Chapter 28
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Five days. That’s all it had been. Five days since she’d told Callum to leave her home, five days since Jo had opened her door and somehow her heart again.
And in those five days, Amelia had learned that peace wasn’t loud.
It wasn’t grand gestures or declarations.
It was this. The sunlight spilling through the blinds while Jo hummed off-key as she leaned against the kitchen counter in one of Amelia’s shirts and nothing else.
“Are you even listening to me?” Jo frowned as she turned to Amelia.
“Not in the slightest.” Amelia crossed the kitchen with her cup of coffee in hand. “You’re very distracting.”
Jo lifted a brow as she brought a piece of toast to her lips. “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”
“It’s definitely not.” Amelia stopped in front of her, casting her gaze to where the shirt hem barely covered the top of Jo’s thighs. “Though it does make it difficult to concentrate.”
Jo grinned. “On what exactly?”
“Anything that isn’t you.”
Jo set her toast down and looped her arms around Amelia’s neck. “You do realise breakfast will go cold if you keep talking like that, don’t you?”
“I like cold. It means things can be heated up.”
Jo laughed—the kind of sound Amelia would happily live in forever—and kissed her. It was slow, indulgent…a kiss that made Amelia forget there was a world outside of this house.
Until someone knocked, and they both froze.
Jo pulled back first, her brows drawn together. “Expecting anyone?”
“No.” Amelia’s stomach lurched. It could only be one person, because only one person showed up unannounced. “It could be him. Do you want to wait here?”
Another knock. One that came louder this time.
Amelia sighed and lowered her cup to the counter. “It may be a good idea if you stay here.”
“Why?” Jo angled her head. “Don’t you want him to know about us?”
“I don’t care what he does or doesn’t know. I just don’t want him to say anything to upset you.” Amelia drew Jo in and pressed a quick kiss to her forehead. “You just enjoy your coffee. It could be anyone.”
As Amelia stepped away and crossed the kitchen, she knew it would be Callum.
She could feel his negative energy seeping through her closed front door.
When she found the courage to open it, her son stared back at her.
He looked rough. Not physically, but as though the arrogance he always carried was thinner now and worn down to something more human.
Still, the sight of him on her doorstep made her jaw clench.
“Hi, Mum.”
“Callum,” she said evenly, her fingers tightening around the edge of the door. “What do you want?”
“Just came to grab the rest of my stuff. You know, since you told me to leave.”
“I remember.” Amelia didn’t budge. “You could have arranged that through text.”
“I didn’t think you’d mind me popping by.”
“Well, I do mind.”
He let out a short laugh. “You’re still angry.”
“I’m still furious.”
“So dramatic.” Callum rolled his eyes and shoved his hands in his pockets. “I said one thing, Mum. One thing, and it wasn’t even that deep.”
Amelia wasn’t doing this. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of another conversation. So, she tipped her head towards the stairs and opened the door wider. “Get your shit, do it quickly, and get out.”
Callum brushed past her and shot up the stairs. “Won’t be long.”
“Good.”
When he was out of sight, Amelia exhaled a deep breath and pressed a hand to her forehead. She could hear him rummaging around, and then he came back downstairs with a box and a rucksack.
The sudden clang of cups in the kitchen made Amelia freeze. Callum frowned as he looked between her and the partially open kitchen door, and then he moved closer and pushed it open.
Jo turned at the sound of the creak, still holding her cup, smiling before she realised who it was. The colour drained from her face immediately. “Callum.”
His eyes darted between them. Jo in Amelia’s night shirt, Amelia frozen behind him, the remains of their breakfast scattered across the table.
“You’ve got to be joking.”
“Callum,” Amelia started, but he cut her off.
“No. No, you can’t—” He scoffed. “You’re actually doing this? I was taking the piss when I asked last week, but…you’re sleeping with her? With…that!”
With…that?
Fury rose from deep within Amelia. “Don’t you fucking dare come into my home and speak like that!” She rushed in front of him, blocking his view of Jo, and jabbed a finger against his shoulder. “I don’t know when you changed, or why, but I’m not putting up with it.”
