Camilla rubbed her temples, then her forehead. She tried to trace back to her most previous memory — an act she hadn’t done since her twenties, maybe, or even before then, when Andrea had been nothing more than a thought. She hadn’t allowed herself to lose control like that in eons. It had been delicious. And now, she felt like a dried-up Kleenex at the bottom of a trashcan.
A noise beside her yanked her head around. Her eyes popped open, then widened at the sight of one Jonathon Franklin. His eyes were closed; his brow was furrowed in that adorable way he had always held while sleeping; and he mumbled to himself, post-snore. Camilla couldn’t quite make out the words.
One thing was clear, though. He was naked.
And so was she.
Camilla’s heart stopped beating. Again, she tried to trace back the events of the hours before arriving home — but couldn’t fully. One minute, they had walked up and down the glittering boardwalk; another, they’d decided it was time for more drinks at a beach bar; another, they’d hailed a taxi? Oh, but what time had that been? And what time was it now?
Camilla lifted herself just the slightest bit to peer at the bedside alarm clock, which was located on Jonathon’s side. Actually, in marriage terms, Jonathon now slept on the “side” that she’d traditionally held in their marriage. It felt strange to see him there. But again, her heart surged with love for him.
The clock read: 6:43 in the morning? Was it really the following morning? Camilla stepped tenderly from the side of the bed and then tiptoed into her bathroom. There, she was met with a startling reflection: a forty-one-year-old woman who’d drunk her weight in alcohol and lived to tell the tale. Camilla looked at her reflection and shook her head before she started to scrub her face clean, then actually added a bit of concealer and eyeliner and mascara in an attempt to try and hide her hangover. She didn’t want Jonathon to wake up beside a wild beast. That was for later when he’d officially returned.
That is if he ever did officially return. She couldn’t bank on anything. She didn’t want to feel the harsh razor of disappointment all over again. She still remembered that first night, after Jonathon had left. She had cried herself to sleep— slept fitfully, then awoken to what she had imagined would be “the rest of her life.”
Maybe if Camilla had been alone this morning, she might have headed into the kitchen, brewed a pot of coffee, and then watched something on television. But the allure of slipping back into bed beside the warm body of the man she loved was too great. She popped an aspirin, then a second one and drank an entire glass of water, then she snuck back into bed. While still deep in sleep, Jonathon reached across the space, draped an arm across her chest and held onto her. He cuddled her tightly against his chest, and she inhaled his musky scent — his sweat and cologne and the hint of alcohol on his breath. None of it mattered. He was home.
Camilla allowed herself to drift back to sleep for a while. Occasionally, she awoke when Jonathon cleared his throat, or a snore escaped his throat. But she always found a way to slip back into sleep.
But suddenly, hours later, Camilla’s eyes popped open. The door creaked, wider and wider, as Andrea’s voice rang out.
“Mom? Mom, you know it’s like eleven, right? Anyway, I wanted your advice on—”
Andrea’s voice stopped short as she gasped. Camilla yanked herself up from the pillow, an act so violent that it drew Jonathon out of his sleep, too. She drew the sheets up toward her neck as she locked eyes with her daughter, who certainly hadn’t expected the father she was still pretty angry with to be in bed with her mother.
Andrea’s face lost all its color. She glared at Camilla and muttered, “I can’t believe this.” She then turned on her heel and raced off. Camilla knew that her daughter took this as an act of betrayal. But she also didn’t understand all the details of what was happening either.
Camilla jumped out of bed, grabbed a pair of pajama pants and a tank top, and headed after her. Jonathon coughed and called out, “Camilla!” But Camilla didn’t have time to wait. Although Andrea had admitted to having a good time with her father that day in the garden, Andrea still hadn’t made any effort to hang out with him or call him. In fact, she’d told Camilla, “I just don’t trust him.” Camilla hadn’t had an answer, especially since she still hadn’t informed Andrea about the new information regarding Montlake Investments.
