Page 77 of The Matchmaker
“Who?”
“Callum.”
“Callum’s here?” I look back to the barn and suddenly see him and another man carrying a large piece concrete out of the ruins. “What are they doing?”
“They’re putting it back together,” she says, a grudging note of respect in her voice. “I think he roped in a few of the guys from the site to help.”
“But…why?” I ask, bewildered. “They can’t put it back together. They half knocked it down.”
“I know. I think he’s making a point.”
A point? I glance back as Callum directs a digger forward, filling up one of the giant holes that they created yesterday.
“Surely he’s going to get into trouble for that?”
“I think that’s part of the point.”
“But why is he…” I trail off as Callum turns around, catching sight of me.
“Oh boy,” Gemma mutters, as he starts toward us. A traitorous lick of heat swipes through me at the sight of him. Nush says he’s been out here for hours and at the sight of him, I believe it. He’s filthy. And sweaty. He discarded his jacket at some point and his T-shirt sticks to his skin in a way that—
“Hey!”
My visual appreciation is cut off as he grabs my hand, tugging me into the woods.
“Callum!”
He doesn’t answer, and Gemma just shrugs when I glance back at her. Nush is already directing the others to keep working, leaving me on my own.
He doesn’t go far, just deep enough that no one can see us when he lets me go, rounding on me with a determined look that I shouldnotfind as attractive as I do in this moment.
“I should have told you about Jack,” he says, before I can snap at him. “That’s on me, and I’m sorry. It was a mistake. And yeah, I can pretend it’s because that’s how it is with everyone, but really, it’s because I knew once you found out, you’d probably never speak to me again. And I didn’t want that, so I didn’t tell you. And you were right. What you said yesterday about how it doesn’t matter if I want to see you? You were right. It doesn’t matter if my actions don’t back it up. So I made a decision. And my decision is you. I choose you.”
I blink at him, my brain trying to grapple with everything that’s happening today. “You chose me?”
He nods, his eyes bright with purpose and possibly an energy drink or two. “I quit my job.”
“You can’t do that!”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s yourjob.”
“I’ve been thinking about doing it for a while,” he says, using his arm to wipe the sweat from his brow. “A long while actually. I don’t like these big projects. I was doing it for Jack. Because it’s always been easier to say yes to him. Because it’s what I’ve always done. But I wasn’t happy.”
“But what about money?”
“I’ve got savings.”
“But what about—”
“It might not have been the best timing, but it was the right decision, Katie. Believe me.”
I do believe him. How can I not when he’s practically vibrating just from making it. Like a weight has been lifted from his chest. Like he’s never been surer of anything in his life.
All the despair I felt yesterday has vanished after this morning, and all the anger before that has faded into a childish sulkiness, one that eases the longer he looks at me.
“You really weren’t trying to seduce me?”
