Peyton glanced at Callum’s grave before she looked back at Graham. “Austria. I’m going for the both of us.”
“That’s beautiful, Peyton.” Graham looped his arm around hers. “Ready to say goodbye?”
Peyton shook her head. “Never, but I’ll try.”
She took a shaky step towards the freshly covered grave. Then she swallowed hard at the sight of his headstone, his name carved into the stone.
When she reached Callum’s final resting place, Graham set the lavender on a clear spot, the countless flowers proving that he was a man loved by many.
“You loved her right, Callum. I’ll take care of her for you and I’ll keep her out of trouble. You’ll be missed, mate. Thank you for Madilynne. Thank you for making Peyton smile and laugh again. And thank you for coming back for her,” Graham said before he took a few steps back to give her some time with him.
Peyton set the bundle of cherry blossoms on top of his headstone and sat on the wet grass. As she stared at his name, her heart ached to see it mark his grave.
“I miss you. Words can’t express the pain and misery I feel. I love you, and saying it over and over again will never bring you back. I get why you didn’t tell me. I hated and loved that you didn’t. I get why you left the first time. Your mother said you wanted to leave once you found out about your tumour because you didn’t want me to see you suffer. And I also get why you left the second time. Graham’s right—you loved me right, Callum Reid. I promise to live a good and happy life for the both of us. Life is never fair, but you taught me it’s what you do with it because life is purely a cluster of sometimes moments. When they’re grouped together, they are the beautiful forever moments of your life.
“Thank you for our sometimes moments, Callum. They were beautiful and unforgettable. They are my forever moments. I like to believe that we were living the forever the universe was depriving us of. We made it to forever, Callum. And forever had never been so beautiful than when it was you.”
There were no tears. The reflection of their love and time together had her smiling lightly.
“I made it out of Daylesford. I didn’t get far, but I got past the signs thanks to Jenny. She misses you. So does Mads and Graham. But I miss you the most. I’m trying to live a happy life, but it’s been hard since you left. But you left behind reasons for me to keep going and find happiness in what I have. We had a love that most people will never experience. I’ll visit you in my dreams when I’m not in the city. I love you always. This isn’t me saying goodbye forever, not when I can see you and feel you in our sometimes moments,” Peyton said as she stood up.
She stared at the cherry blossoms her uncle had helped pick from her tree. They were beautiful and bright pink, a symbolism of him.
“Goodbye, Callum, my love.”
Peyton spun around to see Madilynne and Jenny talking to Graham. When they looked at her, Peyton smiled. They were her family. People who supported her through every loss and every pain she experienced. What she did from now on was for them and Callum.
“There’s somewhere I want to go before we head back to town if that’s okay?” Peyton asked once she walked to them.
“Wherever you want to go today and any day of your life, we’ll get you there,” Jenny said, a tear running down her cheek.
Looking down at her left hand and then her wrist, she nodded to herself. She glanced up at the clearing sky and breathed out.
God, if you’re listening, thank you for him. Thank you for Callum Reid.
“Six days, Callum. That’s how many days it’s been since I felt your last breath.”
Peyton sat at the end of her bed, holding the framed picture of his written love. Some days, she cried, and some days, she didn’t. On the rare occasion that she didn’t cry, she felt guilty that she wasn’t crying. People from the town still stopped by, but Peyton never answered the door. Her aunt still sent them away, asking for more time. Her uncle would stop by for a daily joke that would actually make her laugh, but then Peyton would stay in bed.
The feel of him was starting to disappear. He was becoming just a memory, and she hated it. She wanted to physically feel him breathe and move. She wished she had seen the signs of his failing health sooner; then she wouldn’t have had him work on the hotel. They’d have spent his last days together with no care. But Peyton knew Callum hadn’t wanted her to put her life on hold for him. She believed that was why he’d left town at seventeen, when he was first diagnosed.
Peyton placed the picture on her bed and turned her wrist over, following the letters she’d had tattooed on her skin.
Callum.
In her own handwriting, his name branded her skin just like her heart. The night after the funeral, she’d held her bandaged wrist to her chest, hoping somewhere he’d felt her love for him.