Love me, Cole, please!
I can’t believe that thought even came out of my head.
Rosalie walked through the front door then, and I was rather thankful for the interruption. It only took her about three seconds before she decided to comment about the smoke. Cole smiled and stepped away from me as she came into the kitchen and began waving a towel around, asking how a person could burn toast. I looked at Cole and shrugged, and he chuckled softly.
“Are you going to stay for breakfast?” I asked Cole. “I didn’t burn the fruit.”
“As tempting as that is,” he began with a smirk, “I only have a minute. The guys are meeting me outside.”
“You’ll have to rush off pretty soon too, Camdyn,” Rosalie told me, “if you’re supposed to be at Rachel’s at nine.”
“You’re going to Rachel’s?” Cole asked, leaning against the counter.
“They’re taking a girls’ day to Memphis,” Rosalie said. Cole looked at me quizzically.
“So yesterday you spent the day with my mother, and today you’re hanging out with my sister,” he stated. “Why do I feel like this isn’t going to go well for me?”
“Don’t be so paranoid,” I scolded him mockingly, walking over to stand directly in front of him. “Maybe we’ll pick something up for you, while we’re there.”
“Hmm…maybe you could get me a cupcake,” he suggested with a smile. “Rachel will know what I’m talking about.”
“A cupcake?” I asked, wrinkling up my nose. “Seriously, a cupcake? What kind?”
“Chocolate-covered strawberry,” he stated with a sigh, “or peanut butter fudge.”
“Okay, I think we can manage that,” I told him, “but it’s going to cost you.”
“I knew it wasn’t going to be that easy,” he said, rolling his eyes. “What will it cost me?”
“No more apologizing.” He smiled one of his beautiful smiles and shook his head.
“Okay, no more apologizing. I better go, the guys are probably waiting on me.”
I stood there and watched as he walked out the door, turning at the last minute to smile once more. I remained at the counter for a few more seconds, thinking about that smile, until I felt Rosalie put her arm around me.
“You can protest all you want,” she said with a slight laugh, “but even if you don’t realize it yet, you are completely in love with that boy.” I blew her off by laughing and shaking my head, but the truth was, I wasn’t entirely certain that she was wrong.
-§-
Rachel stepped out of her house the minute I pulled into the driveway, not even waiting for me to get out of the car. It seemed that she was even more excited about the prospect of a girls’ day than I was. She started chattering the minute she sat in the passenger’s seat, telling me that her mom had picked up Charlotte, and she was spending the night, so we didn’t have to worry about rushing home. She had downloaded some girl power music, which she insisted on playing, and I was finding it really difficult not to find her happy attitude completely infectious. About five miles in, I realized that I had forgotten to charge my phone, which might actually work in Memphis, so I asked Rachel to pull it out of the glove compartment. She popped it open on top of her knees, grabbed my phone, and then just sat there for several seconds, finally busting into laughter.
“What’s so funny?” I asked, glancing over at her.
“Camdyn, your glove box,” she said, still giggling. “You’ve got, like, five toothbrushes in there, at least.”
Oh, gosh. That was one of those things she listed off yesterday as being weird, or obnoxious, or something. Shoot!
“I travel a lot,” I tried to explain. “You never know when you’re going to need one, and… Now you think I’m crazy, don’t you?”
“No, I love it!” she told me. “It’s like you’re the female version of Cole - it’s hilarious!”
I was about to say something witty to her about that when my phone started buzzing in her hand. She quickly plugged it into the charger, and I looked down to see that it was my editor calling. I pushed the speaker button and answered reluctantly.
“Camdyn Taylor!” Edith exclaimed. “I have been trying to call you for a week. Where on God’s green earth are you?”
“Tennessee,” I offered apologetically, earning a smile from Rachel.
“We have a deadline in two days,” Edith continued. “Two days, Camdyn. What am I supposed to do with that?”
