22. Callie
Chapter twenty-two
I smile down at the photo Mum just sent through. She’s out to dinner with one of her friends, and I can’t remember the last time I saw her this truly happy.
ME:
You look gorgeous, Mum! Call me in the morning x
MUM:
Thank you, sweetheart. I will. Please give Westley and Maevyn my best. And give my granddaughter a kiss for me.
“Knock-knock!” Westley calls as he opens the door to my house. I send a heart emoji to Mum, then set my phone down on the kitchen bench.
Technically, this is Westley’s house, but he doesn’t sleep here. For all intents and purposes, he lives next door with Maevyn and Aurora.
“I came with the goods,” Maevyn says as she walks past West with a shopping bag in hand, the sound of bottles clinking together. “And I don’t mean my boyfriend.”
“Eww, you’re not allowed to join girls’ night if you’re just going to thirst over my brother the whole time.”
“I shall keep my thirsting to a minimum.” Maevyn grins as she kisses my cheek.
Westley’s already pulled Navie from her playmat. She smiles as she tugs at his beard, and he pretends to eat her hands.
“Is her bag ready?” West asks, joining Maevyn and me in the kitchen.
“By the front door.” I nod. “She just had a feed. There’s two bottles in the cold pocket for the night, and I just pumped another for the morning, but I’ll come grab her later when I’m sure I’ll be trading you for someone who causes much more trouble.
” I grin at Maevyn, who’s standing in the kitchen, midway through pulling bottles from her bag, but stopped to look at my brother with hearts in her eyes.
Actually, it’s hearts in one eye and something I will not give a name to in the other.
“Okay, get out.” I push on his shoulder, turning him around and ushering him to the door. “I need Maevyn coherent as I unleash my problems, not drunk on lust for you.”
“Problems? What problems?” Ah, shit.
“No, not problems.” I shake my head. “I just mean, like, gossip and girl talk. This is a sacred bonding experience, West. Now off you go.”
“Okay, fine. I’m leaving.” He huffs as he swings Navie’s nappy bag onto his shoulder. “Trickster, get your arse over here and kiss me first.”
“Don’t get bossy with me, Thief. You know I love it.”
I mentally gag as I take Navie from West, saying my own goodbye to my daughter while ignoring the mini makeout session happening behind me.
“Hello!” Liv walks through the front door, a cooler bag on her shoulder, which I’m hoping means she brought something delicious from the bakery with her.
“Thank God!” I pull her the rest of the way inside as West and Maevyn break apart.
“Hey, Liv.” West smiles as he takes Navie back from me, settling her on his hip.
Liv unzips her bag and pulls out a small, blue pastry box. “Hey, West. I had some of your favourites left over.”
West gasps playfully as he looks through the clear window on top, no doubt spying some of Liv’s beignets.
“Thank you.” He kisses Liv’s cheek, then mine. “Have fun.”
When he closes the door behind him, I let out a breath that I think I’ve been holding since the second I kissed Mason this morning.
“Right. No time for chit chat,” I say, looking between Maeyvn and Liv like I mean business. “I need alcohol and advice in that order.”
I march into the kitchen, pulling the rest of the drinks from Maevyn’s bag. There’s a bottle of ginger beer and apple juice for mixers, a bag of limes, plus some vodka, prosecco, and strawberry gin.
“Place your orders, ladies. Moscow mule or a gin fizz?” Maevyn takes over.
“Ohhh, gin fizz for me, please.” Liv hops onto a barstool as she pulls containers from her own bag and starts arranging various treats on a wooden tray she’s also brought along.
“Give me the vodka,” I say.
“Okay, spill,” Maevyn says as she starts slicing limes. “What’s this trouble you speak of? I don’t believe the little fib you told your brother.”
“Trouble?” Liv asks. “Is it Derek?”
I shake my head. “No. Well, yes, but that’s not why I asked you guys over. It’s—” I swallow. “Mason.”
“Mason?” Maevyn eyes me warily as she measures vodka into a glass.
“Is this going where I think it is?” Liv’s mouth drops open.
“I’m almost positive you won’t be thinking of this.”
“Ohh, sounds kinky.” Maevyn smirks. “Continue.”
“You have to promise not to tell my brother.” I point an accusing finger at Maevyn.
She draws a cross over her chest. “I’m here to listen, advise, and possibly be a bad influence.”
“From the look on her face, you may be too late for that,” Liv says.
“Then I’m here for the details,” Maevyn adds with a smile as she keeps making our cocktails.
“I guess it’s been starting for a few weeks …
” In perfect unison, Liv and Maevyn lean in closer.
