Page 86 of Shattered

“Huh?” she asked groggily, wondering what in the world she was doing in this truck with him.

“I’m going inside to grab something.” Sam looked up, finding the blinding lights of a gas station above them. “Do you need me to get you anything?”

It was then that the last hour came rushing back. She looked him over to find the same sweet hint of a smile gracing his features and the slight stubble she desperately wanted to brush her thumb against. She blinked rapidly, forcing herself back into the reality where they were only friends and she had no reason to touch him like that.

“Oh. No, I’m good.”

As he began to step away, she noticed the street lights flickering to life.

They were definitely not on schedule.

“Wait? Where are we?”

He popped his head back into the cab. “North Charleston. There was a bad wreck on 26 and we were in standstill traffic for over an hour.” And then she was left watching him walk inside while she contemplated how she was going to spend the next three days being just friends with this man.

Sam played with the radio, not sure what else to do while waiting for him to return. A small part of her wanted to snoop around the small cab of the truck, hoping to find an inkling of the man he truly was. She immediately froze when he opened up the door and began rummaging through a bag. He grabbed a blue Gatorade and tossed it onto her lap.

“What’s this?”

“You’re always drinking one of those.” Callum shrugged his shoulders and turned the key.

“Oh. Thanks.”

Sam took a few sips and pondered how much more he had noticed about her. Then she realized she didn't need to search through his truck to discover who he was. He showed her every time he did something like this.

“So, where exactly is this place? Did y’all rent it?”

“It’s in Mount Pleasant. It’s my parents' house.”

The revelation gave her pause. He hadn’t spoken much about his family, but from what he had said before, she had drawn the conclusion that they didn’t mix well.

“We’re going to your parents’ house? I didn’t think you got along too well with your family?”

“I get along with them fine as long as we don’t see each other very often.”

“Oh. I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Don’t be. I’m not.” He paused and then, just as they pulled back onto the highway, added, “Just because someone is blood related to you doesn’t necessarily mean that they are your family.”

“You have no idea how true that statement is.” Sam took a deep breath. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Sam, you could ask me a thousand questions and I would never tire of it.”

She smiled and tried to ignore the flutters those words caused. “What exactly are y’all doing in Charleston? Kristin said it was for your work or something.”

“There is an arts festival downtown and they’re having an exhibition for body artists. Piercers, tattoo artists, etc. We reserved a booth and are going to showcase some work. Just trying to expand more.”

“I bet your parents are proud of you.”

“One would think so. But sometimes it’s hard for parents to be proud of their kids, despite how successful they are, when they go down a completely different path than what they had planned for them.”

Sam could tell by the look on Callum’s face that there was nothing funny about what he’d said, but she still had to hold in a laugh just thinking about the irony of the paths they’d chosen. There were such obvious discrepancies in how society’s expectations of them were affected by their very different upbringings, and it was almost as if each had chosen to take the other’s path.

He had deliberately veered off the path his parents had set for him. She assumed based on the fact that his dad was a doctor as was his brother, that they had planned the same for him.

At the same time, Sam had never once had someone to lay out a path for her. She was surging forward down a carefully and meticulously designed path of her own making. One she was desperate not to veer off of.

But who was she worried about letting down? Christian? The foundation? Herself? That was a little too deep of a thought to contemplate during what was supposed to be a weekend getaway.

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