When Cam informed me she was moving home, I thought she would move back in with one of her parents, but instead, she contacted Hannah, who found her a small rental house near the hospital. Her parents are divorced, and she didn’t want to be in the middle of their constant drama. I drove by the little house last week and Hannah let me have a look inside. It’s adorable, and Cam is going to love it. From what Hannah told me the landlady lives in the house next door and is as nice as they come. She is looking forward to meeting Cameryn. She gave Hannah a key so Cam could move in whenever she needs to.
“Don’t worry about having help, even if I have to force Lee to come help we’re getting you home this weekend. I’ll call you tonight and nail down the details.” We hang up, and I text Justin and Tyler to enlist their muscles for Saturday. Both agree to help, and we’re set. I wear a smile for the rest of the day because I’m getting my sister back and even though it may not be under the best of circumstances, the selfish side of me can’t help but be happy. It’s been too long since I saw Cam, and I will not be letting this happen again. I believe in this life you are given different types of soul mates. Some are of the romantic type, and others are in the way of friends. Cam is my sister-soul mate, and I don’t like having this distance between us. Her coming home feels like a piece of me being put back in place.
Chapter Fifteen
Tyler
I’m not normally an insecure guy and I usually could care less about what people think of me, but I’ve also never been in love before and I’m definitely in love, even if I haven’t actually said the words yet. I want nothing or no one to come between MaCee and myself. She talks about Cameryn constantly and how much she means to her. I understand and respect this, but I would be lying if I said it didn’t worry me. A best friend can destroy a relationship if said friend dislikes the boyfriend. I made the mistake of asking Justin what Cam was like and he picked up on the fact I was nervous about meeting her, now he’s driving me crazy with his little snide comments and tales of how Cameryn split up MaCee and this guy or she ran off this loser. It has me thinking MaCee’s friend is an overprotective shrew.
“Tyler, my man, ya think you’re strong enough to meet Cam’s approval?” I glare at him, and MaCee gives us a confused look which causes Justin to chuckle. I flip him off behind MaCee’s back which only increases his enjoyment of my situation.
“Justin, what’s with you? Of course, Tyler is going to meet Cam’s approval. She’s going to love him simply for the fact he’s helping her out, not to mention he has my approval. Cam is so much nicer than I am.” Justin nods in agreement which causes my eyes to narrow on the man. I wonder if he’s been bullshitting me all week.
“Actually, Cam is one of the good ones. She was always nice to everyone and very loyal to her friends. You always knew Cam had your back.” Justin grins at me, and I know now the asshole has been messing with me. He made her out to be a bitch and very critical of anyone dating MaCee. I should have known he was full of shit and not allowed him to pull my chain, but I know how important she is to MaCee and don’t want any problems from that direction.
We’re coming into the city and MaCee gives me directions to Cameryn’s apartment. She lives close to the hospital but in a fairly residential area. MaCee told us her apartment was an old mansion that was converted into four separate units years ago. It’s a large square white brick building with a large front porch and is very charming. I pull my truck around to a back parking lot reserved for the residents, and MaCee keys in the code to gain us entrance. We enter the older house and I’m impressed with how well they did on the remodeling of it into apartments. Much of the original design was preserved, and it looks like you’ve stepped back in time to the turn of the century. MaCee leads us up the stairs to the second floor.
The door to an upstairs apartment opens after MaCee’s first knock and she’s nearly knocked down by one of the most gorgeous women I’ve ever seen as she grabs MaCee into a hug. She has short curly light blond hair and is about four inches taller than MaCee, which isn’t saying much because my girl is a bit on the short side. She has bright green eyes, smooth perfect skin and I understand why this duo would intimidate others around them. They’re stunning. She envelops MaCee in her arms, and I can see tears trailing down her cheeks. When I look at MaCee she’s crying too. I glance over at Justin and he shrugs his shoulders seeming to be as confused as I am. Hopefully, those are happy tears.
