Page 74 of His Secret Gift

“Mhm.” I can appreciate what he’s feeling while still getting a little annoyed at how thick he’s laying it on.

He breathes sharply in and out. “Well, I’d better head for bed.”

“Alright. Goodnight.” That’s another thing I am jealous of him for. I’d love to go to bed. But what I assume is a sweaty wrestling match of passion is happening on my bed as we speak.

Ugh.A cold shiver runs down my spine.I hope they took the comforter off. And you better bet your ass I’m making her come down to the front desk to ask for fresh sheets.There’s no way I’m laying my head anywhere that smells like sex and… proof that the sex happened.

“Goodnight, Kayla.”

After he walks away, I’m by myself yet again.

However, a few moments later, the guy Callie brought back with us is walking out the door, and she’s walking down the hall in an oversized t-shirt and with tears running down her face.

I spring up and hug her. “Cal? What’s wrong. Did he—” I shoot daggers at him.

She waves her arms. “No, he was a perfect gentleman.”

“Well, then what happened?”

She sits down by the pool next to me.

“He—” She sobs, and I hold her head on my shoulder.

“Shh. It’s okay.”

When she calms down a bit more, I ask her again what’s wrong.

“He isn’t Dirk,” she finally confesses, her big brown eyes staring up at mine.

Dirk? Why does that sound so familiar—Oh, yeah!I remember the picture I found in her room. He signed the back of it and said she’d always be his “special girl.”

“Who is Dirk, Callie?” I use my thumb to wipe some of the tears away.

“My first boyfriend.”

“And you still love him?”

Pouting, she nods. “Very much.”

“Well, does he know that?”

She splutters. “He does. But he has a pregnant fiancée.”

Oh, yikes.

“Fucking Petunia.”

Jesus. They have odd naming conventions where she comes from—she’s Calliope, his name is Dirk, and now there’s a Petunia in the mix.

I then stifle a laughter as I think about how perfect all of those names would be for munchkins in Oz.

“I’m really sorry.”

She looks a bit like a raccoon with her runny mascara.

“The crazy thing is that he wanted to be with me. He planned to dump her for me after I moved back home, and we rekindled.”

“But—”

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