Page 17 of Catch Me

I can play on this…I'm totally going to play on this.

I squeeze the dimple in my chin. “Oh I won’t tell Callie,”

He breathes a sigh. “Thank you.”

“If you buy me a new record for my record player.”

Sean’s hazel eyes find mine, a battle between wanting to deny my demands and also wanting to keep my mouth firmly zipped.

After a silent moment, the resignation coats his expression. “Ok fine,” he sighs heavily, “now I have three women in my life who are going to fucking rinse me for cash.”

I blow him a sarcastic kiss. “Thank you, love you.” Then my gaze zooms in on the muslin cloth that hangs on his shoulder. “Where is my niece anyway? Don’t tell me she’s sleeping, I’ve been dying for a cuddle.”

Sean screws his nose up and points to the living room. “She’s right there, are you fucking blind?”

“Ah, back to your usual charming self I see.” I grunt and place my coffee mug down on the marble island, the solidity of it almost sending a meandering crack up my cup.

I kneel down in front of Lily, her tiny head nestled into the baby bouncer that she sits in, rocking methodically back and forth. Her bright eyes stare back at me, wide and round, flecks of smooth, silky caramel woven through the swampiness. I lift her out of her chair, so gently in case I break her like a glass doll. I lay her head on my shoulder, a warm bundle of the most precious thing I’ll likely ever hold in my arms. She’s like the perfect gift, like a hot cup of coffee the morning after you’ve been drinking or the tight excitement in your chest when you open a birthday present you’ve wanted for a long time. She’s perfection.

“Give auntie Lois a snuggle,” I coo into her tiny ear as she squirms, burying her nose into the crook of my neck and snuffling. I didn’t know it was possible to love anyone this much, it’s making my chest hurt from the heavy beating of my heart when I hold her.

The bathroom door clicks open and a sniffly Callie appears, dabbing at her red ringed eyes with a tissue. Her thick curls are scraped into a messy ponytail, her cheeks are marked with a trail of still drying tears and she looks fucking exhausted.

“Hey, baby what’s wrong? Why are you crying?” Sean’s voice cracks with worry and he pulls Callie to his chest, engulfing her in his huge arms.

She wipes her eyes on the fold of his t-shirt and shakes her head. “It’s nothing, I'm just being silly.”

I place Lily back in her bouncer and cross the room to Callie, pulling her into a hug of my own. “What’s up? Tell auntie Lois.”

She pulls back with a pinch between her eyebrows. “What’s with the two of you defining yourselves by your new titles?” Shepoints towards Sean, who is back to leaning against the wall. “He’s constantly calling himself Daddy to anyone who will listen and now you’re at it too.”

I pop a shrug. “Must be a Taylor thing, you sure you want to become one too?” I tease, but Callie’s face crumples into a frown again.

“That’s just it actually, I do want to be a Taylor, of course I do but…” she huffs a weighty sigh and her shoulders slump. “It’s this wedding planning stuff, I just—” she looks to Sean, who’s hands have already magnetised to her waist. “These are the times I really miss my mum.”

“Oh, Cal,” I whisper, taking one of her curls between my fingers and twisting delicately.

“We talked about this day my entire life and I always just assumed she’d be here for my wedding day, but she won’t be and it fucking sucks.” Callie sniffs back the last of her tears before swiping a hand across her cheek and cleaning the remaining moisture. She swallows hard and Sean plants a lingering kiss against her temple.

“I can help you, with wedding planning stuff…or maybe you should wait a while before you start all that, it’s only been like a week since you pushed a human being out of your—”

“Yeah thanks, Lois.” Sean cuts in, drawing an imaginary line across his throat, threatening me. I know he doesn’t mind waiting to get married, he’s the happiest he’s ever been so it must be Callie pushing for wedding planning to start. It’s not unlike her to be impatient and I would know, I'm just as bad as she is at waiting for things.

I squeeze Callie’s shoulder. “Anyway, how’s motherhood been so far?”

Callie’s face instantly breaks into a sunbeam type of smile, one that radiates sincerity. “I feel like my heart literally grew two sizes overnight and I can’t even remember a time when shewasn’t the centre of my world.” Sean clears his throat, jokingly holding his chest in mock pain. “you too of course.” Callie adds to placate the man child, who proceeds to drop a light peck in the crevice of her neck before going back into my bedroom, hopefully to strip the bed…shudder.

I drag Callie by the hand to the couch, where we both sit, watching Lily snoring softly for a moment, before Callie slaps both hands on her knees, an announcement brewing.

“Oh, I forgot to tell you!” She exclaims and my stomach does a backflip. “I’ve arranged a date for you.”

Oh Jesus, I knew whatever she was going to say wasn’t going to be pleasant, but this takes the biscuit. I let out a long groan, shoulders slumping from the cloud of dread that Callie has just placed directly over my head. I hate dates at the best of times. The only dates I’ve ever been on were with Mitchell and those hold only negative memories for me, even though at the time I thought he really liked me. The moment I gave my virginity to him, trusting him entirely like I do with everyone — until they give me a reason not to of course — he told me this thing between us wasn’t going to work out.

Fucking prick.

Callie’s bright emerald eyes are glistening with excitement, an emotion she’s trying to impart onto me and failing miserably. “Remember I was telling you a while ago that there was a guy on the football team that liked you?” I don’t nod, I don’t even blink, so Callie continues, “And I also said you needed to get back in the dating game?”

Now it’s time for me to scoff. “Get back in the dating game? Cal, I was never in the dating game, not really. I went on two dates over a year ago, got fucked over by Mitchell and that was the end of it.” My stomach aches even saying his name, the sting of betrayal rearing it’s ugly head and pinching me in the chest, reminding me of what I gave him. I can’t even pretend that hemanipulated me, coerced me into having sex with him because that would be a delusion. I happily walked into Mitchell’s bedroom after our second date and opened my legs for him, thinking this would be my happily ever after.Fucking idiot.

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