Chapter 25
Twenty-Five
CALLIE
Iwas fully awake when Lewis knocked on the cottage door at three in the morning the next day.
The nausea hadn’t kicked in yet either, which was great.
Last night, I’d stayed at my parents’ house until eleven in the evening.
Dad had been stunned by the news and angry at Lewis, and I had to talk him down from challenging him to a duel.
No, really. I think if we lived in the days of dueling, Lewis would be at the other end of my dad’s pistol.
Yet, to protect Lewis, I found myself explaining everything that had ever happened between us to Dad. Apparently, the truth did the trick. I think Dad had been imagining the worst all this time—that Lewis had cheated on me.
Still, I got the impression that my parents needed me close for as long as possible.
Mum had wanted me to stay over, but I knew I had to get used to living on my own at the cottage.
Even more so now. Harry was quiet about the whole thing, and I worried that he was anxious the news would make him a target at school again.
Hopefully, it would all blow over by the time school started up after summer.
Growing up in a village came with pros and cons.
There was always someone there to give you a helping hand, and no one banded together to protect a villager from an outsider faster or more ferociously than those in Ardnoch.
We were all so used to the estate’s celebrity members that we didn’t bother them—Ardnoch was a safe space.
So much of our economy depended on the estate that no one would dare talk to the press about the members-only club and the people who frequented it.
But bloody hell, did we like to gossip among ourselves.
Everybody was in everybody else’s business, and news traveled faster than the speed of light.
So I couldn’t allow myself to feel guilty for what was happening to Harry because we’d all dealt with that kind of stuff.
Yet I couldn’t help but worry about him on top of everything else.
That night, I’d lain in bed, my alarm set for two o’clock.
I didn’t sleep. I lay there worrying about how I was going to manage running the bakery with a newborn in tow.
And I worried about this date with Lewis and all the things I needed to say to him.
It was a relief when my alarm went off and I could get up to prepare for our date.
“This is the strangest hour for a date ever.” I answered the door as soon as Lewis knocked. I kept my voice low so as not to disturb my neighbors.
Lewis stood on the pavement, the streetlights glowing against the hazy dusk of twilight. His sexy smirk still made me weak at the knees. “You look beautiful.”
I was dressed in jeans, a T-shirt, and a cardigan, and my hair was pulled back in a ponytail.
I wore only a touch of mascara and blush.
This was the most boring outfit I’d ever worn on a date, but I didn’t know where we were going, only that it was still chilly at this time of the morning, even if it was early July.
“I’ve looked better.” Grabbing my keys, I stepped out of the cottage and stared up at my handsome date.
He wore his hair loose for once and looked like a rock star more than a biker this morning.
“You’re always beautiful to me.” Lewis leaned down and whispered in my ear, “And always sexy as fuck.”
I shivered at the words and the way his breath puffed against my skin. Oh boy. Swallowing hard, I pulled back to peer up at him. “Seriously, where is Lewis and what have you done with him?”
He chuckled and gestured to a Range Rover parked at the curb. “Ready?”
I immediately pouted. “Where’s the bike?”
“Eh, you’re pregnant.” He placed a hand on my lower back, leading me toward the 4x4. “There is no way I’m putting you on the back of my bike.”
Damn it. I knew he was right. Disappointed but also appreciative of his forethought, I got into the passenger side. “Is this yours?” I asked as he climbed in behind the wheel.
Lewis shook his head. “Borrowed it from Dad. But I’m going car hunting this weekend. We’ll need something big enough for a baby’s car seat.”
“I have a car.”
“I know. But I want to be able to drive you to your doctor’s appointments and whatever else you need.”
As we drove down Castle Street, I found myself staring at his profile in awe. He was buying a car just so he could drive me around. “You … you seem calm about the whole thing.”
He shot me a quick, patient look. “A baby is on its way, Callie. Aye, it’s scary, and we wouldn’t be human if we weren’t terrified, but there’s no point wallowing in that. Because … it’s also exciting. And we have lots to talk about and prepare for.”
At that moment, I felt so ashamed.
I fell quiet as Lewis drove toward the main beach parking. The car park was almost empty, except for a couple of motorhomes. There was nothing but the sound of the surf beyond the dunes.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“What are we doing here?” I asked instead.
