Page 30 of The Other Side

“The bedroom is at the end of the hallway,” she concedes.

Irritation claws at the edges of my heart when I enter the master bedroom. A king-sized bed with an upholstered headboard takes center stage. Complemented by sleek nightstands and a cozy seating area.

I crouch to park the hamper in front of the bed, swiping up my supplies after.

When I rise, Callie’s already greeting me at my side. “Look, you can’t just do things like this,” she whispers. “Okay?”

“Do what?” I counter. “Be a decent human being?”

She scoffs, hiking her shoulders. “I can carry a hamper, Brant.”

I flick my head away on a smirk, absently swiping my thumb across my nose. “You know what, Callie?” When my eyes land on hers, her bottom lip suspends in preparation. “The more you talk, the more you piss me off more than he does.”

“Fine.” Her retort is sharp when she bends to pluck some clothes from the hamper. “I won’t talk to you anymore. Build a zoo in the addition for all I care.”

“Nah, I can’t really do that. Permits are a bitch as it is,” I mutter under my breath.

She drops a few shirts on the mattress before straightening. Her eyes are focused on the large window ahead, her palms finding her lower back. I catch the way her chest pumps through deep breaths, and a subtle pink paints her creamy cheeks. “Are you starting in this room? Because I’m not gonna listen to you yap while I fold clothes,” she demands. “It’s bad enough I fed you some of my finger sandwiches.”

A flair of her southern drawl tickles my ears. It sends a shudder to my core, and I’m instantly grounded.

I’m fucking grounded.

Just by a simple sound.

Her sound.

My lips perk when I’m yanked back to another lifetime with her.

If I had to guess, I would say there aren’t many who get to live multiple lives with their person. Hell, there are plenty of people who leave this earth never having lived just one life with them.

In our first life, the puzzle pieces were too serrated to connect easily. Turns out, the same is true for this second life. But if we figured it out once, even just for a blemish of time, couldn’t we solve that mystery again?

I battle a swallow as I inch closer to her side. Dignity snatches every instinct I have to slip that plump lower lip between my teeth.

Because that’s really all I want to do.

But fuck, I can’t.

I can’t.

I won’t.

“Callie, I’m not settling for less than perfection on this design,” I assure her. “If it’s for you, there’s no room for error here. I’m sorry if my joke was insensitive, but this is the truth. Okay?”

She ingests a shaky breath, her chin dropping as she fiddles with her hands at her stomach. “Of course it’s going to be perfect. It’s being designed by you,” she breathes. Her gaze lifts to mine as her body turns to me. “Jesse struck gold when he went shopping for an architect.”

My eyes skate between hers, a glossy layer now coating her sage-green hues. Then I pop a crooked grin. “You looked through my portfolio?”

Callie shakes her head. “I don’t need a portfolio to give my trust to you,” she volleys back. “And you should feel stupid about that question.”

Her face softens, a hint of humor crawling into her cheeks. Just as the irritation around my heart withers away. “I should start measuring,” I say.

She nods. “Yeah. I’ll be right here if you need anything.”

I playfully hood my eyes. “Even for finger sandwiches?”

Her eyes roll. “Don’t push it,” she teases.