“So you like your family and you’re close to them all, but when it comes to your own life—”
He grinned. “Yeah... It’s not what I want.”
“Why is that?” Vonni asked, not quite sure why she felt as if she could.
But Dane didn’t balk; he merely answered her question. “H.J. was a titan of business. A giant. A lion at work. At home, GiGi called the shots and he did whatever she said. Margaret says jump, Louie asks her how high. I don’t want to become somebody who went from doing what I was told as a kid to doing what I’m told as a husband.”
“That doesn’t always happen,” Vonni argued. “Marriages can be equal—”
“There still has to be give-and-take, and growing up I did more than my fair share of conceding to get by. Now if I want a TV in the bedroom, I don’t want to go without a TV in the bedroom because the wife won’t hear of it. It’s a trade-off. I’ve already lived by committee. I work by committee. At home I like not living by committee and just doing as I please.”
“And kids?”
“I feel like I’ve already done the parenting thing. Or at least enough of it. GiGi wanted us to be close, and part of that was that no one was ever in any sporting event, any play, any concert, any program or graduation without every single one of us being in the audience. I’ve taught younger siblings and cousins to drive. I’ve helped with college applications. I’ve sat up nights to comfort broken hearts or advise on fights with friends. It just seems like I’ve done the family thing through and through, and now—”
“You don’t want to do it again.”
“I’m still doing it,” he said with a wry laugh. “Sunday dinner every week. Upcoming engagement parties and weddings. And now there’ll be Camden tiny tots—once that starts it’s bound to avalanche and there will be a birthday party every other minute and Christmas concerts and plays and...there will be a ton more Camdens to have family life with and enough is enough! I’ll pass on more work and responsibility and just be Fun Uncle Dane—”
“Fun Uncle Dane,” Vonni repeated with a laugh.
“Who can enjoy the good times then go home to my quiet place, breathe a sigh of relief and do whatever I please. It seems like the best of all worlds to me.”
“You want to have a family, but once removed, at a distance, where you can keep your hands clean,” she teased him.
He laughed. “Yeah. What’s wrong with that?”
Vonni pondered it for a moment then took a turn at shrugging herself. “I guess there isn’t anything wrong with it if that’s what you want. It’s just...unusual.”
“It’s unusual to grow up the way I did, too, looking after seven other kids.”
“True. Although my best friend all through school—”
“Besides Chrystal Burke?”
“Right. Anyway, Trudy had four younger brothers and cash-strapped parents who had to work all the time, so she took care of the house and the family as if she was the parent. But she still grew up and wanted a husband and kids of her own. So not everyone burns out on it.”
“I don’t know if it’s so much burnout as been there done that, just don’t want to do it again.”
Which once more brought home to Vonni how this man wasn’t for her at all. They couldn’t have more different goals.
So why, even at a moment when it couldn’t have been clearer to her that she shouldn’t be, was she still attracted to him—because yes, as much as she kept denying it, as much as she didn’t want it to be true, she was attracted to him. Overwhelmingly attracted to him....
“I should get home,” she announced, unsure if she was being rude cutting him off in the middle of a conversation but knowing that she had to get out of there. That she was finally doing what she should have done instead of giving in to her own inclination to spend as much time as possible with him.
“Yeah, I’m sure you’re ready to throw in the towel on a workday this long,” he said, not sounding put out by her abruptness but definitely seeming sorry that she was leaving.
He got up from his bar stool and retrieved her binder from the top of the refrigerator.
Vonni’s initial response was merely to watch him, to revel in the sight of his lean, well-muscled body moving across the space, reaching a long, powerful-looking arm to the towering fridge.
Then she caught herself and stood, too, just as he turned to hand her the binder.
“I’ll walk you out to your car and then come back in here and lock up,” he said.
“You don’t have to do that. I’m right out front.”
“Come on,” he said, refusing to argue. “Let’s get you home so you can rest, and you can tell me what’s on the agenda for tomorrow.”
“You said you have Sunday dinner every week....” she reminded him as they headed out of the kitchen through the corridor that the caterers would use. “Tomorrow was the day for shopping for the welcome gift baskets and what to put in them for your out-of-town guests, but I can do that on my own if you need to be somewhere else.”
He opened the oversize, arched front door and waited for her to go out onto the landing before following her.
“We do have Sunday dinner here every week, the lot of us with GiGi, Margaret and Louie. But since GiGi is in Northbridge, we’re skipping this week. So I’m at your disposal—we can shop for basket stuff all day. Or, if there’s more that we can get done, let’s do that, too.”
And then she could have the entire day with him rather than only part of it....
Except then she’d be violating the rules she’d set for herself during this break from husband hunting—she’d be putting her own needs on hold for a man.
“I only have you scheduled for half the day—I was going to leave it up to you which half,” she said, forcing herself to stick to her original plan. “But either before or after we shop I have some prospective houses to look at because I’m in the market for one, and I need to visit my dog at the shelter.”
