Her eyes were wide and she was chewing on her bottom lip.
“Hi,” she said as he came to stand in front of her.
“Hi.”
She gave him a wobbly smile. “I knew better than to bring food, and especially dessert. And I thought liquor was probably not the right call this time. So…” She shrugged. “I’m empty-handed here.”
He reached out and pulled her into his arms, hugging her close, and burying his face in her neck, breathing in her scent.
She wrapped her arms around him, holding him. “I could have brought—”
“Shh,” he said against her ear. “This is all I need.”
“But—”
“Nope,” he interrupted again. “Just this. You. Here. With me.”
Her arms tightened around him and they just stood, holding each other like that. And it really was exactly what he needed.
Long moments later—two minutes, thirty, a week, he didn’t know—the door opened again.
This time it was the doctor.
Cam unwrapped himself from Whitney as everyone stood and came to cluster in the middle of the room to hear the news. He kept her tucked tightly against his side though. He’d been getting okay with her not coming but now that she was here, he wasn’t sure he was going to be able to let her go.
Aiden and Zoe hugged each other. Dax had Jane tucked securely under his arm. Grant stood behind Josie with his arms wrapped around her. Didi and Henry stood holding hands. Even Piper and Ollie were standing together. He had a hand on the back of her neck and she was leaning into him slightly. Cam’s dad, Steve, stood at the front of the group.
The doctor focused on him. “It went well,” he said.
The room let out a collective sigh. Cam felt his knees actually weaken. Whitney’s arm tightened around him as if she sensed that.
“We got all the blockages taken care of,” the doctor went on. “Her vitals were strong throughout and are strong now. It will be another hour or so until she’s awake. She’ll be in the ICU for a day or two. She will need cardiac rehab after she goes home. But I expect she’ll do well with all of it.”
A tear slipped down Steve’s face as he let out a breath and extended his hand to the surgeon. “Thank you so much.”
“Delivering good news is my favorite thing to do.” The doctor smiled at them all. “She clearly has a wonderful support system here. But, let’s limit the visitors to just a couple tonight.”
He answered a couple of questions and then left them.
Steve turned to face everyone. “Thank you all so much for being here.”
They all nodded. There was nowhere else any of them would have been.
“I’m going to go in and see her when she’s awake,” he said. “But maybe the rest of you should head home for now. You can come back later when she’s a little stronger.”
“But I want to see Mom,” Henry protested. He looked scared.
Cam felt his chest tighten. The last time someone Henry loved had gone to the hospital, she hadn’t come home.
“Oh, you know what Whitney did for me when I was in the hospital?” Didi asked him.
He looked up at her. “You were in the hospital?”
“Oh sure, a few times,” Didi told him, waving her hand as if it was no big deal.
Cam smiled. That was perfect. She was reassuring Henry by letting him know that people did come out of the hospital.
“I had my tonsils out,” Didi said. “And my appendix out. And three babies. And, the time I was going to tell you about with Whitney, I had a broken leg that needed surgery to put it back together.”
“What?” Henry asked.
“Yep. They put metal pins and screws into my bones.”
Henry’s eyes were wide. “No way.”
“Seriously. I can show you the x-rays.”
“Yes,” Henry said emphatically. “For sure.”
Everyone laughed.
“Anyway,” Didi went on. “When I was in the hospital that time, Whitney was about eight and she made me decorations for my room. Hospital rooms are so plain and boring. So Whitney drew pictures and got balloons and streamers and stuff. I think we should do that before we go see your mom.”
Henry thought about that. “That would be nice.”
“And the sooner we get home and make that stuff, the less time she’ll spend looking at plain old white walls,” Didi said.
Henry nodded. “We could do it while she’s still asleep.”
“Good plan.”
Cam smiled and looked down at Whitney. She was doing that smiling-with-shiny-eyes thing she did when she watched Henry and Didi together.
“I can’t believe she remembers that,” Whitney said softly.
“It obviously mattered a lot to her.”
She nodded. “And now she’s taking care of Henry instead of the other way around.”
“That’s what friends do,” Cam agreed.
Whitney looked up at him and gave him the sweetest, most loving smile he’d ever seen. “I love you, Cam.”
He was surprised, but inordinately pleased. “I love you too.”
“And I think you should stay here with your dad.”
He nodded. He should. But that meant Whitney was going to take Didi and Henry home. Which was fine. It really was.
“And I’ll see who can take Didi and Henry home.”
“Wait, not you?”
“I not going anywhere,” she told him, squeezing his arm. “I finally figured out this is where I want to be. No matter what.”
He couldn’t believe how those words affected him. “Whit—”
“We’re going to head out,” Grant said, stopping with Josie. “I’m so glad she’s going to be okay.”
“Thanks for being here,” Cam told him.
They shared a quick hug and then Cam hugged Josie. “We’ll tell her you were here and that you’ll be back when she’s feeling better.”
Josie wiped at her eye. “Thank you. My God, I was so scared.”
Aiden and Zoe came up beside them.
“We’re going to stay,” Zoe said. She looked at Whitney. “Piper told me about what you guys figured out for the bakery. Thank you so much.” She reached out and pulled Whitney into a hug. “That was… amazing.”
