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“I’m calling the band,” Brady said as he walked. “I’ll tell Liam to get ready. We already have a sub bass player lined up. He’s already started learning the songs.”
“Stop!” Callum cried out, his voice pleading. Finally, Brady stood still and turned back to him. It was as if he knew he had won, and my heart sank into my toes. There was a confidence in that spin that made me want to shove the man down to the ground.
Don’t say it, I begged him. Please don’t say it.
“Don’t call Liam,” Callum said. “Tell them I’ll do the tour. Tell them I’m in.”
Disappointment flooded through me and brought tears instantly to my eyes. He was leaving. After all his plans at the hardware store and all those caring words to me, he was choosing to leave. I wanted to kick myself for trusting him. I wanted to scream and yell for letting myself fall victim to Callum Jones when he had shown me time and time again that he shouldn’t be trusted.
“Perfect,” Brady said with a smug smile, but just then he caught sight of me from the corner of his eye. And then both men looked over at me. Callum’s mouth fell open as he realized I had heard their conversation. He took a step forward, but my vision was suddenly blurred by tears that overflowed, falling down my cheeks. I was ashamed to cry in front of him. I felt stupid and small and overwhelmed by the feeling Callum had tricked me into something.
“Darcy,” Callum called out, but I rushed away from him. I couldn’t face him like this, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to have a rational conversation. Right now, I needed to get away from him.
“Leave me alone,” I yelled as I began to walk to the parking lot. I fished through my bag to find my keys, telling myself to stop crying. But the tears kept coming.
He never promised you anything, I told myself. He never said he would stay.
I had taken all his talk about the recording studio and his plans for the future as a commitment to me, but had Callum ever said that? Had he ever told me he wanted a relationship with me? I felt more and more stupid as I reached my car and finally located my keys.
“I had to tell him that,” Callum said, keeping his voice low. He was next to me now, watching as I unlocked my car and opened the door. “I just needed everything to slow down for a minute so I could think!”
“It’s fine,” I told him, forcing myself to look at him. “I always knew you were going back on the road. You don’t owe me anything.”
“Don’t say that!” Callum said. “Just give me a minute.”
But I couldn’t stand there. I got in the car and slammed the door before shoving the keys into the ignition. I backed up too quickly—lucky there were no cars behind me—and then turned hard to head out of the parking lot. Callum stood there, his arms limp by his sides, looking defeated as I drove away.
26
CALLUM
Ithought about going back inside to say goodbye to Liz. She was going to be very confused when neither Darcy nor I came back inside to watch the performance. But then I thought about trying to fight my way through rows of audience members so I could whisper an explanation to her. It would be far too disruptive.
Instead, I sent her a text as I sought out my car in the parking lot.
Something came up. Everyone’s fine but we had to leave.
It was a strange message, but I couldn’t think of any other way to say it. Not without typing a whole paragraph of explanation. I looked down at the text and then added:
I’ll call you soon.
I hoped it was enough to put Liz’s mind at ease. With that taken care of, I turned on the engine and backed my car out of the parking space. Brady was still pacing back and forth in front of the school, his cell phone glued to his ear. He was probably on the phone with the band already, telling them he had succeeded in his mission. It made me sick to think he might already be putting the wheels in motion for this summer tour.
But I didn’t have time to think about that. First, I needed to find Darcy. I would deal with Brady and the band once I had a chance to talk to her. But as I pulled out of the school parking lot, I realized I had no idea where Darcy had gone. The immediate places that came to mind included her house, the real estate office, and the hardware store.
Since I was close to Main Street, I set off toward the hardware store and her office that was just down the street. Though I knew she wouldn’t answer, I tried calling her. I even left a voicemail.
“Darcy. It’s not what you think. Please let me know where you are so we can talk about this. I promise I can explain.”
I paused then, wondering if I should say more, but I simply hung up, ending the message. I texted as well.
Let’s talk about this. Please tell me where you are.
It wasn’t surprising that I didn’t get a response. I could still see her face as she looked at me through the car window, full of hurt and betrayal. I hated Brady in that moment. How could he put me in this situation? And how had he made me agree to something I was so strongly against? I knew I had acted out of fear in the face of Brady’s bullying behavior. I gave into him because I was afraid of what would happen if I said no.
But now I could see that saying yes was even worse. I had betrayed Darcy and, what was even worse, I had betrayed myself. When I really thought about it, I had wanted to take a break from the band for a long time and it was time for me to recognize this.
“Darcy? Are you in there?”
