“I wouldn’t say it bore fruit, exactly.”
She arched one eyebrow. “What, exactly, do you think my mother was intending to happen if you think kissing me isn’t the fruit?”
He could feel the blush creeping over his cheeks and hoped the light was too dim for her to see it.
“Cam!”
“I swear, every time my child says your name, it sounds like she’s saying it in all caps, with three exclamation points.”
He laughed as he waved at Sophie. “It does, which is good for my ego. I’m not used to having anybody so excited to see me.”
Since he’d chosen that second to look back at Meredith, he caught the pink that colored her cheeks, even in the dim light. So, whether she’d admit it or not, her daughter wasn’t the only Price lady who was happy to have him around.
Once they’d gotten Sophie buckled into the back seat with her stuffed animals, Cam shook hands with her parents, trying to ignore the speculative glances Erin kept casting his way.
“Oh, Cam,” Meredith said when he started to walk away, and he turned with his heart thumping in his chest. Surely she wouldn’t reference the kiss in front of her parents, even if Sophie was closed in the car? “You’re going the wrong way.”
“What?”
“You mentioned the bookstore before, when you were talking about where you parked. You want to go that way and take a left after the post office. Your car should be on that street.”
“Thanks,” he said, reversing direction. He waved at Sophie as he passed the car, and smiled at Meredith.
She smiled back, her cheeks still pink, which wasn’t lost on her mother. Erin gave him a little wink as she passed. Yes, he thought as he walked away, there were definitely ideas being had. All the way around.
Chapter Ten
Meredith watched the numbers slowly ticking away on her bedside clock, wishing she was still asleep because she’d been having a rather interesting dream about Cam that ended at a frustrating time. Premature awakening.
But she was also thankful she was awake because she really didn’t need dreams like that making her want things she really shouldn’t be wanting. He was a bad idea, and she knew it.
7:54.
She blamed the kiss. Even though she’d been battling her attraction to him from essentially the first moment they met, it was still unexpected. Their first kiss.
And, if she had any sense at all, their last.
Starting about a year after Devin died, she had a few well-meaning friends in California who urged her to get out there and get back on the horse. She was too young to go without sex, they’d said, and she should find somebody to have a fling with, even if it went nowhere.
She hadn’t thought she had it in her to have a one-night stand, but when Cam had kissed her last night, she’d realized she did. If she didn’t have the responsibility of a daughter to take care of and a dog waiting for them at home—probably anxious despite the meds they gave him before fireworks and thunderstorms—she would have gone with Cam anywhere. Including his bed.
But now, in the clear light of morning, she could see how disastrous that would have been. He lived next door, so there would be no avoiding him. Her daughter adored him. And he was leaving Blackberry Bay at some point, probably right around the time Sophie would start school, so not only would she be alone, but she’d be totally alone. The first day with neither Cam nor her daughter was going to feel unbearably empty.
The clock ticked over to eight o’clock, and a few seconds later, she heard the lawnmower start next door.
Chuckling, Meredith threw back her blanket and got ready to start her day. It was a day that was going to include some housekeeping, a playdate for Sophie with two girls whose family had rented the house two docks down for the summer and a trip to the market for her. What it was not going to include was spying on her neighbor while he did yardwork, hoping he took his shirt off again.
Hours later, Oscar absolutely lost his mind when somebody knocked on the slider just as Meredith finished preparing dinner. The barking was so sudden and intense her heart thumped in her chest and Sophie put her hands over her ears.
Cam was standing on the other side of the glass, making a face that clearly said “I’m so sorry.”
She hadn’t seen him since he kissed her and for a moment all she could do was stare at him, remembering the incredible hunger for him she’d been denying until his mouth touched hers. She’d been trying so hard not to think about that.
Then she told Oscar to hush—not that he listened—and waved for Cam to come in, but Sophie had already left her chair and was rushing to open the slider for him.
“That’s quite an alarm system you have,” he said, ruffling her hair. Then he looked at Meredith, their gazes locking. “Sorry about the chaos.”
“At least you feel bad about it. Elinor does it on purpose, several times a day.”
“I did speak to her about it, but you know... She’s a cat.” He smiled and she had to make a deliberate effort not to stare at his mouth.
“So, what’s up? And be honest. You smelled the lasagna come out of the oven, didn’t you?”
“Lasagna?” His eyes lit up, and Meredith pulled another plate out of the cabinet. “You know it’s summer, right?”
“It’s an easy dish to make too much of, so you can freeze the leftovers. Then you just heat some up when you’re not in the mood to cook, you know?”
“So what you’re saying is that you have too much.”
She laughed and gestured to the table. “Have a seat. Sophie, take this plate and then get Cam some silverware and a drink, please.”
“I feel bad about crashing your dinner, especially after crashing your quilt party last night,” he said, but he was taking a seat at the table when he said it.
