Page 57 of Tender Heart
Cal snaps the paper down. “Sure you did, Irry. Don’t you have customers to annoy?”
She pulls a face at him before squeezing my shoulder with a happy smile. Moving to the next table, she pours an old man a fresh cup as she turns back. “Oh, Evie, you have mail. It came this morning.”
Oh... I flinch, not thinking quick enough to stop my reaction.
“Your editor get sick of email not working?” Cal asks, sipping his coffee. His brows lower as I fluster to scrape together a response.
“Probably.” I look over my shoulder. “Thanks, Iris. I’ll grab it when we leave.”
Hopefully it’s Livvy. Maybe the renewed contract?
Via snail mail?
It’s been an age since I used USPS with anything official. Maybe isolation left them with no choice.
“Can we get to the library before we head home?” I ask Cal.
“Sure. More research?”
Tiny moments from this morning slip into my head. My fingers curl around the ceramic of the mug. I take a sip, hoping the heat on my face looks like it’s coming from the beverage in my hand. But I do need to find some resources on a few elements I want to weave into the story.
“Something like that.”
Sixteen
CALLUM
Ileave Evie with her mail and head to my little shack to unpack. She was quiet on the trip back. Didn’t say a word. My guess is what happened at Iris’s sunk in.
We crossed the fucking line.
After last night—well this morning, I guess—I need some time to organize my thoughts. To sort through what happened, and how it happened. I’ve been with women since my last serious relationship, but Evie was...
Fuck.Christ.
She pulled something out of me I had long forgotten about.
Something visceral and primal that’s been dormant.
It’s been years since I’ve been so messed up about a woman, and the only thing that can help is a little solitude at the fishing hut.
I feel bad running off after we?—
Nope.
I rip the zipper on the overnight bag open and toss in some supplies. A few changes of clothes. A book. Flashlight and batteries. The satellite phone I only use for emergencies. Running a hand through my hair, I figure I better tell Evie where I’m going. She should be okay for a few nights by herself. Food isplenty, and we have more than enough stocked in the fridge and pantry.
It occurs to me as I zip up the bag that we haven’t spent a day apart since she arrived here.
Space.
This living in each other’s orbit is forcing something that shouldn’t exist.
That must be it.
I pluck up my cap and grab an extra jacket off the hook by the door before crossing the gravel path to the house. I knock on the door, but it swings open immediately.
“Evie, I?—”
