Chapter 7

Faith sat across from Ronnie as she nervously looked at the menu over and over again and sipped her water. His invite had caught her completely off guard, but he had said it wasn't important and she had no real reason to refuse. They weren't necessarily on bad the terms and she had been the one to end things. If someone is at fault here, it's me, so I should at least hear what he has to say...

"Thank you for meeting me for lunch." Ronnie had one of his usual charming smiles and looked as put together as always. Never a strand of hair out of place or a single wrinkle in his clothes. How is it possible to always look impeccable? Faith wondered. She was always wondering. To her, people like Ronnie had to either be aliens or superheroes in order to be able to pull it off every single day. No matter how much she strived for perfection, to her, it seemed like something she would never even come close to. Whereas for people like Ronnie, everything seemed so effortlessly perfect.

"No problem," she said hiding behind the menu.

"Fay," Ronnie said as put his hand on her menu, lowering it so he could see her eyes. "Can we talk? As friends." She nodded and finally set the menu aside. "I want to talk to you about Mira and Richard's wedding."

"What about it?" She took another sip of water. She had been chugging it since they sat down and no matter how much she drank, her throat still felt dry.

"We're both guests. I'm a friend of Richard's. I wanted to tell you that I intend on being there and I hope that won't make you too uncomfortable."

"It's totally fine."

Ronnie raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Of course. It's not about us. And besides... we're on okay terms, right?"

"We're on good terms, Fay. As much as it pains me to say it. You were right."

"I was?" She opened her eyes wide open.

Ronnie nodded. "Thank you, Fay. I guess we were good on paper, but it wasn't the right time for us. Let's try our best at being friends. What do you say?"

A small tear rolled down Faith's cheek and Ronnie gently cleaned it as he showed her a tender smile. Faith had followed her heart, and she didn't regret her decision, but it was never her intention to hurt Ronnie. It meant a lot to her knowing that he understood her decision and that he forgave her.

"Let's eat. I'm starving and I need to go back to the office," Ronnie said as he waved at the waiter. "Are you going alone, or do you have a plus one?"

"Alone. I think." She frowned as she thought about what Mira had said. She didn't put Callum's name on the list, did she? She wondered. "And you?"

"I'm taking a friend. But why did you say I think?"

"It's nothing. Something Mira said."

"Trying to set you up?"

Faith nodded. "I thought she meant it as a joke, but I wonder if she actually meant it, you know?"

"Knowing Mira, I would say, she definitely meant it. Do you know the guy?"

Faith narrowed her eyes as she pictured Callum standing right in front of her with his charming smile and kind eyes. "Sort of."

"What does that mean?" Ronnie raised an eyebrow.

"I don't know him well."

"Does he seem like a nice guy?"

"He does. He really does."

"Then why not go with him?"

"You can't be serious. Why are you incentivizing me?"

"Because we'll both have to move forward at some point, right? And Fay, we both grew up here. People will always talk. We should be used to it by now and we shouldn't care. Caring and taking everyone else's opinion into consideration is what got us into this mess to begin with. Maybe we should just start to do whatever the hell we want."

"What happened to Ronnie, and who are you?" Faith mocked with a smirk.

"You happened, Faith. You." Ronnie smirked and raised his glass. "A toast to us, Fay. To finding the happiness we deserve. And to our friendship."

They smiled at each other and for a moment, Faith felt like she was living in a parallel universe. The Ronnie sitting in front of her, wasn't the same Ronnie that she had been engaged to. This Ronnie seemed happier and ready to face the world. He seemed more like himself. They had been friends since they were kids and Faith knew sides of him that he never showed anyone, but now, it seemed like he was finally ready to let everyone see the true Ronnie and to live the life he deserved. She couldn't be happier for him. He was truly a nice guy, but he had always lived bounded to his family and their rules and to the appearances that he was meant to keep. In front of everyone, Ronnie always kept this poised and perfect appearance.

***

After lunch, Faith went straight home and really didn't know what to do with herself or what to feel. Everything still seemed so surreal. The engagement was over. Ronnie was doing okay. She was doing okay. It seemed like for the first time in a while, everything was going smoothly. Things were finally getting better... And also, Faith still hadn't fallen or bumped into something or gotten a scratch or a bruise. Am I dreaming? ... She wondered as she sat by the kitchen island with a perfect freshly baked blueberry muffin right in front of her.