Lewis didn’t respond with words. He got out of the car and rounded it to open my door. As I stepped out, he pulled a picnic basket and blanket from the back seat.
With his free hand, he clasped mine tightly and led me toward the beach. A sand-covered boardwalk guided us down through the dunes and out onto the stretch of smooth, perfect beach.
In the twilight, there was not another soul in sight, and a summer morning mist hung in the air.
“Callie … are you okay?”
I squeezed Lewis’s hand. “I have so much to say … and yet … I’m not sure I can.”
Instead of answering, he tugged on my hand, and I followed him down the beach.
He chose a random spot to spread the blanket and gestured for me to take a seat.
I kicked off my trainers and sat down, pulling my knees to my chest. I was glad for my cardy because there was a cool breeze blowing up from the water.
The gentle tide and quiet rhythm of the sea lapping against the shore calmed my racing heartbeat as Lewis sat down and began unpacking the picnic basket.
I watched as he pulled out a bottle of water, sparkling fruit water, and …
a bottle of Irn-Bru. Thinking it was a strange choice for an early-morning picnic, but thinking this whole thing was strange, I let it go.
There were scones and mini jars of jam and clotted cream.
Croissants that looked an awful lot like my mum’s. I hmmed at that and he grinned.
Lastly, he pulled out a bag of peanut M&Ms, Walkers’ pickled onion crisps, and … my mum’s homemade truffles in a Tupperware box. “Where did you get those?” I asked, reaching out to steal one. Mum hadn’t made those in ages!
“The same place I got the croissant and scones.”
“Mum?”
Lewis nodded. “She might have grabbed the pastries from the bakery and made me the truffles last night.”
“But I was there last night.”
“She made them when you left and placed the box outside for me to collect before coming to get you.”
My brows furrowed as I stared at the picnic. When we were kids, the crisps, the truffles, and the M&Ms were all my favorite unhealthy snacks. As was the Irn-Bru, something I hadn’t drunk in years. “What is all this?”
“It’s your perfect first date.” Lewis drew his knees up to his chest, too, his arms dangling over them. Then he gestured to the beach. “A picnic on the beach at twilight with all of your favorite snacks.”
A memory prodded at me. “Why does that … I said that?”
He nodded, meeting my probing stare. “You texted me a list of your perfect dates and this was date one.”
Awed, shocked, emotional, I choked out, “And you remember that?”
Lewis stared at me as if I was the most extraordinary thing he’d ever seen.
“I kept all of our texts. I’d read them over and over until I realized I was driving myself crazy.
So I saved them to my computer before I deleted them from my phone.
When I came back to Ardnoch, I remembered I had them and started reading through our old conversations.
There was one where you told me the kind of dates you wanted to be taken on.
” His teeth flashed in the dusk. “I had planned to take you on all of them, but date two is zip-lining, so that’ll have to wait until after the baby comes. ”
I suddenly felt a clawing panic as self-loathing filled me. All this time he’d been holding on so tight to us. “I don’t deserve you, Lewis.”
At my cold pronouncement, he glowered. “Don’t. Don’t make that decision for me. Not like before.”
I winced and turned away, letting out a shuddering breath. “I … I did this to us.”
“We did this to us.”
I shook my head. “No, I let it end like this. You would’ve fought if I’d given you the chance.”
“We were kids, Callie. We have to let it go.”
“Can you?” I asked incredulously. “How can you trust me, Lewis? I’ve spent the last seven years hating you because it was easier to do that than listen to the voice in my head screaming at me that I was the one who fucked up.
That I punished you for being human, that I was rigid and unkind and selfish. ”
“Callie … fuck.” Lewis slid across the blanket and wrapped an arm around me, trying to pull me into his side.
But I was stiff. Because I didn’t deserve his comfort.
He let out a puff of air. “I understand why you were hurt back then. I was distant, and you did hear me tell Fyfe I wasn’t as sure as you were that we had a future together. If I’d heard you say those things, I would have been hurt too.”
“The difference is, Lewis, you would have forgiven me, and we wouldn’t have lost seven years of our lives together. And now …” My fears bubbled to the surface. “I’ll never know if we would have made our way back to each other naturally. This baby has forced us back together.”