“Every town has skeletons. And it’s your job to find them. Specifically about the Tripps. This kid and her dad… there’s got to be something there.”
“I’m not good with kids. Why didn’t you tell me the coordinator was only ten—”
“Look, I’m really busy over here. Find scandal. Figure it out.” There was a click as Mara hung up.
Lydia sat frozen. Absolutely not. She would write a great story, but she would find a way to put a good spin on it. She refused to exploit a little girl and her father. And she sure as hell wasn’t going anywhere near Noah Blue unless it was to counter her original story from seven months ago. There had to be a way to maintain her journalistic integrity and write a compelling photo essay about this. Sure, Mara didn’t like her, but she never thought her boss would sacrifice the quality of a story because of it. “Shit,” she muttered. “Shit, shit, shit…”
“Eh-hem.”
The guttural noise made Lydia jump and splash coffee onto her silk shirt. “Hot!” she squealed and hopped to her feet, wiping at the new stain on the top curve of her breast with a napkin. “Er—hi, Cam. Hi, Maddie. Glad you could join me.” Her voice wobbled as she blotted the stain.
Cam nodded in lieu of a hello, his face still stony—untrusting. Not that Lydia blamed him for being guarded around her. Hell, if Mara had sent any other one of the staff journalists, this story could have turned out very different for him.
“My dad is really good at getting stains out. This one time, I spilled grape juice on my favorite shirt, and he got it out using soda.”
“Club soda,” Cam corrected, his expression softening.
“You could help Ms. Ryder with her stain, Dad.”
His eyes flicked to her breasts where the stain sat and a flash of heat simmered through Lydia’s body as his eyes lingered. He quickly raised his gaze to her face, and his lips twisted, neck muscles straining as if he felt the flash too. Just as soon as the small little tingles of awareness crawled over her skin, the moment was gone. The heady electricity between them fizzled and dissipated like a popping bubble.
“I can get you some club soda if you want,” he said.
Lydia crumpled the napkin in her hand and smiled as warmly as she could muster. “I’ll be fine.”
She averted her gaze back down to the little girl, who had her backpack slung over her shoulders. Lydia cleared her throat, giving Cam one last look before she knelt down to Maddie’s height. In the couple of hours between when they had first met, she had researched various babysitting sites searching for tips on how to connect with a kid. Bringing yourself to their eye level was one of the easiest to execute. “Maddie, I wanted to apologize for how I acted earlier.”
Maddie’s eyebrows ruffled in the center, creating a little pouch of skin. Without thinking, Lydia brushed a finger over her own eyebrow where she was beginning to get wrinkles. Kids were fascinating. There was no worry about crow’s feet or aging yet.
She cleared her throat. “My boss failed to tell me that a child was the—” she paused, forcing herself not to roll her eyes, “—charity director. And I was just so shocked, I fear I reacted inappropriately. My intent was not to scare you or sound condescending or… or make you feel inadequate. I was simply trying to treat you with the same respect that I treat an adult in the same position.” Phew. There. She had gone over that speech a dozen times in her head.
Maddie stood silently, eyebrows still knitted together deep in thought. The expression reminded Lydia of the way Cam had stared at her after the little boy Troy had run off. A painful twinge caught in her ankle from the crouched position she was in, and she winced, shifting her weight. She almost reached out a hand to touch the little girl’s arm, but last minute she decided against it.
Maddie nodded. “Sure, I forgive you.”
Lydia hissed an exhale through her teeth. That was much easier than she had expected. If only adults could forgive as quickly as kids.
“Excuse me, Ms. Ryder?” The receptionist from the inn—Michelle—walked up to the group, Elsa following right behind her.
Lydia pushed to her feet. “Is my room ready finally?”
Michelle nibbled her lip. “I’m so sorry. It appears that your reservation was lost. And we have absolutely no rooms available.”
“Are you kidding me?” A frustrated laugh bubbled up from nowhere and Lydia shook her head. Because sometimes, there was nothing else to do other than chuckle at your own bad luck. “Why am I not surprised?” she mumbled to herself. An aching throb behind her temples surfaced and Lydia pressed her fingers to her head, massaging in circles. “Well, what do you propose we do here? I need to be in the heart of town to cover this auction. And yours is literally the only inn here.”
