Page 37 of Until He Confesses

Callie: So, you truly gave it to me as payment?

I smiled then because I could now understand what bothered her.

Me: It wasn’t payment for being with me last night.

Callie: Then why aren’t you willing to take it back? I don’t feel good about keeping it. I had fun and it was my decision to accept the amount, but it has served its purpose. I don’t need or want your money.

I understood what she was saying, however, my guests were arriving, and I needed to wrap up.

Me: Alright. But just for the record, I’m extending an invitation for you to indulge in a casual relationship with me whenever you please. It’ll be fun and it’ll be safe. Contact me whenever you're interested. You have my number.

I set the phone down but still couldn’t convince myself that I felt completely satisfied with the conclusion.

But still, it was something. And as the evening wore on, I realized sadly, that I’d rather have something with her no matter how brief than for today to be the last time we would interact with each other.

15

CALLIE

“Are you alright?” Julianne asked just as she came out of the mirrored Zara dressing room.

At first, I didn’t understand why she was asking me this, but then I looked at my reflection in the mirror and saw the myriad of emotions on my face. It exactly matched to my surprise, how I felt inside. I put the phone away and smiled at her.

“Well, I just turned down a million dollars,” I said, and she laughed.

“How does this look?” she asked. “It’s a bit too tight in the hip area but if I get a bigger size then the whole thing will be ill-fitting and way too long.”

I didn’t know what to say so I just nodded and tried to think of a solution. Eventually, she gave up on the jumpsuit and we paid for our purchases and were on our way to a different store.

I was no longer in the mood for shopping and so the moment it neared lunchtime I led her to a restaurant, and we rested there. Afterward, I returned to my room and went to bed.

When I awoke, I received a message from Anna.

Anna: How did it go?

Me: Ruined my vacation. I don’t want to talk about it anymore.

Anna: Alright. As long as you didn’t do anything you’ll regret.

At her words, I sighed but eventually asked myself the same question. It had nothing to do with the money but everything to do with the proposition he had extended to me.

If I said no, would I regret it? And what would be my reason for doing so beyond the fact that I was taking things more seriously than I needed to.

But then intimate relationships of this sort were serious to me. I had never taken them casually and didn’t intend to start now, especially with the only person that I had truly been in love with but yet had broken my heart.

And so eventually, I made up my mind and it was to completely and once again kick Lucas out of my life.

The next day in the city was my last, so I tried my best to spend the time enjoying every bit of it as I could. We went shopping again but this time around it involved sightseeing the big brand shops and contemplating what we could splurge on or not.

None of these ended in excitement and every time Julianne mentioned how handy the ‘hypothetical’ one million I had returned would have come in handy, I had to laugh in order to cover whatever expression would be on my face because I couldn’t detect it. At one point it was amusement and at another, I would feel a deep sense of loss that I hadn’t felt in so long.

Eventually, it was time to fly back and even though I was well aware that I wouldn’t see him on the flight, I was still nervous right until the very moment I met the new client and we took off.

16

LUCAS

Icouldn’t recall the last time I had been to a store, not to mention even looking around for goods or purchasing anything.