Chapter 7

"You came…." Was all he could manage to get out.

"I did…." She smiled sweetly at him before looking down at his feet. "Nice boots." She said playfully.

Their eyes met briefly before they both chuckled nervously.

"I was surprised to hear from you...." She said nervously, tucking her hair behind her ear before using the oversized jacket to wrap herself tighter. Callum wasn't sure if it was her nerves or the cold, but he saw the window of opportunity regardless.

He strode toward her, a little more enthusiastically than intended, and draped a large blanket over her shoulders. She looked up at him and smiled gratefully.

"Here, come sit by the fire. I wasn't entirely prepared for how cold an April evening here would be...."

He deliberately avoided her first question. The truth is, he was angry at her for a time after she left. But it didn't take long for him to realise she could never stray far from his good graces. All he wanted was her happiness, and if she found that without him, he accepted that. Well, for a while.

They sat together on the bench seat by the fire. Knees touching lightly as they sipped on mulled cider. He delighted in the way she appreciated a drink with all her senses. How she inhaled the scent of things and before going in for the taste. As she breathed in the notes of pear and cinnamon, her nose crinkled most adorably before she closed her eyes and savoured the aroma for a few moments before taking a slow sip.

"I thought you would hate me, you know, for leaving...."

"I could never hate you, Soph. I was angry for a time. But mostly, I just missed you with every fibre of my being."

He felt her hand on his leg, just above his knee, warm from holding the cider. He instinctively placed his over hers.

"You wrote about us... You wrote our story."

"I did. My therapist thought it might give me closure...." he chuckled to himself.

"And did it?"

"Not even close. But I was determined to leave you be. Until I started getting the letters...."

"Letters?"

"Aye. The letters from my adoring fans. I never intended to tell the story to the world, but I didn't want it kept entirely to myself either. The handful of people reading gradually became... more than a handful. It turns out we had the kind of story people wanted to read about. And the really invested ones started sending me letters...."

Sophie sat mesmerised as she listened to Callum. She had forgotten what a melody his rich Scottish accent was to her ears. He'd always had a knack for storytelling. It didn't surprise her in the slightest to find he'd become an author.

She listened intently as he told her about the letters he started receiving, pleading for him to find her.

"Love like that doesn't stop… ever." One of them had said. Callum told her that was the moment he knew that if after all this time he still loved her, then there was a real chance she still loved him too, and one way or another, he was determined to find out.