“You have what I’ve sent you so far…”
“Yes, I have that, but…” she paused for a moment. “How am I supposed to say this?”
“It’s horrible,” I provided the words. “It’s a gigantic, steaming pile of horrible.”
“Camdyn, this is just not you. You are brilliant, and I love editing your work, but this…”
“I need more time,” I told her, while Rachel looked at me in stunned silence.
“Camdyn…”
“Whatever you can give me, I’ll take it,” I argued. “I know that it can be great, just as soon as everything falls together.”
“You’re killing me, Camdyn,” she said, but I heard her sigh and knew she was thinking it over. “One week. Next Friday at the latest.”
“Thank you, Edith, thank you! You won’t regret it.”
“I better not,” she relented, her voice softening. “Finish that book, and then find yourself a man. You spend too much time alone, my workaholic friend.”
“Okay, Edith,” I chuckled. “I will talk to you soon.”
Rachel glanced over at me while I pushed the end button on the phone, and then she looked out the window. I could tell something was bothering her, and I hoped I hadn’t made her uncomfortable.
“That was my editor,” I offered, hoping she would tell me what was wrong.
“Yeah, it sounds like you are behind or something,” she told me.
“It’s no big deal,” I said. “I’m just in a holding pattern, until I find my inspiration.”
“We can go back, if you’re too busy. I understand.”
“Are you kidding?” I asked. “No way am I turning this car around. We are going to Memphis, and we’re going to have some fun. Work can wait until later.”
Rachel smiled and nodded, and I cranked the music up a little louder. Within a couple of miles, we were both singing. I told her that Cole wanted a cupcake, and said she would know what he meant, and she began to tell me about this great bakery that had the best cupcakes in the world. Somehow that led to a conversation about a hilarious trip she and Cole had taken to Memphis when she and Jeff were just dating, and by the time we pulled into the city, both of us were laughing hysterically.
We decided to shop first, and I led Rachel from store to store pointing out things that would look great on her, with her reacting that she didn’t know. I finally saw a deep blue dress that I thought would be perfection, and I insisted that she try it on. She relented, but only if I would try the same dress in red, so we both went into the dressing rooms. I came out before she did, and had to talk her out of the room just so I could see the dress. When she finally emerged, she looked incredible. I stood in front of the mirror with her, and told her to really look at how beautiful she was.
“I don’t know where I would wear it,” she complained.
“Are you kidding?” I asked, staring at her wide-eyed in the mirror. “You have to own this dress, Rachel. Even if you just wear it doing the dishes or reading to Charlotte, look at you! Come on, can you honestly look at that and say that you aren’t stunning?”
“I guess I look pretty good,” she agreed, managing a small smile.
“Then it’s settled,” I told her, turning back towards the dressing room. “I am buying you this dress, and you are going to wear it Friday night on a date with your husband while I watch Charlotte.”
“I can’t ask you to do that, Camdyn,” she said, shaking her head.
“Then it’s a good thing you didn’t ask, huh?” I replied, shutting the door behind me.
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After we purchased the dresses, we continued shopping for a while, looking at shoes and jewelry. Rachel talked me into buying a handbag, since I didn’t have my laptop bag and had all my things shoved in my pockets. Around one o’clock we decided to stop and eat lunch, and we were walking into a little bistro when I nearly walked into a very pretty pregnant woman. I was offering my apologies to her when she glanced up with a look of realization and said Rachel’s name. Rachel quickly recognized her and responded with a hug, and then turned to look at me.
“Camdyn, this is Stephanie,” Rachel offered. “We went to high school together. She was Cole’s girlfriend.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” I said with a smile, while inwardly practically despising her. This was the girl who broke Cole’s heart? Ugh, I wanted to give her a piece of my mind, or smack her in the face, or something else that was totally insanely stupid and unwarranted.
Get a grip, Camdyn!