“S-she’s my ex!”
“I’m aware.”
“And you…you’re my mother!”
“Yes, Callum,” Amelia snapped. “I’m aware of that, too.”
He stared at her like she’d grown another head, and for a brief moment, Amelia almost pitied him. Almost. But that pity evaporated when he turned on Jo again.
“How long?”
Jo swallowed. “It doesn’t matter. You and I are over.”
“Of course it matters!” he barked. “Were you fucking her when we were together?”
“No. Sadly, I wasn’t.”
“Callum, enough!” Amelia cut in. “You don’t get to come in here and interrogate her. You don’t get to demand answers about something that is none of your fucking business.”
“None of my business? You’ve lost it, Mum. You’ve absolutely—”
“Stop.” Amelia’s voice rose above his, sharp enough to silence him. “I’m not doing this with you again. You won’t use me as a scapegoat for your guilt. You lied. You cheated. You broke her heart. And now you’re angry because I’m the one helping her heal.”
“That’s not—”
“It is.” Amelia cut him off again. “You’re angry because I’m doing what you couldn’t. I’m loving her the way she always should have been loved.”
Callum’s mouth fell open. “Y-you don’t even hear how fucked up that sounds, do you?”
“Oh, I hear it just fine,” Amelia said, lifting her chin. “But I also know it’s the truth.”
Callum shook his head. “You’re unbelievable. Both of you.”
Amelia followed him into the hall, her pulse pounding through her fingertips. “Don’t come here uninvited again. I don’t want to see you.”
“Mum—”
“Don’t.” She pointed to the door. “Leave.”
For once, he didn’t argue. Instead, he turned, muttering something under his breath as he stormed out.
When Amelia turned back to the kitchen, Jo was standing there, her eyes wide, and her coffee cup trembling in her hand.
“You okay?” Jo asked as she took a deep breath.
Amelia swallowed down the ache in her throat. “I think so.”
Jo stepped closer and slipped an arm around Amelia’s waist, resting her head against her shoulder. “I’m sorry he caused a scene.”
“Don’t be. He’s the one who should apologise.” Amelia would be waiting a long time for Callum to take responsibility. “I’m not sure he knows the meaning of the word.”
“We’ve got each other. That’s what matters.”
Amelia smiled as she brushed her fingers through Jo’s hair. “I’ve got everything I need here with you.” Amelia was saddened that her son could be so cruel. Not towards her, but towards Jo. In one breath, he wanted her back…in another, he spoke to her like that.
Just like his fucking father…
Jo lifted her head and gazed back at Amelia. “You are okay, right?”
“I’m okay. I just don’t want things to be complicated. I’ve waited so long for someone like you, Jo.”
Jo turned to Amelia fully. “It’s only complicated if we let it be. You and me…this isn’t some mistake or betrayal.”
Amelia’s throat worked around a lump. “I just didn’t expect it to happen like this. That he’d find out like that. That I’d feel…” She shook her head. “So ashamed.”
Jo gently cupped her cheek. “You don’t have to feel that way with me.”
“But I do. I spent years telling myself I could never be seen like this. That the second someone really saw who I was—my past, my mistakes, my scars—they’d run a mile.
” Amelia’s voice cracked. “And now I’m here, with you, and I feel like I’m just…
waiting for it to be taken away. If anyone is capable of taking it away, it’s Callum. ”
Jo stepped closer, touching their foreheads together. “I’m not going anywhere, no matter what bullshit he throws at either of us.”
Amelia drew in a shaky breath. “You say that now.”
“I say it because it’s true.” Jo kissed Amelia gently. “I love being with you, Amelia. I love who I am when I’m with you. I’m in love with you. And as for Callum?” She shrugged. “I’m glad he knows, and I’m glad he found out the way he did.”
Amelia frowned. “You’re glad?”
“Yeah. Because now we don’t have to hide. We don’t have to sneak around or worry about who sees us. We can go out for dinner together. We can hold hands in the street. We can just…be.”
Amelia sighed softly. “Sounds wonderful.”
