needed to lie down, but that would be rude. So she followed her mother into the bright, modern kitchen, watching as she set about making tea. Her dark brown hair had more grays than Leah remembered. And maybe she was looking a little frail. She was only in her early fifties but she looked a lot older. “Are you okay, Mum?”
