Page 39 of More Than A Feeling

Fleur

We spent Christmas at Callum's place, just the two of us. He told his parents he wouldn't be able to visit them because I needed a caretaker. We'd talked to them on FaceTime, and James had even apologized to me for making the remarks about how I wasn't family-oriented.

Rose had been herself—openly happy that Callum and I were dating—and that she wanted to visit soon and get to know me better. She also wanted us to visit them in Scotland and meet all the Gallaghers. Apparently, there were quite a few.

They wanted me to havetheirfamily as I didn't have any of my own. My parents had decided, as Callum put it, not to get their heads out of theirarsesand have a relationship with me. Old habits die hard! I knew that. They'd been forgiving Sabine and making excuses for her for so long that they didn't know how to live any other way.

Did it hurt?Yes. Was I going to go back to the way things were with them?No.

I didn't even feel the need. Callum had become my family. His friends had become our friends, and mine had become ours as well.

It would take several months for his background clearance to be finished (that's how things were), but since I was cleared to read him the basics of what I did, he met the rest of my team on an encrypted video call.

I physically healed slowly, a bit too sluggishly for my liking. But by the start of the New Year, I was back at work. I had let Callum see my office, and he'd been impressed.

"How do I set this up for you at my place?" he asked immediately, which warmed my heart.

He made me happy by just being him. A little domineering. Okay, a whole lot of that, but also kind, sweet, and loving.

The sex was still damn good, but we were waiting for my cast to come off to go at it the way we used to. It was still hot, still fun, and still sweet—but sometimes you didn't want to make love; you wanted to fuck.

So, finally, right before Fat Tuesday, when my cast came off, and I got a clean bill of health, instead of fucking mehard, Callum decided that we had to celebrate. He took me out to dinner, which I didn't complain about because it was atThe Court of Two Sistersone of my favorite restaurants in New Orleans.

But I really wished we'd gone somewhere else when I heard my father's voice.

"Callum."

My father was behind me and facing my boyfriend, who looked at me with an arched eyebrow, silently asking me if he should ask Daddy to go fuck himself or give him the time of day.

To make it easy for him, I turned and smiled. "Hey, Daddy."

My father immediately sobered. "Hi, Fleur. How are you?"

"I'm good," I murmured.

"Brian." Callum didn't smile.

"It's…it's good to see you," Daddy said uneasily.

"Brian, where are you…?" My mother looked at me and her eyes went from confusion to guilt. "Fleur, ah…it's good to see you, honey. How are you?"

"I'm well."

Callum greeted her just as coldly as he had my father. Talk about awkward. This was the snapshot in the dictionary to explain that word.

"Would you like to join us for dinner?" I offered politely. No matter how they treated me, these were my parents and if I had a chance to spend time with them, I'd take it.

I had told Callum I thought I was pathetic to keep trying with them, and he had said, "No,Grian, you have a big fucking heart; that's not pathetic; that's a gift to cherish."

I loved this about Callum. He made it okay for me to feel the way I did—even if I thought it was stupid. He never asked me to behave differently or be someone else.

Hehadtried to get me to quit my job, but that had been only once, and he relented after I told him that my going to war zones was not common—and no way in hell was I going to leave a job that I loved.

"I'm afraid not," my mother said tightly. "We're having dinner with Sabine and her new beau."

"That's lovely," I said sincerely. "I hope she's well."

"She's great." This came from my father.

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