More than Neighbors

by Shannon Stacey

  The door to his father’s office was standing open, which meant security had probably told him his son was on his way up, but he paused when his mother stopped in the hallway.

  “I’m going to go freshen up,” she told him. “Shall I schedule a dinner for this weekend?”

  “Sure.” He didn’t really care one way or another. He’d have to eat and, if it couldn’t be Meredith, he didn’t particularly care who he ate with.

  Maybe it was because he was already at as low an emotional point as he’d ever been, but walking into his father’s office hit him harder than he expected. Calvin III looked up when he entered, and he was surprised to see some compassion in the older man’s eyes.

  “You’re back.”

  “I am.” He sat down in one of the leather armchairs, across from his father.

  “Did you take care of everything you needed to take care of?”

  The question was heavy with subtext and Cam sighed. There was a part of him that just wanted to blow the lid off everything. All three of them now knew the truth and not discussing it was ridiculous.

  But his father—the man who had given him everything it was possible for him to give, even if he wasn’t capable of offering love—was a proud man who was notoriously bad at discussing personal issues. Talking about Michael Archambault—about the time his wife had run off with another man and come back pregnant—wouldn’t do anything but reopen old wounds.

  Cam had what he needed. He had Carolina’s journals, safely packed in a bag in the trunk of his car because he hadn’t been able to leave them behind. He knew what truths there were to know, and one of those truths was that the man sitting in front of him was always going to be his father.

  He was never going to be the kind of dad who inspired coffee mugs and Father’s Day cards, but if Cam dug deep, there were moments. His father’s hand squeezing his eighteen-year-old shoulder as he introduced him at a meeting as the future of the company. The way he’d stop what he was doing and make eye contact when congratulating Cam for a success—something he didn’t bother doing with the majority of his people.

  And on a more practical note—which would probably meet Calvin III’s approval, which was ironic—if he turned his back on his father, he’d be walking away from the company, too. He’d invested too much of himself into it, and while he knew he could go off and build a company of his own, he didn’t want to start over. His parents had made decisions that put his name on the letterhead, he’d worked hard to live up to the expectations and even exceeded them, and he wasn’t giving it up.

  “I did,” he finally said. “There’s nothing left for me there and I’m ready to get back to work.”

  “Good.”

  With a satisfied nod, his father cleared his throat and started talking about a potential merger on the horizon between two companies that, combined, could be competition for them.

  Cam didn’t listen. Everything being said was already in a report waiting in Cam’s email inbox, and pain was obliterating his ability to focus.

  There’s nothing left for me there.

  It hurt more than he’d believed it was possible to not only say those words, but to know they were true. He’d hurt Meredith by letting her believe what was happening between them was weakening his resolve to return to the city. Maybe he hadn’t made her any promises, but he’d known Meredith and Sophie were both growing attached to him and he’d done nothing to stop it.

  That somehow he could have them in his life and everybody could be happy was a lie he’d allowed himself to believe, and now they all were paying the price.

  * * *

  “I hate when it’s raining,” Sophie said, her voice a whine that grated across Meredith’s raw nerves.

  “Me, too,” she said, even though it wasn’t true in this moment, since the dark day matched her mood.

  It also made her aware of how far Sophie had come. There was a time she wouldn’t have minded the rain because all she wanted to do was stay in her room with her books all day. She still had a book with her, more often than not, but the book accompanied her outside and to the park and all sorts of adventures.

  So moving to Blackberry Bay had done exactly what Meredith had hoped. Her hometown had helped Sophie open up again and embrace her new community. She loved school and the library, and Kiki was still her best friend.

  Meredith just wished it hadn’t also come with a broken heart.

  At least the rain keeping them inside meant she didn’t have to watch the people who’d been in and out of the cottage for the last two weeks. It was empty now. She’d heard one of them say that, and later that evening, after everybody had left, she went and looked in through the slider. It looked lonely, sitting empty, and when Elinor made a mewling sound from next to her feet, she’d picked her and carried her back to her house, where she sat and cuddled the cat while she tried not to cry.

  Tonight, she was going out. Reyna had insisted and, when Meredith had declined, she’d kept insisting until she’d finally asked her mother to take Sophie and Oscar for a night. Maybe it would do her good to get out of the house, but as she locked up and got into her car, all she wanted to do was crawl into bed and pull the covers over her head.

  Putting on a brave face for Sophie had been all too familiar and, though not as hard as the days after Devin died, her little girl was as brokenhearted as she was. No matter how Meredith tried to explain that Cam had to go back to New York City for a work emergency and he was too busy to come back, she couldn’t understand why her friend had just left like that and wouldn’t be coming back. And she’d declared she already hated whoever their new neighbors were going to be.

  Once she’d found a parking space, though, she tried her best to shake off the pain of the last two weeks, and by the time she spotted Reyna waiting at a table on the deck, she even managed to smile.

  “Oh, honey, you look like you need a drink,” her friend said, so apparently she hadn’t done quite as good a job at smiling as she thought.

  “Just one, since, unlike you, I have to drive home.”

