Page 48 of The Risk Taker
“Getting involved.” She sighs. “It doesn’t matter who he is or why he’s here. All that matters is you find him hot, and he’s promised to fuck you into oblivion with no strings attached. I’d be all over him like a rash if I were you.”
“Mm,” I mumble, joining her on my back and staring up at the blue, cloudless sky.
We float in companionable silence for a while before Mel checks her watch.
“It’s 8 a.m. back home. I’m going to call and check in,” she announces. “You coming?”
I swallow past the lump in my throat. Callum’s been calling daily and has left multiple voicemails. But after one where he said Kelly meant nothing, yet I’d seen her shoes in our place that same day, I started deleting them without listening.
“Yeah. I’ll call Mom and Dad.”
Mel gives me a sympathetic look. “Tell them. Your dad’s got to get used to the idea. It’ll be fine.”
I blow out a breath. “This is my father we’re talking about.”
We dry off and head back to our bungalow. Mel takes her phone outside to walk along the shore and call her parents, and I stay inside, taking deep breaths as the ringtone begins.
“Please be Mom, please be Mom,” I whisper.
“Darling?” My father’s deep, commanding voice booms down the line.
“Hi Dad,” I reply, hating myself for the way I sit up straighter at the sound of his voice.
“How are you? How’s Mel?”
“We’re good. The retreat’s great. We saw dolphins this morning after breakfast.”
“Dolphins,” my father echoes, thoughtfully.
“Mm-hm.”
I don’t say anything more. I haven’t told my parents exactly where we are, only that Mel chose the place and that it’s somewhere hot and beautiful. I know Callum will be trying to get it out of them where I am, and the thought that he could turn up here if he finds out where I am makes me want to hurl.
It’s better if they don’t know where I am. Then they won’t have to lie.
“It’s time to come home, Jude,” my father declares. “He needs to see you, the man’s going out of his mind.”
And there it is. The reason I always hope Mom will be the one who answers. She and I can talk without it always returning to the same topic of conversation.
“Callum said you haven’t returned any of his calls?” my father presses.
“He knows why that is,” I answer carefully.
It’s stupid, but I still haven’t admitted what I caught Callum doing. I’m ashamed and embarrassed. And worried about the fallout it will create, even though I know it has to come out eventually. Callum obviously hasn’t owned up to his behavior since I left.
“My first ever surgery I had nerves in the pit of my stomach,” my father says, still thinking the reason I left is as simple as pre-wedding jitters.
“Really?” My voice lifts in genuine surprise. Nothing fazes him. My father is the definition of confidence, a man highly skilled and respected, at the pinnacle of his field of expertise.“You thought you couldn’t do it?” I ask, trying to take in this alien version of my father. One who feels nervous. Who questions his own abilities like a normal person.
Like me.
“Of course not. I knew I could do it.” He blows away my question. “The guy was some Wall Street big shot. I didn’t want the surgery I performed for him being let down by the aftercare on the ward afterward. They were understaffed. Had been for months. He could have turned the hospital into a media circus. Thank God he brought some of his own recovery team with him and they discharged him under their care at home fast.”
“Right,” I mumble.
Something unpleasant pulls low in my gut. This is my father. Dr. Royston Yardley never questions himself. I should have known better than to think I might be like him in some way.
“Is Mom there?” I ask, picking up a magazine Mel brought off the plane on the flight over.
