by Elena Aitken
Morgan seemed to enjoy having a grandmotherly figure around since Cam’s parents were so far away, and his mother had embraced Morgan as her own, enlisting her to help around the garden, a project Morgan actually seemed to enjoy.
Every day, it felt more like they were a family and Evan thought more about making it official.
Evan could be a patient man if necessary, but he was also a man who knew the value of being prepared, which was why he’d gone shopping to pick out the perfect ring and had been carrying it around in his pocket ever since. He had no immediate plans to ask her, but if the situation came up…well, he wanted to be ready.
It was a rare Friday night that Evan wasn’t on shift, so they’d been able to accept Christy and Mark’s offer for chicken wings and beer. On one end of the table, the girls were in a deep conversation about something, although Evan couldn’t quite make it out. But it didn’t matter. He loved watching her, especially when she was so relaxed and happy. So different from when she’d moved to town. A lot had changed.
Evan reached for his bottle of beer.
“It’s pretty crazy, don’t you think?”
Mark was asking him a question. Evan racked his brain in an effort to remember what his friend had been saying, but he came up empty. “Sorry,” he admitted. “I was daydreaming for a minute.”
Mark followed his gaze and laughed. “I can see that. I was just saying how crazy it was that you guys are sitting here, back together again. It’s kind of like old times, isn’t it?”
Evan nodded. “It is. Who would have thought we’d all end up like this, hey? Cam and I. You and Christy still crazy about each other.” Something flickered across Mark’s face, and Evan hesitated. “Is everything okay there?” He lowered his voice. “With Christy, I mean?”
Mark nodded, and returned his focus to his beer, but a moment later when the women excused themselves to go to the restroom, he put his bottle down on the table and looked at Evan. “Can I give you a piece of advice?”
Evan nodded.
“Don’t let babies make you crazy.”
“Pardon?” He sat back and chuckled, but Mark wasn’t laughing. “What’s going on, Mark?”
“No one ever tells you that trying to have a baby can actually destroy your marriage,” he said with a sad shake of his head.
“Destroy? What are you talking about?” Evan vaguely knew that Mark and Christy had been trying to get pregnant, but he certainly didn’t know any of the details about it. “Making babies is the fun part, right?” He winked but Mark wasn’t laughing.
“So help me, I never thought there’d be a time when I dreaded the thought of making love to my wife, Evan.” He dropped his head and shook it slightly before looking up again. “Wait. That’s not entirely fair. I want to be with Christy. It’s all this measuring temperatures, taking pills, injections, schedules and positions and…” He shook his head again and took a deep drink of his beer. “I guess it is what it is. But I’ll tell you something, Evan. It’s a total mood killer. And it’s changed her. Hell, it’s changed us.”
Evan didn’t know what to say to his friend. “I’m sorry, man.” It didn’t feel adequate, but it was all he had to offer, so it would have to do.
“Hey,” Mark said. “Don’t worry about it. I’m sorry to drop that on you when we should be celebrating.” He lifted his beer. “To you and Cam. Together the way you always should have been.”
Evan toasted and took a drink, but he didn’t completely agree with his friend. A lot had happened, and some of it he would change if he could, but most of it, he wouldn’t. They wouldn’t have been any good to each other all those years ago. They needed to grow up, find themselves, have their own lives before they could fully appreciate what they could have together. And who they could be on their own.
He believed that.
He also believed that it was time to make sure Cam knew exactly how he felt.
Evan spotted the women making their way across the room. Cam stopped to talk to Ben at the bar. She smiled at something he said and her whole face lit up. He excused himself from the table and went to her, not able to wait one more minute.
“May I have this dance?”
She turned and her whole face split into a smile. “Now?”
“Of course now.”
She laughed. “No one else is dancing.”
“I don’t care about anyone else.” He held his hand out and she took it.
He thought he heard Ben say something in the background, but a moment later the song changed to a slower beat and Evan pulled his love into his arms.
“You’re crazy,” Cam said, but she snuggled into his embrace.
“I know it.”
He spun her slowly around the small dance floor, keeping a close hold on her. “Are you happy?”
She nodded against his chest. “So much. Everything is perfect right now. Just the way it is.”
“Perfect?”
Cam pulled back a little so she could look him in the eyes. “Yes. I couldn’t ask for anything else. Morgan is getting settled in and in the last few months, she’s like an almost completely different person. It’s just…it’s nice to see her happy.”
“And you?” He ran a finger down her cheek before cupping her face in his hand.
She smiled and leaned into his touch. “It’s all a work in progress, but yes. So much happier. Thank you.”
“Thank you?”
“For everything,” she said. “Just for being you. For being here. For loving me.”
He shook his head softly before reaching up and holding her hands in his hands. His eyes shone, but he looked directly into hers when he said, “Baby, I love the fuck out of you.”
She chuckled at his harsh choice of words.