“I’m so happy to see you. I didn’t realize I missed you so much. Oh Lord, I’m sorry for just bursting out in tears, but I haven’t seen my girl in way too long and it’s been rough.” She lets go of MaCee and invites us in. I look around and notice boxes everywhere. It looks like all we have to do is load the truck.
“Damn, girl, I don’t think we’ve been apart this long in like ever. I’m sorry you’re leaving for the reason you are, but I’m so happy you’re coming home,” MaCee states, and Cameryn notices Justin at that time. She lets out a squeal and launches herself at him. He hugs her and then MaCee lets out a distressed cry and I look around for the threat.
“Oh. My. God. Cameryn Danielle Johns, what have you done to your hair?! Not that it’s not cute, but damn, girl, your beautiful long hair.” Way to put your foot in your mouth MaCee. I grin at her, and Cameryn looks down with red cheeks.
“It was a spur of the moment decision that I wanted to change the second I saw the first strand of hair fall, but it was too late to back out. Jay always loved my long hair, and the day after I broke it off with him I got it cut and have regretted it since. Short hair is more maintenance than I ever thought it would be. I have to actually fix it.” MaCee grabs the poor girl in another hug.
“It looks really cute, just completely different. I wasn’t expecting it, but you’re rocking the short hair.”
“Yeah, I decided to surprise you.” She then turns to me, “I’m so sorry for being so rude. You must be Tyler. I’m Cameryn.” She puts her hand out for me to shake and I take it. She seems very nice, and I can tell how important she is to MaCee, which means she will also be important to me. You only have to be around these two for a few minutes to feel the bond they share.
“All right, ladies, enough of the mushy hellos, daylight’s burning. Where do we start?” Justin commands, and Cameryn shows us what she wants moved first and where the truck is. We start getting her moved out of the apartment. We work steady until lunch when the girls run out and get us fried shrimp po’boys, which is the name of a local sub sandwich. These consists of French bread stuffed with fried shrimp, lettuce, tomato, pickles and tartar sauce. They’re delicious, and the three friends can’t believe I’ve never had one, but they forget I’m from Texas.
During lunch, the three start reminiscing back to their high school days when they were hanging around together all the time. They’re all laughing, and their joy in being together again is contagious. I can’t help but join in.
“Remember the time MaCee disappeared when she jumped out of the truck?” Cam asks the other two, and Justin burst out laughing while MaCee shakes her head.
“That was a combination of Justin’s and your fault if I remember correctly.” MaCee points her finger between the two and they both start laughing.
“Hey, I don’t know why it was my fault. Cam is the one who needed to pull over ‘immediately’. I can’t help it if you didn’t look before you leaped.” MaCee glares at him, and I know this must be good.
“So, what happened?” I ask after a moment when it seems they’re not going to finish the story.
“Cam decided her heart was simply shattered when Matt Thompson, Mitchell’s cousin broke up with her. We were juniors and Matt was a senior, he was planning on going to college and felt they needed to break up and I have to agree he was right. Anyway, Cam decided to drown her troubles with alcohol and proceeded to drink the worst thing possible, Boone’s Farm Strawberry Hill. That stuff will kill you if yo
u’re not used to drinking, or if not kill you, make you wish you were dead.” MaCee makes a face as if she’s tasted something bad.
“What happened, Tyler, is I began to feel as if I was going to lose my cookies in a rather rapid fashion and instructed Justin to pull over.”
“More like you demanded I pull over NOW!” Cam waves him off as she continues with her story.
“As I was saying I asked Justin to pull over and he did. MaCee opened the passenger door to jump out and, well, she just disappeared. I mean she was completely gone, so I slid over and almost fell head first on her head and then proceeded to vomit into the canal she fell in. You should have seen how fast she moved out of the way. Then she had to climb up the side of the canal to get out. Justin couldn’t help her because he was holding my ankles to keep me from falling in. I tell ya it ain’t easy to vomit and laugh at the same time.” I could only imagine how comical that whole situation was and was laughing along with the others.