Before I knew it, Rachel was inviting Stephanie to lunch with us. I felt powerless to say no, and so pretty soon there we were, the three of us, sitting together like old friends. I kept telling myself to relax. I mean, did I want this woman to be married to Cole right now? Of course not, so why was this making me so angry? I should be glad that she left Cole available for those of us that were a little less deserving. Besides, why did I even care about her in the first place? It’s not as though I knew whether or not Cole would have chosen her over me…except he had already chosen her, and she said no. She thought she was so deserving that she dared to say no to the most perfect man on earth. Now here she was, pregnant and radiant and perfectly beautiful with her straight polished hair and her olive skin.
The terrible thing was, she was really nice. Had I not been introduced to her with the “Cole’s girlfriend” line, I would have been having a terrific lunch. She was asking Rachel questions about her family and complimenting her, and she even acted interested in hearing a little bit about me. Of course, Rachel also asked about her life, and she was happily married, expecting her first child. She liked to volunteer, and she had been at a daycare reading books to kids earlier that morning. I had almost forgotten any reason not to like her for a minute, until she brought him up.
“How is Cole doing?” she asked Rachel.
“Oh, he’s really good,” Rachel said through a bite of her salad. “He has his own business, and he coaches baseball. Plus, he’s dating Camdyn.” I nearly choked on my food when she added that last bit.
“Really?” Stephanie queried, a smile growing on her face as she looked at me. “Cole is an amazing guy. I truly hope you two are happy together.”
“Thanks,” I mumbled as I tried to swallow.
“They really are perfect for each other,” Rachel added. “Camdyn carries toothbrushes in her glove box.” Stephanie and Rachel both started giggling then, as though they shared some private joke on toothbrushes that I wasn’t privy to.
“Oh, that is too much,” Stephanie said. “Definitely a match made in heaven, I would say.”
The two of them continued talking about people they knew from high school, and I basically sat there nodding and smiling until my cheeks hurt. When they finally finished their lunch and we got up to leave, Stephanie hugged Rachel and told her it was great to see her again. Then, much to my surprise, she leaned over to hug me.
“Take care of Cole,” she whispered. “You don’t find special guys like that very often.”
“No, you don’t,” I stated, wondering if she regretted her decision. Was this how Peter and Trey’s future girlfriends would feel about me? I was the terrible woman that didn’t realize what she had and broke their hearts?
I didn’t have long to think about it, because Rachel and I were off again, this time to find the cupcake place everyone had been bragging about. We each had a cupcake on the spot, and they were as good as Rachel said. I also purchased four cupcakes for Cole – chocolate covered strawberry, peanut butter fudge, peaches and cream, and dark chocolate orange. They tucked them into a cute little pink box, and we were headed out the door when I saw a little parlor across the street that was a salon and photography studio. I pointed it out to Rachel, and asked what she thought.
“I don’t know…” she said.
“Let’s do it,” I pleaded. “Come on, was I wrong about the dress? This will be fun!”
She relented after a moment, and we went inside. They only had one stylist who wasn’t busy, and she was full of life and spunk. Between the two of us, we were easily able to convince Rachel to darken her hair a couple of shades. While Rachel was in the chair, she kept telling me that she didn’t know what Jeff would think. I told her over and over that he was going to love it, and if he didn’t, he was crazy. The stylist was backing me up, so I felt fairly certain that I was right.
When another one of the girls got some free time, she washed my hair and started on a blowout. I rarely ever took the time to straighten my hair, because it felt like it took forever, so that in itself was a treat for me. After she finished my hair she started working on my makeup, and when she was finished, I sat watching Rachel again. I told her she should try bangs, and she was hesitant at first, but she had finally loosened up a bit, and decided to go for it. When her hair was finished, the girl who had been working with me began applying makeup, and then Rachel looked at me expectantly.
“Rachel, you are a new person,” I said with amazement. She turned slowly to look in the mirror, and she reached her fingers up to touch her hair.
“That cannot be me,” she stated, tilting her head to the side.
