The Calum by Xio Axelrod Read Free Book Online Page B

sea in
some warm climate. But the sea didn’t stare back at you the way
Duff was then. He searched her face, the wistful smile that had
touched his lips fading.
    “ She was never the same
after we left Inverness.”
    “ After your dad?” Left? Died? She wanted
to ask, but hesitated.
    He seemed to snap out of
his daze. “Er...yeah.” Emotions flickered across his face like home
movies. He had some heavy stuff on his mind, but it was clear that
he didn’t like to talk about it. It was just as clear that he
needed to. It hung in the air between them, whatever it
was.
    Duff leaned forward,
resting his elbows against the railing, and stared down at the
rocks below.
    “ Did he...” Lovie edged
closer. “Was there someone else?”
    He glanced up, his eyes
narrowing in thought. “Yeah, in a way.” A sound from below drew his
attention, and he lifted his camera to capture it. Lovie didn’t
care what it was. She was far more interested in what made this man
tick. “The only person he ever cared about was himself. The rest of
us were just baggage, ye ken.”
    “ I’m sorry.”
    “ Water under the bridge,
and such.” Duff squinted out over the horizon. Hardness edged into
his voice. “It’s just hard to come back here.” She understood that
perfectly.
    “ I know what you
mean.”
    Lovie hadn’t meant to
speak her thoughts aloud. He turned those bright eyes to
her.
    “ And your
parents?”
    “ Mine are still together.”
She snapped a photo of nothing in particular. “On paper, they’re
the perfect couple.”
    “ But it isna so in
reality?”
    “ They seem content enough,
I just always felt like something was missing between them. They
married young, maybe too young, and grew apart I think. But they
stayed together.”
    “ For you?”
    She nodded. “Maybe. I like
to think not.”
    “ Why d'you say
that?”
    Lovie thought of all the
forced smiles and false courtesy at their dinner table. She’d never
seen any sign of affection between her mother and father. They
loved her, of course, and raised her with a lot of joy. They just
had none for each other.
    “ If I ever get married, I
want it to be about more than just duty and obligation. It’s not
that my parents don’t love each other, I’m sure they do, in their
own way. It’s just that neither of them seems
fulfilled.”
    Duff shrugged and unpacked
his tripod, extending the legs. “It takes more than another person
to fulfill you.”
    “ I know that, but having
someone that you love, that loves you. Someone that will be there
for you no matter what, and not because they think they have to be.
That’s what I’d want.”
    “ You’re a romantic.” Duff
grinned over his shoulder.
    Lovie smiled. “Maybe, a
little. I do believe that sometimes there’s a spark that happens
between two people that you...you can’t explain. It just happens.
And then they’re just...in sync.” She shook her head. “I
dunno.”
    “ Aye, but you do. Don’t
you?” Duff focused that intense blue gaze on her. He stared for so
long that Lovie began to shiver. He had a way of affecting her that
she didn’t understand. “Are ye cold?”
    “ No.” She wrapped her arms
around herself.
    “ Mmmph.” He smiled, the
sun glinting off his perfect teeth, and nodded over her head.
“That’s why I wanted to come today. Why I come here often, when I’m
home.” Grateful for the change in subject, Lovie turned to take in
the sunset.
    Scotland was just one
Kodak moment after another. In the distance, the sky was a riot of
purples and blues, dipping into the pinks and golds that kissed the
horizon. She was breathless, taking it all in. And cursing herself
for having such a shitty camera.
    She took a photo. “It’s so
beautiful.”
    “ Aye. ‘Tis.”
    Lovie turned back to find
Duff still staring at her with that knowing smile. His eyes
sparkled in the fading sunlight. She forgot to breathe and then
inhaled too quickly, dizzy from the lack of oxygen. Or him.
Probably