6. Chapter 6 - Callum
What had I done? Somehow, I’d convinced the hot mead maker to pretend to be my boyfriend for a month.
Now, here I was, trying to focus on my next article, when in reality all I could think about was how I had to pick Paxton up in less than an hour and bring him to meet my family.
Besides, how was I going to explain to my mom who he was?
I gave up on work and rummaged through my clothes to find something that felt appropriate to wear on this “date,” and as I was searching, someone knocked at my bedroom door.
“Callum? Honey, are you in there?” Mom’s voice called.
“Come on in.”
Mom opened the door slowly and stuck her head in. “You doing okay in here?”
I gave her a warm smile. “I’m great.”
She stepped into the room and perched herself on the edge of my bed. “Charlie says he told you about Jacob.”
I hummed and nodded.
“I’m sorry, honey. I didn’t know until Angie said she was bringing a plus-one.”
With a soft sigh, I waved away her apology. “It’s fine, Mom. I’m over it. Long time ago.” I saw my opening and took it. “Actually… I’ve been seeing someone.”
Her eyes lit up. “You have? You should have brought him. Tell me everything.”
“He’s from around here, actually.”
She frowned, brow furrowing. “He is? That’s a strange coincidence.”
I understood her confusion. I lived on the opposite coast and I’d never had an affinity for long-distance relationships. It probably seemed out of character for me. “His name is Paxton. He owns the meadery on the edge of town. Out by the fruit farm and the honey farm.”
She didn’t seem convinced. “You’re dating him? For how long?”
I really should’ve thought the backstory through better before lying to my mom. “Um… it’s kind of new. We met a while ago, and we’ve kept in touch since, and we just recently decided to start dating.” It was as close to the truth as I could manage.
Mom didn’t seem convinced. She nodded slowly and patted her hands on the bed. “Okay, then. I hope he’s coming to some of our events.”
I glanced at the time on my phone. “Actually, he’s coming tonight. I’m going to be late picking him up if I don’t get changed and get out of here. I’ll meet you at the restaurant, okay?”
Mom stood and nodded again, pulling me into a tight hug. “I’m glad you’re here. I hate that you live so far away.”
“I know, Mom.” I hugged her back before releasing her.
“Okay,” she said, eyes shining. “Get dressed and go pick up that boyfriend of yours. I can hardly wait to meet him properly.”
Ten minutes later, I was in the rental car and headed toward Paxton’s place.
He lived in a little house on the same property as Celestial Cask, not far from the main building.
When I pulled in and parked, I sat in the car for a moment before getting out.
As I shut the car door behind me, I smoothed my polo shirt out, suddenly anxious about my appearance.
By the time I’d made it up the stairs, Paxton was stepping out onto his small front porch. He was wearing a button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up and jeans and my stomach did a somersault, my mouth going dry.
“Hey.” His gaze raked over my body and heat flooded me. “Ready when you are.”
I nodded and cleared my throat to collect myself. “Right. Yeah. Let’s get going.”
In the car, we were silent for a bit, until I turned onto the highway. It was a little too quiet, and I reached for the dial to turn the radio on. Paxton reached out at the same time and our fingers brushed, sending an electric current zinging through me.
I pulled back quickly. “Sorry.” I chanced a quick glance at him and his cheeks were tinged with pink.
“It’s fine,” he murmured. “You go. Driver picks the music, right?”
“Sure.” I quickly found a station playing light jazz and turned the volume down low enough to be able to talk over it, but not so low that we couldn’t hear it at all. I glanced in Paxton’s direction. “You ready for this?”
“To meet your parents? Hell yeah. Parents love me. I’m charming.” He gave me a grin and winked.
My chest warmed and I cleared my throat, a little flustered. “My parents will love you. They’re easy to please. But…”
He raised his eyebrows. “Is this the part where you warn me your dad has a shotgun collection and will threaten my life if I hurt you or something?”
I barked a laugh. “No, definitely not. I just… Jacob, the ex I was telling you about, is absolutely going to be there tonight.”
Paxton nodded once. “Not a problem.”
I shrugged, suddenly uncertain. “We really don’t have to do this if you don’t want to. I can take you home. Or hell, we can skip it altogether and go do something else. I’ll tell everyone I was sick or something.”
He chuckled and shook his head. “No chance.”
“No?”
“I want to meet this guy. This charming, beautiful, rich guy who you thought you were going to marry. What happened?”
My stomach soured. I didn’t want to get into the details, not really, but to be fair to Paxton, he probably deserved to know.
“He’s a narcissist. Once I realized that, it was all downhill.
I tried to fix it. I really did. But eventually, for my own sanity and safety, I had to walk away.
I didn’t—” A lump formed in my throat and I swallowed.
“I didn’t tell anyone this at the time, but I found out he was cheating on me, too. That was the last straw.”
“Did he ever…” Paxton let the question hang in the air.
“Hurt me physically? No, definitely not. But he was manipulative and mean and controlling. He was just terrible to me, especially behind closed doors. I don’t know why it took me so long to leave.”
He nodded slowly. “Can I ask a question?”
“Anything.”
“How did you find out he was cheating? Did you walk in on him or something?”
“No, nothing like that. I went out of town and while I was gone, I checked our bank statements. I was checking to see if I’d been double charged at a cafe I’d visited that morning.
And when I checked, I saw a really incriminating line item.
It was from a fancy restaurant, the one he took me to whenever he wanted to apologize or make himself look better.
And the total was definitely more than a one-person meal.
” I paused for a moment, gathering the courage to keep going.
“I know that alone doesn’t sound incriminating, but…
I started to get nervous. I checked our video doorbell alert and sure enough, he had brought someone home with him that night.
They were practically dry humping on the front steps while he tried to unlock the door.
” I let out a long, slow breath. It was as if a weight had been lifted from my shoulders.
“Jesus.”
“Yeah.” We were both quiet for a few moments after that. “I’ve never told anyone all of that before. My family still asks what happened sometimes, and I just tell them we grew apart. I hate lying to them, but I’m still so…” My throat tightened and I couldn’t continue.
He reached over and squeezed my hand, the one resting on the gear shifter. My body warmed where he touched me, and I forced myself to stay calm. “I’m glad you told me,” he murmured. “Thank you for trusting me with that.”
I let out a shaky breath and pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant. “Well, here we are.”
Paxton grinned and squeezed my hand again. “Let’s get this show on the road.”
We got out of the car and I tugged at the hem of my polo again, nerves on edge.
Paxton came around to the driver’s side of the car and put his hands on my shoulders. “Hey, it’s going to be great.”
“What if—”
He shook his head. “Don’t what-if yourself. It’s going to be great,” he repeated. “This isn’t my first encounter with a difficult ex. I’ve had a couple of them myself.”
Thinking about Paxton having terrible exes made my chest ache in a way I didn’t quite understand.
He brushed my shoulders and squeezed them gently. “Let’s do this… boyfriend.”
I nodded once, the word making my heart flutter. “Let’s do it.”