“I know that’s not the most eloquent way to say it,” Evan said quickly. “And I’m sorry for the curse. But it’s the truth and the only way to really say it. You mean more to me than anything else in the world.” Her laughter stopped and she looked straight into his eyes.
“It’s a lot, Evan. A single mom with a teenage girl—it’s a lot.”
“I know it.”
“And I don’t want you to—”
He put a finger to her lips. “I’m never going to do or be anything that I don’t want. Do you understand that?”
She nodded.
“Which means, I would not be here right now if I didn’t one hundred percent want all of this. You. Morgan. All of it.”
“I know. It’s just—”
“No. There’s no just.” He spun her slowly. “There are going to be challenges. It’s not always going to be easy, but it’s going to be amazing and I’m all in, babe. For the hard stuff and the easy stuff. All of it. I’m in.”
A tear slipped down her cheek, but she was smiling.
He didn’t want to let her go, so he held her close with his left arm and slipped his hand into his pocket. His fingers wrapped around the ring and he knew what he needed to do. Without missing a beat, he moved her easily around the dance floor, twirling her out gently before pulling her close again and as he did so, he took her left hand and slipped the ring on her finger.
Cam froze and stared at her hand. “What is—”
“It doesn’t have to be anything.” He pressed a kiss on her forehead. “Or it can be everything. Whatever you want it to be.”
Chapter Nineteen
A month later…
* * *
The summer sun warmed Cam’s little backyard studio perfectly. She stood by the window and looked out into the yard. Over the last few weeks, Cam had put her touch on the space by planting a few perennials and big pots of colorful flowers. Evan had picked up some oversized wicker chairs for them that she’d put in the corner, where they could watch the sun set behind the mountain in the evenings.
It was a gorgeous day, and what she really wanted to do was sit in those chairs right now with a glass of lemonade and a good book. But she had two photo sessions to edit and prepare for clients, as
well as selecting some new shots for a gallery in Seattle who’d offered to show her work. It wasn’t a big gallery, but the exposure was incredible and Cam still couldn’t believe that her photographs were hanging in a gallery anywhere. It still seemed surreal.
Everything in her life seemed surreal a lot of the time these days. As if it were too good to be true. But she refused to sit around and wait for her bubble to burst. That was her old way of thinking and Cam was no longer going to let herself fall into those patterns. She’d spent too many years pushing down her own desires and wants because she didn’t think she could have them, or even that she deserved them.
No longer.
“Knock knock.” Cam turned away from the window and her thoughts to see Christy at the door of her studio. One of the best things about being back in town was rekindling their friendship. “I hope I’m not interrupting. Evan said you were—”
“No. Not at all. I was just taking a break.”
Christy’s face lacked its usual relaxed smile. Cam crossed the room and took her hand. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”
Her friend nodded. “I am. I just…it’s fine. I just needed to see a friendly face.”
“Where’s Mark?”
Christy’s face crumpled. She swiped at the tears streaking down her face. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be crying. It’s just that…”
“Christy?” Cam put her arm around her friend and led her over to the chair. “What’s going on? Is everything okay?”
Her friend nodded. “Everything’s fine.” Cam didn’t believe her. “I think it’s just all these hormones. I’m just so emotional. Really, I can’t stop crying.”
“Is Mark okay? Is everything between you…” Cam didn’t want to say it out loud even though she’d known for months that there was a lot of tension in her friend’s marriage. They hadn’t really talked about it, even though Cam had been meaning to ask her. She felt bad that she hadn’t been the type of friend she should have been.
Christy waved her away. “Yes. Mark’s fine.” She took the tissue Cam offered her and blew her nose. “I was just…I think this is going to be our last round of IVF and…” She started to cry again. “What if it doesn’t work?”
Cam squeezed her friend in a fierce hug. Christy had already been through so much. “You’ll be okay,” Cam said honestly. “If it doesn’t work, you will be okay. You and Mark both. You really will. I promise.”
Christy nodded against Cam’s shoulder. “I know. I really do. It’s just…”
“There are other options, you know?” Christy sat back and attempted a small smile. “I mean,” Cam continued, “you can always borrow Morgan.”
That had the desired effect and made Christy laugh, because just the day before they’d been talking about how difficult raising a teenager was and how it may very well be the reason for all of Cam’s recent gray hairs.
“She’s a great kid,” Christy said. “But she’s definitely your daughter. Stubborn just like her mama.”
The two of them spent a few more minutes talking about Morgan and her latest dramas, which mostly revolved around a curfew she didn’t think was fair and the recent part-time job she’d taken at Daisy’s since finishing up her community service. Fortunately, despite the trouble they’d gotten in together, Morgan and Jess were still close friends. A fact Cam was grateful for. The high school years were so much easier with a good group of friends. She should know.