They’d reached her car by then and Vonni leaned against the hood to rest feet that were beginning to tire, while Dane stood directly in front of her. In the glow of the many lights that lit the front grounds of the Camden house she saw his straight brow furrow a bit.
“Are you between places to live and keeping your dog at the shelter in the meantime?” he asked, confused.
“No, I’m not between places to live—I have a small apartment just outside the city. I just can’t have a pet there. I decided to buy a house and then I was going to get myself a dog. It’s just that I found the dog before the house.”
“An easier acquisition.”
“Right. I’ve always donated what I could and helped out at one of the shelters, and a dog came in that I just clicked with. So, since they know me there, they’re doing something they don’t ordinarily do—they’re letting me board my dog with them until I find a house. But on Sundays I try to get there no matter what.”
“You’re taking half a day off tomorrow—that’s what you’re telling me. And I’m glad to hear it—nobody should work as many hours as you do.”
He looked into the distance as if he was considering something, then said, “You know...I was wondering what to do with myself without the weekly family dinner to go to tomorrow, and we’ll be together to do the shopping, and I like dogs.... What if we work and then I tag along on your Sunday errands? Would I be butting in? Would you hate it? Would that be bad?”
Oh, sooo bad....
Because all he had to do was suggest it, and it was exactly what Vonni wanted.
With another go-nowhere guy, she lamented.
But then she reminded herself firmly that she wasn’t looking to go anywhere with any guy right now. So having Dane along on her Sunday excursions was harmless, wasn’t it?
“Maybe you just want your half day to yourself,” he said
when she didn’t immediately answer. “Totally understandable—”
“No, actually, it might be nice to have someone look at houses with me—it could save me from some of the Realtor’s hard sell,” Vonni heard herself say before she was completely sure she should. “And you can meet my dog.” The dog that was going to come before any man!
Dane grinned as if she’d granted him his deepest wish. “Great! Why don’t you let me pick you up so you won’t have to drive—you can have the day off from that, too.”
She cast a glance at the two-seater sports car she was parked behind. “If that’s yours it won’t work—the sack of dog food I bring to the shelter every week is almost as big as that car. I have to have it carted out and lifted into my trunk at the store and someone burly has to bring it into the shelter.”
“I’ll bring my SUV instead.”
“And you’re sure you want to do this?” she asked, her confusion echoing in her tone.
“No doubt about it,” he answered, his eyes meeting hers and staying there as if to let her know he meant it.
Or maybe there was more to it, because suddenly he didn’t seem able to take his gaze off her and Vonni couldn’t read his expression.
She only knew that she really liked looking at him. At his chiseled features and even that bump in the bridge of his nose. And that she never seemed to get enough of the sight of him....
Then he leaned forward and kissed her so lightly that his lips barely touched hers. So lightly and so quickly that it was over before it actually sank in that that was what he was doing. Before she could respond.
And he was back to looking into her eyes.
“You know,” he said in a quiet, thoughtful way, “because I was the oldest of my part of the family, I felt like it was my particular job to keep Dylan and Derek and the triplets in line—my brothers and sisters. To make sure we weren’t too much to handle. I guess maybe somewhere deep down I worried that GiGi might send us somewhere else if we were. So I toed the line and took ‘being a good example’ seriously. I tried not to misbehave myself. I reasoned and negotiated and made peace whenever there were fights—that’s probably how I grew up to do the job I do,” he added with a small chuckle. “I haven’t done the conventional thing with my life, but still I don’t rock the boat. I’m not a troublemaker—”
Why was he telling her all this at this moment?
“So how come,” he went on, “here I am now, doing something I know better than to do with you?”
Aah... The kiss.
However small it had been, he knew he shouldn’t have done it.
She knew he shouldn’t have done it. Clients shouldn’t be kissing her and she shouldn’t be kissing clients. Even if the client wasn’t the groom.
But she didn’t hate that he had so she merely said, “I don’t know, how come?” And then she wondered why the words had sounded flirty when that wasn’t how she’d intended them.
“I don’t know, either....” he said, his own voice quiet and deep—as if he might be about to kiss her again.
Maybe longer this time....
But he didn’t. He caught himself at the last minute and stepped back instead.
Crushing her secret hopes.
She didn’t let him know that, though. Or let herself think too much about it. Instead, she pushed off the hood of her car, went around to the driver’s side and opened her door.
“Text me your address and tell me a time for tomorrow.”
“Ten o’clock tomorrow morning?” Vonni answered.
“I’ll be there.”
“See you then,” she said as she got behind the wheel and closed the door.
But as she drove around the fountain and headed away from the house she couldn’t help wondering what it had all meant.
The kiss.
What he’d said after it.
The possibility that he might have been inclined to kiss her again....
And she couldn’t help thinking just the tiniest, tiniest bit about Chrystal’s suggestion.
That she have a fling with Dane Camden....
Chapter Six
“Hi, Mom.”
Ever since Elizabeth Hunter had moved to Arizona and become busy with the new man in her life, it wasn’t easy for her and Vonni to talk as much as they had in the past. So now they had a date every Sunday morning to catch up by video chat on their computers.
