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“Someone like you?” I whispered, but in the darkness, it might as well have been a shout. It felt like the words had echoed from each of the walls.
She tilted her head back to look at me. “No, someone who deserves you.”
Moving onto my side so our faces were level, I looked her in the eyes, capturing her gaze with mine. “It is me who doesn’t deserve you.” I wanted to kiss her at that moment, claim her as my own, but I hadn’t wanted to scare her.
I wanted to taste those lips and feel her reaction to mine, as there had been moments I felt a shift between Alina and me when I caught her watching me or in a passing touch. I wondered if she knew how those stolen glances and touches set my brain, body, and soul on fire. I wondered if she felt it too, but we were both too scared to acknowledge it.
Until now. “I’ve never met anyone like you before. You’re beautiful, Alina.”
She sighed. “Callum, will you kiss me?”
* * *
That first kiss changed everything. She’d finally let me in, and without realizing it at the time, I would ultimately end up betraying her.
The protest of the jammed printer brought me back from my daydream. Dad refused to replace it, so every time a print job of more than two pages was needed, the fucking thing jammed and ate half the page.
I was finished with Alina’s quote. It was typed and folded carefully in Simone’s outbox to post on her next mail run.
I accepted I didn’t have the balls to face Alina until I could figure out how to undo the damage I’d caused her. The best thing I could do for her was to stay away.
* * *
Simone hunted me down later, the envelope I’d addressed to Alina in her hand.
“What’s this, Cal?” She waved the envelope at me as if she’d never seen one before now. “Since when do we post quotes?”
“Since now.” Focusing back on trying to get the inventory to print, I did my best to ignore her.
“So, it has nothing to do with who the quote is for?”
My best at ignoring her wasn’t good enough. Simone could be unmerciful, but she was also fiercely loyal. She fit in at the store because she was a bulldog when it came to the overdue accounts and didn’t take shit from anyone, including me.
“If it were any of your business, Si, then yes, it has to do with Alina and the fact that she’s still pissed off with me.”
“Well, princess, you’re going to have to suck it up ’cause you can’t go on avoiding her forever.” Simone leaned over me, scowling at me as she hit a few keys on the keyboard, bringing the printer to life. “Besides, who else will you get to do the work at her place?”
She had a point. I had come into partnership at the store because of my carpentry skills as well. It had been the perfect fit for Dad and me, and it opened up the store to a whole other level of service. We could supply the timber and also craft with it.
“She’ll come around.” Simone grabbed my face, squishing my cheeks. “Look at this face. Who could stay angry at this face?”
“Piss off.” My words came out muffled, with my lips still squeezed together in a pout. Swatting her hand away received a laugh from her. “I think she’s beyond reproach. She made her mind up about me years ago when I hurt her. I don’t think there is any coming back from that.”
Simone shrugged off my concern. “Guess you’ll just have to work for her forgiveness. Don’t lose hope.” Pulling the inventory pages from the printer, she handed them to me. “Cal, just give it some time.”
If ten years hadn’t been enough, I had no idea how much more I was supposed to indulge her with. The time we had between us was limited.
If she accepted the quote, she would be forced to see me, so the time I had was already in short supply and less than I needed to work out how I’d get her to forgive me.
ChapterNine
Alina
As soon as I saw the neat handwriting on the envelope, I knew who’d sent it. I sat in my car at the bottom of the driveway, turning the envelope over in my hand. There was no other mail. I was too far from the town to receive junk mail, so the only mail that arrived was bills or bad news, in my experience.
Carefully, I peeled back the sealed flap of the envelope. My heart was beating wildly in my chest while a sickening feeling swelled in my stomach at the reminder of the last time I’d received mail.
The will and her letter.