“Andrea!” Camilla called as she raced out toward the back porch.
Andrea had fallen to her knees in the grass of the backyard. She was draped forward, her face in her hands. Her shoulders shook as she cried.
Camilla rushed to her side and placed her hand over Andrea’s back. She knew that sometimes, words weren’t enough, especially when the enormity of her emotions was like a mountain.
“I just don’t understand how you can take him back after everything he did to us.” Andrea sniffled between her words. She closed her eyes tightly as tears fell down her cheeks. “He totally betrayed us, Mom. He left us in a lurch. And who’s to say that he won’t do it all over again?”
Camilla brought Andrea up into her arms and held her as she shook and slowly started to calm down.
After a long pause, Camilla placed her chin on Andrea’s shoulder and whispered, “You can never really trust anyone in this world, can you?”
Andrea drew back slightly. Her eyes were red-tinged from crying.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, you could wake up tomorrow and decide for some reason that you never want to see me again. I could wake up next week and decide to try my hand at the acting scene in LA. We could all hurt one another at any point.”
“I don’t want to hurt you,” Andrea said, her brow furrowed.
“And I don’t want to hurt you because I love you more than life. Your dad has hurt us. That’s true and it was awful. But he’s been hurting, too. And he wants to make amends. The fact that he wants to try again means more to me than everything else. I love him, honey and I’m willing to forgive him. I hope you can feel the same way at some point. But I also understand if you can’t fully.”
Andrea’s lower lip quivered slightly. “So you’re saying that everyone can hurt us at any time. But we still have to keep trying to love them as much as we can.”
“Essentially, yes.” Camilla’s smile widened.
“It sounds unreasonable.”
“Maybe so, but it’s also the easiest thing in the world, isn’t it? My love for you is like breathing.”
Andrea blinked back another round of tears. “You don’t think Isaac will do to me what Dad did to us, do you?”
Camilla traced a hand over her daughter’s blonde hair. “Isaac loves you more than life itself.”
“But later. When we’re sick of each other.”
Camilla couldn’t give her daughter any kind of answer. In truth, there was nothing they could possibly know about the future, especially there as they leaned down in the grass beneath the June sun.
“You won’t get sick of each other,” Camilla lied. “You’ll be teammates in this life. You’ll have each other’s backs in every way. And your love will always be enough.”
That last part, she reasoned, was true. Love was always enough. And in the case of Camilla and Jonathon, love was enough of a reason to try again.
Chapter Twenty-Two
ANDREA STOOD IN A PAIR of exercise shorts and a ratty t-shirt, her legs shoulder-width apart and her hands on her hips. Before her, in front of the television, she had placed a headless body stand on which she’d placed the wedding dress that she had borrowed from Isaac’s sister. Camilla paused in the doorway behind her and watched as Andrea assessed the thing. She pinched the fabric toward the top, along the breasts, and actually scrunched her nose with distaste.
“You know,” Camilla said as she stepped into the room, “you don’t have to wear that thing if you don’t want to.”
Andrea shrugged slightly. “It’s just a dress and it’s just a wedding, Mom. The only truly important thing is that Isaac and
I spend the rest of our lives together. I have to focus on that.”
Still, disappointment shadowed her every syllable. Camilla lifted her phone to check, yet again, to see if Susan had any news about Casper Jennings. The previous evening, she had said that the police had taken him into custody and that she would know more soon. The results of all this hung over her. Would their lives go back to normal? Or would they live in this discomfort forever?
“Well, you don’t have to look like a two-bit princess at your wedding. No matter how much cash we have to throw around,” Camilla said with a crooked smile.
“Mom!” Andrea’s smile was electric. She swatted her mother playfully and then said, “I was thinking the same thing. A swimsuit is much more fitting.”
“Yeah. I’m sure your grandmother would love it if you walked down the aisle in your bikini,” Camilla offered.
“I’ll call her right now and tell her my plans.”