“Of course it’s you,” I told her, putting my arm around her shoulders. “You are truly stunning.”
It didn’t take any work to convince her to get her picture taken after that – she was all for it. She was absolutely insistent that we take our picture together, though. I already had on a white t-shirt, and they found one for Rachel, so we headed in for our portrait. We sat there cross-legged on the floor, barefooted, side by side, and Rachel looked at me and smiled.
“You know,” she said, “if I had a sister, I’d want her to be like you.”
“Wow,” I breathed. “You shouldn’t try to make a person cry when they’re getting a picture taken.”
“Sorry,” she stated, and we both laughed. A few minutes later, we were all finished and headed out the door. Rachel had chosen a picture where we were both smiling at the camera, but I chose one where we were looking at each other and laughing. It was a candid shot, but it felt more like the mood of the day, and it was the one I wanted to remember.
It was starting to get late, but we decided to eat dinner before we headed down the road. We stopped at an Italian place, where we talked about how strange it was that we had run into Stephanie earlier. Rachel talked about her for a few minutes, and I listened politely before I said anything. Finally, I had to interject.
“Rachel, you do know that Cole and I aren’t really dating, right?” I asked. She kept chewing and looked up as though she was considering the question, and then she finally looked intently across the table at me.
“In the traditional sense, yes, I know,” she told me. “I also know that I haven’t seen my brother interested in anyone this way.”
“You mean lately,” I interrupted.
“No, I mean ever,” she stated.
“But he fights with me all the time,” I said. She nodded her head and wrapped her pasta around her fork.
“I gave that some thought,” she added. “If he didn’t care, he wouldn’t bother to fight with you, he would just let it slide. That just proves that he’s passionate about you. Quite frankly, I think he’s in love with you.”
“No, I don’t think so,” I told her. She took a bite of her pasta, and I looked down at my plate for a moment, thinking about what she said.
“Besides, I saw how jealous you got when we met Stephanie,” she stated with a laugh. “For no reason, I might add, being jealous of a married, pregnant woman. You’re totally in love w
ith him. You don’t even need to say anything, because if you deny it I won’t believe you anyway.”
I looked over at her and shook my head, not bothering to say a word. We went on to finish our dinner in silence, and then we started our drive home. About fifteen miles from getting Rachel home, her phone started ringing. She looked down, told me that it was Jeff, and put it on speaker.
“Hey, babe,” she said as she turned the radio down.
“What’s that noise, do you have me on speaker?” Jeff asked.
“Yeah, is that okay?” she asked.
“Sure, no problem. Hi, Camdyn.”
“Hey, Jeff,” I added.
“Rach, are you on your way home?” Jeff continued.
“Yes, why, is something wrong?”
“No, not really,” he said, sounding as though he was trying to be diplomatic about something. “The great protector-in-chief is here, and he’s pacing around the living room driving me insane, that’s all.”
“What are you talking about?” Rachel asked, perplexed.
“Your brother is here. He said he wanted to get some tool he let me borrow, but then he came inside and he’s just hanging out. I had to lock myself in the bathroom to call you.”
“That’s just crazy!” Rachel giggled. “You and Cole hang out all the time.”
“Yeah, this is not hanging out. This is me sitting here in a hostage situation while he waits for you to get home. I think he’s about to send out a search party. I keep telling him to let me call, but he insists it’s no big deal.”
“We’ll be home soon,” Rachel assured him.
“Thank God,” Jeff said, and then he hung up the phone. Rachel looked over at me, and she couldn’t help but giggle.
“I’m not going to say anything,” she told me, and then she turned the radio up and kept her word. I will admit the last few miles were torture, as I thought about Cole being there waiting for us when we got home. After Rosalie and Rachel both told me I was in love with Cole, I was more than a little nervous. Was I doing something outwardly that made them think that? If I was, could Cole see it? How completely, utterly embarrassing if he could.
A Reason to Run (The Camdyn Series Book 1) Page 19
