Changing the Rules

by Erin Kern

  Okay, that. “To catch up on some work,” Audrey responded, avoiding Roxy’s gaze.

  Roxy chuckled. “Try the truth this time. Why did you rush back here? You know Stevie’s handling things.”

  “Yeah, she and her sister,” Audrey muttered.

  Roxy tilted her head to one side. “Doth I detect some resentment?”

  “No,” Audrey insisted. Then her shoulders sagged in defeat. “I don’t know. Maybe.”

  “You think you’re being pushed out,” Roxy concluded. “That you’re not needed.”

  Audrey picked up her drink. “Well, I hadn’t really thought that until you said it,” she muttered grudgingly.

  Even though her friend had sunglasses on, Audrey could still detect an eye roll. “Yes, you were. Admit it.”

  “Okay, yeah. I feel a little strange about someone else stepping into my shoes in the company I helped build,” Audrey admitted.

  “And that’s a totally normal reaction,” Roxy soothed. “But maybe Stevie’s not trying to fill your shoes.”

  Audrey knew her business partner and friend would never deliberately push Audrey out. Still, she couldn’t help but feel slighted.

  “Maybe Stevie knows you don’t really want to come back,” Roxy went on.

  Audrey sighed as their food was delivered. “How can she know that when I don’t even know that?”

  “But I think you do,” Roxy pushed softly as she picked up her fork.

  Audrey grabbed her own fork, but hesitated before cutting into her breakfast croissant.

  “You haven’t been happy since Dianna died,” Roxy continued. “Her death changed you.”

  What had changed her more than anything was seeing how Piper had been left alone. Left to wonder why she had no other family. Why her only grandparent, Dianna and Cameron’s father, had no interest in her. Left to wonder why she had no dad, no siblings. Audrey had seen a bit of herself in the six-year-old and had vowed to protect the girl, to make sure Piper was never left to wonder why no one cared enough to bother.

  “Why shouldn’t you change things up a bit?” Roxy asked as she cut into her own food. “There really isn’t anything here for you, anyway.”

  Audrey stabbed her fork into her croissant. “That’s not true. I have my business. And you.”

  “You can build another business somewhere else.” Roxy reached across the table and covered Audrey’s hand with her own. “And you’ll always have me.” She shrugged. “Besides, you barely talk to your father, and you have virtually no relationship with your brother. Go make new memories somewhere else.”

  Audrey gazed at her food before shoving the bite in her mouth. After chewing and swallowing, she responded, “You make it sound so easy.”

  “Why should it be hard?” Roxy countered. She jabbed her fork toward Audrey when Audrey opened her mouth to argue. “And don’t start coming up with excuses. You always do that.”

  Audrey snapped her mouth shut. “I don’t always do that.”

  “And what about this guy?” Roxy went on. “You find the one man in forever that lights you up, and you’d consider walking away from that?” Roxy shook her head. “Girl, you need your head examined.”

  “Hey,” Audrey tried protesting, but they both knew she didn’t have a leg to stand on. “I’m trying to be cautious.”

  “Why?” Roxy questioned. “For God’s sake, woman, stop being your own worst enemy. You like this guy, yes?”

  Audrey blew out a breath. “Yeah,” she whispered.

  Roxy waved a hand in the air. “Actually no. You love him.” Audrey opened her mouth, but Roxy was faster. “I don’t want to hear anything out of your mouth besides how right I am.”

  Audrey leaned back in her chair. “I’m thinking maybe I should have had brunch with Stevie.”

  Roxy just shrugged. “I like Stevie, but she doesn’t tell it like it is the way I do.” Roxy stated her words with a small grin.

  Audrey grinned back and picked up her fork again. “You’re right about that. But at least with Stevie I could have a peaceful meal.”

  Roxy leaned across the table and whispered, “What fun would that be?” Her expression grew serious. “I refuse to let you get in your own way. Go be with Piper. Be with Cameron. Give it a shot and see where it goes.”

  “What if it doesn’t work?” she found herself asking.

