Chapter 28
CALLUM
Younger You - Miley Cyrus
They had taken off shortly after their chat.
Alejandra had been on edge since he’d first seen her, and he completely understood why.
Her desire to be present—but at the same time, the crushing realization of what she had lost—was all over her face.
Plus, that weird guy comment had unsettled her even more.
Callum had seen the shift in her smile, from good-natured to fake.
It had been subtle, a shift in the corner of her mouth, but to him, it had been the biggest signal that she wasn’t happy about the interaction.
Even though she’d admitted a trip to Lisbon sounded good, she didn’t feel right leaving everyone behind. So instead, she’d agreed to help him at the stand.
“So, explain it to me. What do you really do at Lamina?”
Alejandra propped herself up on a stool, her green eyes fixed on him, looking slightly more relaxed now.
“We check if big corporations are stealing money, greenwashing, misusing funds... and then send them to court. Or prison.”
“Wait, weren’t you an accountant?” she asked, adorably confused.
“I am. But like... for legal stuff.”
“So it’s like, cooler?” she frowned.
“I truly don’t know what’s cool about accounting.” He smirked. “But yeah. Sending assholes to jail is way cooler than punching them, since doing that would get me jailed.”
When he glanced back at her, Alejandra looked genuinely impressed. “Sounds legit to me.”
Callum grinned. “Now that I have your approval, I feel so much better.”
Alejandra chuckled, shaking her head. “So, what do we tell people?”
“You? Absolutely nothing. Me? I try to explain what Lamina does without sounding like a walking lawsuit.”
She scowled playfully, jumping down from her stool and stepping closer as he arranged some flyers.
“You explained it well to me, so I think you’ll do great.” She patted his shoulder.
“And again, your approval means so much,” he teased, grinning down at her.
Alejandra stuck out her tongue, grabbed a flyer, and started reading it.
“Oh my God, are you Alejandra López Romero?” a voice squealed from the window of the stand.
Alejandra looked up to find a little girl draped over the counter, a big hat sliding down her forehead, a surf shirt with the Spanish flag on the shoulders. She had big green eyes and black hair. Callum blinked.
For a second, his brain genuinely stalled.
The kid looked like a tiny version of Alejandra. Same coloring. Same bright eyes. Same energy vibrating out of every movement.
“Yes, I am. And you are?” Alejandra smiled.
And there it was again. That smile. The one that made her whole face light up. The little girl squealed, jumping up and down, clapping her hands with pure, unfiltered joy.
“I’m Maggie! Margaret, but my friends call me Maggie. You can call me Maggie!”
“Okay Maggie.”
Callum leaned slightly against the stall frame, arms folding loosely across his chest as he watched the interaction unfold.
Something warm spread through his chest. God, she was good with kids.
Not in a forced celebrity way. Not in the polite, scripted way he’d seen athletes do fan interactions before. Alejandra was completely present.
Maggie spun around proudly.
“I’m your biggest fan!”
Her black hair in two bouncing ponytails swung from side to side, revealing the name López Romero and the number 23 on the back of her jersey.
Alejandra’s eyes widened immediately.
“How did you get that?”
“My mom made it for me! I wanna be just like you when I grow up!”
Callum watched Alejandra’s expression soften.
“Do you surf?” Alejandra asked, clearly amused.
“Yup! Since I was five. Just like you!”
“Basically twins.”
Maggie squealed again. Callum felt a grin spread across his face before he could stop it. God, that smile. The one Alejandra was giving the kid right now. It wasn’t the teasing one she used on him. Not the sarcastic one either. This one was softer. Warmer. Unfiltered.
He’d put Maggie on a pedestal right now for how good she was making Alejandra feel.
“Can we take a picture together?” Maggie asked. “Please?”
“Absolutely. But where are your parents?”
Maggie turned around. The excitement drained from her face almost instantly when she realized they were nowhere to be seen.
Callum saw the exact moment panic crept into her eyes.
Alejandra noticed it too. She moved immediately, rounding the stand and crouching in front of the little girl, lowering herself to the girl’s level.
“Hey, it’s okay. We’ll help. Why don’t you stay here with us while we figure out where they are?”
Maggie looked like she was about to cry.
Callum watched Alejandra. Her voice had changed. Softer. Grounding. Then she pointed toward him.
“See him?”
Maggie turned toward Callum, sniffling. He gave her a small wave. She smiled instantly.
Good.
“He’s very tall, isn’t he?”
Maggie nodded.
“Well, if he picks you up, I’m sure your parents will spot you in no time.”
Maggie snorted a small laugh through her sniffles and nodded again.
