“Oh yeah? And how exactly would that go?” I play into her threat.
“Hey, Mr. And Mrs. Cole, yeah, your son knocked up this pretty lady here almost fourteen years ago, then bam, I appeared, and disappeared the very same day. My adoptive parents just bit the dust, and now I’m back. So what do you say, Grams and Gramps, have room for one more?” Holy mother of God, where did this kid come from? She sounds like I did at thirteen. Doesn’t fit her current appearance, which is on my list to discuss, but I never thought she would turn out to be just like me.
“Oh my goodness,” Cameron says. “You are just like AJ. And no, we’re not going to be doing that.” The three of us laugh, and it’s a moment I will store in the back of my head for the rest of my life.
“What are you plans, Cam?”
“Well, I wasn’t sure how long we’d be staying out here. I really had no clue how you might react, but seeing as this is going as I expected and hoped, I want to stay here until we have a plan and make decisions that are best for the three of us.”
“What about the ghost in the other room?”
A clearing of a throat abruptly sounds from the doorway near the TV. “Nice to meet you too,” the tall, not so dark, and…eh, says as he makes his way across the room.
“Couldn’t help myself. Sorry, man. Is that really your name, though?”
“I have some briefs to get through this afternoon, so I’m going to stay put. I’ll see you for dinner, Cameron,” he says. Got to love a man in slacks, a dress shirt, and paisley socks who works from a hotel room. Did they drive here dressed like this?
“When did you guys get into Connecticut?” I ask.
“This morning. We left after midnight last night. I wanted to make sure we were here for Ever’s birthday,” Cameron says, trying to hide a smile at the same time.
“You didn’t have time to change out of your work clothes last night?”
“What do you mean?” she asks.
I look at Ever and share a look. “Nothing, nothing at all.”
“So, how does lunch sound?” Cammy—Cameron asks Ever and me.
“Good,” Ever says quietly. Her mood went back to dark almost the second the ghost graced us with his appearance. I could be onto something here.
“You said you have some briefs to go through?” I ask Casper.
“Yes,” he answers simply.
“I was never really a briefs guy. I sort of prefer boxers, and I’m not very picky about them, but I can understand why it’s important to go through what you have and sort them out.” I know what kind of briefs he’s talking about; I just sort of want to be a dick right now.
Casper rolls his eyes and heads back through the open door. “Not such a friendly ghost,” I mutter.
“Screw you,” he says, slamming the door.
“Well, I think that went well,” I tell the girls.
Cammy’s eyes are bugging out of her head as she grabs my arms and pulls me toward the door. “Come on, Ever,” she says.
Ever stands from the couch, laughing softly as she joins us.
All of a sudden, I feel like I’m living a double life. I’ve heard stories about people like that and always wondered how it might have come about. Considering Tori has no clue that I had a daughter, and even less of a clue about Cammy, I am most definitely living a double life at this moment.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
SO MANY WORDS have been exchanged over the last hour, and I’ve barely heard any of them. All I can do is watch the two of them together. Ever has Cammy’s mannerisms and a lot of her looks. I’m enamored with how amazing Cammy is with her. Regardless of the brick wall Ever has up in front of her, Cammy’s sweetness is something that even the angriest person can’t always reckon with.
I have been in this pizza shop a million times throughout my life, but none of them have felt like this. I will never look at this joint the same way again.
“I haven’t been here in years,” Cammy says, finally taking a minute to look around. “It hasn’t changed at all.”
Neither have you, Cam. “Cam—Cameron, do you remember that night we came here after junior prom?”
She tucks a loose strand of hair behind her shoulders and peers down to the table as she smiles shyly. “Yeah, I do,” she says, laughing with her breath.
“I have to use the bathroom,” Ever says, standing up and excusing herself from the table.
“Can she go by herself?” I ask Cammy, as if she’s suddenly an expert at raising a teenage girl.
They look at each other briefly, and Ever looks disturbed that I’d even suggested she couldn’t go to the restroom alone. “I think she’ll be okay,” Cammy says.
We watch Ever as she makes her way across the restaurant and into the bathroom. Once she’s inside, Cammy turns back to me and sighs heavily. “I know this is a lot right now,” she says.
“Cammy,” I pause, looking for the best way to say what I want to say.
“It’s Cameron,” she corrects me, quietly.