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After Eric she had doubted her skills, her ability, her clinical judgeether But her family had convinced her to work on 2B and slowly her faith had been restored

Until yesterday

The kettle boiled and then switched itself off, and she poured their tea autoh to the lounge, conscious of Calluaze on her back She placed them on the coffee-table and took a seat

Callum was too restless to sit He didn’t knohy he’d co there He’d just known he’d had to co on the view over the Brisbane River, touching her books, picking up the trophy she’d won at sports day when she’d been nine, ad her CD collection

He turned to her and shrugged ‘I don’t knohy I’m here’

Hailey sipped her tea ‘It’s OK’ She supposed it’d becolad

He picked up some framed photos, snapshots of her childhood, but he didn’t appear to really be taking them in Not until he picked up the last one, anyway

‘You put it in a frame?’ Calluotten in the pages of her book

Hailey paused, the aze took in the photo again Took in the happy faces of the people who all seeers to her now Back when no dark clouds had hung on her horizon and life had been bright and breezy

She put thea sip ‘Yes’

Callu faces, none of them aware of the whammy that had lurked round the corner He remembered those years when he and Tom had been indomitable ‘He looks like a nice kid’

She sed ‘He was’ It still hurt to use the past tense

‘They look happy You all look happy’ Paul looked as if he’d won the lotto The look of a man secure in his life and sure of his world Callum had a picture of Annie and hinosis They’d both looked like that So…so damn cocky

Hailey shut her eyes, a lu in her throat ‘They were We were’

Callum looked at her ‘I’m sorry I didn’t mean…’

She opened her eyes and looked at him ‘It’s OK’

She watched hiently, reverently He pushed his hands into the front pockets of his jeans and rocked on his heels

There was more silence while he rocked and she slowly sipped her tea She couldn’t explain it but there was a strange tension between the on inside him and she could sense his confusion Heaven knew, she felt just as uncertain