* * *
Sleep had done Canyon a lot of good. He was ready to hear, really hear, what Cambria had to say about his mother. Heck, maybe he was wrong in his assessment. People went through denial, he knew that. But how could she hold down a job if she were really addicted to painkillers? She couldn’t.
Still, he’d hear Cambria out. Thank heavens she hadn’t seemed angry with him. Cambria truly was one of a kind.
He pulled a carton of eggs from the fridge and scouted out the cheese and ham. An omelet would be easy enough. He set the ingredients on the butcher block and grabbed the fresh salsa next. There.
Before cracking the eggs, Canyon tugged the phone from his back pocket to check it for messages. Still no reply from Rain. He’d texted her first thing this morning, asking how Mom was doing. He meant to follow up with some questions. Did she think Mom was getting bad again? Should they be worried? Did she maybe want to talk to Cambria about the whole thing? Privately, of course.
He left it face up on the counter while he cracked and scrambled the eggs. Just as he twisted the pepper grinder over the bowl, his phone let out a beep. Canyon’s brows furrowed as he caught sight of the sender’s name.
“Dad?” He set the grinder down and picked up his phone.
Way to make a mockery out of our family for a second time. Tell your girlfriend or your fake fiancé or whatever she is to mind her own dang business. If she wants to promote her facility to show everyone how great she is, let her hire an advertising company like the rest of the world.
“What is he talking about?” Canyon mumbled. He tapped on the attached photo, a screenshot of a news article, from the look of it. Photos of Rain helping his mother into the car, then out of the car and into the front doors of the Break Free facility.
Angry heat surged through him as he scanned over the headline for the article: Star of Find My Fiancé Helps Bachelor’s Family Break Free From Addiction. A small portrait of Cambria was posted beside the article that surely sang her praises. Making her look like the hero while he played the part of the villain once more, no doubt.
He set his phone down, too riled to read through the article, and noticed Cambria’s phone up on the table. A quick glance over his shoulder said he was still alone. Perhaps the text she’d received could shed some light on just what in the world was happening.
He snatched the small device off the table, took a seat in the closest chair, and hid the phone behind the puffy blanket as he glanced down.
Jack: Your silence says it all. My condolences, dear one. Just remember, you can get out of it in sixty days. Until then, don’t get stuck in the shallow end with Mr. Deep.
Canyon clenched his eyes shut. He bent forward, resting his elbows on his knees, and groaned over the sharp knot in his heart. What did all of this mean? He peeked one eye open and scanned through the man’s prior texts. Who was this loser, anyway?
Caught wind that you’re engaged. Are congrats or condolences in order?
He scrolled a little more and clicked on some images she received from him the day after they’d arrived. The contract. Her contract.
His breaths were coming fast now. Quickly, he shot to his feet, headed out the back door, and hurried over to a hidden spot against the cabin where the dividing wall shielded the hot tub. Dang, how he’d been wanting to get in the hot tub with her. But not if she didn’t even love him. Focus, Canyon.
Just what in the world was going on?
Huddled over the phone, shielding the screen from sunlight, Canyon zoomed in on a highlighted portion of the contract. As hurried as his eyes moved over each word, he couldn’t exactly catch all of them. What he did get was bits and pieces. Words like, the actor… agrees to pretend… cannot divulge true feelings even to family... contract will be null and void… subject to lawsuit… damages.
“Actor?”
Was it just him, or had the temperature taken a sudden shift? It felt as if his skin had been set ablaze, and his chest, the blood moving through his veins, had turned straight to ice.
“Canyon?” The creak of the french doors told him just where she stood. “What are you doing out here?”
Canyon stepped away from his hiding spot, realizing his footsteps had given him away. Of course. “I’m just…” He shook his head, looked up at the woman who’d betrayed him, and thrust the phone into her hand. “Nothing.” He hurried inside the kitchen and snatched his own phone off the counter.
A list of curses raced through his mind. What an idiot he was. How had he really believed that Cambria was in love with him?
Too hurt and angry to speak, he sped out of the kitchen and down the hall. He had to pack up, get out of there, and lock himself away from the rest of the world. He wished he could take every second of his time there back. Go into hiding instead.
Let people say it was better to be lost in love than to have never loved at all. What if the love had only been one-sided all along? Is that still better than nothing?
No, it couldn’t be.
He spun around once he’d made it to his room, and caught sight of Cambria huddled over her screen in the hallway, a shocked expression on her face. A face he’d fallen so in love with that it hurt to look at her.
“Tell Jack hi for me too, will you?” He slammed the door closed and hurried over to the closet. Clothes went into his bag by the fistful. Way to make a mockery out of our family for the second time.
More curses shot through his mind. He wanted to drown them out. Silence them until he got in the limo. Which reminded him. Canyon tapped out a quick text to Marsha.
I quit. Sue me if you want, but I’m out. Send a limo immediately if you don’t want me to make things any worse with Ms. Wonderful. And thanks a lot for using me to make you and princess perfect look even better.
“Canyon, please open the door.” Cambria said from the hallway.
“Nope.” He unplugged his phone charger from the wall and shoved that into the wads of clothes.