Andrea changed into her boat tour outfit after that, leaving the monstrous wedding dress in the living room. Camilla thought about destroying it in some way — a pot of coffee thrown over it or an accidental tear? The thought made her laugh. Still, there was something about an unlucky wedding dress. In the midst of her potential reunion with Jonathon and Andrea’s wedding plans, she didn’t like to have the thing in her house.
After a pause, she lifted the dress stand off the ground and walked it out into the backyard. The slight summer breeze swept up beneath the dress, but it was too heavy to do anything but half-flutter. She placed it near the garden, where the seeds still hadn’t bothered to sprout up their green shoots. Camilla furrowed her brow and went over to the garden hose, which she flicked on. She sprayed the garden gently, only half-careful when it came to keeping the wedding dress dry.
“What the hell are you doing?” The words rang out from the backyard fence.
Camilla turned quickly to find Amelia, peering at her from the gate with a goofy smile on her face.
“What? Oh. I’m just, um, doing some gardening.”
Amelia swept through the gate and blinked at the wedding dress. “Are you doing some kind of weird art project?”
Camilla cackled and explained the origin of the wedding dress.
“I agree. It’s a horror to the eyes,” Amelia said as she scrunched her nose. “If Andrea wears that to walk down the aisle, I’ll faint.”
Camilla again checked her phone, which remained blank. When would she learn more? She shifted her weight from foot to foot as she asked, “So, what’s up? I didn’t expect you to stop by today.”
“I know. I just got back from the building site. I saw that Jonathon’s back today?”
“He said he was going to stop by this morning. He better not be working,” Camilla said.
“He’s keeping his distance from the power tools,” Amelia affirmed. She then lowered her brows and said, “He mentioned your name to me about ten times. I guess you guys have been spending more time together?”
Camilla hadn’t yet confessed to her best friends that she and Jonathon had slept together. She felt embarrassment flood her cheeks with pink.
“I take that as a yes.” Amelia’s grin widened as she turned back toward the house. “And the plants and the garden are looking better than ever. I guess that’s also Jonathon’s doing?”
Camilla rolled her eyes playfully and then turned her gaze to the grass below. “I have to admit. Andrea hasn’t been too keen on the whole thing. Sometimes, they get along; other times, she tells me she doesn’t think she’ll ever be able to forgive him.”
“And you? Do you think you can forgive him? For everything?”
“Our time apart was so jagged and strange. I spent so, so many days in bed. I lost myself.” Camilla considered her emotions, which seemed like a storm, brewing in her belly. “When he’s around, I can hear myself think again. When he’s around, I feel like my feet are stable on the ground.”
Amelia nodded somberly.
“It’s a funny thing, isn’t it? That the people who hurt us are sometimes the only ones who can help us put ourselves back together again?” Camilla asked.
“But then again, you, Mila, Jennifer and Olivia have never hurt me,” Amelia stated. “And you’ve done double-work, putting me back together again, each and every time I’ve faltered.”
“Amelia, you were already put together, but we’ve helped along the way when and where it was needed. That’s what friends are for,” Camilla said.
“The past few months,” Amelia said as she smoothed her hand over her stomach. “I’ve had a lot of personal growing to do.”
“Me too.” Camilla held Amelia’s gaze for a long moment.
Then, her phone rang.
Camilla yanked it from her pocket and found the name: SUSAN SHERIDAN.
“Camilla? Hi. It’s Susan.”
“Hello! Any news?” Camilla felt breathless. She reached out and gripped Amelia’s shoulder for balance. Her knees actually knocked together.
“Actually, yes.” Susan sounded incredulous. “The police finally tracked him down and Casper confessed to everything. We’re getting everything straightened out now, but it seems like he’s already agreed to repay what is owed to each of the families he wronged. Of course, there will be other consequences.”
Camilla fell forward, then. Amelia didn’t have time to catch her. She fell to her knees and spread her hand over her cheek and gasped as her eyes brimmed with tears.
“Camilla? Are you still there?” Susan asked.