Sophie did as she was asked, including pouring a glass of iced tea for Cam without spilling a drop. The entire time, Meredith tried not to get emotionally stuck in the realization of how good it felt to watch Sophie chattering away to somebody other than her about the playdate she’d had earlier, and how good he was at asking the right questions to keep her talking.
When Cam went back to New York City at the end of the summer, Sophie was going to be devastated.
That thought almost killed her appetite as she cut and plated three servings of lasagna. She’d spent a lot of time thinking about how she would feel if she got into a relationship with Cam and then he left. But she hadn’t considered just how attached her daughter already was to the man.
Sophie had made so much progress on coming out of her shell since they’d arrived in town—the shell she’d withdrawn into when she lost her father. Would losing another man she cared about, even if she’d known him for only a couple of months, set her back?
As they ate, she couldn’t stop dwelling on it, but it was fairly obvious she was too late when it came to keeping Sophie from growing attached to Cam. She couldn’t get enough of his attention, and he honestly didn’t seem to mind. He listened to her and laughed with her, and occasionally he’d make eye contact with Meredith and smile. It wasn’t really possible for them to have a conversation, but he seemed content to eat lasagna and listen to her daughter. She’d moved on to describing the weird bug she’d found under a rock.
“I don’t know,” Cam was saying. “Maybe you should get a book about bugs the next time you go to the library.”
Meredith groaned. “If she develops some kind of passion for bugs and starts collecting them, she’s keeping them in your house. Fair warning.”
“I don’t think Elinor would like that,” Sophie said, her expression serious all of a sudden. “They would probably scare her. Or maybe she’d try to eat them and get sick.”
“I don’t think Elinor’s afraid of anything,” Cam said.
“And she’s a very grown-up cat,” Meredith added. “I don’t think she’d t
ry to eat the bugs. But just to be safe, let’s leave any bugs in the garden where we find them.”
Once they were finished eating, Meredith refused his offer to help clean up. “I like to listen to an audiobook while I clean up and load the dishwasher, and I’m almost to the end of the mystery I’m listening to. You’re coming between me and the answer to whodunit.”
He laughed and held up his hands. “I’ll let you get back to your book, then. Can you, uh, step outside for a second?”
Her heart hammered in her chest, and she looked at Sophie, who was drawing a picture of a bug on the grocery list they kept on the fridge—presumably her way of remembering to look for insect books at the library since she was a precocious reader but didn’t have the patience for writing words.
“For a second, I guess,” she said.
She was not going to kiss him again. Especially in her backyard, where Sophie could see her. That wasn’t a conversation she wanted to have with her daughter anytime soon. But especially now, when she couldn’t even explain this attraction to herself.
Once they’d stepped out onto the deck and she’d closed the slider, he cleared his throat. His lack of certainty made her nervous, and she was afraid he was going to launch into an awkward speech about how kissing her had been a huge mistake.
And maybe it was. But she didn’t want him to think so.
“I actually came over because I have a favor to ask, not to crash your dinner, but after I...” He let the words die away when he realized Sophie might still be within earshot because the windows were open. “After the fireworks, if you know what I mean.”
“Fireworks, huh? You’re pretty confident in your abilities.” When he began stammering, obviously trying to explain himself without Sophie finding out he’d kissed her mom, she laughed and let him off the hook. “I know what you’re trying to say, Cam. What’s the favor?”
“It’s a big one.”
The seriousness in his expression made her realize what he wanted to ask her before he said the words, and her stomach knotted. So much for slowly pulling Sophie back from their neighbor. “Did you finally come to your senses about needing help with Carolina’s belongings?”
“Yeah, it’s pretty overwhelming. I had to talk to her lawyer about some paperwork yesterday and he suggested I reach out to the church ladies or some of Carolina’s friends to help me out, but I don’t feel ready to do that.”
“That’s a lot of people rummaging around in your personal business.”
“Exactly. I just don’t want to talk about it that much. And you already know, so I don’t have to keep telling the story over and over.”
She definitely understood that, having had to explain about Devin’s passing over and over. “On the flip side, you’d have a lot of people around you who actually knew Carolina. And your father. Have you considered that?”
He nodded. “I thought about it. And once I have everything in order, I can reach out to see who wants any of it and maybe have a few conversations. Ask some questions. And she talks about a friend in her journals a lot—Tess Weaver, who I think you mentioned—and I do want to talk to her at some point. But having them in my house for days means I can’t really avoid them if it’s too hard or I just need a break from thinking about it all.”
“I wish I knew Tess better and that I remembered your grandmother or father more. But we lived on the other side of the bay, in the neighborhood that didn’t have lakefront price tags. And you know how kids are. We knew almost everybody, but we didn’t pay attention to people.”
“I don’t know if Tess knows who I am,” he said quietly. “Carolina’s journals are jumbled up, so I’m getting little bits of her life in random order.”
“I have no idea if she knows for sure, but she must suspect. She had to know Carolina had a grandson and here you are, the right age and a total stranger to Blackberry Bay, showing up to take care of her cottage and her cat. Have you asked the lawyer if Tess has asked questions?”
