Seaside Manor Bed and Breakfast - Lilly Mirren Page 0,66
and eliciting a groan from her empty stomach. She carried the last platter of food into the dining room, checked that each guest had everything they needed, left Sondra in charge, and hurried back to the kitchen to begin the clean-up.
“It smells amazing in here,” said Ethan, coming in through the back door with a grin.
He walked over to her, laced his arms around her waist and kissed her soft on the lips. A shiver ran through her body, delicious and bursting with anticipation.
She wasn’t used to it yet, this closeness with him. It was new, unexpected and she’d woken that morning with a smile on her lips even before her alarm had broken the quiet.
“Good morning,” she said, a shyness to her voice she hadn’t felt in years.
“Great morning,” he replied with another kiss, this one lingering and sending goosebumps up her arms and down her legs.
“Hungry?” she asked.
He nodded. “I don’t know what you made, but I can’t wait to try it. My stomach is almost inside out after my surf this morning. I’m so hungry.”
She laughed. “Surfing seems to do that to you.”
He followed her around the kitchen as she piled food onto two plates, then set them on the table. He sat next to her and reached for a fork.
After a mouthful of the cranberry bread, she decided that she’d have to add it to the regular breakfast schedule. With a thick layer of butter on one side, it melted in her mouth, bursting with savoury flavours with a hint of sour from the berries.
When her phone rang, she shook her head. Of course someone would want to talk to her when her mouth was full and her stomach empty.
She answered around a mouthful of bread. “Hello?”
“Emily, how are you babe?”
Callum. She hadn’t heard from him in so long she’d almost forgotten about the way he’d left her, the pain he’d caused. But for some reason, hearing his voice didn’t bring back that same sting it once had.
“Hi Callum, I’m great, thanks. And you?”
“Good… I’m glad to hear you’re going well. Have you thought about when you’ll come up to Airlie beach? I miss you, babe.”
She shook her head. “I’m not coming. I told you that, but I don’t think you were listening. As usual.”
“What?” his voice morphed into a snarl. “What’s going on with you? You’ve changed or something? This isn’t like you.”
“This is exactly like me, Callum. I don’t want to come up there, we’re finished. That’s all.”
“At least tell me where you are so I can come and talk to you about this. I hate doing it over the phone.” He huffed and for a moment she felt bad for him.
“I’m in Emerald Cove, but don’t come here. It won’t change anything.”
“Isn’t that where your family lives?” he asked.
She smiled. He’d remembered something she’d told him about herself at least. “Yes, that’s right.”
“So… why are you staying there? What about us, about me?”
She sighed. “Callum, I’m sorry — things between us aren’t going to work out. We don’t suit each other, we’re too different.”
“It didn’t seem that way when we were together,” he complained. “I don’t understand…”
“I saw the drugs, Callum. I found them in your jeans pocket right before you left. You always told me you didn’t do drugs, that the others were involved but it wasn’t for you. You knew how I felt about it, how much I hated it. And you lied to me.”
He didn’t answer right away, she knew he’d be considering his words carefully. That’s how he responded whenever he was cornered — carefully, slowly.
“They weren’t mine…”
“Don’t try that with me. I asked around, turns out you were not only doing them you were dealing as well.”
He laughed. “Well, I guess I couldn’t keep it from you forever, although it took you long enough to open your eyes. You were always so clueless.”
Emily shook her head. How had she ever fallen for someone with so much disdain for her, someone who’d treat her that way? But he was right, she’d been naive for far too long. Perhaps she hadn’t wanted to see the man he was because she had no one else.
“You were my family for a long time, Callum. I loved you… or at least I thought I did. But it’s time to put that all behind us. I wish you only the best.”
He grunted. “Yeah, you too, babe. You too.”
She hung up the phone, leaning against the kitchen bench with a sigh, her eyes squeezed shut.