Chapter 21

Chapter Twenty-One

Latin music poured through the office as Callum opened the door and he slipped through. Through the open doorway that led to the back room, he saw his mum sweeping the floor of the kitchenette that they used to make the morning breakfasts. Sophia sat near the counter, eating from a plate of gallo pinto .

They both stopped quickly as Callum came through the doorway to the back room.

Mum set the broom against the wall and smiled. "Callum. You're not at the party?"

"Obviously not."

Sophia rolled her eyes. "Same old Callum." She nodded toward a plastic food storage container on the counter. " Gallo pinto ? We have a lot left over that your mum made this morning."

The thought unsettled him. "They didn't tell you they were doing this breakfast instead of the included one?"

"Ah, not until this morning," Mum said and smiled pleasantly, nonetheless. "Not that I blame them. The breakfast looks beautiful. Muy elegante."

"You know the Camdens, Mum. They like their posh creature comforts." Which is why agreeing to help Liddy with this plan feels foolish and pointless.

"It's been so long since I visited their house . . ." Mum shook her head, blinking away the memories. "That feels like a different lifetime."

"It was probably twenty years ago." Callum scanned his mum's face.

He knew little about his parents' divorce or why they had fallen apart as a family. He'd long suspected his American stepmother had played a role—Dad had quickly moved to Connecticut after the divorce—but Callum had never cared to ask. But his parents were good at co-parenting and hadn't spoken disparagingly about each other, and given his mother's Latina tendency to speak her mind, he probably would know about it by now if it had been an affair.

"Listen, Liddy wants me to see if I can find some tours and a bus that might come today and pick up all the wedding guests." He checked his watch. "In two hours."

"In two hours?" Sophia exchanged a look with Mum. "I don't know if that's possible. What's the rush?"

Callum hooked his thumbs into the belt loops of his shorts. "It's Liddy's last-ditch effort to help everyone here have a ‘magical and fun time' and stop the Camdens from moving the whole wedding to The Four Seasons tomorrow."

Mum gasped. "They're leaving?"

Shit.

He hadn't meant to be so imprudent.

But the Camdens should have told Mum.

Maybe they were waiting until after everything was confirmed before they did. Or maybe Liddy was right—Elle and Quinn hadn't completely signed off on the new plans yet and there was still time to turn things around.

His voice was softer as he said, "They might be."

"But your girlfriend said they were having a good time." Mum set her hands on her hips.

"They are, Mum. I just think maybe the Camdens are less of the ‘unplug and commune with nature' types and more of the ‘serve me my cocktails on my beach lounger' types. And you know how Arthur had that stroke several years ago. I don't think they've gone on many holidays since then."

Mum teared up. Without another word, she scurried away from the office, the door slamming behind her as she wiped tears away.

Fantastic.

Just what I needed.

Sophia was quiet as she stood. She moved over to a clean stack of plates and then uncovered the gallo pinto , spooning it out onto a plate. Approaching him, she held out the plate. "I guess we should try to help your girlfriend. If she's the only one trying to help us, anyway."

"It's not personal, Sophia." He took the plate from her. "I didn't say I wanted this."

She rolled her eyes. "Then throw it out. It'll get thrown out anyway if no one eats it. But it used to be your favorite, and you haven't had your mum's cooking for a while, so you may as well have some."

He hated that she was right. Grabbing a fork, he dug in and took a bite. The taste transported him instantly—like so many foods had the last few days—to easy days. Better days. Mornings of gallo pinto and surfing. Days playing football. Nights that included sneaking bottles of Imperial beer and kisses with the girl he'd thought would be the love of his life.

The thought of it made him feel sick.

Reminded him of other things, too.

Of being in so much pain that he couldn't see straight.

Of losing the contract that had promised him three million pounds and a place in the international football league.

Arduous days and nights, having to practically relearn how to fucking walk again and years of physical therapy.

And the one bright spot in his life becoming the deepest hole of darkness he'd ever experienced.

Goddamn Liddy for making me do this.

"Can you help me?" he asked, setting the fork down. He couldn't look at Sophia.

"Yes. There are some good new tours in town. I think horseback riding for the older couples—the horses are gentle—and maybe four-by-four jungle treks for the younger crowd. Dividing the group will make it easier for an afternoon activity on such short notice. Then everyone can meet back up and go on a sunset catamaran party cruise and see dolphins." Sophia slid a laptop over from the counter and opened it.

"Maybe something other than horse riding, too? In case there are people with physical disabilities. Arthur Camden had a stroke several years ago, so I'm not sure if he'll be up for riding a horse."

"Ah, yes, and the grandmother, too."

