Sometimes Moments (30 page)

The concept was just what The Spencer-Dayle needed. It would be as beautiful as it had been when her parents had run the place. Callum Reid was her saviour.

Peyton frowned the moment she saw the sullen expression on his face. “What’s wrong?” she asked.

Callum scratched his head and his shoulders sagged. “I’m leaving Daylesford tonight.”

No.

Peyton held the design tighter, almost ripping it. She had expected him to leave sometime, but the breathtaking ache in her chest proved that she wasn’t ready for him to go. Their ending had caught up with them. He would be gone in a matter of hours.

She placed the paper in her lap and said, “Okay.”

She wasn’t sure what else to say, but her eyes had started to water. Blinking quickly, she gave him a smile. When she went to stand up, Callum grabbed her wrist to stop her and pulled her into his arms. He held her tight against his chest, and that’s when the tears she tried to prevent started to roll down her cheeks. She would now know a life without him.

Peyton wrapped her arms around his waist. It would be for the last time, and she’d memorise it and reflect on it later in life.

“It’s only for the rest of the weekend,” he said.

Peyton pulled back and stared at him. “What?”

Callum’s hands cupped her face before his thumbs wiped away her tears. “Tonight’s Oliver’s bachelor party.”

Relief poured through her. The end had once again been prolonged. She needed him for bit longer. Her heart wasn’t ready to let him go just yet.

“I thought...” she managed out before she shook her head.

“We have until the wedding,” he reminded her. Then he pushed back her hair and kissed her lips once.

“What time are you leaving?”

“I have to stop by my apartment before I see Oliver. I would need to leave town at about four.”

Her eyebrows furrowed. “That’s in two hours.”

“Yeah. I’m sorry. I’ve spent the week trying to tell you, but I thought I’d give you space. And then, well...” He stopped, referring to their confessions and the sex between them.

“I have you for two hours.”

He nodded. “You do. I’m at your mercy, Peyton Spencer. What do you want to do for two hours?”

The grin on his face had her rolling her eyes. Peyton stood up and looked down at him. “I’d like you to hold me for two hours.”

It surprised her to see his grin grow larger.

“I can do that. I
want
to do that.”

Callum stood up and threaded his fingers with hers. She peeked at and then smiled at their connection. Her heart approved of their hand holding with heavy beats against her ribcage.

“Bedroom or couch?” he asked with a raised brow.

“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.”

P
eyton 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.

The sad look had Peyton feeling guilty and realising that for a long time she had been pushing Graham to the wrong person. For years, she believed their high school friend, Krista, was the one Graham had been in love with. “It was never about Krista, was it?”

Madilynne shook her head. “The moment Graham saw you on that bench, it was game over for us. He wanted to protect you. We let you believe it was Krista. And when I found out about the promise ring, I hated you. But I knew it could be the chance for you to smile again. I told him to stay here in Daylesford. You needed him.”

I’m a misfortune to people’s lives.

Peyton hung her head and let out a sigh. She had been selfish all these years. She truly did deserve to be lonely.

“I’m so sorry that I took him from you, Madilynne. I didn’t know. I was pushing him to pursue Krista. Had I known it was you… I’m sorry. You had every right to hate me and still hate me.”

Madilynne let out a laugh. “You’re my best friend. I was envious. We decided not to start anything because you needed us. We couldn’t upset you. We lost you for a long time. Graham somehow brought you back. That’s why I made him stay.”

Peyton gave her a tight smile. Madilynne and Graham had sacrificed a relationship together for her. This time, there would be no more sacrificing.

She looked Madilynne in the eye and breathed out, “Please tell me you both made your time together on the farm count?”

Madilynne’s cheeks reddened. She never blushed. “You mean did we have sex?”

Peyton nodded.

“We made our time together count. We felt guilty because we couldn’t get to you since we had drunk a little. And well, we kissed and you know how sex works.”

She should have been sick at the thought of her two best friends hooking up, but Peyton was relieved. She didn’t think she could live with the guilt for the rest of her life. That she was the one to prevent them from being together.

“Do you love him?” Peyton asked.

“Yes. But I love you more. That’s why it could only be a one-time thing.”

Peyton ignored what Madilynne had said. She refused to believe that it was. “Do something for me.”

“You know I would do anything for you, Peyton.”

She smiled, knowing that Madilynne had sacrificed more than she should for her. “You get him the hell out of Daylesford and off that farm. Take him to the city with you.”

Madilynne let out a sigh. “He won’t leave without you. He’ll never leave if you don’t.”

Peyton gave Madilynne a smile before she said, “We’ll figure it out. I owe you both it.”

“No you don’t, Peyton. We chose this for us.”

Before Peyton could argue, a knock on the door had her lifting her eyes. Her breath caught the moment she looked at Jay. He didn’t have a smooth, relaxed expression on his face. Instead, he was a brute version of what she had known of him.

“Mads, your daddy’s looking for you. He’s down at the pub,” Jay said.

Madilynne leant forward, and Peyton met her eyes. “Unlike Jay or Graham, I approve of Callum. You never have to explain yourself to any of us,” Madilynne softly said. Then she got up from the chair and walked out the door.

Peyton’s eyes locked with Jay’s. She expected him to turn and follow Madilynne out of the hotel. But Jay took a step into her office. And then another, continuing until he was standing in front of her.

“I’m sorry to do this to you, Peyton. But you need a little perspective,” Jay said. Hate laced in his voice.

Peyton’s eyebrows furrowed. “What do you—”

Jay interrupted her by pulling out a folded bundle of papers and dropping it on her desk. Confused, Peyton picked up the papers and opened it. Her heart sank the moment she looked at what was written.

Termination of Contract for Breach.