“No, but he doesn’t strike me as the kind of guy to gossip, and he mentioned he’s not originally from here, so people might not be as comfortable pressuring him for answers.” He blew out a breath and ran a hand over his hair. “It’s just a lot, you know?”
There was no way she’d be able to tell him no. She’d made the offer, after all. And she couldn’t ignore the fact he was going through an extraordinarily tough time in his life and he didn’t have anybody else to help him. He was alone in Blackberry Bay, trying to take a cottage full of random pieces and figure out the puzzle that was his biological father’s life.
“Sophie and I would be happy to help,” she said, because there was nothing else she could say.
Of course she’d have Sophie with her, since she was still too young for Meredith to leave her in their house alone for more than a few minutes, even if she was next door, but her presence would also have the added benefit of making sure Meredith and Cam weren’t alone behind closed doors.
Except when Sophie inevitably curled up on his deck with a book or played with Oscar in the backyard.
“When do you want us to get started?” she asked. “And is there a time of day that’s better for you, work-wise?”
“I have to go back to the city for a meeting I have to be present for. I’m planning to leave very early Tuesday morning, and it’ll probably be just one overnight, but it might be two if there’s something really pressing.” His jaw clenched, tension tightening the lines of his face. “But no more than that.”
“What about Elinor?”
He cursed under his breath. “I hadn’t thought about it. And don’t look at me like that. I’m not used to having another living being to worry about, but I would have remembered her. I wouldn’t have just left. But I’m afraid if I ask the shelter to board her for a couple of days, she’ll be upset. The last time she was there, Carolina never came back.”
It was sweet that he was considering Elinor’s feelings, since he was still denying she was actually his cat. “We can take care of her, and Sophie found the spare key to your cottage under a painted rock last week. I meant to tell you that, by the way. Elinor pretty much does her own thing anyway, but we’ll make sure she has food and water. And you know Sophie will sit in the hammock with her if she’s feeling lonely.”
“I appreciate that. I’ll do my best to keep it to one overnight.” He sighed. “My parents will come at me hard, not wanting me to leave again, but I’m not done here.”
But he would be, eventually. And that was something Meredith couldn’t let herself forget.
* * *
It was dark by the time Cam finally saw the “welcome to Blackberry Bay” sign reflected in his headlights. He had a nagging headache, he was out of road snacks and he’d gotten his first speeding ticket an hour ago.
The officer had asked him where he was going in such a hurry and he’d confessed he had no excuse because he didn’t want to admit the truth out loud. I’m trying to get back before Sophie goes to bed.
Around the time he’d hit the New Hampshire border, the thoughts of business he’d been turning over and over in his mind had given way to the awareness he’d be seeing Meredith soon. The trip to New York City hadn’t gone well—a man they’d trusted to run a development company they’d acquired several years back had been embezzling money from them and it was going to be ugly—but thinking about what was waiting for him in Blackberry Bay definitely lowered his blood pressure.
The way Meredith smiled at him. The excitement in Sophie’s voice when she saw him. The hammock next to the water, where he could close his eyes and let go—for a few minutes—of the stress that came with being cast in the role of heir to the Maguire business holdings. And a cat who, every once in a while, deigned to allow him to stroke her hair.
Sophie would definitely be in bed by now, but Meredith would still be up. Maybe she’d see his car pull in and step outside to as
k him how his trip had gone. He didn’t particularly care to talk about the trip, but he wanted to hear her voice.
His phone rang and his mother’s number lit up on the car’s info screen, scattering the good thoughts he’d managed to gather like leaves in an autumn wind. His thumb hovered over the red decline button on the wheel, but he’d rather deal with her now and be done with it than have her keep calling once he was home.
No, not home. The cottage.
He accepted the call. “Hello, Mom.”
“I’m going to stop by after this ridiculous wedding shower is over. We need to talk.”
“I won’t be there. I told you I was leaving after my final meeting with Dad.”
Her annoyed sigh echoed through the car’s speakers. “I asked you to extend your stay in the city.”
“And I told you I wasn’t going to do that.” Of course she hadn’t considered that, when he said no to her demand disguised as a request, he’d meant it. His mother got what she wanted by ignoring that two-letter word. “But I’m driving right now. Go ahead and talk.”
“No, I’m not going to talk about this over the phone.” She sounded more agitated than usual. “And I told you I’m at a function.”
Talk about this over the phone. Talk about what?
For a moment, he thought she knew where he was. That she knew he was, at that very moment, navigating the main street of Blackberry Bay on his way back to his biological grandmother’s cottage. That the secret she’d been keeping for his entire life was out.
But that was ridiculous. He’d been careful not to give any indication that a letter had arrived to wreak havoc on his life. And he’d always been careful about privacy settings and location beacons, so unless his mother had a side gig with an intelligence agency, she shouldn’t know where he was.
“I’ll let you know when I’m going to be back in the city and we can talk about whatever it is then,” he said, not bothering to tell her it would be a while.
More than Neighbors Page 11