  Roxy just shrugged that away and stuffed more food into her mouth. “Then at least you can say you tried. And maybe I’ll come visit you up there just to see what all the fuss is about.”

  Twenty-Two

  Audrey had decided to stay one extra day in Boulder. Last night on the phone, she’d thought she’d seen a cloud of doubt in Cameron’s eyes when she’d told him. Instinctively she’d wanted to reassure him, to remove the insecurity her delay had caused him. But she’d kept her thoughts to herself, knowing she needed to take care of some things before she could clue him in. He’d agreed to get Piper ready for school this morning, and Audrey told him she’d be home by the time the girl got off the bus, so he wouldn’t have to find someone to stay with her after school.

  Home.

  It felt right, and Audrey wondered how she could have ever doubted. Roxy had been correct when she’d said that Audrey needed to get out of her own head.

  Audrey had timed her arrival for the middle of the day, so she could have some time to think before she had to face Cameron.

  She drove past the high school, barely managing to keep her gaze from wandering to the parking lot to search for his car.

  Finally, she reached Cameron’s house and was surprised to spot his car in the driveway.

  Why wasn’t he at school?

  She wasn’t ready for this. If she didn’t have time to prepare herself, the minute she saw those wide shoulders and lean hips, all she’d want to do would be to thread her fingers through his hair and kiss him, beg him to drag her to bed, and then she’d forget everything she wanted to say to him.

  Maybe she could slip into the guesthouse without him noticing she was home.

  There was no sign of him outside, so Audrey parked her car behind his and edged her way to the guesthouse in the back. She shoved away the feeling that she was deliberately being sneaky and used her key to open the door.

  But the door was already unlocked.

  She supposed that wasn’t so strange since all of Piper’s stuff was here…

  Audrey paused in the doorway and looked around. The place seemed the same. Clean. Quiet. Quaint.

  And yet…something felt off. The place felt empty.

  Too empty. Which was strange because all the furniture was there. The couch, the small coffee table, the barstools. Everything looked and felt exactly as it had when she and Piper and first moved in.

  Then Audrey figured out why.

  All the personal touches were gone. The throw over the couch. The vase of flowers on the kitchen counter. Even Piper’s drawings had been removed from the fridge.

  Audrey set her keys and purse on the bar top and glanced around. Everything she’d added to the place had been taken away.

  Had Cameron lost faith in her after all and boxed up all her stuff? Did he expect her to collect it and be on her way?

  She swallowed past the lump in her throat and made her way to Piper’s room.

  Just like the main living area, all the furniture was still there. The bed and nightstand, but that was it. All of Piper’s stuff was missing. Her alarm clock, her snow globe collection. The framed photograph of her and Dianna that had been next to the bed. Even Pinkie Pie’s bed was gone.

  Okay, so clearly Cameron had moved Piper to the main house. Wasn’t he supposed to do that? It was where Piper belonged and what Audrey had been pushing for from the beginning. So why wasn’t she happier?

  Turning, she moved to what had been her room, knowing what she’d find. Or what she wouldn’t find. Furniture? Check.

  Personal belongings? Nada.

  No scented candles, no stack of magazines. And the closet
was empty.

  Audrey’s heart plummeted to the bottom of her stomach as she stared at the space where her clothes had hung just a few days ago.

  All gone.

  What the hell?

  Audrey ran through every conversation they’d had while she was away, trying to figure out a clue.

  Cameron and Piper had been their normal selves and they’d talked about normal things. Cameron hadn’t clammed up like he always did when he had something on his mind.

  Well, now she had something on her mind, and she wanted answers.

  Everything she’d originally planned to say flew from her mind as she stalked out the screen door and across the back lawn.

  Just who did he think he was, cleaning out all her stuff like that? Without even giving her a chance to say what she wanted to say? He’d said he understood her need for some time to sort through her thoughts. Had he lied? Changed his mind?

  Well, Audrey wasn’t going to give him a chance to weasel or kiss his way out of this without explaining himself.

