Finally Found

When they returned to the great room, they found Sam and Haley had rearranged the furniture so that the love seats were on either side of the fireplace. Cammie and Adam exchanged looks.

“I thought it looked homier,” Haley explained with a smile.

“I like things intimate,” Sam proclaimed while grabbing Haley and hauling her even closer.

Though Adam could find no real flaw with that thinking, he couldn’t help but think there was something going on that he was unaware of and that bothered him. He was even more convinced when he saw Cammie and Haley exchange looks.

“Am I missing something?” He asked as he sat on the love seat opposite his brother and Haley.

“Absolutely,” Sam began and he pulled out his hands to tick off items. “Common sense, a strong work ethic, foresight…”

It was obvious he was prepared to go on for some time listing all of Adam’s shortcomings, which was why he was interrupted. The ladies had laughed. Yet, Adam didn’t find the humor. In fact, he felt the need to defend himself. “Hey, I have a work ethic. I’ve been helping Cammie with an advertising campaign.”

“Oh, and are you suddenly working for free? You’re a one man benevolent society,” Sam joked.

“It was more of a barter,” Cammie interrupted. “And you should know that he’s worked really hard and come up with a ton of great ideas for not just advertising, but also for marketing. I’m impressed.” She finished speaking and looked to her left where Adam was beaming at her.

Adam sat there quietly for a moment. He looked over at Haley and Sam all cuddled together on the love seat. He wished he could do that with Cammie. Instead, she was sitting huddled up in her corner of the furniture. As he looked more closely at his brother, he realized that something was wrong. The looks they were exchanging at the moment weren’t sappy, but instead supportive.

Leaning forward, he looked at them and finally spoke. “What’s going on? Something is wrong. I can tell.”

Shaking his head, Sam indicated that he didn’t want to talk about it. Haley, however, made it impossible for him to remain silent. She gripped his hands and looked up at him pleadingly. Finally, with a sigh, he revealed what was going on between them. “Okay, we weren’t going to bring it up, but quite honestly, we’re running out of time and options right now.”

“What is it?” His brow furrowed and he looked over at Cammie. She was leaning forward now, too. More than anything, he wished he could be holding her hands.

“It’s a good thing you are feeling so…ambitious these days,” Sam began. “It seems we need to be in Philadelphia later next week.”

Dropping his head, Adam let out a long sigh. “So, they set a date that soon? I was really hoping we could get through the holidays without having to deal with…that.” He took a deep breath and studied Haley before speaking. “Are you okay? Is there anything I can do?”

“Funny you should ask.” It was Sam that spoke. “I’ll be going with her, of course, she should never have to face that bastard alone.” He squeezed her hand once more. “We were hoping that maybe you could run the company in our absence. You had offered to come to work again anyway. On the off chance that you were serious, we decided to

ask.”

“Of course. Anything.” He stared at Cammie, willing her to look at him, willing her to show any sign that she would welcome his touch. Instead, she was staring off into the fire.