Chapter 52
Cal
Half an hour. For half an hour, Cal had struggled to end this pointless conversation with Elisabetta.
It was like she knew exactly what she was doing, exactly what she was keeping him from by making sure he stayed in this room with her.
But enough was enough. He had a guest, and he had to get back to her.
What must Bea be thinking? He wanted to go to the dining room, sit next to her and take in her warmth, absorb her joy, hear her feverish laugh and watch his family fall for her too.
He couldn’t bear to think of her sitting out there alone wondering why this demanding blonde woman had turned up and insisted on monopolising his time.
‘Betta, I’m going back to my meal now. I don’t think there is anything else we can say on this matter.
In fact, I don’t know why you came here today.
There’s nothing that couldn’t have been said in Edinburgh.
’ Could she have known Bea was with him?
He wouldn’t put it past her to have found out somehow and come up here intent on sabotage.
Either that or she wanted to take some shots for her Instagram, which she’d done last time she’d been here.
‘Okay, fine.’ Elisabetta shrugged. ‘I can’t say I’m exactly delighted, but I said what I came to say. All I can hope is that you’ll do the right thing.’
‘I’ve told you I’ll support you if the baby is mine. Now, I’ll walk you to your car and that’s that, okay?’
‘Sure.’ Elisabetta swept out of the room, taking a selfie against the piano as she went.
Out in the drive, Cal spotted Elisabetta’s sleek white Porsche, immediately. In fact, it was sitting next to where he’d parked his own car. Except the spot he’d parked his car was now empty.
‘What the…? Where’s my car?’
Elisabetta shrugged again. ‘I don’t know. It was here when I arrived. I parked right next to it.’
A paddle of fear hit Cal. Bea! Oh, please say it couldn’t be so. Surely not. He would go back inside and find her chatting away with his family as if nothing had happened.
‘Betta, I have to go. Drive safely.’ Cal watched as she got into her car and deliberately took her time getting comfortable, putting her seatbelt on, slowly reversing out of the parking spot before stopping to apply some lipstick and face mist, then finally driving out of the grounds of the house.
Cal’s brow furrowed, and he was fraught with angst. He knew if he showed any sign of going back in before Elisabetta was out of sight, she would find a reason to return, but the minute the white of her car disappeared from his vision he strode back into the house.
Cal’s heart sank as he entered the dining room and saw that Bea’s place was empty. It confirmed all his fears. She had gone.
‘Where’s Bea?’ he asked Cara as she was most likely to know. But on this occasion, his nosey sister let him down.
‘She went to freshen up about twenty minutes ago, but she hasn’t come back. I thought she would have found you, so I didn’t want to interrupt.’
Cal scraped his hand through his hair. If it weren’t for the fact that his car was gone, he’d have accepted Cara’s theory as the probable truth, but something in his gut told him otherwise. He’d messed this one up.
He left the dining room and took the stairs two at a time, burst into Bea’s room and shot his eyes to the dresser.
The car keys were missing. And in their place was a piece of paper.
A tightness built in his throat as he read the note.
Yep, she’d taken his car and gone. Cal slammed his hand on the dresser, then reflected that he deserved that more than the furniture.
What an absolute idiot he’d been. There could be only one reason Bea had left like this, and it wasn’t simply because he stepped away from the table for a little too long.
No, this was about feelings – unequivocally – how she felt about him.
It must match how he felt about her. Cal knew it now.
He had to find Bea and get her back. No way was he letting her leave the country without telling her what she meant to him.
But it was his father’s party. This was important.
Really important. His father meant the world to Cal and upping and leaving his celebration on a melodramatic whim was not an option.
In fact, it would mostly upset his mother.
He couldn’t do it. There was no way that Bea would leave the UK in the next twenty-four hours.
First thing in the morning, Cal would get himself back down to Edinburgh, find her and tell her she wasn’t going anywhere, not until he could be open about his feelings.
She had to know. And he had to know if it was mutual because he was sure that, had she not been in love with him too, she wouldn’t have disappeared in such a hurry when Elisabetta had arrived. God, he’d been a fool.
The rest of the evening dragged like a slow ocean trawler out on the horizon.
Cal tried his best to enjoy himself and make sure that his father had a wonderful evening.
Was he annoyed at Bea for having put him in this position?
