“Couch,” she said, leading him to it.
He picked up her laptop and placed it on the coffee table. Her eyes stared at it sitting on the glass top. Her letter to herself was saved there. For a moment, she had believed that she was hours away from rereading it. Pushing the thought of the letter away, she took in his chin dimple that she loved. Callum tugged her onto the couch, and she placed her head on the cushion, lying next to him. Then he shifted and placed his chin on the top of her head, before he wrapped his arm around her body.
She felt his chest rise and fall against her back as she stared at her laptop. Less than two weeks. That’s what they had left. It would only be weeks until she read the letter she wrote. Weeks left of enduring the slow death of her heart.
“I’ll be back on Monday,” Callum said softly.
She held her breath. Déjà vu. In that one second, she was back in his arms in the forest. He had said the same words moments after she’d lost her virginity to him.
Knowing these were potentially the last moments they had together, Peyton closed her eyes. “Okay.”
Peyton stared at the calendar on her laptop. Tomorrow. He promised he’d be back tomorrow. But the doubt was still settled in her heart. She wouldn’t hold her breath. He had kissed her goodbye before he’d gotten in his car and driven away. This time, Peyton had watched. His kiss hadn’t felt final against her lips. But then again, if it had, she’d have ignored it.
Her phone buzzed and she reached for it immediately. The moment that she saw his name, a foolish smile broke upon her face.
Callum: Less than twenty-four hours, Peyton.
Peyton: Unless something happens.
Callum: Like?
Like you could be in an accident like my parents. Like you could find the love of your life at lunch.
Peyton: You might meet your future wife. If you do, stay with her. Spend all night with her. Make her laugh. Make an impression. Fall hopelessly in love with her. And most importantly, forget me. She will make it possible.
She turned off her phone and placed it on her desk. It was the truth and it had needed to be said. It would make their goodbye easier if he were to meet her in the city. Peyton would be happy. She craved it to happen.
There was no future with him. She had the hotel and Daylesford. He had the city and his job as an architect. There would be no compromise. She could never leave this town. She could never walk away from the hotel. It was what had kept her alive all these years. She lived for the hotel.
“When am I ever going to see you happy again?”
Peyton looked up to see Madilynne leaning on the doorframe of her office. She looked over her best friend and was instantly jealous. Madilynne was the beautiful one. She had the amazing, petite figure and the personality. But most of all, Madilynne was free. And Peyton was grounded, not meant to fly.
She shrugged at Madilynne and reached for the folder that Jenny had left her. “Some people don’t deserve happiness, Mads.”
Madilynne pushed off the doorframe and sat in the seat in front of her. “That is bullshit and you know it, Peyton. If anyone deserves to be happy, it’s you.”
Peyton put the folder down and looked at her best friend. “Because my boyfriend left me days after I gave him my virginity and then, months later, my parents died in a car accident? Is that why I deserve to be happy above others? Because I’m slightly unfortunate?”
“What happened to you, Peyton?” Madilynne stared at her as if attempting to find the old Peyton somewhere on the surface.
“You know I’m right, Mads.”
“This hollow shell of what you were saved your life, Peyton. I don’t like not seeing that smile you had and that love in your eyes, but you would have died, too. You should see that as the light to start over. We would have buried you. And that’s the worst pain any of us could have gone through.”
Peyton winced and noticed the sad gleam in her friend’s eyes. She decided it was time they changed the subject. “How is Graham?”
Madilynne sighed. “He’s okay. He’s worried about you. He’s always worried about you. I respect the way he loves you.”
Peyton heard the sadness in her voice, and that’s when she remembered what Callum said to Graham on the phone.
“Make your time with Mads count.”
“Madilynne, what did Callum mean by making Graham’s time with you count on Friday?” Peyton asked.
Madilynne looked away for a second before she met Peyton’s eyes. Her eyes pleaded for Peyton to silence the topic of Graham.