“I swear, Canyon, you have the wrong idea about things. I know that Jack sent this to me, but that is not why I said yes to you.”
“No?” He barked out a laugh. “Then let me guess. You said yes because you wanted to meet my family so you could swoop in to the rescue and make me look like a neglectful jerk.”
His phone beeped, but he was in no mood to look at it. He had enough anger to fuel a small village for decades. And he wasn’t sure how he was supposed to blow off the building steam. Every muscle in him begged for release. A vision of the punching bag he’d requested came to mind. Marsha had obliged by placing it—along with a few weights and a bench—in the massive closet attached to his room.
Sweet adrenaline flooded him as it came into sight. He’d pound on this thing until the limo came, and then he’d get the crud out of there. Forget redemption and second chances. Marsha never cared about him, and neither did Cambria. He’d drive out to the facility, get his mom and sister out of there, and take them to Tokyo where he could take on jobs that would pay off Marsha and all the damages she wanted to claim over him breeching his contract. The sooner he could get away from all of this, the better.
Chapter 19
Cambria stared out the windows of her shop. A couple held hands beyond the glass while snowflakes drifted over them. She watched as the two tipped their heads back in laughter, wondering if she’d ever felt so lonely in her life.
Three weeks had gone by. Three weeks of heartache and frustration. Twenty-one days of longing to fix something that … that should be fixed by now.
“Oh my gosh,” came an excited female voice from behind. “You’re here! I didn’t know if you’d be here, but you really are.”
Cambria spun around to see a cluster of teens huddled by the face wash. “We just saw the episode where Canyon proposes to you,” the one in glasses squealed.
The others squealed too.
“We’re like, dying right now,” the skinny redhead said. “Is Canyon here? Has he been to the store with you?”
; The one wearing glasses nudged her with her elbow. “You can’t ask questions.”
“You’re spending Christmas together, aren’t you?” the redhead persisted.
“Of course they are,” the third gal said.
Cambria smiled wistfully. “You guys remind me of my friends and me when we were your age.”
“Aww…” they cooed in unison.
But Cambria’s mind drifted back to their question. She wished she’d be spending Christmas with Canyon. She wanted nothing more. But with the holiday just three days away, Cambria wasn’t so sure it would happen.
As it was, she never imagined that Canyon would steer clear of her for so long. Vickie was sworn to privacy about the families at the facility, but since Cambria had been a volunteer there for years, she was able to walk in and look through the roster whenever she wanted. Canyon had been there every day since returning to Lake Tahoe. She’d been careful not to run into him; the last thing she wanted to do was have him make some knee-jerk decision to put his mom in a different facility because he thought Cambria was stalking him.
But that was just it. She wasn’t being accused of liking him too much. She’d been accused of not liking him at all. Of faking the entire thing to … to make money and advertise her charity? Talk about ridiculous. It hurt that he’d even believe such a thing.
“Well, we can’t wait to watch the rest of the season.”
Cambria pulled herself out of her daze. Mae had rung up the girls already. Each stood there holding one of Sweet Stop’s holiday bags as they waited by the door.
“Thanks, girls. And thanks so much for coming in. Merry Christmas to you.” She set her eyes on the display case up front and turned each tiny bottle so each label faced forward. She lifted a few of the samples, dabbed a bit of pine, cinnamon, and sage oil into the palm of her hand, and rubbed the tiny drops before burying her face in her hands. It didn’t smell exactly like him—nothing would—but the initial whiffs always put pictures of him in her head so fast it brought her to tears.
“Why do you keep torturing yourself?” Mae asked.
Cambria kept her face buried in her hands. “Because I love him.” She clenched her eyes tight and gave into a sob. “I love him so much, it hurts. And I can’t… he won’t even let me explain that to him. It’s the worst form of cruelty I’ve known.”
“I don’t know how you can still love him when… when he’s hurting you so much.” Mae’s hand landed on her back. She rubbed it from one side to the next. “I’m sorry that you’re hurting. He seems… not as bad as I thought he was. Well, he seemed that way until he jumped to conclusions about you and didn’t even give you a chance to explain.”
Cambria didn’t argue. She simply leaned into Mae and let out another sob. “I have to think he’ll come to his senses somehow. I couldn’t get through this if I believed otherwise.”
Mae’s hands stopped moving. She gave Cambria two pats. “I think he will too. If he’s worthy of you, he’ll listen to reason sooner than later. I know it.”
* * *
Canyon pressed the fob on his key as he stepped out of the clinic. His car, a classic BMW, beeped and flashed, letting him know he’d successfully unlocked it. His mother and Rain were enjoying a Christmas program inside. Nothing special, really. Just a group of cute little kids singing songs and doing dance moves completely off beat and out of place. Which is what made it all the better. It had him recalling the conversations he’d had with Cambria about the future they wanted. It had taken only seconds for him to identify the couple who mimicked what he figured he and Cambria would look like if their kids were up there. Dad filming while mouthing the words absently, concentration on his face. The woman by his side held a phone camera. She was snapping pictures like a banshee and encouraging her child to smile more by pushing a finger to her cheek and lifting.
Both gleamed with pride and joy. And just an overall… adoration for the dear family they’d created.