  “Here’s a better plan. We’ll have dinner and one drink, and then we’ll walk to my place, raid the bakery and then go upstairs to eat all of the cupcakes and drink until we fall asleep.”

  Meredith’s laugh was genuine and much needed. “That sounds like a great plan if the goal is to be really sick tomorrow.”

  Reyna shrugged. “Okay, so maybe not all of the cupcakes.”

  After they’d ordered burgers and cocktails, Meredith braced herself for the question she knew was coming. She’d exchanged a few text messages with Reyna since Cam left, so her friend knew most of the story already, but the auto shop got busy with people waiting until the last minute to get their vehicles ready for the end-of-the-month inspection deadline, so it had been a few days since they’d spoken.

  “Have you heard from him?”

  Even though she’d known the question was coming, it still hurt. “No. And I don’t expect to. If he was going to contact me, he would have done it by now.”

  Reyna scowled. “I don’t get it. I mean, you guys were so obviously into each other and then he just leaves and that’s it?”

  “That’s it.” Her throat tightened and Meredith forced herself to take a deep breath. The last thing she was going to do was cry in this restaurant. “He has this whole life in New York City with power and money and the family business. Being here was like a time-out. And I knew it, and you knew it. Him leaving was not a surprise.”

  “But leaving the way he did was a jerk move.” Reyna gave her a sad look. “And, honestly, I thought he’d change his mind.”

  So did I. “That’s a lot to give up to live here in Blackberry Bay.”

  “You and Sophie are totally worth it, though.”

  That did it. Tears blurred Meredith’s vision and no amount of blinking would hold them back. She used her napki
n to blot at her eyes for a few seconds, trying to get her emotions under control before she turned into a spectacle.

  “I’m sorry,” Reyna said. “Let’s talk about something else.”

  Meredith sniffed. “How’s caramel apple guy?”

  Reyna sighed. “He’s still around. I like him, actually, and we’ve seen each other a few times.”

  “Maybe your bad-luck streak is coming to an end?”

  “Maybe, but it’s too soon to tell. You know what they say.”

  “That Reyna is hell on men,” they said together.

  They ate their burgers and Meredith nursed her cocktail, making sure to drink her water in between sips. Reyna noticed and reminded her of the cupcake-and-booze invitation, but she was going to pass. While getting out of the house had been good for her, what she really wanted to do was take a long, hot shower and then curl up in her bed and try to sleep.

  “When you’re ready, tell me and I’ll get some ladies together and we’ll have a true girls’ night out,” Reyna said after they’d finished and were out on the sidewalk. “I know you’re not there yet, but meeting more people and reconnecting with more old friends will help cheer you up.”

  “Thanks. And thanks for tonight, too. It helped to get out and laugh a bit.”

  “Promise me you’re not going to go home and cry yourself to sleep now.”

  “I promise.” She’d stopped doing that a few nights after Cam left and the numbness set in. She was so exhausted by getting herself and Sophie through each day that she fell asleep shortly after her head hit the pillow.

  And she kept the promise. Mostly. By the time she crawled into bed and Elinor had nestled next to her feet, she didn’t have any more tears to shed. She’d cried them all in the shower.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Cam had never realized his apartment was cold until now. It was professionally decorated, of course, but even with a color scheme of warm neutrals and throw pillows on the leather sofas, it felt barren and unwelcoming. Almost clinical, as though he was in a hospital waiting room, waiting to resume his regularly scheduled life.

  In a way, he supposed he was. His time in Blackberry Bay had been nothing but a brief interlude, and he’d come away from the summer with nothing but an understanding of two people he hadn’t known existed and could never meet.

  And love for a woman and a little girl he’d walked away from.

  He went through the motions every day. He’d get up after a restless night, shower and shave and then put on a suit. He went to the office. He did his job. He said the right things. He ate meals at mealtime and went to bed when the clock told him it was bedtime. But he was just an empty shell, moving through life on muscle memory and routine habits.

  It was two weeks after his return that his mother showed up at his apartment unannounced after work, which was unusual in itself. But the softening in her eyes when he opened the door and saw his face told him something was very wrong.

  “Is Dad okay?” he asked, trying to imagine what worst-case scenario had brought her to his door.

  “He’s the same as he always is. Can I come in for a minute? I’d like to have that talk now.”

  “I’m not really in the mood, to be honest.”

  “That woman—Meredith, I think her name was?” He nodded, hearing her name like a blow to his gut. “She was more than just your neighbor.”

  He turned away, not caring if she followed him in or turned around and left. He didn’t even care if she closed the door behind her. He just didn’t want to talk about Meredith. Yes, they’d been a lot more than neighbors. But it was over now.

  Dropping on the couch, he rested his head against the cushion and waited for her to get annoyed, say something harsh and leave. Rather than take the hint, though, his mom sat next to him and cleared her throat.

  “I loved Michael.” The words dropped like a stone between them, and Cam’s brain scrambled for something to say as the seconds ticked away. Then his mom gave him a sad smile. “I don’t know why, but I think it’s important to tell you that. I loved him and we were happy, and then...”