"What's wrong, love? You've barely touched your muffin. Are you coming down with something?" Lydia placed her hand on Faith's forehead, but it didn't seem like she had a fever. But what other possible reason could there be for Faith not to eat a delicious pastry that was just there waiting for her?

"I think I'm going for a walk." Faith suddenly got up and started walking towards the door, taking the muffin with her as she started to nibble on it.

"Your parents are expecting you for dinner. Don't be late."

"I won't."

Ronnie's words echoed in her head as she walked around the property. We'll both have to move forward. Faith didn't really know what that meant for herself. What did the future have in store for her? What did she want?

As Faith thought about where her life was heading, she started walking towards a deeper part of the woods that were behind the family property. The sun would still take a few hours to set, and she was used to running in the area. She reached a clearing from where she could see the whole town and sat on the grass admiring the view and finally munching on her muffin that was indeed as delicious as usual.

While Faith enjoyed her alone time in nature, her parents and Lydia were starting to worry. Faith wasn't back yet, and the sun would start setting soon and she hadn't taken her phone with her.

"Kade," Lydia called out as she headed towards him.

"Something wrong?"

"Faith went on a walk and hasn't come back. It's probably nothing. She knows the property like the back of her hand, but her parents are getting worried because the sun will be setting soon and there won't be enough light for her to come back."

"Don't worry." Kade gently touched Lydia's arm. "I'll go get her. I know exactly where she is. I wouldn't be surprised if she's just taking a nap." They chuckled.

"That girl has us worrying all the time. What if she sprained an ankle? Or fell and broke an arm?"

"She runs those trails every day. I'm sure she's fine."

"Everything okay?" Callum asked as he showed up, ready to go home, with his backpack hanging from his shoulder.

"You can go ahead. I'm going to go look for Faith."

"She's missing?" Callum's eyes opened wide, and he felt a knot in his stomach.

"No," Kade sighed. "She probably just lost track of time and has us all worrying for nothing. I'll be right back."

"I'll go with you," he blurted out.

Despite knowing he wouldn't be of much help, if any at all, since he barely knew the property, Callum still couldn't fight the urge to go after Faith. I hope she's okay. Even though he knew his worry was irrational, he couldn't get rid of it. He needed to see with his own eyes that nothing happened to her. What's wrong with me? He wondered as he walked behind his uncle, towards the woods. As of late, Callum wasn't feeling quite like himself. Something in him was shifting, and he couldn't properly point out what it was.

Callum and Kade quickly rushed through the trails in the woods only to find Faith asleep, leaned against a tree just like Kade had predicted. Callum couldn't help but to stare at her for a few moments, thinking about how beautiful she looked asleep with the soft light of the golden hour lightly kissing her cheeks, making her complexion shine and her freckles stand out. Just like sleeping beauty... He thought to himself with a silly little smile on his lips.

"Faith," Kade said calmly while shaking her slowly.

"Mr Grant," she yawned. "What time is it?"

"Time to go back before Lydia pulls your ears out and grounds you with no sweets for the rest of the week for making her worry."

"What?" Faith looked around and as her eyes adjusted to the light, she saw the sky tinted with orange. "Oh."

"Come on, let's go. I have better things to do than to fetch you from the middle of the woods."

"Thank you for coming to my rescue." She smiled at Mr Grant before he turned his back on her and started heading back to the house. Then Faith finally noticed Callum's presence.

"Hi there, sleeping beauty." He smirked.

Faith felt her cheeks turn red. "There aren't any evil fairies or dragons around here for you to slay. Sorry for making you come all this way."

"So, you are going along with my jokes now?"

"If you can beat them, join them." She shrugged, and both chuckled.

"I'm hoping you know your way back because my uncle just left us stranded here."

"Don't worry. I do. But if I'm the princess, shouldn't you be the one doing the rescue?"

"Not this time. But we did come all the way out here to awake you from your slumber, didn't we?"

"Thank you."

"So, what were you doing all the way out here, anyway?"

"Thinking."

"Couldn't you think nearer to your house?"

She chuckled. "I could. But I like being out here and I know my way around. Although I'll admit that even I, at night, might have a little trouble navigating."

As they walked side by side, it was clear that the both of them had significantly slowed down their pace, as if trying to make the path back to the house much longer than it was. As if they were trying to stretch their time together without even being aware of it.

"Is the offer still up?" Faith asked as she glanced at her feet.

"What offer?"

"Listening or Italian cuisine?"

Callum smirked. "I'm free for either one or both."