  She let herself in the back door and looked for signs of him. When she saw none, she walked through the eating area, then stopped short.

  Her eyes narrowed on the pair of drawings on the fridge in the kitchen. The same drawings that had been in the guesthouse. Audrey glanced around and did a double take on the flowers decorating the breakfast table.

  Why would Cameron get rid of all her stuff, but keep the flowers she’d bought?

  She opened her mouth to call his name when he found her first.

  And all the accusations she’d wanted to hurl at him faded. Why did he have to look so good? Why did she want to throw herself at him and tuck her head in the curve of his shoulder? Her heart filled with so much love that it almost knocked the breath out of her.

  “I wasn’t expecting you back for a few hours,” he said to her.

  She shifted her feet and searched for something to say. “I made better time than I thought,” she lied.

  “Uh—”

  “Where’s all my stuff?” she blurted out.

  His eyes widened. “Now, don’t get mad—”

  “You removed all my things from the guesthouse and I’m not supposed to be mad? You could have just waited until I got back, and I would have done it myself.”

  Cameron took a step toward her. “I wanted to surprise you. Though I wasn’t really expecting you to be angry.”

  She laughed, because if she didn’t she might start crying. “Not mad? You’re throwing me out before we even have a chance to talk, and I’m not supposed to be mad?” She jabbed her index finger toward the table. “And, by the way, those are my flowers.”

  “That’s why I brought them over here,” he answered her.

  Audrey jerked the vase off the table, ignoring the water that splashed on her shirt. “You can’t throw all my things out and keep the flowers I bought. I’m taking these with me.” And why was she so hung up on the damn flowers?

  “Audrey…” Cameron gently took the vase from her tight grip. “I haven’t thrown your things out. I just moved them.”

  She watched as he set the flowers back on the table. “Yeah, moved them to some storage unit outside of town, probably.”

  He blew out a breath and grabbed her hand. She tried to resist as he tugged her along, but he was too strong, too determined.

  “Let go. I’m mad at you,” she said as she fought.

  “Will you be quiet a minute?” he said without looking back at her.

  Dammit, tears started stinging the backs of her eyes. But she fought them because, hey, she had some dignity. “Cameron, please. If you want me to go, just say so. We don’t have to go through this big production of humiliating me.”

  One tear fell just as he stopped outside his bedroom and turned toward her. Using his thumb, he brushed the tear away and smiled at her.

  The sick bastard.

  “Will you just wait a minute and look, please?” he asked her.

  Audrey waited a moment before looking into his bedroom, afraid to see whatever he’d wanted to show her. She hadn’t pegged him as the type to play sick games with her, but the twisting in her stomach wouldn’t stop. Another tear spilled as she inhaled a shuddering breath.

  Cameron swiped that one away too and stepped out of the doorway so she could see whatever he’d wanted to show her.

  She blinked and shook her head. “I think it would be better if I just go—”

  The rest of the declaration caught in her throat as her gaze connected with the stack of magazines on the nightstand.

  Cameron didn’t subscribe to Cosmo.

  Those were her magazines.

  “You like to keep them on the nightstand, right?” Cameron questioned.

  She swallowed at the uncertainty in his voice. “Um…”

  He shook his head. “That’s okay, you can keep them somewhere else. There’s a magazine rack in the bathroom.” Then he gave her hand another tug.

  Audrey tried digging her heels in the carpet when she spotted a mess on the bed: a large picture frame that had been taken apart, along with all the Post-it notes they’d written to each other. They were strewn all over the bed. But she didn’t get a chance to ask what that was all about, because Cameron didn’t stop pulling her until they were in the closet.

  “I put some old junk in storage to make room for all your things,” he was telling her as he flipped the closet light on. He kicked a pair of running shoes out of the way.

  That was when Audrey noticed her things. All of her things. They took up half the closet where half his clothes had once hung.

  All her jeans, sweaters, and dresses. Her shoes had been arranged neatly on a shoe rack on the floor, and he even had her belts and scarves neatly organized.