  Cam knew the and then. “You got pregnant with me.”

  “When it was just the two of us, learning to live without the advantages I’d always had felt like an adventure. You know how your father is. When I walked out on him, he made sure I knew I’d get nothing from him, and I was okay with that. I had Michael and we’d be fine. But once we knew there was a baby on the way, the stress of how we were going to pay not only for medical expenses, but diapers and all the things a baby needs started taking a toll. I didn’t want to live that way, and I didn’t want my baby to live that way.”

  “Did Dad know from the very beginning?”

  Her lips pressed tightly together for a few seconds before she gave a sharp nod. “Yes. He knew I was pregnant when I came home because I told him immediately. We’d been trying to have a child for quite some time and he was under a lot of pressure from his father, so he benefited, as well. When we found out I was carrying a boy, the legal paperwork was handled. Calvin said it was never to be discussed again and that was the end of it.”

  “That sounds like Dad. All business.”

  “Yes, there was very little emotion in it. Unlike Michael, who was so excited when I told him I was expecting his baby. The expense and the stress... None of that mattered to him.” Her stoic mask slipped even more, and he saw pain in her expression, still raw after all these years. “It was the hardest decision I ever had to make and maybe if Michael had fought—if he’d refused the money—I would have gone back to him. But he accepted the check and let me walk away forever.”

  “Mom.” He hesitated, a part of him wanting to withhold information from her just as she’d withheld so much from him. But he thought of his grandmother and realized he didn’t have it in him anymore to let somebody else suffer. “Carolina was a breast cancer survivor. She was diagnosed shortly after her son met you, based on her journal.”

  “What are you saying?”

  “He told her he won big on a scratch ticket. He probably thought she would rather have drowned in medical debt or even lost the fight than have him give me up and, based on what I know about her now, he was right.” His mother was shaking, and he covered her hand with his. “It probably doesn’t help now, but he gave you—and his unborn child—up to save his mother.”

  “All these years, I thought he chose the money...just because.” A tear slipped down her cheek. “Because people always choose the money. I did.”

  “You chose me,” he said quietly, and he felt the hard ball of resentment dissolve as his heart made the decision to forgive her. Carolina would be so proud of him, he thought. “You were scared, with a baby coming, and I grew up in this amazing and privileged life. It’s not an easy life to walk away from, I’m sure, especially if you’re going to have a child to take care of.”

  “When I saw his picture on the wall of that cottage, it honestly felt as if somebody had reached into my chest and was squeezing my heart.” She looked him in the eye. “I’m going to say this one time and I will never say it again, and you can learn from it what you will—I chose wrong.”

  She got up and walked out before he could even wrap his head around his mother’s confession, never mind respond to it.

  Her words stayed with him for the remainder of the night, confusing and unsettling him. Learn from it what you will. But when he stripped off his clothes and climbed into bed for another night of staring at the ceiling, it was Carolina’s words that he couldn’t get out of his head.

  He just needs to know he can quit if he wants to.

  * * *

  “Cam!”

  For a moment, Meredith thought she was imagining her daughter’s joyful shout. That it was some random and painful memory from the summer echoing through her mind.

  But then she saw Sophie streaking across the ya
rd, Oscar at her heels, and her heart hammered in her chest as her hands balled into fists at her sides. Cam was actually here.

  She didn’t want to see him. He probably had paperwork to sign for the estate or some other business and then he’d be gone again. She wasn’t sure she could take saying goodbye a second time, and she was tempted to barricade herself in her bedroom until he left. But there was Sophie to consider. Meredith wasn’t the only passenger on this emotional roller coaster.

  Moving to the window, she spotted Cam just in time to watch him crouch down and gather Sophie in his arms. He buried his face in her daughter’s hair for a moment, but before Meredith could even catch her breath, his head lifted and his gaze locked onto her.

  Sophie wasn’t letting go, so as he pushed himself to his feet, he wrapped his arms around her and carried her across the yard. Meredith turned away, knowing she had only a short moment to get her emotions under control.

  Elinor jumped up on the counter, which she wasn’t supposed to do, and made a few chirping sounds.

  “I know,” Meredith said. “I saw him. What do you think he wants?”

  The cat only tilted her head, and then turned when the slider opened. Elinor jumped down and walked away as if she couldn’t be bothered with the man, and Meredith envied her the ability to do that.

  But as soon as they got inside, Sophie lifted her head from Cam’s shoulder. “Mommy, look! Cam came back. I told you he would.”

  Because her throat had tightened up when Cam stepped into her house, Meredith simply waited. This was where he would tell Sophie he was in Blackberry Bay for only a couple of days to sign some papers, or to do whatever it was he’d come back for. And she’d watch Sophie’s heart break all over again, along with her own.

  But he just set Sophie onto her feet. “Why don’t you go play ball with Oscar for a little bit so I can talk to your mom?”

  “No. I want to stay with you.”

  “Sophie Grace,” Meredith said, her voice cracking slightly. “Just for a few minutes.”