“I’m just thankful it was the fall of the year and the canal was dry. No telling what would have been waiting on me had there been water in that ditch,” MaCee complained, and that started another round of laughter.
“The next morning, I figured out alcohol was not the way to get over a breakup, and I also decided my head hurt much worse than my heart. I was over poor Matt in about two days. Speaking of, have y’all seen him?” Cam looks at us for an answer. I shake my head because I have no clue who Matt is.
“I believe he’s overseas working. Mitchell and he are buying their uncle’s bar, and from what Mitch has told me, they have big plans. Matt is overseas earning capital to help get them started.” The girls acknowledge this with a nod of their heads, and we turn back to our sandwiches to continue eating.
After lunch, we finish loading the boxes and furniture into the truck. It’s decided Cam and Justin will drive it while MaCee and myself follow in my truck. I’m happy with this arrangement because it gives me a few hours alone with my girl. We leave the city and follow Justin north as we head home. I reach over and take MaCee’s hand.
“I really like Cam and can see how close you two are.” She smiles and nods.
“We’ve been best friends for as long as I can remember, although our mothers have never really seemed to like each other. It was always so weird because Cam’s mom was so nice to me growing up, and my Mama was so nice to Cam. They encouraged our friendship throughout the years, but they were always barely civil to each other.”
“Why? Please tell me you asked.” MaCee’s smile gets bigger, and I know she knows the reason.
“Mrs. Johns and Mama went to school together and they were never really friends, not that they hated each other they just weren’t friends. Anyway, they were both pregnant at the same time with Cam and myself. Mama was planning on naming me Camilla Mabel and calling me Cammie, so my name wouldn’t be so awful. Well, Cam was born a month before I was, and her mom named her Cameryn which totally screwed up Mama’s plan.” This makes absolutely no sense to me at all. I’m so confused as to why the naming of one’s child would cause a rift.
“Why not just name you what she wanted? What difference did it make what Cameryn’s name was?” MaCee is shaking her head at me as if I’m a moron, but I still don’t get it.
“Tyler, bless your heart don’t you know anything?” I do know she just called me all kinds of stupid. I scowl at her and she laughs.
“Obviously not, I don’t get it.”
“Darlin’, when you live in a small town you can’t name your kids the same thing. They will be going to school together, and it looks like you are taking someone else’s name. It just isn’t done. Anyway, Daddy saved the day by calling me MaCee, and Mama said she liked it better than Cammie, so all was well except Mama never forgave Cam’s mom. I even asked Mrs. Johns why she gave Cameryn her name and she told me Cam was named after a girl she met at summer camp when she was a girl. She always just loved the name and swore if she ever had a daughter she was naming her Cameryn, so it had nothing to do with my mother. I was only too happy to inform Mama of this, and all I got in response was a ‘pfft’ but she was maybe a pinch nicer to Mrs. Johns after that.” Small towns and their weird ass ways.
“My grandfather named Colin and me, thank goodness. No telling what my mother would have come up with. Granddad refused to allow her to stick us with what he called, ‘some weird nerd ass names’. My dad tried to have some say, but from what I understand, he wanted to name me Newton, and Granddad said not no, but hell no. Have I told you I love my grandfather?” She laughs and leans over to place her head on my shoulder and before long I feel her relax and know she’s fallen asleep. I move her head to my lap and feel as if all is right in my world in that moment.
Chapter Sixteen
MaCee
Tyler was called away to Dallas on business the day after we brought Cam home and has been gone the entire week. Which in a way is a blessing because I don’t have to feel guilty for spending all my off time with Cam. We had a lot to catch up on. Jay and Cam broke up because his ex-wife somehow turned up pregnant, and she claimed it was his baby. Jay swore he never slept with her after him and Cam were together, but he couldn’t deny it once the DNA test came back and the baby proved to be his.
