by Rachel Hanna
She slid out of the booth with her file and purse and walked out the door.
* * *
Cameron leaned against the brick wall on the other side of the diner. His heart was thumping out of his chest, and he thought for a moment he might throw up.
He’d just wanted to check on her to make sure she was okay after dropping off Lucas at school for his first day. The brown paper bag with her favorite blueberry muffins from the bakery dangled in his hand and eventually dropped onto the pavement.
The vision of her holding Johnny’s hand across the table in the diner was forever etched in his mind. He’d seen them accidentally, of course, but the sight of him touching her and her allowing it was enough to help him make his decision.
He was going back to New York.
* * *
“Cameron, I don’t understand. I thought you and Piper were getting along?”
“We were. I mean, we are. Look, this is purely a business decision. What are my options?” he asked Mr. Dylan.
“Well, your six weeks is up in a couple of days. You can either sell your share to Piper or someone else. Or you can stay and run the place. Or you can go back to New York and hire someone to stand in your place at the orchard for the time being.”
“I’ll take that last option.”
“You know this isn’t what your grandmother intended, right?” Mr. Dylan asked.
“Well, apparently my grandmother isn’t always right,” Cameron said before he stood and walked toward the door. “Oh, and this is between you and me. You are to tell no one, including Piper, until I’ve had a chance to talk to her.”
Mr. Dylan nodded.
* * *
Piper felt like she needed to take a shower after Johnny held her hand. He was up to something, she just knew it. She had no idea what it was, but she intended to find out.
As she walked around the square trying to clear her mind, she noticed Johnny’s truck was still there in front of the diner. He should’ve left long ago. She peeked in the window, but he wasn’t inside.
She thought she heard his voice around the corner of the building, so she stood just out sight, shielded by a magnolia tree and listened. He was on the phone.
“I know, baby. I’m working on it. I really freaked her out today, so I think she’ll cave soon. I love you too. I’ll be home to get you soon…”
What on Earth? Who was he talking to? And what was she going to cave about?
“I think at least a hundred grand. She wants me out of her life and the kid’s life…”
“The kid”? Lucas was his name!
“I’ll ramp it up… lay it on even thicker,” he said, laughing. “By the time I’m done, she’ll definitely want to fork over some of that newfound cash. If I have to, I’ll threaten to get full custody of the kid.”
Piper couldn’t breathe. She leaned over and struggled to get a good breath in. By the time she composed herself, Johnny’s truck was speeding down the road, his huge tires screeching around the corner.
She ran to her car and immediately started toward Mr. Dylan’s office.
* * *
Mr. Dylan took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. It looked like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders.
“So this guy’s trouble,” he said as more of a statement than a question.
“Yes. And now I know his angle. He wants money. So how do I give him what he wants and get him out of our lives?”
Mr. Dylan laughed. “Piper, you can’t just give him money. First of all, that’s letting him win…”
“I don’t care if he wins! I just want to protect my son!”
“I understand, Piper. But it can also be seen as you paying him off, and how will that look to Lucas one day?”
She had to admit he was right. “So what can we do?”
“Leave it to me. Let me do a little digging on this Johnny Avery guy.”
“Okay,” she said. “But please hurry.”
* * *
Cameron packed the last of his items into his small suitcase and zipped it up. He was leaving in half an hour, and he still hadn’t told Piper.
It had been two days since he’d seen her holding Johnny’s hand, and the image just kept replaying in his mind. How had he been so blind? There was no way he could compete with her first love and the father of her son, no matter what a creep he was.
Now there was only one thing left to do - tell Piper. He didn’t know why he was having such a hard time doing that. He had managed to avoid her for two days now, even though she’d left him a couple of notes on his door asking if they could talk.
He knew what she wanted to talk about. She wanted to let him down easy, explain that she wanted to be with her son’s father again. In fact, he’d created the conversation in his own head. First, she’d tell him that she was in love with Johnny again and then ask him to be nice to him since he’d be living at the orchard too. The thought made him sick to his stomach.
He made his way downstairs with his suitcase in hand and started toward the front door. He would put his suitcase in his car first and then find Piper before heading to the airport.
But then he heard her voice on the front porch. The door was cracked and he could see her sitting with her mother talking.
“I’ve missed him so much, Mom. His touch… his kiss…”
Ugh. She was telling her mother about how she’d missed Johnny all these years. He had to get out of here.
“And I love him.”
“Are you sure?” Nancy asked.
“I’m sure. I never thought I could. I mean, we haven’t always gotten along…”
“Have you told him how you feel?” she asked.
“Not yet. I wanted to be sure…”
“Excuse me, ladies,” Cameron said as he opened the door and interrupted their conversation like a bull in a china shop. He had to get out of here before his head exploded.
Piper looked shocked to see him standing there, the color draining from her face. Of course she was shocked - he had just busted her talking about her undying love for jerk face.