“Hi, honey.” Elizabeth returned the greeting, settling in in front of the screen with her ever-present cup of coffee. “How was your week?”
“Busy. But interesting....” she said, realizing that she hadn’t yet told Elizabeth anything about Dane. They’d just met on Monday, after the previous Sunday’s call. Which struck her as strange because the way she was feeling about him made it seem as if she’d known him much, much longer than that.
It was probably just because they hadn’t gone a day without seeing each other, she reasoned.
Vonni told her mother about meeting Dane, being hired to do Georgianna Camden’s wedding and the other job offer.
“That sounds like a big opportunity,” Elizabeth said, but with reservation in her voice. “After setting up wedding departments in all of their stores, you’d oversee them? Worldwide?”
“Apparently so.”
“And leave Burke’s....”
“I told Dane I’m perfectly happy there and should be made partner any day.”
Vonni could see the concern on her mother’s face as she sat there in pensive silence. Was it the idea of Vonni going to work for the family that had aided and abetted the crime against Elizabeth’s father, or Vonni’s long-held belief that she would be made partner in Burke’s Weddings?
“Which part are you worried about?” she asked.
“Well, both. You know I always tell you not to count too much on that partnership. I just don’t think it’s going to happen.”
“Mom—”
“I know, you think your friendship with Chrystal makes things different than they were for me, but I’m just not sure about that. To the Burkes we’re employees—maybe that isn’t how Chrystal sees you, but Mr. Burke is really who’s in control and to him... Honey, we’re nothing.”
“You came away okay. You had enough to retire young when Mrs. Burke died.”
“You know that’s only because Mrs. Burke gave me bonuses and told me to invest them in whatever her husband was investing in, and to sell whenever he sold. I don’t think he even knew what she was doing or that I was following his footsteps. But it made me some money. When Mrs. Burke died Mr. Burke gave me two weeks’ severance and showed me the door. His wife was gone, my services as her assistant were no longer needed and that was it for me. He didn’t even say I could stay in the cottage until I found another place to live.”
Vonni knew all of that. Her mother had stayed with her immediately after Mrs. Burke’s funeral, and although she hadn’t minded that, she hadn’t appreciated or approved of how Chrystal’s father had treated her mother. And even though her mother had pretended to excuse his actions by saying that he was grieving and probably hadn’t wanted her around to remind him of his late wife, neither of them had believed it.
“Still, without me there isn’t a Burke’s Weddings,” Vonni contended, despite what she’d said to Dane.
“It wouldn’t be the same without you, but it would still exist,” her mother said kindly. “Mr. Burke would just hire someone else to fill your shoes.”
“So you think I should take the job with Camdens?”
Her mother’s eyebrows arched and her expression was pained. “I don’t know about that....”
“I’ve been told I can write my own ticket, include any provisions in my contract that make me comfortable and secure.”
“I suppose that’s something,” Eliz
abeth said, obviously unconvinced. “But trusting them? I’ve heard that the new guard is all about doing good, but how far from the tree can the apple really fall?”
“I’m working with Dane Camden—he’s Mrs. Camden’s go-between for planning her wedding, and he also made the job offer and is trying to sell me on it. He seems pretty straightforward. I haven’t seen any indications that he isn’t on the up-and-up.”
“And Grampa thought that turning down H. J. Camden’s offer for his formulas was enough to keep them out of Camden hands.”
“It would have been if Phil hadn’t stolen them and sold them.”
“Or did the Camdens just enlist Phil to do the dirty work?”
It was a debate her family had been having for as long as Vonni could remember.
“The rich are different than you and me, Vonni, and I have to wonder if the Camdens are going to lure you in, take all your ideas and expertise for themselves and then let you just be roadkill the way they did Grampa.”
“I don’t know,” Vonni admitted. “Dane claims their executive agreements include a golden-parachute clause that’s unrivaled.”
“But you have to consider the source of that information.”
“All I do know,” Vonni said, “is that the two Camdens who bought Grampa’s stolen formulas aren’t around anymore and I haven’t heard anything alarming in the job offer from the one who is.”
“So you’re leaning toward taking it?” her mother asked in surprise.
Vonni was afraid she was leaning toward Dane himself.
“No, I’ve barely even thought about it because I’ve just had too much going on this week,” she said honestly.
“And you’ve had your heart set on becoming a partner in Burke’s Weddings all these years,” her mother added knowingly, but with some trepidation still in her tone.
“I’m also a little worried about what will happen to Burke’s Weddings even if I don’t take the job with Camdens—if Camden Superstores start offering the same services they could run us out of business.”
“The way they have businesses before you,” Elizabeth confirmed. “That’s something to think about. I’d say that if the shop really was Chrystal’s baby, Mr. Burke would keep it going no matter what to make her happy. But since she couldn’t care less about it and it’s really your shop, if profits drop because of Camdens, he’ll shut you down—don’t doubt it for a minute, honey.”
A Camden Family Wedding Page 9