  Audrey’s breath held in her throat as she ran her gaze over the clothes, back and forth, trying to make sense of what he’d done. Everything was there, hanging next to his as though they’d been there for years. As though they belonged and fit perfectly.

  “Cameron…” she whispered.

  “I thought you’d want to go back and rearrange everything the way you want it,” he told her. “I just wanted to get it all in here.”

  She finally looked at him and almost choked at the doubt on his face. From the moment she’d met him, Cameron Shaw had been the most confident, cocky man she’d ever met, sure of himself with the way he swaggered and kissed and teased her.

  But as he gazed at her as though he expected her to start hurling stuff across the room, Audrey’s heart broke a little.

  She licked her lips. “Cameron, what’s going on? Why have you done all this?”

  “I think you know, Audrey.”

  She supposed, in some tiny corner of her mind, Audrey knew what she was looking at. But years of disappointments had conditioned her always to think the worst, not to get her hopes up. She’d conditioned herself to no longer believe in happy endings, at least her own happy ending. Her mind had automatically tried to come up with alternative reasons for why Cameron had moved all of her things to his house.

  “You want me to stay here with you?” she questioned.

  He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and offered her a sympathetic smile. “I want you to live here with me. And Piper. We talked about it over the weekend, and we decided we’re not going to let you leave.”

  “You talked about it over the weekend,” she repeated. “You and Piper?”

  “Yes, ma’am. So last night the two of us took it upon ourselves to move all your stuff over here. We didn’t want you to come home and pack everything up.”

  “Just because it’s all here doesn’t mean I can’t pack it all up,” she pointed out, even though that was rather a worthless argument.

  “Yeah, but you won’t.”

  She nodded and glanced at her shoes arranged neatly on the rack. “You’re sure of that, huh?”

  “Pretty darn.”

  “There’s one thing you got wrong, though,” she pointed out.

&nb
sp; The muscles in Cameron’s throat worked as he swallowed. “What?”

  “My sweaters go in a dresser,” she told him. “The hangers stretch them out.”

  He chuckled his relief. “Yeah, I actually knew that. But I didn’t have any extra space in my drawers.”

  She crossed her arms over her chest. “Well, that’s going to be a problem. Because you’ll have to buy another piece of furniture, and I don’t know if your room has the space.”

  Cameron tugged her back into the bedroom. “I’ll just get rid of some of my stuff then. I care more about you than I do all my clothes.”

  Audrey wasn’t sure how to react to his admission, so she walked to the bed and picked up one of the Post-its. This one read, Fixed the broken porch step. It had been one of the first notes he’d left her, and even then she’d cherished it. Not only the act of the repair itself, but also the note and his strong handwriting. She’d read the thing over and over again before tucking it away in a drawer, just as he had hers. Audrey had no clue how he’d found them all, or when he’d found them.

  “What’re you doing with all these?”

  “Ah…” Cameron ran a hand over the back of his neck. “You actually weren’t supposed to see it until it was finished.”

  She slid him a look. “What’s it going to be?”

  Cameron picked up the empty frame. “A sort of collage, I guess. See, they’re going inside this matting; then I’m framing it.” He looked at her and held up one of the notes. “See, these mark a critical time in my life, and I wanted to preserve them. They don’t belong in the garbage. They’re too precious for that.”

  Audrey tried to formulate a response in her mind. Thank you was so inadequate, and everything else got caught in her throat. She did the only other thing she could think of. She grabbed him and yanked his mouth down on hers. He stumbled toward her in surprise, but then immediately joined her in the kiss.

  Her lips parted and her tongue tangled with his, signifying the days they’d spent apart and the emotion that still hadn’t been spoken between them. She knew Cameron wasn’t good with words, so she let the kiss do the talking.

  Audrey’s knees went weak when Cameron tunneled his hand into her hair and held her mouth harder to his. She’d only meant the kiss to be a quick show of her love, of how much his gesture meant to her. It had quickly turned fierce, just as all their other kisses had. But before it could be taken further, because she still had things to say, Audrey pulled away and took a deep breath.