“I mean, look at him. Obviously, he can’t be ignored, but he just kept showing me this side of him that was sweet, and thoughtful, and funny, and ughhhh.
” I melt into the kitchen counter. “We almost kissed at the office the other day—”
“You almost kissed?!” Liv shrieks.
I nod. “And then we were working at the house today, and I hurt my leg, and he carried me, and then I cried about my problems, and he gave me a hug, and then it started to rain, and the emotions were just electric, and in the moment I thought, fuck it … and then … I did.”
The girls stare back at me, slack-jawed and blinking.
“Well, don’t stop now, you just got to the good part!” Maevyn shouts.
So, I tell them everything, without going into too much detail because it’s been a while since I’ve had girlfriends like this to confide in, but they make me feel safe.
There’s no judgement or criticism, just love and respect.
There’s honesty and trust, and it wraps around me so much that I feel myself giving it back internally.
Letting myself do the messy things, whether I’m unsure or just wanting to dive in without thinking of the repercussions. It’s nice.
“So what happened then?” Liv asks after I finish telling them everything.
“We heard cars coming and had to quickly pretend like we didn’t just defile a trestle table in the middle of his unfinished kitchen.”
“So you never got to… sex?” she whispers, even though it’s just the three of us huddled around my kitchen.
I shake my head. “But he still… finished.”
“Huh?” Liv tilts her head.
I take a sip of my drink before I answer. “In his pants.”
“Oh my god, how hot is that?” Maevyn slaps the benchtop. “I had no idea!”
“Please tell me you know of this with someone who’s not my brother.” The lime sours in my gut as Maevyn smothers the smile on her face with her hand.
“Sorry! I’ve only ever had Presley to share deets with about random hookups. This is new to me.”
“Moving on, because I can’t with you right now. What do I do when I see him on Monday? When we return to the scene of the crime?”
“The crime or the cream?” Maevyn smirks.
“Eww, too far, Mae.” Liv scrunches her nose as I throw my head back and laugh. God, it feels good to do that.
“Am I the only one not getting any right now?” Liv grumbles.
“Have you heard anything from Xander?” I ask Maevyn.
“Hey! Why do you immediately go to him when I mention sex?” Liv says, but I’m too focused on the way Maevyn’s eyes widen as she picks up a strawberry cupcake, giving a noncommittal shrug as she shoves almost the entire thing in her mouth.
I narrow my gaze. “What do you know?”
“What? Nothing,” she mumbles.
“There are no secrets amongst friends, Maevyn.”
She swallows, looking sick as she wipes icing from her lip. “I promised Westley I wouldn’t say anything.”
“Different rules apply on girls’ night. What is said here stays here.”
She picks up a single strawberry from our snack tray. “Okay. This is just our assumption, but I strongly believe that Xander may be… Daisy’s dad.”
“Oh my god!” I smack Liv’s arm in shock.
“What?” she whispers.
Maevyn starts counting off the reasons on her fingers.
“He knew your name—your last name before you moved here and changed it to your mother’s maiden one.
He thought you’d died, which would explain why he never came looking for you and—” She leans over, rubbing a thumb over the daisy tattoo on Liv’s wrist. “You both have daisy tattoos. I don’t think he knows about her, but it feels like too much of a coincidence that you both have them.
They must have meant something, somewhere in the memories that you lost.”
Liv holds a hand to her chest, her face frozen in shock as she attempts to digest everything Maevyn just shared.
“Well, this is too much to unpack for one girls’ night. Let’s focus on Callie.”
I reach over, taking her hand in mine, and give it a squeeze.
In the year I’ve known Liv, the mystery surrounding Daisy’s dad and the pieces of time she lost after her accident have been a relentless flame in the back of her mind, an ember of the unknown that refuses to be snuffed out.
I can’t help but appreciate her even more at this moment.
Her problems feel so much bigger than mine, more urgent and important, but she’s still here for me.
A true friend never lets you walk alone, and I’ll make sure I do the same for her.
“Okay.” Maevyn claps her hands, invoking order. “Carbs, vodka, and let’s unpack this bitch.”
***
“So we’re putting family values in the pro column,” Liv slurs as she writes on the canvas we’ve set up in the lounge room. We’re a few cocktails deep at this point.
When I started unpacking everything in more detail, Maevyn suggested we write it down—she’s very pro-lists.
So far, the cons are all the obvious things.
One, he’s my boss. Two, he has a reputation for being a one-and-done guy.
I’m not going to judge anyone on how they satisfy their needs.
Everyone is looking for something different.
I’ve had plenty of one-night stands or situationships when I was in the off phase of my relationship with Derek, but I’m in a different place in my life now.