When He Loved Me

Chapter 15

TESS

Wren: I'll be gone the entire day. Leave the key on the kitchen table when you're done.

It was Sunday morning, a week after the political party. A week since I had left the house in the middle of the night and ended up on Charly's doorstep.

Wren had texted me to let me know he was gone for the entire day for his campaign, which gave me time to go and pack up all the rest of my belongings in the Davis' brownstone.

It fueled my determination the moment I read the curt message on my screen. No emotion to his typed words, no sentiment—just informing me of his whereabouts. It made me sad, and I felt like I had wasted so many years on a relationship that had gone absolutely nowhere.

All it took was a kiss.

A kiss that had happened in the past, but still lingered between Callum and me. The small accidental peck to the corner of my mouth brought back the perfect one we shared at prom, the chemistry between us two making the goosebumps reappear on my skin.

Callum had grown from a boy into a man, and it made me realize how much we had all changed since high school, since parting our own ways.

My heart was confused. Not shattered because I ended things between Wren and myself. Sometimes things had to end to open the way for better things to begin. What those were, I still didn't have a clue.

Maybe, I had been aching all along for someone else. Maybe, some part of me had always longed for Callum.

Grabbing a cup of coffee in Charlotte's kitchen, I crossed the hallway to the spare bedroom I had been staying in. Everything I had brought from Wren's house fitted in an overnight bag. I sat down on the side of the bed, dreading the next conversation with my mother.

It rang a couple of times, and just before it went to voicemail, the call connected.

"Montgomery estate." Grace, my parent's housekeeper answered the landline.

A small smile drew on my lips. She was a decade older than me and always carried a warm smile. "Good morning, Grace."

"Miss Montgomery," she greeted me, her voice turning friendlier and losing the formal tone. "Your parents are at the golf course today—It's a lovely Sunday, miss."

It was indeed a lovely, sunny Sunday. The snow had melted under the soft rays of sunlight. There was still a chilly wind, but the weather was changing.

Just like I was.

"Grace, can you let my mother know I called?" The words tumbled from my lips, grateful that someone other than my mother had answered this call.

I wasn't ready for the argument that would ensue the moment she figured out I broke off with Wren. She hadn't blown up my phone, so I guessed Wren hadn't said anything.

Callum however, had tried to get in touch with me, but I wasn't ready to talk to him. Yet. Our thread of messages was still unread, I couldn't bring myself to read them.

"Of course, miss." Grace answered. "Is everything alright?"

As she had been my nanny for a long time, Grace was more attuned to my emotions than my parents could ever be.

A deep sigh escaped through my lips, and I drew air before replying. "I'm not sure." I vowed to myself when I left Wren's house in the middle of the night, that I was choosing the honesty card from now on.

"You know you can talk to me if you want," Grace said. "You still have my number."

I thanked her and cut the call. Callum had offered the same when we went for coffee but then asked all those hard questions. He challenged me to step up and go for what I wanted.