Page 59 of Keepsakes and Kismet

Romy winces and blows the bangs out of her face. “No. No, I’m sorry. Cal is a really good person—his family is, too. It’s just small town talk. I’ve heard about some heavier stuff he went through years ago, and I wanted to make sure everything’s going well is all.”

I cross my arms, a slight frown tugging my lips down. “What have you—you know what? Nevermind.”

As long as he’s a good person, I want to hear about his past directly from him. Anything else feels like a violation. I’d hate to have people learn about my trauma second-hand.

Romy nods. “For what it’s worth, I’m very happy for you.”

“Thanks,” I say quietly.

“Any fun plans upcoming for you guys?” she asks, typing on her keyboard.

“We’re going to the Harvest Festival. And my best friend, Tessa—the one you met over Facetime—is visiting.”

“The designer, right? She’s the one who told me that my style was ‘giving Alexander McQueen, 2010 Paris.’ I had to Google it after, and I’m still not sure it was a compliment.”

“That’s the one!” I confirm. “And it was a compliment.”

“Good to know.” She gets a pen out of her desk drawer. “Meeting the family, then?”

I nearly correct her, but truthfully, with my grandparents gone and my parents checking in with me from wherever they are in the world once every few months, there’s no one else in my life that qualifies as family.

I can’t deny my own longing for a partner. For someone who knows me so well I’d consider them family. Could I have that with Callum? I bring my fingers to my lips absentmindedly, like I can touch the memory of his kiss.

“Yeah. Meeting the family, I guess.” I chuckle. “I’ve kind of already met all of his immediate relatives. Fair’s fair. But we still haven’t defined anything yet.”

Romy snorts. “Girl, please. That man is obsessed with you. He asks you to hang out every day. And that’s not an exaggeration.”

I grin. “Yeah, he does do that, doesn’t he?”

The phone rings, and both of us hold our breath.

“You get it! I can’t talk to Credit Union Hal again, I’ll die!” Romy hisses at me.

I groan and slowly pick up the phone. “This is Good Taste.”

“Is it him?” Romy mouths.

“Hey, Tammy!” I breathe a sigh of relief at the sound of her voice and shake my head for Romy. “Good to hear from you. How’s Jeff doing?”

Chapter 14

Peyton

Callum and I made plans to meet outside of Good Taste before the Harvest Festival, because I had a work event in Bowling Green right before this. It was a long day of convincing people to participate in the new corn maze at Behling’s Farm.

First, I walked around the grounds and talked loudly about it. Then, when a crowd had formed, I had to go into the corn maze to “walk the talk.” Turns out when management told me “don’t get lost in it,” they weren’t talking about the vibes. It was complex as hell and took me twenty unplanned minutes to escape. Now, I’m changing like a madwoman in the costume closet, pausing only to grab a breath mint out of my small crossbody bag. If Callum is anything like Callum, he’ll be here fifteen minutes early, which is two minutes from now.

I pull up my brown tights and smooth the slim fit plaid mini-dress I’m wearing down over them. Just as I’m zipping tall leather boots up, I hear a knock on the front door. Giving myself one last look in the closet mirror, I zhuzh my hair, which I left down and wavy, and swipe on some cinnamon chapstick before running to the front.

When I unlock the door, I find a smiling Callum.

“Fancy running into you here, Inspector.”

“It never gets old, running into you.” He steps inside.

I flip the light switch on. “Sorry, I didn’t have time to turn them on.”

Callum takes off his leather bomber and drapes it across the chair in the front. “You look really pretty. Your hair looks nice. And your smile even more.”