“It is. Or at least, it should be.” Jo rested her hand over Amelia’s heart. “You’re here. I’m here. That’s all that matters.”
Amelia nodded slowly. “Dinner sounds nice.”
“Good. Because I’m taking you out tonight. We’ll get dressed up and go somewhere posh.”
“Oh, posh, is it?” Amelia teased.
“Well, semi-posh. I still want to be able to walk in my shoes.”
Amelia watched Jo for a moment. The soft lines of her face, those heavenly blue eyes and the wisps of blonde hair falling around her face, the feel of her hand still pressed to Amelia’s heart.
And then Jo reached out and tucked a strand of hair behind Amelia’s ear. “Let’s just live, yeah?”
“Yes,” Amelia whispered. “Let’s live.”
Because the truth was, loving Jo didn’t feel like a risk anymore. No, it felt like coming home.
Amelia scanned the restaurant Jo had chosen.
It wasn’t a pretentious spot by any means, but it was cosy and intimate.
It was exactly what Amelia needed this evening.
This was the first time they’d dared to eat out together and sit side by side in public as a couple.
And though Jo hadn’t said it outright, the way her foot brushed against Amelia’s under the table, and the way she’d pulled out her chair with a smirk and called her gorgeous, made it abundantly clear what tonight was.
A date.
Amelia toyed with the stem of her wine glass, watching the golden liquid catch the light. Jo was studying the menu with a furrow in her brow, mouthing words like she didn’t want to get them wrong. She looked painfully beautiful like that. Concentrating but unapologetically herself.
It was easy with Jo. It always had been…even when it wasn’t.
Amelia’s heart ached quietly. Not with regret, but with memory.
She thought about how far she’d come and how far she still had to go.
Then she thought about how, sitting across from the woman who had kissed her like the world had narrowed to just the space between their lips, she could feel all of it folding gently into something that resembled peace.
She hadn’t let herself believe this was possible.
Not after him. Not after the fists and the lies and the years of trying to pretend she hadn’t become invisible, even to herself.
Callum’s father had convinced her, piece by piece, that she wasn’t real unless he said so.
And when the police came for him, when she was finally freed, Amelia hadn’t known how to live as a woman outside of his shadow.
So she’d created another version of herself.
Something darker and controlled. A mask she could slip into and out of, one that didn’t ache when it was touched.
Satin gave her that. The dark room, especially.
It made sense then—where it didn’t hurt to be faceless, to give herself to someone who couldn’t see her breaking.
But Jo had ruined all of that. She’d unravelled every tether Amelia had wrapped around her heart and made her want to be known in ways that terrified her.
And now here they were, with Jo’s fingers casually grazing her knee under the table like they’d always been together.
“You’re quiet,” Jo said as she lowered her menu. “What’s going on in that head of yours?”
“Sorry.” Amelia forced herself out of the headspace she was beginning to fall into. “Just…thinking about how grateful I feel.”
Jo tilted her head. “For overpriced ravioli?”
Amelia laughed as she reached across the table and took her hand. “For you. For this. For feeling as though I can breathe for the first time in decades without someone scolding me.”
Jo’s smile melted her. “You’ll always feel that way with me.”
“I know.” She stroked her thumb over the back of Jo’s hand. “But it still surprises me. How safe I feel with you.”
Likely sensing that Amelia was too deep in her own head, Jo smirked and leaned in as she said, “You should feel very unsafe later tonight.”
Amelia lifted a brow. “Oh?”
“Well, I plan on undressing you slowly and then making you beg for mercy.”
Amelia took a sip of her wine. “Darling, if you think I’m the one who’s going to be begging, you’re more deluded than I thought.”
“Is that a challenge?” Jo leaned across the table. “Really?”
Amelia’s whole body lit up as she took her bottom lip between her teeth. “Always.”
They spent the rest of dinner flirting between bites, kissing between sips of wine, and laughing at inside jokes that no one else could possibly understand.
It wasn’t loud, or showy, or dramatic. It was just…real.
And as Amelia sat here, for the first time in her life, she didn’t want to be anyone but herself.