Page 29 of The Trouble With Spells
Callum took Mom’s hand in his for a quick shake, “Hi, I’m Callum Turner. No relation to the restaurant.” He pointed to the storefront we were converging in front of.
“Well, that’s disappointing,” Mom joked, “I’d love to get some kind of friends and family discount. My friends and I love eating here. In fact, we just came from dinner and were doing some window shopping. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I spotted my son.” Turning her attention to me, she smirked, “Shouldn’t you be in Boston, holed up in your office or something?”
“Wow, Mom,” was the best retort I could muster, lame as it was. “I had some vacation time and decided to use it. Callum and I don’t get to see a lot of each other, so I decided to surprise him today.” Well, that lie just slid off my tongue like butter. If there was a place in hell for people that lied to their moms, I was going there.
Narrowed blue eyes met mine, and we had a little stare off. It was high school all over again, and I fought to not squirm under her all-seeing, all-knowing gaze. “Your dad had lunch with Harry yesterday and he didn’t mention it.”
Trying not to be annoyed that my dad and my boss frequently met for lunch, where I was a topic of conversation, I rolled my eyes. “It was a spur of the moment thing. I was planning to come see you and Dad while I was in town.” Not a complete lie.
“Splendid,” her smile was back, though I could tell she thought something was up and I wasn’t being completelytruthful. Because she alwaysknew. My sister, Melody, had the same magical power with her kids too, and I guessed it was a mom thing. “We’ll expect you and Callum for dinner, let’s say Thursday night? We have a new chef and he is simply amazing. I’ll have him prepare one of your favorites.”
Balking, I said, “We might be busy–”
“We’d love to,” Callum cut in, and I swiveled my head to stare at him wide eyed and slack jawed.
Mom clapped her hands in glee, giving me a look like she’d just won some game I hadn’t even known we were playing. “Splendid! Michael’s father will be so surprised and happy to meet you, Callum.” With a pointed look, she turned to me, her eyes shining. “Thursday night, Michael. Seven.”
I guess we were having dinner Thursday with my parents then, because I knew that tone and I wasn’t about to say one more word. Even at thirty years old, I knew when to keep my mouth shut when my mom told me to do something. And Callum had just jumped right in there and been allOf course we can have dinner with you. We’d love to. We are absolutely free.
“Callum, it was lovely meeting you.” She gave him another warm smile. “I’m looking forward to getting to know you better.”
“It was nice meeting you too, Mrs. Endicott,” Callum politely responded.
Mom waved a hand in the air, “Oh, please, it’s Jessica or Jess. None of that Mrs. Endicott nonsense. We’ll see you boys on Thursday.” She gave me one more thoughtful look, before leaving us standing alone on the street.
The tour attendees had all dispersed, even the ones that had held Macy up. She was patiently waiting to the side, then converged onto Callum when my mom was no longer in sight. Smacking him on his arm, she hissed, “You two are dating? You could have told me the truth instead of coming up with that lame story about a spell gone wrong.”
Callum rubbed his arm, wincing. “Ow! And that wasn’t a story! I did mess up a spell and bind us together. We can’t get more than ten feet apart. I just said that because it was the first thing that popped into my head. It’s… complicated.”
“We’re kind of dating.” Because I had originally asked him out to dinner, even if our plans had changed. I wasn’t sure if tonight technically counted as a first date, but I had enjoyed myself. “This is our first date.”
Callum pushed his glasses up, his green eyes troubled. “I know you said it, about this being a date, I just didn’t think you meant it?”
Shrugging, I nodded. “Why wouldn’t I mean it? I told you I still wanted to take you on a date, despite the whole–” glancing around to see if anyone was close enough to hear us or care, I lowered my voice, “spell thing.I’m counting this as our first date.” Firmly, I nodded my head, “It counts. We’re counting it.”
Macy handed Callum his share of the tips, observing, “You two are weird, yet oddly cute together. Michael, I hope you weren’t too bored during the tour.”
Shaking my head, I smiled. “Not at all. It was really interesting and informative. And fun. Makes me wish I had paid attention more in school to our town’s history.”
She seemed pleased by my praise. “Well, I’m happy you had fun. I’m going home now. Callum, thank you for your help tonight. Text me and let me know how the rest of your date, non-date turns out.”
Then we were standing there alone–well, as alone as you could be on a busy Salem street still overrun with tourists–just staring at each other, neither of us speaking. Callum was frowning, a strange look on his face.
Taking his hand, because holding his hand in mine was my new favorite thing, I leaned into him. The need to kiss him was overwhelming, and I wanted to wipe that slightly sad look off his face.
Before our lips could meet, Callum took a step back, holding up a hand to stop me. “Not here. I don’t want our first kiss to be in the middle of the street.”
He looked down, his cheeks blooming with the soft rose of his easy blush. Peeking up at me through his dark lashes, he smirked, “And I don’t put out on the first date, Mr. Endicott, thank you very much.”
Reaching for him, I pulled him flush against me. It didn’t slip my notice that all our parts just seemed to slide into all the right places easily. No pokes or prods, just a smooth glide against one another, everything exactly where it should fit. “It’s just a kiss, Callum. No one said anything about putting out.”
My tone was teasing, and I had been joking, but I realized I also…wasn’t. Me, Michael Endicott, king of the one-night stands, and fun fuck boys, didn’t want that from Callum. Don’t get me wrong, I totally wanted it from Callum, but for the first time in my life, I wanted more.
For the first time, I wanted all the things. The dating, the soft, teasing jokes that were just between the two of us. The hand holding–fuck yes, ALL the hand holding. The first kiss that we would both remember for the rest of our lives. And one day, I wanted to know what it felt like to slide my hard cock inside of Callum’s tight hole. To taste him, feel him, hear the sounds he made when I touched him. See the face he made when he came.
I wanted everything, and more, and I wanted it all with Callum.
The realization startled me. It was a completely new and foreign concept in my life. And it made absolutely no sense. We hadn’t even known each other for twenty-four hours. It was the most ludicrous thing to even think about a future with him.