Callum smirked. "I'm fairly sure Granny will opt for riding in a UTV. Driving it, if she can."

Sophia clicked a few keys on her laptop. "A wild macaw tour in Punta Islita maybe?"

"That could work."

"I'll set it all up. What time do you want the tour bus here? And how do you want to pay?"

Oh fuck. Payment.

He gritted his teeth. He hadn't gotten this far in the planning with Liddy. She probably hadn't even thought about how expensive it all would be or that the extremely wealthy Camden family didn't have to blink twice to order something like a butterfly excursion and pay for everyone.

He could go to Liddy and tell her about it, but he'd been an arse. The conversation from the room had made him want to put a fist through a wall. The conflict inside him was sufficient torment.

But the hurt that had flashed on her face was enough to make him want to do some form of penance.

Not to mention, Liddy probably couldn't afford it, and he couldn't very well go to Quinn or the Camdens.

Callum sighed and dug a credit card out from his wallet. "Here. Put it on this."

Sophia gave him a skeptical look, then nodded. "You must really like her," she said with a shake of her head.

Like her? How could I not? But Lydia Winnick would always deserve more than Callum could give.

"I do."

Sophia took the credit card. "Callum. Tía wouldn't want me telling you this, but . . . things at La Hacienda haven't been going well lately. The bigger hotel chains in Guanacaste have been making things harder for us smaller places."

Sophia shifted her gaze out the door to where his mum had gone. "So we're thinking of selling. She had high hopes for this wedding, especially because the Camdens are an important family and Elle Winnick is a famous singer. Thought it would be good on the website. That's why she's so upset."

Selling La Hacienda?

Callum met Sophia's gaze. He didn't want to take pity on her, but he also couldn't help it.

They'd both been children when his mum and her mum, who he'd called Tía Carmen, had bought this place. Nothing had been here. But property had still been cheap, and they'd had a dream. The first night, they'd all camped out near the beach in a tent.

And as a child, he'd been just as excited as his mum. Isla, too.

"I'm not sure a pseudo-celebrity wedding could turn things around that much, Sophia. This place is run-down, even for a place boasting rustic charm."

"I know that." Sophia gave him a sad smile. "But that didn't stop Tía from hoping. You know how much she loves it here. And it's one of the few things she has left."

The pang of guilt that went through him was visceral despite his immediate rejection of it. Is this why Mum wants to talk to me?

He could see her doing something like that. Asking him to step in and help save the business. Or even Isla—even though his thespian sister barely scraped by.

"Mum can't expect Isla or me to bail her out if that's what she's hoping."

Sophia gave him a hard look. "No one's suggesting that. I was just explaining to you why she's upset. You know, you used to be a nice person. Someone who didn't turn his back on the people he loved."

"Well, a certain woman I loved ruined the whole concept of love for me. So there's that."

Sophia gave him a look of disbelief. "And does your girlfriend know that? That you're just this...this loveless man? Because you might want to tell her before she moves halfway across the world for you and then gets treated like dirt—even though she does everything for you and tries to take care of you. But no. You couldn't appreciate it because you were too angry about never being able to play football again. You didn't care about any of the good things you had left in your life."

She raised her chin defiantly. "I'm not justifying what I did, Callum, but I was twenty-three years old, and I was in London, alone—completely alone. And the only people I saw were your friends. How could I have time for anything else when I was so busy taking care of you? Because even though you were there, you weren't. The person you were? He didn't get his leg broken. He got his spirit crushed. Destroyed. He was gone. He is gone. You're not the man I loved, and you never will be."

For someone who didn't feel she was justifying her actions, that diatribe certainly sounded like justification to Callum. And to think she'd once asked for forgiveness. From the moment Quinn had told him about the wedding here, Callum had known this confrontation would have to happen, and it seemed Sophia believed he was incapable of love. Callum couldn't really disagree with her. She wasn't asking for forgiveness now, and neither had his mum, so it seemed he was justified in his mistrust for a woman's heart. They are fickle.

Once her words would have wounded him to the deepest part of his heart. Now they fell off the armor surrounding it like arrows hitting steel.

"Are you done?" he asked calmly. He was done with this conversation.

Her face reflected her fury. "Not even close. But what does it matter? You treat people like luxuries you can throw away. And someday you're going to learn that you could have had everything you really wanted if you weren't such a coward. You only have yourself to blame for being a miserable bastard."

"Fantastic. Just let me know when the trips are booked. You can bring the credit card back to my room later."

Then he left, restraining the urge to flex his fist as he walked.

She knows nothing about me now.

But why, when she'd been calling him a coward, had Liddy's face flashed through his mind?