Sometimes Moments (37 page)

His mouth dropped. “Marissa loves June. Is that who you’re talking to?”

Peyton nodded her head. “June, I have a wedding next Saturday. Do you mind performing? We’ll discuss an appearance fee and everything.”

June laughed lightly. “We’re friends, Peyton. I’ll only do it for free. The band and I will be up Saturday morning. See you then!”

“See you then, June.” Peyton hung up with a large grin on her face.

When she looked down at Callum’s rough design, her heart twitched at the sight of The Spencer he had drawn her.

I will make his plan a reality.

E
ight days passed. Eight days of clean-up and planning. Eight days, she spent with him, loving him harder. But those days passed far too quickly. Setting up Marissa and Oliver’s wedding took up most of their time. When he wasn’t with her, Callum was redesigning his rough draft of The Spencer onto blueprints. People in town stopped by the burned remains and offered their condolences, but Peyton kept her head down and thanked them. The town had lost a source of income—that, she was aware of—but she couldn’t dwell too much thought on anything other than the hotel.

Investigators who had searched the remains had put the accident down as an electrical fire that had come from the kitchen. But Peyton knew the source. The dishwasher—the same one Jay was meant to have fixed weeks ago. Peyton hadn’t told them, though. She’d just agreed that the burning of her hotel had been an accident. Jay’s mistake had cost her, but she wouldn’t let him go to jail for faulty electrician work. No matter how much wrong he had done to her.

“That’s going to be you one day,” Jenny whispered.

Peyton looked as Oliver and Marissa danced on the lakeside dance floor. The lanterns on the lake as the sun started to set were breathtakingly beautiful. She couldn’t deny wanting this someday. Wanting the man she’d married to dance with her, their first dance of forever.

Peyton just smiled. In reality, this would just be a dream for her. There was no one else after Callum. Her heart had been stained by his name, and she would rather it that way.

“He can’t keep his eyes off you, even with that bridesmaid in his arms.”

She moved her eyes away from the bride and groom and stared at Callum, who was dancing with Victoria, Marissa’s maid of honour. His eyes were on Peyton. They were filled with an apology she understood. If life and time were working with them, this could have been a possibility for them one day. But they weren’t. Life and time were working against them. Tonight was their last. The ending had finally caught up to them.

“He leaves tomorrow,” Peyton finally said before she looked down at the clipboard.

Thankfully, the hotel in Creswick had been more than happy to help out with the wedding, providing Peyton’s staff with everything they needed to make the wedding happen. Oliver and Marissa married near the path that led to Callum and Peyton’s spot under the large trees. Callum had been right—Marissa had been heartbroken that the hotel had burned to the ground but she didn’t want to change venues. She had just wanted to marry Oliver.

The moment June started setting up with the band, Marissa cried and kissed her new husband like crazy. The song June played was new and heartbreakingly beautiful. The soft sound of the guitar and June’s voice made the song Peyton’s favourite.

Timing got us wrong.

Life put us on show.

Separating all that we knew.

The dark times stole you.

I hid from all I knew.

Waiting for you to find me.

Peyton looked over at Callum the moment she heard June sing and smiled at him. In some ways, she had been waiting for him for all these years. She didn’t take her eyes off him as his lips curved when he caught her staring. Callum blinked once, and without a word, he walked away from Victoria and approached her.

“What are you doing?” Peyton asked as she looked over Callum’s shoulder to see Victoria less than impressed.

“About to dance with the woman I love,” he said, holding out his hand.

She looked down and shook her head. “I’m working, Callum.”

He took the clipboard from her and gave it to Jenny. “I’m sure Jenny doesn’t mind taking over for a bit.”

Peyton turned away from his grin and faced Jenny. The moment she saw Jenny nodding, she rolled her eyes. “Fine. One dance. Then I have to get back to work.”

“Okay,” he said and took her hand.

The way her heart picked up from his touch was one that she would miss come tomorrow. But for tonight, he’d be hers and she’d be his.

Callum pulled her away from the dance floor and up the hill.

“Where are we going? I thought we were dancing?”

He didn’t stop or look her way as he said, “There’s only one place I want to be with you.”

Her heart ached—both in pain and pleasure. She knew where he was taking her. Hand-in-hand, they walked through the path, into the forest, past the circular rock and down the small incline until they reached their spot.

Once they were in the middle of the circle, he brought her close to his body and placed his hand on the small of her back. The music from the wedding was almost like a whisper in the wind as he swayed with her. Nothing else mattered in this moment.

Another sometimes moment.

