Real Love
Copyright© 2025 by DB86
Chapter 10
Callie opened her eyes and sat up gasping.
“Just another nightmare,” she said to herself.
Her alarm clock was ringing. Just in time to wake her up from another horrible nightmare. She looked around to check she was truly safe in her bed. Her heart was still thumping fast in her chest.
It was six-thirty. She’d set his alarm to be sure she was awake to let Scout go out. It was the time her brother woke up every day.
Only that Scout wasn’t in her bed.
“Scout,” she called him in a whisper. She looked around her room, but couldn’t find the dog anywhere.
Padding barefoot to the door, Callie stepped out and started up the hall, slowing when she approached Dylan’s door and saw that it was cracked open. Pausing, she knocked lightly.
When there was no answer, she slid it open and peered inside. The bed was empty, as was the bedroom itself, and through the open bathroom door, she could see that it, too, was empty.
Cursing under her breath, Callie rushed for the stairs, desperate to get to Dylan before he opened the French doors.
With every step she took, she kept expecting the sudden blare of the alarm going off. But she made it all the way to the living room without it happening.
Callie spotted Scout first. The dog was in the kitchen, gobbling down his food. Dylan was at the French doors, staring at the security panel with slumped shoulders. Callie exhaled a relieved breath, and said, “I’ll get that.”
Dylan glanced over his shoulder with surprise as she crossed the room toward him.
“You said Scout goes out at six-thirty, so I set my alarm,” Dylan explained. “I was hoping he would let you sleep a bit more. I’m traveling to Diablo Lake today, and I wanted to make an early start.”
“Diablo Lake is an amazing place. The colors are unreal. The emerald green water, surrounded by mountains, is amazing. People will assume you’ve edited your photos. It’s usually windy, too, so a windbreaker might be helpful.”
“Thanks for the tip.”
“I’m so sorry you had to get up so early, Dylan. Grateful, but sorry,” Callie said apologetically, keeping her voice low to avoid disturbing anyone’s sleep as she reached past Dylan to punch the numbers into the security panel that would turn off the alarm.
“No problem,” he assured her. “I’m an early bird, anyway.”
“I have homework to catch up with,” she said, with a resigned smile.
Callie finished with the panel, she turned back and glanced toward Scout who was then licking the empty bowl in search of any leftover crumbs.
“I see you found a way to distract Scout from going outside.”
“I had to do something; he was whining most pitiably until I produced food. That made him briefly forget he needed to go out,” Dylan said, wryly.
“Did Landon wake up?” Callie asked.
“Not yet. He told me he works as a curator at Middletown Museum. He invited me to take some photos,” Dylan said, enthusiastically.
“My brother loves both his work. It helped to keep him sane during a hard time in his life. If you visit him at the Museum, ask him to tell you about Middletown’s founder diaries.”
“Oh, sounds like an interesting story. I remember reading something about Fergus Carter’s diaries on the Middletown website.”
“My brother wrote that text.”
Dylan could hear the pride in Callie’s voice when she said that.
She opened the door to let Scout slip out. “Just let me grab my shoes and we can take a walk together.”
“Is it safe?” Dylan asked with concern. “Don’t you have to wake your—”
“Bodyguard?” Callie completed the sentence. “I have my hero to guard me,” she said, winking at him, following Scout out of the house.
“Right,” Dylan muttered, blushing as she slipped past him. “I’ll do my best.”
“I am kidding, Dylan. Nothing is going to happen.”
Dylan nodded and then pulled the door closed behind him, his gaze finding Scout’s hunched shape close to a tree. His eyes narrowed as they moved back to Callie. He hadn’t seen any bags in her hands. Knowing she’d need them; he swiftly crossed to the kitchen and retrieved a roll of them from the kitchen drawer where they’d been stored. He got back to the door just as Callie suddenly turned and headed toward it.
Opening the door, he reached out, with a roll of bags in the palm of his extended hand.
“Thanks,” Callie said with a small laugh as she reached for the roll. “I just remembered them.”
The moment her fingers touched the bags, Dylan closed his over hers. He immediately drew her forward, even as he slid the door wider and leaned out to kiss her. It was just a swift brush of his lips over hers. Even just the brushing of lips stirred the desire for more in him, but he managed to break the kiss and pull back to utter a husky, “Good morning.”
Her voice was weak and breathy as she responded, “Good morning.” She cleared her throat and asked, “So, Diablo Lake?”
“Your sister-in-law suggested it. She even offered to lend me her car.”
“Don’t forget to bring a tripod and a picnic dinner, as sunsets are stunning. It’s quite a long drive to get there.”
“Thanks. I wish you could come with me,” Dylan confessed.
Callie sighed. “I wish I could go with you, too, but I’m trying to be responsible.”
“Yeah, better don’t get on Anderson´s bad side.” He gathered his thoughts for a moment, and asked, “May I ask you something— something personal?”
Callie tilted her head to the sides, curious. “I’m listening.”
“Did you seriously think about you two being...”
“ ... a couple?” Callie said, completing Dylan’s sentence, again. “Yeah, but it was as you said, more a romantic daydream than anything else.”
She sucked in a huge breath. “I want to ask you something personal, the question might be totally offside, and you don’t have to answer.”
“What do you want to know?”
“What things did you like about your fiancée?”
Dylan paused; he stared off into space for a long moment. When he finally spoke, his voice was different.
“Well, we used to have sex all the time,” Dylan said, with a playful smile.
Callie punched his arm. “Nice try, Buster.”
They laughed.
“Billie and I met in high school. I was in grade ten and she was in grade eleven when we started to date. She graduated and went on to further her education, but we continued to date. I proposed to her on my prom night.” He smiled wryly, and said, “It was all terribly romantic. I had earned some money selling my first photos and spared no expense that night. I rented a limo, brought her roses, took her to dinner at the finest restaurant, and got down on one knee right there in front of everyone to propose.” Dylan smiled faintly at the memory. “I didn’t even care about the prom after that, but she insisted I’d regret it if I didn’t go, so we went to prom, and she showed off her ring to everyone.”
Callie couldn’t help but smile and let out a long sigh, “Your story is so romantic I could scream! I planned a similar night for my brother and Grace.”
Dylan shrugged those memories away. “Anyway, that was then, this is now.”
“Do you want a lot of children?”
“Yes, I’m an only child so I always wanted a big family.”
“We are on the same page. That’s good,” she agreed with a grin, and then stumbled a step forward, putting her hands up to Dylan’s chest to catch herself, as something pressed into the back of her knees, throwing her off balance. Glancing down and around, Callie saw that Scout had pushed them together.
“Did you train him to do that?” Dylan asked, hands clasping her waist to steady her.
“No! Of course not,” Callie gasped, horrified that he might even think that. She relaxed though, when she saw the teasing twinkle in his eyes.
“I thought you were hoping for more kisses,” he pointed out, his voice a husky taunt as his hands crept around her back and urged her closer.
Callie could feel the heat flushing her cheeks. It was partially from his teasing and partially because her body was tingling everywhere they touched.
She batted her eyelashes, and murmured, “Perhaps, I was.”
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