Only Oscar (Wattys 2022 Shortlist!)

Chapter Fourteen

Oscar knew what he had with Callie, was special.

Every spare moment they could find, they spent together. Though the change to his work and a new commission which came in for hers hadn't made it easy. As far as Oscar was concerned, it was worth the lost sleep. She was his first thought in the morning, his last at night and it felt like he was carrying her around with him when they were apart. 

The only shadow on what she referred to as their bubble of happiness was cast by his guilt. 

He had to tell her.

It was getting harder and harder, literally, when it came to his anatomy, not to have sex with her. He kept insisting they take things slow, wanted to do everything within his power to make her as crazy for him as he was for her. But she was determined to speed things up, made it feel like there was a clock ticking in the background and they had to enjoy every moment before their time ran out.

"I want to tell Callie what we've been doing," he informed the nerdketeers.

"You don't need our permission," Harry said.

No, he didn't. But he wasn't seeking permission or approval, he was reaffirming the vow he made to them never to do anything related to their work without talking to them first. The decision to keep it under wraps was his, he'd pushed them into it, and it had already cost one of them more than he would have asked anyone to pay.

When he glanced up from his keyboard, Jasper shrugged. "You know the risks."

"I have to tell her."

"Then do it." Jasper pushed his glasses onto the bridge of his nose and continued typing. "I just hope it goes better for you than it did for me."

Oscar grimaced.

"That's not a dig. I mean it, I really do," Jasper continued, earnestly. "I've never seen you as happy as you've been these last couple of weeks. And despite the sappy smile you've worn lately, you're focused and settled. She's good for you."

Yes, she was, and it made him wonder how different things would have been if they got together earlier. Would it have altered the decisions he made? He doubted he would accept sympathy from her in the days which followed the revelation of his monumental naivete, but if she got to him before he insisted on secrecy...

The irony was, while he still feared how she would react when he revealed what he'd done, their time together increased his confidence. That she'd chosen to be with him not only filled him with pride, it made him stronger.

"Tell her," Harry said. "It's Callie. She'll get it."

Oscar hoped he was right.

"When you gonna break the news?"

"Tomorrow," Oscar replied.

Harry patted him on the back on his way past. "Good luck. Get past this and you two should be golden."

The following day, after he'd liberated his old Mazda from stacked parking and they headed to Jersey for his mother's birthday lunch, Oscar rehearsed what he wanted to tell her in his mind one last time. He had to choose the right words, make her realize the choices he made had nothing to do with how much he trusted her and everything to do with the need to prove he could learn from his mistakes.

"You okay?" Callie asked.

Oscar shot her a smile and squeezed the tangled fingers resting on his thigh. "Fine. You?"

She'd been quiet, too. 

"A little nervous," she confessed. "I'm worried they're gonna take one look at us and know."