CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
Sutton
“I get to see you in hours,” Lizzy yells into the phone, making me laugh.
And the laugh is most definitely needed because I’ve just said goodbye to everyone at Ocean’s Edge. It was much harder than expected.
And maybe it was even harder because my heart was already wounded to begin with.
“I know. I’ve missed you.” My smile is bittersweet as the driver takes me to the airport.
“We have so much to catch up on.”
“So much.” I try to infuse happiness in my voice, but fuck, it’s hard to do.
“Are you sure you don’t need to stay here at my place?”
“No. The Sharpes have offered me their suite for a week or two until I can find a place of my own.” I shake my head, trying to understand how this all unfolded.
The call from Ledger temporarily offering the suite to me since he knows I’ve been out of town for months and probably need time to find a new place to live.
And me taking it. While I can’t wait to spend time with Lizzy, I also need to unwind and sort through everything on my own.
Time alone will allow me to do that.
“Oh,” she says. “They are so trying to schmooze you to leave Roz and come work for them doing this full-time.”
“They are not.”
“Bullshit.” She snorts. “How do you feel about the possibility?” Her voice softens. Seeing as she was the shoulder I cried on over the past few days, she knows everything.
“I don’t know. Honestly. I just don’t know.” I glance around one last time at the beaches as we drive past. “It’s not like he’s going to be there. Hell, by now he’s probably in Tonga or somewhere like that. It’s just . . .”
“Give yourself time to figure it out.”
“I will. I promise, I will.”
I’ve had three days of silence since Callahan left. I’m not sure why I hoped for him to at least reach out with a call or a text, but I should know better.
I’ve never minded quiet before, but the silence left by his absence has been almost unbearable. And while the two of us started off our time at Ocean’s Edge in weird territory, he was always here. Always talking. Always a presence I couldn’t ignore.
Having an all-access pass to him once we were behind the villa’s doors the past few weeks has made this even harder. Knowing what I’m missing. His laughter. His glance across the room. His soft smile. His tender and demanding touch.
His friendship, more than anything.
I emit a quiet sigh to try and control the tears welling in my eyes. The same tears I’ve fought every moment since he departed.
I’ve missed him more than I thought possible.
“We’re here,” my driver says.
And when I look up, the car is pulling through the gates of the airport and up to a jet parked on the far end that says Sharpe International on it.
Lizzy’s right.
They definitely are trying.
The question is, what am I going to do about it?