“Cameron… I…” she stammered.
“I’ll leave you two to talk,” Nancy said, making the quickest escape he’d ever seen in his life.
He stood there stone-faced looking down at her. God, she was beautiful. He was going to miss looking at her. Touching her. Kissing her. His heart literally ached in his chest.
“Cameron… Wait, is that your suitcase? Where are you going?”
He steeled himself to just say the words even if he didn’t mean most of them. Suddenly he found himself wishing he’d taken those free acting classes in his office building because they’d come in handy about right now.
“Piper, this situation isn’t going to work for me. I’m going back to New York. To my business. My flight leaves this afternoon.”
Her eyes filled with tears immediately, which he didn’t understand given her circumstances. His decision would make it easy for her to move Johnny in - a thought that pained him immensely.
“But, I don’t understand. Why are you leaving so quickly? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I’m signing a big author. His name is Jed Millway. We have a meeting in the morning, and I need to be there. I’ve spoken to Mr. Dylan, and he will find a replacement to handle my workload here. You can email the monthly financials to me, and I’ll send reports back to you.”
“You had time to talk to Mr. Dylan and not to me?” Her voice was full of pain. “What happened, Cameron? I thought…”
“You thought wrong,” he said, cutting her off. “Look, this place is like a vacation for me. I could never give up my business to stay here full-time. I need to get home, but as I promised before, I will make sure my workload is covered.”
He turned and walked toward his car, but Piper ran after him and grabbed his sleeve.
“So that’s it? You’re just leaving… me?” she said, tears streaming down her beautiful face.
He turned to face her
. “Don’t worry. You have your son. And your mother. And Johnny.”
A look of shock clouded her face, and then confusion. For a split second, he wondered if he might be wrong about her and Johnny, but then the doubt faded again when the image of her sitting across the table holding his hand appeared.
“Fine!” she said, turning to walk back toward the house. She faced him one last time and shot back some parting words. “I’m used to this, after all. Men leaving me. Men who can’t commit. Men who have no backbone and no heart. I thought you were different, but apparently I was dead wrong.”
He slid into the seat of his car and watched her walk up the steps and slam the huge front door with such force that he wondered if the house could withstand it.
And then the regret set in, but it was too late. His decision was made.
Chapter 12
It had been two weeks since Cameron had left, and Piper wasn’t getting over it. She walked through her day like a zombie, leaning on Hector to do most of the work while she tried to hold it together.
It was embarrassing really. She’d only known Cameron a few weeks. How could she have such strong feelings for a man like him? How could she have been so wrong about him?
Lucas was settling in nicely at his new school, making new friends and getting good grades. The rose business was picking up for the holiday season and a big celebrity wedding, but Hector was handling most of that.
Thanksgiving had come and gone with Piper, her mother, Lucas and Hector enjoying a meal together like the newly formed family they were. And Piper was starting to get hints that her mother had some feelings for Hector which made her happy. Hector and her mother deserved to have love later in life, and she was looking forward to watching them flirt with each other.
Piper hadn’t heard from Cameron at all, not even an email. Instead, he’d sent a couple of spreadsheets to Mr. Dylan, and he had passed them along to Piper. She felt like she was in the middle of a nasty divorce, but she had no idea why.
“Hey, sweetie,” she heard her mother say from behind her as she sat on the front porch. Piper spent most evenings sitting in a log rocking chair on the porch, staring out over her new land. Two weeks ago, she could see the future stretched out in front of her, but now she felt a little lost.
“Hey, Mom,” she said with a forced smile.
“Piper, I’m worried about you.”
“I’m okay.”
“No, you’re not.”
“No. I’m not,” Piper said with a sigh. “I don’t know why this is affecting me so bad. He’s just a guy.”
“He was the guy,” she said. “Maybe you should reach out…”
“No. Absolutely not. If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that I don’t need a man. I don’t have to beg someone to love me.”
“Of course, honey. I know that. But you deserve someone.”
“Well, it wasn’t him,” she said as she stood up. She kissed her mom on the head and walked back inside.
As she walked through the living room, she noticed the TV was on so she was just about to turn it off when she heard a familiar name. Jed Millway. Why did that sound so familiar?
The TV reporter on some entertainment show was talking about him, so she turned it up.
“Jed Millway, the author famous for writing books that almost always turn into blockbuster movies, has signed with a new publisher. Lionheart Books has picked up his contract which was canceled by Raven Publishing last week. His new deal…”
She turned off the TV and stood there for a moment. Raven Publishing - that was Cameron’s company. And Jed Millway had signed with him and then the deal was cancelled? What was going on? He’d used that as an excuse to leave, so why would he cancel the deal?
“Hey, Miss Piper,” Hector said as he came in the door from the garden.
“Oh, hey, Hector. Listen, can I ask you something?”
“Sure.” He grabbed a water from the refrigerator and sat down on a bar stool.