She smiled at the thought. She would rather sometimes than never. Because Callum’s holding her under the purple and red sky was beautiful. The end was hours away, but she didn’t care. She couldn’t let herself care or she’d taint the rest of the time they had together.

She glanced up to see the frown on his face. “What’s wrong?” she asked.

Callum sighed. “Tomorrow,” he stated.

Peyton took a deep breath and nodded. “Still hours away,” she pointed out.

“It’s still happening, Peyton.”

“I know. Let’s enjoy our last night together.” She smiled, hoping to assure him.

His forehead touched hers as they swayed. “A night full of sometimes moments?”

“A night full of them,” she confirmed and then kissed his chin.

They stopped moving as they took in this moment. If life had been fair, four and a half years would have never come between them.

Peyton closed her eyes and let her ear rest on his chest. His heartbeat was one of her favourite sounds, so she listened to each thump it made as his chest rise and fall with each breath he took.

“I have something for you,” Callum said.

She lifted her head and stood straight, staring at the frown on his face. It wasn’t the look she wanted to see on their last night together. But she took a small step from him and gave him the room he needed anyway.

“Okay,” she said as nervous trembles made their way through her body.

Callum reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out an envelope. When she looked, she saw her name written on it and her heart dipped. Goodbye was coming earlier than she had anticipated. Then a sob formed and lodged in her throat, making breathing and speaking impossible. Her heart decided it would be the perfect time to slow down and throb painfully.

When he handed her the envelope, Peyton blinked at it.

“What is it?” she finally asked. She didn’t look up at him. Instead, she followed each letter of her name.

“Our epilogue,” he said.

What little air that was in her lungs was drawn out by those two words. Her hands shook as her eyes blurred. They were now meeting their end. She had their epilogue in her hands, and her heart smashed into a thousand pieces.

Ours.

She gazed up to see the pain in his eyes before she said, “Read it to me.”

Callum shook his head vigorously. “I can’t do that.”

The agony in his voice had her shaking her head at him. “Then I don’t want it,” she said softly and held it out to him.

I don’t want our conclusion. I don’t want us to end.

Callum wrapped his arms around her and sobbed. “God, all I want is more time with you.”

Her hands were squashed between their bodies as her head rested on his chest. “Then stay,” she said. It was the first time she had asked him to. It wasn’t a thought. It was a vocal plea.

His arms tightened around her once more and his chin rest on the top of her head. “I can’t. I want to more than anything, but I can’t.”

As they stood still for longer than they should have, she memorised the feel of him breathing, the feel of his body on hers, and the way she fit in his arms. Peyton knew she’d memorise them in her room for the last time tonight, but right now, she memorised them in their spot. The one spot in the whole world that held their love, the one spot where life made sense to them both, and the one spot where she felt whole and true. The one place in the whole world full of their sometimes moments.

“Promise me something,” she said and looked up at his jaw.

Callum took a sharp breath before his eyes focused on her and said, “For you, Peyton, anything.”

“It’s two promises.”

He nodded. “Okay. What’s the first one?”

It was her turn to inhale deeply. These promises had constantly lingered her thoughts over for the last few days. It was a thought she had known that she’d have to voice.

“Promise me you’ll find someone to love you more than I could. You know how much I love you, and if someone can love you more than I do…then keep her. Have forever moments with her. Promise me that,” she begged.

“I-I.” He sighed. “I promise to keep her forever. What’s your second promise?”

Peyton took a step away from him and looked at his note one last time before she met his cautious stare. “I will read this when you leave if you promise you’ll give me a goodbye.”

He tensed and his fists balled tight beside his body. He didn’t say anything as he looked at her. The agony that filled his eyes almost had her retracting her requests. She wanted his pain gone, but she had thought of her closure first. She needed closure in order to live a life without him.

“I promise,” he said before he hung his head.

Peyton inched forward, placed the letter in his pocket, then cupped his face. “I mean it, Callum. I don’t want to wake up and find that you left me at some point during the night. I deserve a goodbye. You and I both know that.”

He looked up at her and nodded. “I know you do, Peyton. You always deserved one. I was a coward last time. This time, I’ll do it right. I promise.”

She kissed him slowly enough to remind herself of the pain in her chest. If she let his mouth quicken or deepen their kiss, she’d never get back to the wedding and goodbye would be far more impossible.

Then she pulled back. “Thank you. We better get back or Jenny will kill me.”

She didn’t let him say anything as she took his hand and led him out of the forest.

Goodbye, Callum. Goodbye, forever, and goodbye, my heart.