“Give me a hug, Maggie. Come on,” Alejandra said, wrapping her good arm around her.
Callum felt something twist in his chest watching that.
The sling was still there. The injury still obvious. And yet she moved around it so naturally, like it was just a minor inconvenience.
When Alejandra stood up again, Maggie’s small hand wrapped tightly in hers, Callum pushed himself off the stall and stepped forward.
“Alright, Maggie. Let’s go find your parents,” he said.
He knelt down so she could climb up onto his shoulders.
Maggie squealed happily as he lifted her.
Callum steadied her legs with his hands while she sat on his shoulders, giggling above him like she had just been given the best seat in the world.
Alejandra walked beside them.
She kept talking to Maggie the whole time, asking questions about surfing, her favorite beaches, her best wipeouts.
Every now and then, Maggie leaned down from Callum’s shoulders to smile at a selfie Alejandra was snapping for her.
“I’m showing these to my parents when they find me,” Maggie announced confidently.
It didn’t take long before they spotted them.
A couple came hurrying, weaving frantically through the crowd with the kind of panic that made people instinctively move out of their way. The woman’s eyes darted everywhere at once while the man scanned each face they passed with growing desperation.
Then the woman froze.
“Maggie!”
The little girl straightened immediately on Callum’s shoulders and waved both arms excitedly. “Mum!”
The couple rushed toward them.
“Oh my God, thank you so much,” the woman breathed out the second they reached them, one hand pressed against her chest like she was trying to steady her heartbeat. She looked around their age, flushed and visibly shaken. “We turned around for two seconds and she just vanished.”
“I wasn’t lost,” Maggie corrected seriously. “I was with them.”
Callum bit back a laugh.
“Right,” her father said, clearly too relieved to argue. “Of course you were.”
The mother let out a nervous laugh. “Honestly, thank you. We were about five minutes away from calling the police.”
Alejandra laughed softly while Callum shook his head. “She’s been keeping us entertained, at least.”
“I told them about my hamster,” Maggie informed her parents proudly.
The father snorted a laugh for the first time since arriving. Some of the panic finally drained from his face.
Callum felt Maggie suddenly lean down and wrap her arms around the top of his head in a fierce hug before he crouched so she could climb off his shoulders.
“Thank you for the ride,” she whispered very seriously into his ear.
“You’re welcome.”
Alejandra smiled as Maggie immediately grabbed both their hands again before her parents could steer her away.
“Mum, take a picture with Alejandra and this giant man.”
The parents laughed while she squeezed herself between Alejandra and Callum like they’d known each other for years. Callum barely had time to react before Maggie hooked her arms around both of them and beamed at the camera.
Somehow, he had apparently become a hero in the process too.
A few moments later, the family disappeared back into the crowd, Maggie perched on her father’s shoulders now, waving at them so enthusiastically she nearly lost balance twice.
“Bye, Callum! Bye, Alejandra!”
They waved back until the crowd swallowed them whole.
Alejandra and Callum slowly walked back toward the stall.
“We make a good team,” Alejandra said, smiling up at him.
Callum smiled back. “How do you feel?”
“Better,” she admitted, exhaling slowly. “Thank you. Staying back in the Athlete Zone was making me forget why I started surfing in the first place.”
Callum stayed quiet, letting her fill the silence at her own pace.
“When I was younger, there were no women around me who surfed. No one to look up to.” Her gaze drifted toward where Maggie and her parents had disappeared into the crowd.
“Being that person for girls like Maggie… that’s the main reason now.
” She paused. “The titles, the Olympics—they fuel my ego, sure.” A small self-deprecating smile pulled at her lips before fading again.
“But once your body breaks… You’ve got to hold on to something else. ”
The honesty in her voice settled heavily between them. Callum looked at her for a long moment before answering.
“Good,” he said softly.
Not dismissive. Not casual. Like he genuinely meant it.
Alejandra glanced down briefly, suddenly unable to hold his gaze for too long.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
The moment they stepped back into the stall, her fingers slid instinctively into his hand. The contact felt immediate. Natural. Like something her body had decided before her brain had the chance to overthink it.
His hand tightened around hers automatically.
“Thank you for not pressuring me,” she admitted quietly.
“I would never, Alejandra,” he said just as softly. “And you’re welcome.” He paused, holding her gaze. “You’re more than surfing, just so you know.”
She nodded slowly and squeezed his hand.
Then, before she could think too hard about it, she tugged him down slightly.
Callum barely had time to react before she rose onto her tiptoes and pressed a soft kiss against his cheek.