“Before Cameron left… did he mention anything to you about his business?”
“No. He didn’t even tell me goodbye. It was like he was upset and had to get out of here.”
“Something isn’t right about this whole thing.”
“Miss Piper, can I ask you something?”
“Of course.”
“Do you love Cameron?” Hector smiled.
“Well, I… I mean…”
“I think I got my answer,” he said with a chuckle.
“It doesn’t matter how I feel, Hector. He certainly doesn’t love me,” she said with a sigh before she walked upstairs.
* * *
Cameron sat at his desk and stared out the plate glass window overlooking the city. This would be the last time he experienced this view, and he wanted to take it in.
He’d been back in New York for almost three weeks now, and the pain of losing Piper was still too much. Even his writing had suffered. His creative juices only seemed to flow in Whiskey Ridge, and Piper was his muse, apparently.
He reached into his drawer and removed a framed photo of his grandmother and placed it into a box along with all of his other belongings from his office.
“I can’t believe we won’t be working together anymore,” Susan said as she leaned against the doorframe in his office.
“I know. The end of an era,” he said with a smile. “But you’ll do great. I have faith in you.”
It had been one week since he’d sold the business to his assistant. He gave her the deal of a lifetime, and she gave him freedom.
“You know Jasmine Blake has already complained twice about you leaving.”
He laughed. “She hates me.”
“Apparently she hates me more,” Susan said. “I wish we could’ve saved the Jed Millway deal, though.”
“I know. I’m sorry he bailed when he heard I was selling.” Susan nodded.
“Cameron?” they both heard a voice call from the waiting area. A few moments later, Hector appeared in his doorway.
“Hector? What in the world are you doing here?” Cameron couldn’t have been more shocked. Susan shut the door and left them alone.
“I need to talk to you.”
“Um, have you heard of this thing called a phone?” Cameron asked, pulling his phone from his pocket for illustrative purposes.
“I don’t know your number.”
“But you know my office address?” Cameron laughed as he sat back down behind the desk and pointed to a chair.
“I have one question.”
“Shoot.”
“Do you love Miss Piper?”
Cameron’s heart skipped in his chest. Her name. He didn’t want to hear her name.
“Hector, listen…”
“For goodness sakes, answer the question, Cameron. Do you love her?”
“It doesn’t matter because she doesn’t love me…”
“Are you two twins? She said almost the same thing! Young people are so frustrating,” he said, holding his head in his hands before looking back up.
“You asked her if she loves me?” Cameron said, afraid to know the answer.
“Yes.”
“And?” Now he was sitting on the edge of his seat, literally.
“She wouldn’t say, but I know she does. She’s so hurt that you left, and I don’t understand it either. I swear if your grandmother were here, she’d smack you with a switch.”
Cameron had to laugh at that. He’d been popped across his leg with switches many times.
“She’s with Johnny now…”
“What?” Hector said, his eyebrows knitted together in confusion.
“I saw her holding his hand across the table at the diner.”
“Oh, Cameron, is that what all of this was about?” Hector said laughing. “You’re an idiot, boy!”
“Excuse me? I’m still your boss, you know…”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatever. Piper isn’t with Johnny and she never was!”
Cameron’s stomach clenched.
“What?”
“He was trying to play games with her. She overheard him talking to his girlfriend on the phone planning ways to take her newfound fortune. As soon as Mr. Dylan got some dirt on him, he was quickly swayed to leave town… after signing proper custody papers, of course.”
Cameron stood up and paced back and forth behind the desk. Hector was right. He was an idiot.
“Why didn’t she tell me?”
“Because you left in such a hurry… She had no idea you thought she was with Johnny. She just thinks you don’t love her, Cameron.”
“She deserves so much better than me, Hector,” he said softly.
“I agree, but the heart wants what it wants. And her heart wants you,” Hector said, only half kidding about Piper deserving better than him. “So you come back to Whiskey Ridge, and you make this right.”
“I’m not sure I can,” he said.
* * *
Piper stood in the greenhouse. It was one of her favorite places on the property because she felt the closest to Lola there.
Lola had put her love into those roses, and Piper was determined to carry on her legacy for as long as she could. And then maybe Lucas could run the place once she was old and gray.
“Oh, Lola, where did I go wrong with your grandson?” she said out loud.
“You thought he was smart,” she heard a voice say from behind. When she turned, her heart started racing. Cameron was standing there holding a bouquet of red roses, a stark contrast to the pink ones they were surrounded by. “I heard you like roses?” he said, a tentative smile on his face.
“Cameron?” she said, unable to form additional words. She should’ve been mad at him, but right now she was just happy to lay eyes on him.
“I’m so sorry, Piper. I was a complete idiot. I misjudged a situation, and I gave up the best thing I ever had.” He walked closer to her. “I thought you chose Johnny.”
Her eyes got wide and she laughed nervously. “Johnny? Why on Earth…”