After Christy excused herself, she tried to get some more work done but Cam couldn’t concentrate on the images in front of her of the computer screen of the happy couple she’d photographed at their wedding the weekend before. It was the first wedding she’d done and she’d been so focused on getting the couple’s shots just right that it wasn’t until later when she was flicking through them all on her computer that it hit her.
A wedding.
What would it be like to stand up in front of all their friends and family and declare her love for Evan after all these years?
That was what Evan wanted. She’d always known that on some level, even though he’d never come right out and said it. She looked at the ring on her left hand. It was a sapphire set in white gold with tiny, sparkling diamonds around it. He’d never said it was an engagement ring. He’d told her it was whatever she wanted it to be.
At the time, when he’d given it to her, she’d been overwhelmed with all the changes in her life and was still trying to get settled and adjusted to her new life. The idea of getting married again was too much and something she’d never considered. After all, she’d been married before. It was kind of crazy to want to do it again, wasn’t it?
But Evan was different. Not only that, but their love was different.
It deserved to be celebrated and recognized just as much as any other relationship. Maybe more.
And when Cam closed her eyes and pictured it, it no longer seemed crazy at all.
It seemed like the most natural thing in the world.
Cam got up from her desk and walked again to the sunny window. She could see straight across the yard and into the kitchen window, where Evan was at the sink, still in his uniform after his shift.
She twisted the ring on her finger one more time and, with a smile on her face, left her studio.
Cam didn’t even make it into the house before Evan met her on the lawn, a tray holding two glasses of lemonade in his hands. “Hi, beautiful. I thought maybe you could use a little break.”
She thanked him, but didn’t take a glass. Instead, she took the tray from him and placed it gently on the table between the wicker chairs before taking his hands in hers.
“What’s going on? You okay?”
She nodded. “I wanted to ask you a question.” He waited, so she continued. “When you gave me this ring, you told me it could be whatever I wanted it to be.”
“That’s right.” He turned her hands in his and squeezed. “It’s a symbol of my commitment to you, Cam. Whatever you want that to look like.”
She smiled and looked straight into his eyes. “When you gave it to me, there was so much going on, with Morgan and the move and…well, everything. I needed time to process it all.”
“I know. It’s okay.”
“But there was one thing I didn’t need to process,” she continued. “And that’s how I feel for you. And how I’ve always felt. I still don’t understand completely why you want to take on all the craziness that is me and my life, but I believe you when you say you want it.”
He dropped her hands and held her face in his. “I want all your craziness, Cam, because I love you.”
“I love you, too.” She grinned. “And if it’s okay with you…I was hoping maybe this ring could be an engagement ring.”
He shook his head and took a step away from her. Cam’s heart fell.
But then right there in the yard, Evan dropped to one knee and took her hand in his. “More than anything I want to be your husband, Cam. I want to walk beside you every day for the rest of our lives. I want to fall asleep beside you and wake up to your beautiful face. Your heart is the only one that’s ever captured me so completely and you would make me the happiest man in the world if you agreed to be my wife.” She took a sharp breath but Evan wasn’t done. “Cam Riley, you’re the love of my life and you always will be. For goodness sake, will you finally marry me?”
She laughed but her eyes filled with tears that she swiped away while she nodded. “Yes,” she said. “A million times yes. Of course I’ll marry you.”
* * *
The End
* * *
If you enjoyed When We Left, you’ll probably like the next in the series, When We Were Us. Check out an unedited excerpt, right after a note from the author and for more free books and exciting news make sure to stay in touch with Elena!
Free Books
Fall in love in the Rockies for FREE! Start two of Elena’s best selling series for FREE and be the first to hear of new releases and special deals by joining her exclusive mai
ling list.
* * *
Join us now and fall in love… HERE
About the Author
Elena Aitken is a USA Today Bestselling Author of more than twenty romance and women’s fiction novels. Living a stone’s throw from the Rocky Mountains with her teenager twins and their two cats, Elena escapes into the mountains whenever life allows. She can often be found with her toes in the lake and a glass of wine in her hand, dreaming up her next book and working on her own happily ever after.
To learn more about Elena:
www.elenaaitken.com
[email protected]
When We Were Us
**Please note: This is an unedited excerpt of When We Were Us and as such is subject to change.
* * *
Christy Thomas took a deep breath and then another.
It didn’t work. She was still shaking and unable to focus on her reflection in the mirror.
With both hands planted firmly on the counter top, she squeezed her eyes shut and tried again.
One, two, three.
The counting technique her holistic healer had taught her was not working. Christy swallowed hard, opened her eyes and stared at her reflection. Maybe it was the fluorescent lighting of the clinic’s bathroom that made her look so puffy and old.
Maybe. But not likely. It was her.
Christy hardly recognized herself lately. When had she become this worn out version of herself? The hot tears pricked at her eyes and threatened to spill over.
Again.
The worst part was she wouldn’t be able to stop them. She’d always been an emotional person, but with all the hormones the doctors had her taking, it was next level out of control.