"I had lunch with Ronnie today. My ex-fiancé."

"How did it go?"

"Too well."

"Is that a problem?"

"Not at all. I just wasn't expecting it. But I'm happy that he's doing well. He thanked me. For breaking up the engagement."

"I'm assuming you weren't expecting that."

"I wasn't. But it was really comforting to finally know he understands and agrees with my decision and that he's doing well."

"Then why do you look so down?"

"We were never actually in love. I think we spent our whole relationship trying to convince ourselves that we were. Even though we were the perfect match, it wasn't enough. Ronnie and I were perfect on paper. But only on paper. If it didn't work out with Ronnie, will it ever work out with anyone else?"

"Perfect is overrated. No one is perfect, so no relationship will ever be either." Callum pondered on his own words for a moment. He knew very well that just because something looks perfect, it doesn't mean it is. His life looked perfect just a few months earlier, and yet it wasn't... His perfect girlfriend was cheating on him, and his perfect job was making him depressed.

"What then?"

"What do you mean?"

"How do you find the one? If such a thing is even real."

"I thought you were the hopeless romantic."

"I am, it's just... I don't know. I feel lost."

"Don't think about it so much. Just enjoy life a little more. The best things happen when we least expect. Maybe if you start living your life for yourself and without worrying about what others think, prince charming will show up."

Will prince charming ever show up? She wondered... What if prince charming isn't even out there? Or what if I'm not even worthy of a fairytale type of love?

"If you two were never in love, how did you start dating? If you don't mind me asking."

Faith glanced up at Callum and sighed deeply. "Well... to be completely honest, I'm not entirely sure why we thought it was a good idea to give it a try." Faith bit the inside of her cheek as she tried to organize her thoughts. "I had been back home for a while. After finishing my master's degree. I don't remember how the conversation started, but my mum mentioned that I had broken up with by boyfriend from school."

"Leaving a trail of broken hearts, I see," Callum smirked. Faith playfully punched him in the arm. "Ouch."

"He wasn't even my boyfriend. We went out on a couple of dates, and it didn't work out. I never had a real relationship before Ronnie." Faith signed. "But anyway... After my mum said that, someone joked that maybe Ronnie and I should date. We were both single, and we spent a lot of time together, anyway."

"So, just like that, you started dating?"

Faith shook her head. "Both Ronnie and I laughed and brushed it off. But a few weeks later he asked me out. He said we had nothing to lose by giving it a try and maybe it could work out."

"And you said yes?"

She nodded. "Ronnie is a nice guy, so I thought I had nothing to lose. And by going on a few dates, my parents and Mira would get off my back and stop telling me that I needed to go out more and meet new people."

"For how long were you two together?"

"A little less than a year."

"I'm sorry if I'm out of place by saying this... But perhaps, didn't you get engaged too fast?" Callum took almost a decade to even think about proposing to Alice. What if I had proposed earlier? Could've I have prevented what happened? This realization made him wonder if he had been the one taking too long to propose, or if Faith and Ronnie were the ones that had rushed things too much. Maybe the right answer was somewhere in between. Maybe there's no right timeline. No one size fits all.

"Maybe. But I don't think it would've made any difference if we had waited longer. There were never..." Faith blushed and looked down at her feet, looking at how her steps crushed the autumn leaves that had just started to fall.

"There weren't what?"

"You are going to think this is really stupid."

"I promise I won't. Tell me."

"There were never butterflies."

"Butterflies?" Callum raised an eyebrow as an amused smile grew on his lips.

"Yes! You know? Like in books when they talk about butterflies in your stomach when the person you love leans in to kiss you. Your heart skips a beat, and you feel all weird and giddy."

Callum chuckled. And for a moment, as Faith's bright green eyes looked right at him, he could almost swear that the butterflies she was chasing were real. "I see."

"Silly, right? I should just grow up. I'm too old to believe in fairytales, aren't I?" Faith tugged a strand of hair behind her ear and kept walking while staring at the leaves under her feet.

"No, not all." Callum stopped walking. "We've reached your castle, princess."

"Thank you for coming to my rescue."

"Any time, your majesty." Callum bowed in front of her as if he was a brave knight coming back from a mission and Faith giggled. "I hope you find your butterflies. Good night, Faith."

Her cheeks flushed, and she smirked. "Good night." As Faith watched Callum walk away, she could almost swear that there were butterflies. No! No way. You're probably just hungry. That's it. You should've taken more than one muffin.