Page 27 of Callum
He swiped his thumb over the reddening skin. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, that was just…unexpected.”
Maybe for her. But he’d seen the way Freddie had been looking at her all night. The man was still into her—and it was clear for all to see. Even his damn fiancée must have noticed.
He gave her a gentle look. “It’s okay to not be okay, you know.”
He wanted to know the history between her, the asshole, and her sister, and he wanted to know it tonight. She’d gotten hurt in the tangle, and it looked like Freddie was trying tokeepher tangled.
She swallowed. “It’s not really the right time to not be okay, is it?”
“I don’t care where we are or whose function it is, when you’re not okay, I’ll take care of you.”
There was an audible catch in her breath. “There you go again, being too nice to me.”
“Not possible.”
Her bottom lip snuck between her teeth, and he suddenly got an overwhelming urge to tug it out.
But before he could, she nodded toward the restaurant. “We should get back.”
They should, but telling his feet to move and take him back to other people was harder than it should have been. He forced his hand to slide down her arm and slip through her fingers. Her hand fit in his so well.
Once they were seated again, he didn’t need to look up to know Freddie was staring at Fiona. It made him angry as hell.
When Fiona met the other man’s gaze, she rolled her eyes before lifting the new wine that had been set in front of her and downing half the glass.
Yeah, Callum was definitely finding out what the hell had happened between them.
Half an hour passed before her father stood and lifted his glass, clinking the side with the flat edge of a blunt knife. “Good evening, everyone. For those who don’t know, I’m Mark, Amanda’s father, and this is my wife, Edna, Amanda’s mother. First, we would just like to say thank you to everyone for joining us this weekend. Tomorrow will be a big day, while we watch her get married.” He looked down at Amanda. “Amanda is our first, and she was a bit of a miracle baby. We tried for a long time before she came.”
Tears welled in Amanda’s eyes.
Mark’s gaze shifted to Fiona. “Fiona was our second miracle. So unexpected, but so needed in our family.” This time, Amanda’s eyes tightened, the smile slipping from her lips. “Together, they were our gifts from God. Two perfect children.”
Callum kept watching Amanda throughout the speech. Why did the woman dislike her sister to the extent that their father couldn’t even talk about her without clear disdain shading her face?
Mark didn’t touch on how Amanda and Freddie had come to be together. In fact, he only spoke about the two as a couple very briefly, mentioning it was a whirlwind romance. There was no talk about one making the other a better person or being meant to be or soul mates.
When he felt Fiona’s leg move up and down beside him, he again reached under the table and wrapped his fingers around her thigh. Immediately, her movement stilled.
Touching this woman was starting to feel like second nature. It was something he could get used to.
Once the speeches were done, dessert was brought out, and the rest of the evening went quickly. The aunt kept asking invasive questions, but Fiona held her own.
It wasn’t until people started to leave that Fiona rose and wobbled on her feet. He stood and wrapped an arm around her waist. “Hey, are you all right?”
“Yeah, I think I had too much to drink,” she whispered, breath smelling of wine.
Callum chuckled. She’d definitely had a few refills. He shifted some hair behind her ear. “Let’s get you back to the room so you can sleep.”
He was able to bypass most goodbyes on the way out. When they reached the elevator, she leaned heavily into his side.
“Am I a terrible person for not wanting them to live happily ever after?”
The corners of his mouth twitched. “No.”
“Good. Because I might even smile if they end in divorce.” Her voice lowered, like she was telling him a secret. “I might even hope for it.”
