Page 51 of One Sweet Day in Lovely Bay
‘I’ve never said that! That’s so unfair.’
‘So, is not telling me the truth.’
Logan’s voice changed. He sounded angry. ‘Look, I love you, but you know what? Come back to me when that is enough. I’m over this. It’s like you're purposely trying to fight. I’ve said I’m sorry.’
Cally felt her heart clench at his words. 'You can't just decide that for me.'
‘You’re overthinking this.’
'You don't get to decide when I'm ready to talk. You don't get to push me into forgiving you just because you've decided you're ready to explain. You don’t get to treat me any way you want because you are a super special entitled member of the Henry-Hicks clan. You can’t buy people, Logan!’
There was a moment of stunned silence on the other end of the line. The air then went very blue from Logan’s end. ‘Right. I think you’ve made yourself well clear.’
Cally took a deep breath, trying to calm the anger that had flared up inside her. ‘This isn't just about you explaining or apologising. This is about me processing what happened and figuring out how I feel about it all. And that takes time.'
'Yeah, right. Whatever. I just want to fix it.'
‘You can’t just fix it and buy yourself out of this.'
'What? Really! Buy myself out of this? Come on! Get over yourself. So, where does this leave us?'
‘To be honest, I don't really know. You don’t just get to say jump and I ask how high.’
‘You are beingtotallyunreasonable.’
‘Whatever. I don’t care.’
‘Huh? Yeah, you said that before. Okay. Well, let me know when you’ve made up your mind. Come back to me when youdocare. See you.’
Cally frowned. A bit stunned by Logan’s change in tone. ‘See you later.’
She watched as Logan ended the call, put her phone back on the coffee table, and slumped back onto the sofa, pulling the throw tighter around herself. On the TV screen, the rom-com still played, the characters dancing around each other in the final scene. Cally watched it with unseeing eyes, her mind too full of the conversation to focus.
She sighed, reaching to rewind the film to where she'd left off before Logan's call. As she settled back to watch, she replayed bits of their conversation. As the main characters on screen fumbled their way towards their inevitable happy ending, Cally envied and resented their fictional simplicity. If only real life were as easy, she thought ruefully.
She reached for another chocolate digestive, dunking it in her blackcurrant before taking a bite and remaining curled up on the sofa, alternating between watching the film and getting lost in her thoughts. She replayed her conversation with Logan over and over, analysing every word, every inflexion. His change of tone at the end. He’d beenfurious. Had that been what Cassia had been talking about?
By the time the film's credits rolled, Cally was no closer to answers. She stretched and began to tidy up, folded the throw and gathered up her empty mug and wrappers. As she moved around the flat, she kept being drawn to her phone. Did she call him back and forgive him? She wasn't sure. By the end of the call, he’d been just as angry as her. He’d turned on her when he hadn’t got what he’d wanted. She wrinkled her nose. He’d told her to come back to him when she’d made up her mind. She nodded. She would not only call his bluff, but she would putherself first. She'd held up the sky for others for so long. She wouldn’t be doing that again anytime soon. The Henry-Hicks of the world didn’t get to call all the shots, not as far as she was concerned anyway. He could wait until she was ready.
30
Aweek or so later, there had been no further communication on either side. In a constant drizzle of rain, with her bag over her shoulder, a carton of blackcurrant in her hand, and without a smile on her face, Cally stomped through Lovely in the direction of the riverboat. She was on her way to Nina’s on the harbour side of Lovely to start going through the decorations for Nina’s Chowder Festival event. To be frank, discussing the ins and outs of the decor, lights, chairs, and whatnot of Nina’s speakeasy was the last thing she wanted to do. Our Cally was not in a good mood but needs must if she wanted to be part of the Lovely community. To say that the Chowder Festival was a massive deal in Lovely was putting it lightly. A once-a-year extravaganza that was not only much loved but taken very seriously indeed. Woe betide you if you didn’t go all in. You don’t like chowder? Suck it up, buttercup.
As she stood under her umbrella, waiting at the jetty, she looked all the way down the river and watched as tiny little dots of rain punctured the top of a very still River Lovely. Since the phone call with Logan when he’d told her in no uncertain terms that she could come back to him when him loving her was enough, she'd been around in circles, but she’d certainlynot gone back. She wasn’t really sure where that left them. She supposed the Cally and Logan thing had come to an abrupt end. Bye bye, Henry-Hicks. Nice knowing you.
Not only that, it was as if the tables had turned a little bit. When she’d spoken to him, she’d sat there on the sofa thinking that she had all the cards, that she was oh-so high and just as mighty. That she had the upper hand because he’d lied. She’d been quite the superior one, or so she’d thought. Get out the violins that she’d always had to hold up the sky. Boo-hoo that she might be hurt. Poor Cally having to shield her heart all the time.
Logan had taken that on board but when she’d pushed him too far, he’d flipped it back on her. His take on it was that he loved her and that should be good enough.
Henry-Hicks had shown his own cards, thank you very much. Played a tough game.
Cally pondered the whole situation as she stood in the rain and watched as a young mum in one of the navy-blue Lovely coats with the hood up bumped a pram up onto the jetty. She’d not heard from Logan and she’d not contacted him either. To be quite frank, she had no idea what to do or think in the latest instalment in the scenario. Logan had more or less told her to take it or leave it. What was she supposed to think about that? She supposed she was leaving it. Cally de Pfeffer and Henry-Hicks were no longer a thing.
She assumed that by not contacting him, she was calling his bluff and wouldn’t be coming back. Part of her wanted to run like the wind up to the manor and jump in his bed and stay there forever. Like, ever, ever. Instead, she did nothing but festered in a huge pool of self-pity and poor, poor, poor, old me. Eyeroll.
Somehow, though, our Callyneededthe wallowing. Indeed, she’d spent the days since the call and Logan’s harsh words in a cocoon of wallow; way, way, way too much blackcurrant cordial,ditto gin, and there had been a lot of partaking in Lovely Bay chocolate. There’d also been a lone walk past the lighthouse, along the beach, and back again as it had been approaching midnight. Even the stars and a clear, dark, Lovely night hadn’t helped her. Melancholy was her new best friend. As she watched the boat chug along in the drizzly rain, she just about managed to smile as Colin waved. She wasn’t in the mood for him, either. Shame that because he was his usual upbeat self.
‘Afternoon, our Cally!’
