Finding 4

Chapter 38

Callum

For a moment, I thought Marley might be coming back. The Marley that I fell in love with. I was wrong though.

Because now, she's sitting in my passenger seat, and I can tell that whatever is going on in her mind is much worse than it was earlier.

I managed to help her get a shower, and at least eat something, but it was a struggle to get her out of the house.

I don't blame her for how she feels though. It's not her fault what happened to Mason at all, but she has every right to feel. At one point she loved him.

"Are you ready to go in?" I ask, looking over at her once I put the car in park.

A sigh escapes from her lips and she looks over at me. She stares at me for a few seconds, and then grabs my hand.

I've noticed lately that she grabs onto me when she gets really quiet. The selfish part of me is glad, because I could hold Marley for the rest of my life. But the common sense part of me knows that she isn't holding onto me because she wants to. She's holding onto me because whatever it is that's going on in her head is bad.

"Yeah." She says after a minute, and then opens her door.

When we walk inside of Niall's house, a small weiner dog runs up to us. She jumps up on her back two feet, and hops around with her front two up in the air. I smile and pick her up.

"Hey Stels." The dog starts to lick my face.

I cough at her bad breath and look over at Marley. She's smiling. A warm, fuzzy feeling washes over me when I see her real smile.

"This is Stella." I tell her, turning the weiner dog to face her. "Niall and his family have had her for years."

"She's cute." Marley chuckles as the dog tries to jump over to her.

"Theres my favorite lovers." Niall says teasingly, walking over to us. "Hey Mar."

"Hi." She says to him, a small smile still on her face.

"Hey Marley," Finley joins in. "I haven't seen you in a while."

"Yeah I've uh...been sick."

She doesn't have to lie to Finley. Everyone around her can see what she's going through—not that that's a bad thing.

For her sake though, we all let her lie.

He gives her a small smile, and I can see the sympathy in his eyes. Then I hear a gasp, and a squeal, before a pile of red hair barrels into Marley with a hug.

Marley chuckles "Hey Keely."

"You are not allowed to disappear like that ever again." Keely says, still not letting go of my girlfriend.

"I didn't disappear."

Keely instantly pulls away, one eyebrow raised as she looks at Marley.

"I didn't disappear, I was just silently living." Marley adds.

Keely playfully rolls her eyes, and then drags Marley off into the sitting room. I watch as they do, and when the pair disappears around the corner, I look back at Niall and Finley.

"How is she?" Niall asks. For the first time in a long time, he seems serious. There's no humor in his tone. He's actually concerned about her.

"She's uh..." I shove my hands in my jean pockets. "She's getting there."

"I feel terrible." Finley adds. "First her Mam, and then he cheated on her, and then this? He couldn't have called anyone else? What a fucking tool."

I huff "Yeah. Tell me about it."

Hours later, my feet are planted on the soggy greens of the pitch in front of me. The audience is already cheering and screaming. The stadium lights are humming as the beam down on us. Hurling season is finally here.

And I can only think of Marley.