Whitney squeezed her back and Cam felt his throat tighten at the sight.
“Of course,” Whitney told her. “Anytime you need anything, I’m here.”
Zoe gave her a wobbly smile. “That’s so weird. Great,” she added quickly. “But weird.”
Whitney laughed. “I know.”
“Okay, so we’ll all hang out with Steve,” Aiden said. “You guys able to take Didi and Henry?” he asked Grant and Josie.
“Of course.” Grant looked at Whitney. “We can stay at your house with them. If that’s okay.”
Cam braced for her to decline their offer or to realize that if she didn’t go with them someone would need to stay with them, which meant she’d probably decide to leave.
He was shocked when she said, “That would be so great. Thank you. If she can’t find her keys, there’s a spare under the cherub just to the left of the porch. And help yourself to anything.”
He wanted to kiss her so badly.
“Hey, how did the meeting go?” Grant asked her as he was turning to leave.
She winced. “Oh. Well…” She looked up at Cam, then at Aiden, then at Grant. “I might have ruined that entire relationship. I wanted to get out of there so I could get over here and Gordon started asking what my dad thought of everything—”
“Wait, your dad?” Aiden asked with a frown.
Cam was scowling too.
She sighed. “Yeah. He was shocked to learn that I hadn’t consulted him and was concerned that we didn’t know what we were doing. So I told him he’d be an idiot to not want to work with us and he could take the offer on the table or not but I didn’t care and I was leaving and I walked out.”
“Well, good,” Grant said, also frowning. “Fuck
him.”
Whitney smiled. “I’m glad you feel that way.”
Aiden was studying her. “You already have another idea anyway, don’t you?”
She glanced up at Cam. “No. I just—”
Wow. She did already have a new idea. He was really going to just have to accept that it was always going to be like that. He grinned. “Go ahead,” Cam said, nudging her.
“I… it wasn’t like I was thinking about it on purpose,” she said. “It just came to me as I was driving over.”
“What is it, Whit?” Aiden asked with a smile.
“Well, okay. We don’t need Perkins Foods. I mean, yes, they’re the biggest chain, of course. But we’re Hot Cakes,” she said. “We’re one of the biggest snack cake companies out there and we’re the best. So… what if we only put our products in small stores. Family owned, independent grocery stores and gas stations. We wouldn’t have as many locations, but if people want a Hot Cakes snack cake, they’ll be willing to go looking for them. That would bring business to those smaller stores and make Hot Cakes a more exclusive item.”
Grant seemed to be thinking about that. But he did not, for once, keep an unreadable expression on his face. He nodded, then smiled, then said, “I like it. Let’s talk more about that.”
“Yep, and if Gordon Perkins comes crawling back,” Aiden said, “we’ll let you decide if we work with him or not.”
“I might tell him to fuck off.”
“That’s your call,” Aiden said with a wink.
Whitney turned a huge grin up to Cam.
He gave in then and bent to kiss her.
It was just a quick, sweet one, but it seeped into his bones and made him, quite simply, happy.
“Mr. McCaffery?” a nurse asked from the doorway.
Cam turned, but he knew she was talking to his father.
“You can come with me now,” she said.
Steve was clearly relieved. Cam, Zoe, Aiden, Josie, and Jane gave him hugs. He knelt before Henry to give him instructions to be a good listener and to text him if he needed anything.
“I’ll call you later and you can talk to your mom if she’s up to it,” Steve told him.
Henry nodded. “Okay. But I’ll be all right.”
Steve looked up at Didi, then stretched to his feet. “I know you will, son,” he said. He met Didi’s gaze. “Thank you.”
“It’s my pleasure,” she told him. Then she reached up and put a hand on Steve’s cheek. “I wish I could have known you sooner.”
Steve looked a little choked up. Letty had been his mother. This was her childhood best friend. What wounds Letty and Didi hadn’t been able to heal, he was able to heal with Didi. At least a little.
He put his hand over hers on his face and said, “We have time for that.”
She smiled. “I look forward to it.”
Then Steve turned and left with the nurse.
Everyone else just stood quietly for a moment.
Until Didi asked Josie, “If we’re riding back with you, does that mean we can stop at the bakery for pie?”
The mood officially lightened, everyone laughed and Josie slipped her arm through Didi’s—the one that wasn’t holding Henry’s hand—and said, “Absolutely. Pie makes everything better.”
“We will be right behind you,” Jane, the ultimate pie lover, announced.
She and Dax stopped and hugged Cam and Whitney and Zoe and Aiden. So did Ollie and Piper.
And then it was just the four of them.
Cam settled on one of the waiting room couches near the far wall and pulled Whitney down beside him, while Aiden and Zoe took the couch closer to the door. They were together, but this way the couples could chat in private.
“So you know,” he said as Whitney snuggled into him. “I’d really love to have your grandma stay at the house and not move into Sunny Orchard yet.”
Whitney stiffened in surprise and looked up at him. “Really?”