As if that hadn’t been enough, the clapping began. That’s when Canyon had to excuse himself. Even now, as he sunk into the front seat of his car, he was thinking of that conversation in the limo. The way she was so quick to agree about the odd ritual. Suggesting they look it up, even.
He dropped his head, allowing the steering wheel to catch his forehead with a thud. He hadn’t let himself cry. How could he when the anger was so much better to hold onto? He lifted his head off the wheel, ready to drop it back down, when a thump came to his window.
Startled, Canyon straightened up to see a woman standing outside his car. Not just any woman. It was Cambria’s friend. The angry one who’d barely pretended to like him after spending the evening with them.
She knocked again. “Can I come in please?”
A deep longing gripped hold of his heart. “Not if you’re going to yell at me,” he said.
“I won’t,” she said.
Canyon reached for the lever and hit the unlock button. “Go ahead.” He wondered how much Cambria had told her. It had to be limited due to the contract, but he wasn’t sure which things she’d been able to share and which things she hadn’t. Well, that wasn’t exactly true. He’d taken a pretty good look at that contract, after all.
Mae, that was her name, climbed into the passenger side, closed the door, and shivered. “You going to turn the heat on?”
Her breath made a puff, even inside the car.
“Yeah, sure.” He dug into his pocket and pulled out the key. The heat kicked on as he started her up.
“She can’t tell me a whole lot,” Mae said, “but she’s really broken-hearted.”
“I’m sure she is. What, she won’t get paid as much as she wants if we don’t follow through?”
Mae shook her head. “Never mind,” she hissed. “I guess I was right about you in the first place. Maybe all of America was.” She went to push open the door, but paused and looked over her shoulder. She surveyed him for a moment, seeming to consider something. “Don’t tell her I showed you this. She’d kill me. But…”
She pulled her phone from her purse and tapped at the screen. Seconds later an image filled the screen. A woman hunched over with her face in her hands. Not just any woman— Cambria.
Canyon’s heart felt like it had been shoved into a vice grip. He held very still as Mae tapped on the volume.
“Why do you keep torturing yourself?” he heard Mae ask.
Canyon held his breath and leaned in.
“Because I love him. I love him so much, it hurts.”
Now something new was taking place in his chest. He released a cautious breath.
“And I can’t… “ Cambria was saying, “he won’t even let me explain that to him. It’s the worst form of cruelty I’ve known.”
Cruelty? He thought she’d been the cruel one. But what if he was wrong?
“I don’t know how you can still love him when… when he’s hurting you so much.”
Canyon was starting to wonder the same thing. But how could he have gotten things so wrong? First the text from his dad with the article. Even Rain had admitted that Cambria had called her aunt and made arrangements for them for the last minute intervention.
Something Mom needed, you idiot.
“I’m sorry that you’re hurting,” Mae told Cambria in the video while rubbing her back. It reminded him of the way Cambria had done that for him while he spoke of his mom.
“He seems… not as bad as I thought he was,” Mae continued. “Well, he seemed that way until he ruined things with you.”
Cambria cried into her hands. “I have to think he’ll come to his senses somehow. I couldn’t get through this if I believed otherwise.” Mae shut off the video and shoved the phone back into her pocket. “I’m not here because I’m some hopeless romantic. I’m here because you hurt someone I love. And for whatever reason, I don’t think you know how much she loves you.” She pushed open the door and climbed out. “At least now, you know.” And with that, she slammed the door.
Canyon forced
his mind back on his dilemma. Was it really so complicated? The issue with his mom wasn’t really an issue at all. Cambria had taken action, something Canyon hadn’t been willing to do just yet. He’d been wrong.
The next item though, that stupid text from that Jack guy who’d been giving her his condolences over the engagement. The same guy who’d sent highlighted parts of her contract just after she’d arrived. Parts that said Cambria had been hired to play the part of adoring girlfriend, basically, agreeing to walk the aisle with him and the whole nine yards, all for the show.
He recalled the sob that tore at Cambria’s throat as she cried over him. Because I love him. “So much that it hurts,” he muttered. Oh, man, he related to that. The ache of his deep love for Cambria had felt like a full-body bruise, one that sank clear to his heart. Yet as he let himself entertain what Mae had shared, the hurt gave way to hope, and a desperate urgency to put an end to Cambria’s heartache.
He had to make things right somehow. Beg—plead if he needed to—for a chance to make it up to her, and pray that they might still have a chance at the future they wanted to share.
Chapter 20
“I’m glad you have such a wonderful family of support here, Cambria,” Marsha Langston said as she stood to leave Cambria’s home. She’d asked to come speak with her about the contract. It had started out as a private affair, where Marsha had assured Cambria that the details of the contract were still intact.
Telling her family about the breakup would be forgiven so long as word didn’t get out prematurely, and so long as the family believed that Cambria had genuinely wanted the relationship to work.
Canyon hadn’t spoken publicly about leaving the show, and as long as they kept up the engagement charade for the remainder of the sixty-day stipulation, the producer would hold up her end of the deal.
Her TV Bachelor Fake Fiancé: Christmas Romance Series Page 13