As we approach Callum, he looks sheepish. As he should. After all, his response to all of this was what blew his own family apart in the first place. He should be ashamed of his reaction. But that’s the protective beast inside me talking. I’m only angry with him because I have to protect August. Of course, I want this to work out. I want things to go back to the way they use to be between August and her dad. It would be good to repair our friendship too. But that all depends on how good his apology is.
“You came,” August whispers, looking at her father with sadness in her eyes. He shuffles on his feet.
“I almost didn’t. I debated for a long time whether I should…but no matter what happened, I couldn’t miss my daughter’s engagement party.”
We stand in uncomfortable silence. No one seems to know what to do next. August wraps her arms around herself like she’s trying to shield herself from this whole thing.
“Do you have anything else you want to say to us?” I ask, my tone rough.
Callum takes a deep breath, his gaze flickering between me and August. I can tell he’s got a lot of thoughts, but he’s trying to filter them. He doesn’t want to start on how much he hates this whole pairing.
He wants to say something positive.
“I am sorry for the way I handled things,” he says carefully. “I’m sorry I sent you away, and I’m sorry I didn’t return your calls. It took me this long to process what I saw that day. I never expected it, to be frank. Why would I? We all know that you’re an unlikely pairing. And I was angry. Angry that neither of you bothered to tell me what was going on. The fact that you were going to lie to me about it all…it made me angry.”
I feel a stab of guilt. I never considered that much. I never thought that was the part he was most angry about. But now, I see that it makes plenty of sense. We betrayed him in so many ways.
Callum clears his throat.
“I think…I think we all handled this in ways we shouldn’t have. But I made the whole thing worse by the way I blew up. I lost my mind. I didn’t try to see things from your point of view. I didn’t consider that actually…you being together was making you happy.”
“We tried to tell you,” August says, pursing her lips a little. “We really did.”
“I know. But in the heat of the moment, I couldn’t process it. For that, I’m sorry. Truly I am. But I thought about it a lot. I thought about it every day, while I was debating how to feel about it all. And I realized that maybe my two favorite people in the world being together might not be such a bad thing. I was too caught up in trying to figure out the dynamics of you both that I didn’t consider that actually, that’s not my job. That’s yours, as a couple. If you two love one another and you believe you can make this work between you then I won’t stand in your way.”
August tries to smile, but there’s something still bothering her, I can tell. And I know exactly what it is.
“You say you won’t stand in our way, but will you support us? Accept us?” I growl. “That’s what your daughter wants. She wants you to say that you can move past all of this and be happy for us. Can you do that?”
Callum hesitates. It’s clear he doesn’t really know how to respond. I guess he was hoping to just brush all of this under the carpet.
But then he surprises me. He stands a little taller and looks me in the eye.
“I can do anything for my daughter. And my closest friend,” he says directly to me. “I know that I’ve made mistakes. I know I’ve maybe struggled a little in how I’ve handled this. But we’re family, aren’t we? We’re practically brothers, Ethan. Perhaps that’s why I struggled so much with this whole thing. But I see you together and I see that you’re happy. And that’s all I want for both of you. I know that you wouldn’t have done this if you weren’t serious…so I can move past all of the rest of it. Can you?”
I nod. Because this is all we ever wanted. A second chance. An opportunity to be a family. I see August’s face split into a smile as she realizes that this thing between us all is healing. She throws her arms around her dad and he pulls her in for a long hug, closing his eyes as he takes in the moment. When they break apart, he offers me his hand. I take it firmly and shake it, not showing how relief has flooded through me at his words.