Epilogue
The sound of my blaring alarm pulls me unceremoniously from my sleep.
‘Over and over and over and over and over,’ sing Hot Chip.
My heart skitters up a notch as I try to assemble my thoughts.
I’m flying to Australia today, I just know it.
A calming hand settles on my shoulder, accompanied by a grumble.
‘You have got to change your alarm sound,’ Callum protests.
He hauls himself up and over me, his bare chest tantalizingly close as he plucks my phone from my side of the bed and silences it.
‘We’ve talked about this,’ he adds, stern voice belying the mischief in his eyes as he plants a kiss on my forehead.
‘It is on my to-do list, promise,’ I insist, rolling my lip between my teeth. ‘I just keep getting distracted.’
Callum props himself up on his side.
‘I know you’ve been really busy with work,’ he says.
This is an understatement. In the six months since we got back from Australia, I’ve been planning the heck out of Clio and Brody’s ocean wedding.
Finding a venue where they can surf down the aisle has been, unsurprisingly, a challenge, but we got there in the end.
Today Callum and I are flying back to Australia for the big event.
‘Nope, it’s not work.’ I shake my head.
Waking up to find Callum lying next to me will never grow old. His hair is adorably mussed up first thing, and he can’t see so well without his glasses on, so he gives me this short-sighted look which makes my heart melt into a puddle every single morning.
‘Distracted by the house move, then?’ he suggests, motioning around the room.
Our bedroom is filled with unpacked boxes. We moved into the new flat at the end of last week and after the first flurry of unpacking, Callum and I have found ourselves way too preoccupied with each other inside this new space to bother with the rest of it. Let’s just say I’m exhausted.
‘Not that either.’
Callum reaches for his glasses and puts them on before studying me.
‘Are you worried about Penny?’
‘You mean my lottery-winning best friend? The woman who has quit her job and gone back to uni to study fine art? Nope. I’m actually trying not to be offended at how much she’s loving living on her own.
You know she’s already turned my bedroom into a yoga studio?
Besides, she’s coming for a sleepover when we get back.
I just need to figure out a way to tell her that she really doesn’t need to keep buying us flat-warming gifts. ’
‘I think she’s just very grateful to you,’ muses Callum. ‘Although, what are we meant to do with two air fryers?’
His brows knit adorably. ‘Anyway, what has got you distracted?’
‘Hmm, let’s see.’ I pretend to mull this over.
‘He’s six foot three and ridiculously good-looking.
He cooks me dinner every night and sends me messages to tell me he’s thinking of me.
He buys me copies of old books he knows I like and salty popcorn instead of sweet even though that’s not what he prefers.
He only takes up one section of the wardrobe.
He tidies away my endless piles of crap. ’
‘I’m still not sure how you manage it.’ Callum’s smiling now. ‘Wherever you go, you leave a little trail of stuff. It’s like you’re leaving clues in case you go missing.’
I laugh at that. ‘Just keeping you on your toes.’
‘That’s for sure. But I can think of something far more distracting.’
‘Oh?’
‘Let’s see. She’s five foot one and breathtakingly beautiful. She has eyes the colour of hazelnut, or biscotti, you know like the ones you get when you order a coffee in Italy?’
‘You’re making me hungry.’
‘She sends me links to comedians she knows I’ll like. She puts the bookmark in my book so as not to damage the spine. She’s got this look, all for me, which makes my heart fucking soar. Oh, and she brings me coffee first thing in the morning and has only poisoned me once.’
I slap my hand over my face. ‘You are never going to let me forget that one, are you?’
‘The time I ended up in A&E trying to explain that my girlfriend had put milk in my coffee, even though I have a dairy allergy?’ He’s laughing too.
‘You make it sound so bad.’
The day I accidentally poisoned Callum has already become one of our favourite stories to tell, even though I still feel terrible about it. We’d only been together a week or so and I had clean forgotten about the dairy issues when I made him a cow’s milk coffee at the old flat.
‘I genuinely thought you’d been playing a long con all along,’ he chuckles.
‘What, pretending to like you so I could actually make you very poorly indeed?’
Callum shrugs. ‘You really didn’t like me for a long time, a while back.’
‘True,’ I muse.
‘And you seemed to quite enjoy pushing me into a luggage buggy, too.’
I bite my lip.
‘I am very sorry about all that.’
‘I know. I wasn’t exactly an exemplary human being myself. Which is why I will always be making it up to you.’
‘I do quite like the sound of that,’ I murmur. ‘But, Cal, it’s Monday morning and we have to get to Heathrow.’
We share a look.
‘How d’you feel?’ he asks.
‘Nervous. What if …’
He pulls me close, then, bestowing soft kisses across the bridge of my nose.
‘We’ve got each other,’ he says. ‘That’s all that matters. I’d better grab a shower.’
I shake my head, hold on to him tight. ‘Nope.’
‘And you think I’m the distracting one.’ He laughs.
If you fell in love with Nina and Callum, leave a review here!