Page 24 of Sunflower

“That sounds ominous.” I raised an eyebrow and leaned forward excitedly. “Tell meeverything.”

He snickered. “I’ve been back in town for a few weeks now.”

I blinked. That wasn’t what I expected to hear him say.

He took a sip from his drink before he continued waving his fork in the air. “I met with Mam’s former boss at the wedding. We got to chatting, and he offered to train me once I finished college. The training finished about a month ago, and I asked to be transferred back here. He agreed, and we’ve been setting up our base ever since.” He looked proud as punch with himself until he swallowed nervously. “Mam doesn’t know.”

Resting the heels of my palms on the table, I gave him a curious stare. “Doesn’t know… what exactly? You’re working for her old boss? You’ve moved back here? What?”

He gulped. “All the above.”

“Dude.” I leaned over the edge of the table as far as I could. “You need to tell her.”

“I know, I know,” he said guiltily, diving into his food again. “I needed to see you first. This date needed to happen first.”

“Why?”

His eyes met mine in a heated gaze. “You said you didn’t want to know. That you’d changed your mind about knowing what I’d seen.”

Squirming in my seat, I grimaced. He was right, damn it. However, that was an answer in and of itself. Anything he told me about whatever relationship we would have would end up influencing my actions toward him, whether or not it was favorable. It had already influenced his actions and wasstillguiding him. Did I want to know about my own future? Or did I want to find out what my future held for myself naturally?

I felt sure that curiosity would eventually wear me down, but for now I wanted to let myself discover my own fate at my own pace. Knowing that Callum had seen a future where we would get married was more than enough information to guide some of my choices already.

My brow furrowed as I stared at him, trying to figure out how someone who saw the future could live their life. Was their future their own? Or were their actions dictated by what they’d seen?

Did they have any free will left after seeing even one tiny piece of their own future?

Preferring to err on the side of caution, I changed the direction of the conversation slightly. “What is it you and your boss do?” I popped more food into my mouth. This meal truly was delicious.

He let out a breath and smiled softly at me. “We’re private investigators. He knows of my family’s skills, and they’re an excellent complement to the skills he has. That’s why he and Mam worked together for so long. She only quit when she met your da. She wanted to settle down with him. Get away from the danger.”

A warmth spread through me at his words. It sounded very much like what Erin was like. Until his last sentence registered. Then my blood ran cold. “Danger?” The thought that Callumwas willingly putting himself in danger filled me with dread so powerful that I felt like my skin was crawling. Everything in my body was screaming at me to protect him, to make sure he wouldn’t get himself hurt or killed. His safety was everything to me. I shook myself. Why was it everything to me? Why was I getting so upset by this? “What danger?”

Callum shrugged casually. “Nothing we can’t handle.”

My eyes widened. That wasn’t an answer. Before I could stop myself, I reached over the table and grabbed his hand. “Callum. Tell me. What. Danger?”

He turned his hand over and gripped mine gently. “It’s okay,mo lus na gréine. We employ security to handle all that now. Mam didn’t have that luxury back when she was working there. Truly. It’s nothing to worry about.”

Annoyingly, that didn’t explain anything, and my body was still thrumming with concern. I grumbled at him but let his hand go after one last squeeze so we could both finish our meals. I was confident I’d be able to get it out of him later.

We were each chewing our last mouthful when we heard a commotion to my right.

“Matthew? Matthew! Oh, my God! Somebody help him!”

Chapter Nine

Joey

BothCallumandmyeyes were drawn to the sight of what looked like an impeccably dressed middle-aged male with his hands around his throat stumbling to his feet and his face turning a worrying shade of deep red.

“It’s go time,” Callum muttered, already jumping out of his seat. As he hurried over, he looked back at me over his shoulder, his face the most serious I’d ever seen it. “Joey, I need you.”

It never even occurred to me to ignore him. I dashed over behind him, seeing people in my periphery with their phones out. Some were talking on the phone, while others were filming what was happening.

None were physically helping the couple.

While we were both moving through the mess of discarded chairs in the restaurant, the man, Matthew, went down. There was an audible thump as his body hit the floor, which only made his wife or girlfriend scream louder.

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