“I’m here, all right,” she replied as hot tears rolled down her cheeks. She hadn’t fully allowed herself to understand what it would mean if everything actually worked out. She hadn’t actually imagined this far into the future. “Thank you so much, Susan.”
Susan’s laughter was music to her ears. It was melodic. It was some of the best sounds Camilla had heard in all her life.
“You know, I do this work for this exact reason,” Susan said. If Camilla wasn’t mistaken, she was sure that Susan was smiling on the other end of the line. “You’re so very welcome. Thank you for all your help. Let’s get this monster behind bars. And let’s get your family back on track.”
Camilla ended the call after thanking Susan another handful of times. The gratitude she felt was overwhelming. At that point, she lifted her chin to Amelia, who looked totally perplexed at the situation.
“I don’t know if I can drive,” she told Amelia. “But could you take me to the construction site? I need to talk to Jonathon immediately.”
Camilla could hardly breathe en route to the construction site. She opened Amelia’s car window wide and placed her face just the slightest bit out to catch the fresh breeze. Her heart surged as they drew closer to Jonathon’s location.
“I just can’t believe we’ve spent all this time apart,” she said to no one in particular. “It took this heartache to bring us back together.”
Amelia laughed and adjusted her hands on the steering wheel. “I don’t know if I’ve ever seen you like this. You look...”
“Crazy with excitement?” Camilla laughed raucously. “I feel like I’m on cloud nine.”
“Well, it looks good on you, whatever it is,” Amelia said. “Ride this wave as long as you can.”
They pulled up outside the construction site and Camilla leaped out even before Amelia cut the engine. Just a few vehicles over was the truck she had taken down to New York, the one in which she’d listened to Andrea weep for hours, but all that was in the past now. They had found a way through.
Jonathon was off to the side of the construction site. Just as she always had before, Camilla found Jonathon endlessly attractive when he was at work. He wore a white hard-hat and a white tank top, which highlighted his muscular arms, tanned from another glorious summer on Martha’s Vineyard. This was the man she loved.
It was as though Jonathon could sense her. He glanced up from his clipboard and immediately, his face grew electric. His smile was ear-to-ear. He placed the clipboard in
another man’s hand and then strode toward her, bright-eyed. As he hustled, Camilla’s eyes again filled with tears, yet again. She couldn’t control it. Suddenly, she began to run. She rushed toward him and then leaped into his arms. He lifted her off the ground and twirled her around and around in circles. It was like the end of a romantic film. It was like the happiest ending in the world.
When he finally set her down, she was giddy. She kissed him, then burst into laughter, then kissed him again as her tears rolled down her cheeks.
“They did it, baby,” she finally murmured. Her words were caught in her throat. “They finally did it. They got him. And he’s going to repay every single cent he took from us.”
Jonathon’s jaw dropped. He lifted his construction hat off his head and then spread his fingers through his sweaty hair.
“Please, tell me this isn’t a dream.”
Camilla didn’t care that he was sweaty. She would have taken him then and there if it wasn’t for the fifty-some crew members who now ogled them. She again kissed him as tears rained down her cheeks.
“What do we do now?” Jonathon finally asked. His eyes were wet with tears, too.
“I think we have to tell Andrea as soon as possible. We’ve kept her in the dark long enough.” Camilla swallowed the lump in her throat. “Can you leave now?”
Jonathon rushed over to tell his other staff members that he had to head off for the day. Camilla turned to find Amelia with her own arms around Oliver, the man who’d started the project of this particular resort in the first place. When she drew back, Amelia’s face, too, was wet with tears.
“I don’t know what came over me,” Amelia said as she wiped her cheeks clean. “I just suddenly wanted to cry for you guys, too.”
Camilla laughed and rushed over to scoop her dear friend up. “You’re such a wonderful person, Amelia.”
“I’m sure it’s just pregnancy hormones,” Amelia said through sobs. “I swear, I don’t know what’s happening.”
113 Katama Rd Page 14