Cam was devastated and broke it off. She turned in her notice to quit her job the same day and now she’s home, licking her wounds. It’s a good thing I was in Twin Oaks when all this went down because the likelihood of my murdering him was very high, and at the very least, I would have been arrested on assault charges. Cam has made me promise, under duress I might add, not to reach out and touch him in any way. She wants nothing more to do with him and I respect her wishes, so I won’t contact him, but you ever let me meet up with him on the street and I will not be held responsible for my actions.
Tonight though, Tyler is coming home, and I plan to be at his house to greet him. Cam assures me she’s fine and I’m not to worry about her but should go enjoy myself with my boyfriend. I’m still worried, so I arranged for Justin to “drop in” and check on her. Jordan also agreed to go by and see how she was doing.
I used my key to let myself into Tyler’s house and have made a chicken and rice casserole in the crock pot, which was a gift from me because his kitchen is in some serious need of wares. I’ve set out candles and fresh flowers and have on a sexy black see-through nightie with a matching black thong. I have wine chilling and am expecting him at any moment. He sent me a text earlier and asked if I could come over when he got home. I told him I would try, but I never confirmed if I would be able to make it. I want to surprise him—hopefully, he likes it.
I hear his truck pull into the driveway and my heart starts pounding. I didn’t realize how much I missed him until this moment. I parked my car around back, so he shouldn’t know I’m here.
I hear the door open and walk around the corner to greet him and almost burst out laughing at his look of surprise. He drops his bags and his jaw at the same time. “Hey, baby, you’re home.” I saunter over to him, and he breaks out into his sexy smile which has me wanting to climb him immediately, but I control myself. I have other plans.
“Yeah, I’m home and damn, look what’s waiting for me. I may have to leave more often if this is what I get when I get back.” I walk up to him and run my hands up his chest. He leans down, and we kiss. I moan into his mouth, oh yes, I missed him so bad. I unbutton his shirt and push it off his shoulders, and he stands there letting me be in charge. I unbuckle his belt, then undo his pants to push them down along with his boxers. He steps out of them and toes off his shoes and pulls his socks off leaving himself completely naked.
I kneel in front of him and put my hand around his cock, feeling him harden. I lick around the tip, and he backs up against the door as if his legs won’t hold him up. This causes me to smile. I then take him into my mouth until he hits the back of my throat causing me to gag slightl
y. I pull back and release him with a pop.
“Oh, baby, I don’t think I’ll be able to take much of that.” He reaches down as if to pull me up, but I want him to lose control, so I push him back and lean forward to take him back into my mouth. His hands find my hair and he’s gripping it as his breathing increases. I move my mouth up and down him as I flatten my tongue against the underside of his hardened cock. I use my hand to work the bottom half of him and help keep from gagging myself. I moan causing my mouth to vibrate against him as his hips shoot forward involuntarily. Ah, so he really likes that, so I hum against him.
“MaCee, baby. I. Am. About. To. Lose. IT!” He tries to pull away again, but I won’t let him go, I want all of him, and with a shout, his release shoots down my throat. I swallow every drop, and when I finally lean back, Tyler collapses on the floor in front of me.
He leans forward, kisses me, then presses his forehead to mine. “That was amazing. I don’t like being apart from you but if that’s my homecoming, I’m willing to chance it.” I stand, and so does Tyler, as he reaches down to slip his boxers back on. I guess I’ll allow him to wear them, but that’s all. Then I grab his hand to lead him into the dining room where I have a table set for two.
“Have a seat, while I go get dinner.” He moves to follow me into the kitchen and I point him to the chair.
“MaCee, you don’t have to wait on me, I can help you bring it in here.” I roll my eyes as I concede to let him help. I dish up the chicken casserole onto plates while he takes the salad and bread into the dining room. I have wine chilling in a bucket beside the table, and we sit down for dinner. I could see us doing this for years to come and I feel an unsettling in my stomach. Not knowing what that’s all about, I push it aside to enjoy our dinner.
Mama Knows Best Page 12