Chapter 17
Seventeen
LEWIS
“ N o. Absolutely not. Worst idea ever.” Fyfe shook his head at me, as if he was disappointed I’d even contemplated Carianne’s plan.
My gut told me it was a stupid idea, and would most likely push Callie further away. Yet, Carianne’s conviction that Callie would be jealous tempted my devil. I wanted to do whatever I could to make Callie see that she wanted me too. That our night together three weeks ago wasn’t a drunken mistake. It was fate correcting a prior mistake.
I opened my mouth to tell Fyfe what Carianne had said, but my mobile rang, cutting me off. Seeing it was Eilidh video-calling, I answered. “Perfect timing.”
Eilidh wore not a scrap of makeup, which was unusual. She was usually fully done up because she was either coming from the studio or an event. She looked young and baby-faced on my screen. “What’s perfect timing?”
“What are you up to?” I asked instead.
“Who is it?” Fyfe asked from the opposite sofa. We were hanging out at his place since he actually had his own house.
“Who is that?” Eilidh’s eyes widened slightly .
“Fyfe.” I looked at my friend. “It’s Eilidh.”
“I haven’t seen Fyfe in ages. Turn me around.”
“I’ll come over,” my friend suggested instead, pushing up off the opposite couch to come sit beside me. He leaned his head in toward the phone. “Eils.”
“Eils?” Eilidh grinned at him. “It’s been years and all you’ve got is Eils?”
“Hey, I’ve been here for almost two years, so that’s not my fault,” he teased.
“Holy crap, let me look at you.” She comically peered closer as if that would make her view any clearer. “Fyfe Moray, I always knew you were a smoke show.”
Fyfe groaned and got up to return to the other sofa. “And you haven’t changed a bit.”
He missed the way Eilidh’s smile fell, but I didn’t. As soon as she realized I was paying attention, she pasted on a bright smile. “So, what’s perfect timing?”
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“I’m fantastic. For the first time in ages, I have a few weeks off before the next project.”
“Is that the film you’re shooting in Romania?”
“The very one. I’ve been lounging around my flat, doing bugger all for a few days. It’s nice, but I’ll get bored soon enough, I suppose.”
Something about that didn’t ring true at all. And there were dark circles under her eyes that I only just noticed. “Eilidh?—”
“Perfect timing for what?” she repeated.
Deciding she’d probably hang up on me if I pushed her, I relented. “I was telling Fyfe that Callie said she doesn’t want me back. And then I ran into Carianne and she proposed we pretend to date to make Callie jealous.”
“After asking him out!” Fyfe called before getting up to come sit next to me again. He looked into the camera at Eilidh. “He forgot to mention Carianne asked him out for real first.”
“Not surprising.” Eilidh shrugged. “I always knew she fancied Lewis.”
“Aye, apparently even when she was dating me.” Fyfe appeared mildly affronted.
“I remember telling you she wasn’t good enough for you,” Eilidh pointed out before giving me a sharp look. “And you’re an idiot if you trust a woman who has admitted to secretly harboring feelings for her friend’s boyfriend and boyfriend’s friend for years. Let me tell you, Carianne is hoping that by pretending to date her, you’ll fall in love with her instead, like some fucking stupid rom-com.”
“That sounds like Carianne,” Fyfe agreed.
Confused, I huffed, “Carianne’s nice, no? I mean, she loves Callie.”
“Maybe.” Eilidh grimaced. “But she’s also always been jealous of Callie. When we were kids, it didn’t matter what Callie had, Carianne had to have it too.”
“I remember that.” Fyfe nodded. “When we were dating, if Callie got something, Carianne wouldn’t shut up about it until she got it too. I just thought it was what girls did.”
“No.” Eilidh screwed her face up at him. “Way to generalize us.”
They bickered back and forth while I considered what they’d said. Maybe I was letting my impatience get the better of my rational thinking. Eilidh was right. Carianne had confessed to having feelings for me for a while, and I didn’t want to lead her on.
And Callie … my gut screamed that it would only reinforce Callie’s idea that I wasn’t constant in my love.
It was, in fact, the stupidest fucking plan I’d ever considered .
“You’re both right,” I cut my sister and friend off from whatever they were bantering about.
“We are?” Eilidh wrinkled her nose. “About what again? Fyfe befuddled me with his mild misogynism.”
“Uh!” Fyfe made a noise at a pitch I didn’t know was possible for him. “How dare you?”
My wee sister grinned mischievously. “You’re so easy to wind up.”
He rolled his eyes and turned to me. “What are we right about?”
“That pretending to date Carianne to make Callie jealous is a bad idea. Not only is it childish, but I think it would push Callie further away.”
“Agreed,” they said in unison and then shot each other a mock scowl.
“So …” I sighed heavily. “Any ideas on what I should do next?”
“Well.” Eilidh smirked. “I know this might not make you happy, Mr. Impatient, but I think you should try a different tactic. It’ll take longer, but it’s more likely to work.”
“And what’s that?”
“Ask her if you can try to be just friends.”
“Just friends?”
“Just friends. Then you can spend time together without all the pressure and you can remind Callie that you’re a loyal, good person she can trust.”
I looked at Fyfe.
My friend nodded. “She’s right.”
“Did it hurt you to admit that?” Eilidh teased.
Fyfe shot her a look. “Why? Because I’m mildly misogynistic?”
“Did I say mildly? I meant wildly.”
“Friends,” I interrupted them. “You both think I should propose friendship? ”
“If you want to prove that your first thoughts are to Callie, then aye,” my sister insisted. “She needs trust to build between you again.”
I realized with some chagrin that Eilidh was correct. I’d returned to Ardnoch so hell-bent on getting Callie back, I’d come at it from the perspective of what I wanted, not what Callie needed. If I really was determined to play the long game, then I had to court Callie stealthily.
Friends first.