When He Loved Me

Chapter 17

TESS

After two weeks of living with Charlotte, dodging my mother's phone calls and working out my future steps, I was absolutely sure of three things.

One: I was quite certain that I made the right decision regarding Wren.

He treated me like an accessory, and I remembered his harsh words. I didn't crave his proximity or miss him like I thought I would. I wanted to feel something, but breaking off our relationship was liberating. The time apart from Wren had allowed me to be my own woman and opened me up to new possibilities.

I had control over my agenda, not filled with public appearances and enduring political events. Hanging prettily on Wren's arm, to be discarded at the first turn as he encountered himself with a potential voter. I could focus my attention on the Mona Montgomery foundation and finding my voice again.

Two: I couldn't get Callum out of my head.

My mind drifted to him unwillingly. He was like a beacon in the darkness that surrounded me, pulling me into his light. I gravitated towards him and appreciated the way he included me when he was around.

After spending the last years in the shadows while the limelight had been shining on wren, Callum pulled me out of my forced seclusion.

He was present in every one of my dreams. Not only steamy moments where I imagined his green eyes taking in every inch of my body, putting my nerve ends on fire and waking up as a panting mess. His mere presence in my mind was electrifying.

Three: My mother drove me barking mad.

I was sitting with her one chair away from me, getting our nails done at the spa in an attempt to bridge the distance. In her opinion, moving back in with my parents was the most logical decision, as I had relied on Wren for so long and couldn't make it on my own.

I was this close to pack up my things and leave her to spew venom by herself.

"I'm so pissed at you right now." My mother barked, before swiveling her face my way. "You're making a big mistake," she protested from her chair as she sipped from her cucumber water.

I rolled my eyes, knowing she couldn't see me with the seaweed mask layered thickly over her face. While I was elated to have regained my freedom and ability to work on myself, she never wasted a moment to drag me down and repeat over and over again how wrong it was to walk away from a Davis.

Puffing out air on an exhale, I concentrated on my phone while I searched for an apartment for myself. The sooner, the better.

With the salary from the foundation and the money from my trust fund my grandparents set up for me released on my twenty-first birthday, I had money to stand on my own feet. I hadn't touched a penny over the years.

"I'm searching for an apartment," I conceded. "I'm only staying with Charlotte temporarily." It was better to be direct with her and let her know where I stood.

"You wouldn't need to find a place to live if you would have stayed with Wren," she scoffed, putting down her drink and ordering the girl doing her nails to get her a healthy cupcake. "He would take care of you—forgive you for your wedding jitters." She faced me, her skin packed in the green goo.

My eyes narrowed to slits, but I had no energy left to refute her comments. She would say anything to make herself feel better, while trying to mend the pieces that her failure of a daughter so ungratefully broke to smithereens.

She could believe what she wanted. I was not giving in to her absurd ideas. I was not interested in mending anything. Wren and I grew apart. There were no wedding jitters or cold feet. A teeny, tiny voice in my head even dared to whisper that Wren and I were never meant to have been together at all.