“Really. Things are going great. She’s doing well. I love being with her. I know we haven’t had any really bad days yet and I know things will get worse. There may be a time when Sunny Orchard is the right place for her but…” He’d been thinking about it a lot over the past week as the end of his month with Didi had been getting closer. “I think we could keep her at home longer.”
Whitney didn’t say anything. She just studied him, a soft smile on her face.
“What?” he asked finally.
“I really like hearing you say we and home and talk about the future like that.”
His heart kicked hard in his chest. “Me too.”
“And, yes,” she said. “I mean, I love having her there. If that’s what she wants. And you’re up for it.”
“Turns out that Hot Cakes needs a lot less legal work than Fluke did and, well, I’m damned good at being a stay-at-home grandson.”
Whitney’s expression softened. “Oh, man. You really are sweet. Those tattoos and muscles are a total cover-up.”
He laughed. “Just with you. And Didi.”
“And your mom. And Henry. And your sister. And Piper. And—”
“Okay, so my badass reputation is trashed.” He grinned down at her.
“Totally trashed,” she said with a nod. “But… at least you still have the tattoos.”
“You like those, don’t you?”
“So much,” she said in a lusty sigh.
He kissed the top of her head. “Maybe we should get you some.”
She didn’t say no. He looked down at her.
“Whit?”
“Just thinking about what I would get and where,” she said. “Especially if you would want to lick them as much as I like licking yours.”
Predictably, hospital waiting room or not, his body responded to that. “I would,” he said. “Very much. And I have some very specific ideas about what and where if that is part of the criteria.”
She grinned up at him. “Oh good.”
Yeah, he was definitely in love with her.
One month later…
“A toast!” Dax announced.
Everyone quieted and turned to face him. Except Maggie and Steve. They were sitting in the chaise lounge chairs off to one side. Still, they were facing Dax.
Maggie was doing great, but it was late and she still got tired easily, especially at these big group gatherings. Though she loved them more than anything.
Of course, anymore, all of their gatherings seemed to be big group gatherings.
Whitney had been amazed to find out over the past month that she was actually an extrovert. She’d thought so in high school, but the last few years, she’d been fine at home alone or just with Didi. Now though, with this group, she loved getting everyone together and talking and laughing and joking and encouraging each other.
“I don’t know what the hell we were thinking, but I’m sure glad we bought Hot Cakes,” Dax said.
Everyone laughed and raised their cups.
“Lord knows there were about a million ways we could have screwed that up,” Dax went on. “But, thankfully, we had Whitney.”
Everyone turned to hoist their cups toward her.
Whitney felt her eyes stinging.
“You are our fearless leader, our cheerleader, our visionary and… our friend.” Dax’s voice got softer on that last word and he gave her an affectionate smile. “You’ve also made our most ornery partner into a freaking teddy bear.”
Everyone looked at Cam who was, of course, right beside Whitney. She grinned at him.
“And for that we do truly believe you are magical,” Dax said.
Whitney gave a little curtsy.
Cam pinched her ass when she straightened.
She giggled.
He always acted growly when they teased about how nice and sweet and cuddly he was now, but the truth was, he freely admitted it. He was downright domestic. Not only was Didi still living with them, but they were now also fostering kittens. Or Cam was, anyway. Whitney still wasn’t entirely su
re how Paige had talked him into that, but honestly, seeing the big guy with the bulging, tattooed biceps bottle-feeding a kitten was even hotter than watching him bake cookies. And that was saying something.
“So it is long past time for us to finally make you, Whitney Lancaster, an official partner at Hot Cakes,” Dax said. “Thank you for saying yes when we asked you.”
Her eyes were stinging again but she smiled widely. “I’m thrilled.”
“To Whitney,” Dax said.
Everyone repeated, “To Whitney!”
“Now can we jump in?” Henry called as everyone drank.
Whitney laughed.
“Yes, now you can jump in,” Cam said. “But stay in the—”
Didi and Henry jumped into the swimming pool at the same time, throwing water up onto the patio and making Dax and Jane jump back, laughing.
“Shallow end,” Cam finished, as he watched them head for the slide. In the deep end. “Guess I’m going in for lifeguard duty.”
Yes. The party was at Whitney and Didi, and Cam’s, house. On the back patio. At 3 a.m.
And they were grilling burgers and drinking hard root beer.
No one was going into work tomorrow.
Whitney kissed him quickly. “You’re the best.”
“If you really loved me, you’d join us. In that red bikini I got you.”
“I thought that was for swimming when it was just the two of us.”
“Okay, sunrise swim. Just the two of us. And the red bikini.”
“Deal.”
She watched him head for the pool and her grandmother and his little brother. He stripped his shirt off, tossed it to the side, and then gave her one more look over his shoulder before diving in.
Yeah, those tattoos and muscles were all hers. As were the cookies he’d made just for her, hidden inside where the friends and family who they loved—just not enough to share every single cookie with—would never find them. She was in a really good place.
Speaking of really good places… Whitney looked around the patio. Everyone was here. Even Paige and Piper and Ollie. She sighed a happy sigh.
She’d spent time with her own mother and father and brothers on this patio over the years.
But she’d never actually been with family here.
Until now.
Semi-Sweet On You: Hot Cakes Series Page 31
