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“Besides breakfast, nothing. Don’t you have a tour group or something?” I question, grabbing a few pancakes off the platter and adding them to my plate. “I don’t want to keep you from anything.”
I mentally go through the list of things I want to do today.
Going out with Callen yesterday has put me behind schedule. I still have a few more places I want to see—including the ones he refused to take me to yesterday—before school starts. I also have to get my schedule and check in at the dorm. I only have a little over a week before classes start, and I want to be ready.
“I don’t really keep a schedule. Reminds me of when I was chasing the ever-elusive American dream.”
Callen grabs the plate of pancakes and piles a few on his plate before grabbing the bowl of fruit in the center of the table and offering it to me.
“What do you do for money?” I slap my hand over my mouth, and my eyes widen. “I’m so sorry!”
Callen chuckles before grabbing the syrup and pouring it all over his plate. “I used to be a stockbroker for the rich and famous, but after I sold my business and almost all of my assets when Rebecca died, I don’t have to worry about money.”
“You’re loaded.” I place my fork beside my plate, suddenly feeling sick to my stomach.
I fidget in my seat, trying to figure out something else to talk about. I’m twenty-one years old, with my whole life mapped out in front of me, and Callen is loaded. I know the amount of money he has in his bank account shouldn’t matter, but how is he ever going to understand what it’s like to work for everything you have?
“When does school start?” Callen chimes in, breaking the silence.
“Not for another week. I planned on getting to know my way around the city before checking into my dorm room.”
“Isn’t it only June?”
“Yeah. I signed up for summer classes.” I giggle, remembering having the same conversation with the girls before graduation.
Maya complained we were supposed to be having a big adventure, not saddling ourselves down with more schoolwork. I tried to explain that going to Edinburgh University was an insane plan, but that wasn’t enough for her. I had to agree to come a few weeks early and promise to see the sights just so they’d get off my back.
“When do you have fun?” Callen chuckles as he pours us both glasses of juice. “I mean, do you ever go to the cinema or dance in the rain?”
“No.” I reach for my glass of juice and take a sip. “I have too many things to do. Plans for the future. I can dance in the rain or whatever else once I reach them.”
Callen locks eyes with me over his glass of juice as he takes a sip, that hungry look in his eyes once again.
Dreams of living in this house and filling it with children pop into my mind, and I have no idea where they came from. I’ve always been so focused on becoming a museum curator and fulfilling my parents’ dream that I haven’t really thought about what would happen after that. Would I get married and have children?
No. There I go again, getting ahead of myself.
“All of that comes later. I can’t have any distractions,” I blurt out, once again speaking before I think things through. “What I mean is, I’ve been in the country for two days. I need to focus on getting set up for classes and finding my footing. I won’t have time for a relationship.”
“Why can’t you have both?” He leans back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest.
I need something to ensure that Callen knows I have other things to take care of in my life besides being around him. I refuse to let one man take control of my life.
He reaches out, placing his hand on top of mine. “Look, Ava, I care about you. More than I should, if I’m being honest with myself.”
Wait. What?
Maybe he wasn’t completely full of it and meant every word he said from the moment we met.
But I can’t let him get in the way of my plans.
“I was just like you. I was so focused on reaching some goal I set for myself, never thinking past it, that I lost sight of what was going on around me.”
“Just because you couldn’t see past your work doesn’t mean I can’t.” I pull my hand out from under his and push back from the table.
“I have no doubt you can reach every goal you’ve set for yourself, Ava. But you’re going to put yourself in an early grave.”
I cough slightly, trying to regain my composure. “Thank you for breakfast, but I need to get going.”
