Page 40 of A Loser by Christmas
“Sounds like he did the best thing for you at the time. Gave you a safe base. Continuity. Family support from blood relations and a way to share something with them of your mother. I bet your grandparents needed that. Getting to relive some happy days by giving you the same upbringing?” He confirms how hard he must have listened. “You think your mum ever used to steer back from the market like you did? I like to think she did.”
So do I.
Calum’s gaze drifts back to the egg that brought us together. “Did you say your dad always had this business to run?”
“Not really.” I clear my throat. “My grandfather wound it down when it looked like Dad had a future on the powerboat racing circuit. He came really close to breaking a world record. That’s how he met Maman.”
“Because she was making a speedboat documentary?”
I can’t help smiling like my grand-mère always used to while retelling this story. “No, because she almost steered right into Dad’s path during a practice. He circled back to give her a piece of his mind in English, she yelled back even louder in French, and that was it. They each had met their match. Found each other. Kept finding each other for the next year while she wrote a piece on money laundering—a lot of dirty money gets washed clean via racing. He stopped competing after she...” I clear my throat again. “That’s when he quit and restarted his old family business.”
“To support you.” Calum nods before frowning. “He didn’t relocate it to France?”
“He wasn’t ever fluent.” I have to admit this. “I know he tried.”
“So he left you someplace safe and then came back to Britain? Had to be rough to sail away. From youandfrom breaking records. Another loss,” he says quietly. “Because he couldn’t take any more risks and leave you with no one. That’s what I mean by role model, see?”
He speaks to the egg, which is lucky. I struggle to swallow, let alone speak. Thankfully, I don’t need to do either when Calum resumes his pep talk.
“Your stand-in daddy learned from someone who did a hard but right thing.” Calum flicks a quick look my way. “He really could have been a record breaker, but he walked away from his chance?”
That’s what I’ve pieced together. What I overheard too over a year ago when Dad lent Reece his pride and joy, a high-powered model based on his almost-record breaker, so I nod, and Calum gets back to his affirmations.
“You’re gonna get to spread your wings one day all because Valentin knows what families do in tough times. That’s how Iknow you’re gonna do just fine once you bust out of that shell.” He’s quieter. “Really hope I get to see it.”
Silence fills the cabin for so long that I find my voice. “You will. Even if it happens when you’re down in Cornwall for Christmas. If it hatches while you’re away, I’ll get the footage to you.”
“No ifs. It will hatch. The only question is when.”
I reach for the egg. “That’s what your dad taught you? Relentless positivity?”
“Partly. Being positive is really Pat’s speciality.” He rubs his eyes, his cheek lined with pillow creases, and yeah, thank fuck for motion activation. I’ll watch this footage over and over and never share these moments with another person.
They’re all mine.
Alloursif I count the egg that he only lets me hold for a moment before tucking it snugly away the same way he does with me. Calum gets busy with the disaster of my blankets while telling me a story about brothers.
“Reece got all the brains. I got a body built for hockey. But Pat? He got all the heart.”
After the care he’s taken this morning, I could argue about that. Calum tucking his cock away into his boxers diverts me. I tune into the rest of his story once he’s done dressing. “So that’s when my folks moved him to a different school. Pat’s new headmaster saw his true potential. Now that’s all he tells other people—he believes in their potential. But you’ll get to see that for yourself soon.”
“I will?” I sit up straighter, neatly arranged blankets slipping. “I thought your family was off-limits.”
“They were. That was before.” He touches the line of my jaw. Catches hold of a wave. Gives my hair a light tug. “I’ll speak to Pat after...”
His gaze drifts as if he can see through the hull of my boat to where his mornings are also off-limits. That doesn’t stop me from hurrying to get up as well so I can walk him across Tower Bridge on his way to those hospital buildings. He stops me by planting a hand over my heart.
“Stay.” Calum pushes gently, and I don’t fight. I go back against the pillows easily for him, which earns me the kind of sweet smile I could get used to seeing on him. And that I could also get used to causing.
Don’t,I tell myself sternly.You won’t get to keep him for much longer.
But I want to, almost as much as I want to hear him describe me as worth working hard for.
Like Dad did. All on his own.
A familiar shout rings out across the marina. “I need you!” Dad booms at Harry instead of me, only his volume fades so much faster than it ever does around me. After rubbing frost from my cabin porthole, I see why.
Harry gives Dad a double thumbs up and runs towards him instead of away. They meet in the middle of the moorings, and I tune back into Calum asking, “You got a spare toothbrush?”
