Her heart began to race. Should she answer? Was she ready to talk to him? She'd told herself she needed more time. Stuff that, though. The phone continued to buzz insistently. Before she could talk herself out of it, she snatched it up and hit the answer button.
'Hello?' she said, her voice coming out smaller than she'd intended.
‘Hi, I wasn't sure you'd pick up.'
'I wasn't sure I would either.’
‘Thanks. I really need to talk to you.’
Cally remained silent and waited for him to continue.
Logan cleared his throat. 'How are you?'
It was such a normal question at odds with what was going on in Cally’s head that she almost laughed. 'I don't know, Logan. How do you think I am?'
‘Sorry. That was a stupid question. I miss you, Cally. I miss being with you and it’s only been a few days.'
‘Same.’
'Can we talk? Really talk, I mean. I want to explain everything. I want to make this right.'
Cally hesitated.
'Please, Blackcurrant,' Logan urged. 'Just give me a chance. I know I messed up. I know I hurt you, but, well, honestly, it doesn’t mean anything.’
Cally closed her eyes, remembering the reasons she'd fallen in love with him in the first place. 'I feel like I can’t trust you now.'
Logan sounded regretful. 'I know and I'm so, so sorry. I never meant to hurt you. Honestly, I think I was chickening out.’
‘What? Why?’
Logan was quiet for a moment, and Cally could almost picture him running a hand through his hair the way he did when he was trying to gather his thoughts. 'I just think that I thought if you knew about Cassia, you'd, I don’t know, do this, I suppose.'
Cally felt a flicker of anger. 'So you thought lying was the better option?'
'No, I... God, I don't know what I thought,' Logan admitted. 'At first, it just didn't seem important. We were just getting to know each other, and I didn't want to burden you with my baggage. And then, as things got more serious between us, it just got harder and harder to bring it up. I kept telling myself I'd find the right moment, but...'
'But you never did,' Cally finished for him.
'No,' Logan agreed miserably. 'I didn't. You deserved the truth from the start.'
Cally couldn’t believe how much she loved him but he was still making her feel so wildly angry. ‘I just need a bit of space.’
‘For what?’
‘To think.’
‘Right. You need space…’
‘We all can't be as happy-go-lucky Henry-Hicks as you, you know. Things don’t just get better when you decide, either.’
‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
‘Nothing.’
‘I don’t understand.’
‘You don’t just get what you want because of your family and who you are.’
