Page 79 of Echoes of a Silent Song
With his blond hair, surfer tan, and cocksure stage presence, he hadn’t changed at all.If it weren’t for the fact that she sat in the audience withCallum instead of onstage at the piano, she’d have thought herself right back in school.
She picked up her pace, her heels clicking against the parquet floor, and hoped Callum would follow her.Because as much fun as this trip down memory lane had been, she was ready for it to be over.Enough of the past.She wanted to hop back into the car with Callum and go grab dessert somewhere and be in the present.Get Callum’s thoughts on the music.Not the performers, but the actual music, from a compositional standpoint.She’d never been close to a composer before, and the opportunity to get that perspective on things fascinated her.
Okay, Callum himself fascinated her.More so every minute.Especially when she’d trauma-dumped about Derek, and Callum put his arm around her and told her he was sorry.
Everyone in her life kept pushing her to get over it, move past it, stop clinging to it.And they were right, of course.She needed to.But Callum, who frankly had the most reason to urge her to get past her pain, hadn’t done that.He hadn’t tried to yank her onto dry ground but had instead paused for a moment in the muck with her.
Maybe because he’d been through the muck himself.Rayne’s death.Derek’s infidelity.Both had resulted in deep wounds and the stark realization that a promised, cherished, hoped-for future had vanished like mist.
Whatever the reason for his compassion, it meant the world to her.Most likely it had also started to heal some of the broken places in her heart.She’d have to tell him that.And she would, as soon as they got out of this crowded lobby and someplace quiet.As soon as—
“Blair?”
Oh, crap.She knew that voice.
Part of her wanted to pretend she hadn’t heard it, grab Callum’s hand, and sprint for the exit.
But the other part forced her to stop walking and turn around to face the past she longed to forget.
“Hello, Derek.”
And there he stood.In the flesh.The person who’d ripped her heart from her chest and stomped on it.The reason she’d become so defensiveand closed off.He was standing right there.The ten or so feet between them shimmered with all their moments.The ecstasy.The heartbreak.
“I knew it was you.”Too-white teeth flashed in an easy smile.“I’d know that red hair a mile away.”
Then he was in front of her, leaning in for a hug.Like they were college pals who’d lost touch for a few years rather than people who’d planned a life together before he torpedoed it.
On sheer instinct, she stepped into his arms.Returned his embrace.
And she felt nothing.
He brushed his lips against her cheek, a ghostly echo of the past.
Still she felt nothing.
She feltnothing.
Callum appeared to her right and extended a hand to Derek.“Callum Knight.Wonderful concert.”
Derek’s eyes widened.“Wait a minute.TheCallum Knight?Oh, man.I’ve loved your work for a long time.The Cambridge Chamber Chorale ...they were an incredible choir.And your compositions are genius.I’m honored to be in such elite company right now.”
Wait, was Derek sucking up to Callum?
He totally was.And Callum picked up on it.The glimmers of amusement in the glances he shot her way confirmed that they’d be laughing about it later.
Yet again she was Derek’s stepping stone.That was all she’d ever been.Just a rung on the ladder to his finding something better.In this case it was a professional connection.He hadn’t wanted to reconnect with her at all.He must have recognized Callum and wanted to use her to meet him.
In the past that would have hurt.But now she just wanted to laugh.Because now she didn’t care.
Derek Fogarty in the flesh, and she didn’t care.She felt nothing for him whatsoever.She could walk away without giving him another thought.
Quietly, when she hadn’t been paying attention, she’d been set free.
When had God healed her heart?When had he set her free?How long had she been acting like she was still in a cage while in reality the door had been open and she could’ve walked out anytime she wanted?
All this time she’d been angry with God for taking Derek away from her.But God hadn’t been holding out on her.He’d been protecting her.She’d dodged a bullet by not marrying Derek, and at last she could let their relationship go.She wasn’t grateful he’d cheated, but she was grateful his true nature had come to light before she’d tied herself to him for life.
She felt like falling to her knees in gratitude right there in the lobby, right there in the middle of Derek and Callum and two thousand other people.Instead she slipped her hand in Callum’s.Twined her fingers with his.