No. She hadn’t stormed off in a blaze of histrionics; she had subtly made an exit after what must have been quite a difficult situation for her.
Elisabetta, conversely, with her unwanted entrance, should have known better.
The conversation she wanted to have was one they could have had in Edinburgh; but Betta had wanted to ingratiate herself with Cal’s family.
She was unable to accept that he didn’t want her to be part of his life.
No, Elisabetta was the rude one here, not Bea.
Cal took it easy on the alcohol, mindful of the fact that he to get up early and drive to Edinburgh.
He considered getting a flight, but he couldn’t bear the waiting time at the airport.
He’d far rather be on the road and moving to give the illusion of getting to Bea as quickly as possible, even if it worked out roughly the same amount of time.
Already he missed her. He’d so cherished the promise of having her by his side this evening, of watching her win over his family, of being warmed by her presence, hearing her laughter and seeing her listen intently to whoever she was locked in conversation with.
Then he’d wanted to be in bed with her, pull her to him, her soft, warm skin against his own, kiss her, make love to her again and again.
They’d have stayed up all night but woken up entirely enlivened from the drug that is each other’s company.
Not exhausted from a restless night alone, unable to sleep from worrying about where she was and if she’d got back to Edinburgh safely.
He’d tried calling her mobile but it rang forever or went straight to voicemail.
Bea either didn’t want to talk to him or the lack of signal denied her the right.
At 5 a.m. Cal forced himself under a cold shower.
Nothing less than he deserved for putting Bea through that last night and hopefully enough to ready him for today.
He re-packed his barely unpacked bag and made his way downstairs to the kitchen.
As anticipated, his mum was already up and sitting at the large kitchen table reading the news online.
‘Morning, Mum.’
Amanda Butler didn’t look too surprised to see her eldest son up at such an early hour. Cal hadn’t said too much the night before, but Amanda was astute enough to work out that Elisabetta’s appearance and Bea’s disappearance were not entirely unlinked.
‘I have to go back to Edinburgh,’ he told her. ‘I’m taking a spare car, so I’ll come back up next week again with the car and spend some quality time with you and Dad.’
‘Okay, Love,’ said Amanda. ‘I hope Bea is okay. Have you heard from her?’
‘No, I haven’t. I hope she’s okay, too.’ Cal rubbed his chin. ‘This is all my stupid fault, Mum. Please tell Dad I’m sorry.’
‘You’ve nothing to be sorry for, Cal. Your dad had a great time last night, but he was in bed by nine so he wouldn’t have noticed much. He went to sleep a contented man and will wake up one too.’
Cal nodded. ‘Thanks. Are you okay? We didn’t get to talk much about Dad’s illness and what it means for you.’
‘I’m good, sweetheart. Don’t worry about me.
I was planning to take a step back from the business anyway, so I’ll be doing a gradual handover of the reins.
And we’re lucky enough to be able to afford extra help at home, so please don’t worry about us.
We can talk more next weekend. I’m looking forward to it already. ’
‘Me too. I’ll see you then.’ Cal gave his mum a tight squeeze, kissed her on the cheek and told her he loved her. Then he went outside to get in the car and journey back down south.
The drive back to Edinburgh was a blur. By the time he reached the city’s outskirts, Cal was alert on adrenaline and thanking his lucky stars that he’d arrived safely, considering he didn’t remember much about the journey.
He recalled the speedometer hovering around maximum and over a lot of the way though, although it was hard on the smaller, more winding roads.
It was now 11.30 a.m. Where would she be?
Surely at her apartment. Cal swung the car towards the south of the city.
Fifteen minutes later, he was parking outside Bea’s flat, just as two days earlier.
Only now, he had no idea if she would be there or not, and so much more rested on the hope that she was.
Cal rubbed his eyes. Exhaustion weighed on him, but he had to find the energy to go out there and fight for this woman.
He’d never shied away from hard work, always believing you could achieve whatever you wanted if you put your mind to it, although he knew that Bea was a living, breathing person he couldn’t make behave whichever way he wanted.
There were feelings to consider. He only hoped that hers were the same as his.
Cal knocked on the door of the flat and waited, heart in his throat, for Bea to answer. He noted the flaking paint and empty crisp bags at his feet and shook his head at the fact she had to live somewhere like this. She deserved so much better.