“Well, there’s a few ski lodges not far—” Michelle started.
“They’re all booked. It’s prime season,” Elsa said.
The woman opened her mouth to speak, stuttering. “Uh—w-well, I could call a few places that are in our neighboring towns. They’re not a far drive—”
“Cameron, you have a guest cottage, don’t you?” Elsa interrupted, placing a hand on his arm.
Maddie beamed, and her big brown eyes fell on her dad. “Yeah, we do.”
Cam’s face went whiter than a balled-up tissue, and Lydia’s anger over the lost reservation morphed into full on panic. That look on his face—it was dreadful. And if he didn’t want her anywhere near them, then she certainly wasn’t going to push herself into a situation where she wasn’t welcome.
“It is not his job to right your wrong,” Lydia snapped. “And considering the Star reviews various inns and restaurants all over the east coast, you really should have prepared better.”
The woman’s eyes widened. “Yes, you’re right, of course. And we offer you our sincerest apologies, a complimentary stay any other weekend of your choice—”
“It’s okay, Michelle,” Cam interrupted and sent a glare to Lydia. “It would be our pleasure to host you. The guest cottage is right next to the house and you have your own kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom. You’ll be very comfortable.”
“Cam, I really don’t want to impose—”
His scowl softened as he placed a hand on top of Maddie’s head. “You won’t. If anything, it might be more convenient with how close you’ll be staying to Maddie this week. We won’t have to travel as much for shoots and interviews.”
Lydia nibbled the inside of her cheek. Well, that was true. After another moment, she nodded. “Okay. I really appreciate it.”
Michelle’s sigh was one of relief. “Again, I am so sorry. Please, let us take care of your dinner tonight or tomorrow night. There are some wonderful restaurants in town.”
“Why don’t you give those dinner vouchers to Cam and his family instead?” Nearly a week bunking just next door to this man? Her patience and self-discipline were definitely going to be tested.
*
After a few minutes, Cam had written down his address and directions to the guest cottage. Maddie curled into a chair beside Lydia and Cam sat several tables away, watching his daughter animatedly chatting. Two hot chocolates and one blueberry muffin later, the two ladies had looked through Lydia’s portfolio (which he verified was edited down to kid-friendly), discussed what the week would look like from a business side of things, and gone over a preliminary outline of how the auction would work on Saturday night.
Cam grunted and drained the last of his coffee, doing his best to place it gently back on the dainty saucer. Why Elsa insisted on serving him in such little teacups was beyond him. But she didn’t tell him how to run his construction business—he had no right to tell her how to run hers.
Though he had promised Maddie he wouldn’t eavesdrop, he was inadvertently breaking his vow… or maybe not so inadvertently. There were only a few tables separating them, and after what had happened earlier, he didn’t want to let his guard down around Lydia.
He watched closely as she leaned in, talking to Maddie. Her slender legs
were crossed at the knee and her hands were folded in her lap. A few times she reached out as if she wanted to touch Maddie on the arm or hand and then, almost as if sensing she was getting too close, she’d pull back just before skin-to-skin contact. There was a stiffness to her, an unease around kids, that though he could sympathize, was still hard to understand.
He had always been good with kids, and as the oldest of five siblings, he’d had little choice about helping with dirty diapers and T-ball practices. After life with so many brothers and sisters, he thought the last thing he wanted was a kid of his own. He ran off to college, certain that he would never marry and never be a father. And now here he was—widowed with a daughter. He smiled. And thank God for happy accidents.
Hannah would’ve hated seeing him like this. She would want him to move on. Be happy. But that emotion felt foreign. A language that no matter how hard he tried, he would never be fluent in again.
He glanced again at Lydia, who now had a camera up to her face, snapping pictures of Maddie. Maddie smiled into the lens, a big cheesy grin, at which point Lydia instructed her to ignore the camera and drink her hot chocolate.
Her big brown eyes found his and widened in a chastising way. Oops. He snapped his eyes down, focusing hard on the nearly empty coffee cup. He was caught red-handed.
After a few moments, when he was sure she was no longer trying to catch him in the act, he snuck a more covert glance over his shoulder. Maddie was grinning at Lydia with an admiration he hadn’t seen in her since her mother passed. Lydia looked glamorous from the outside; there was a certain appeal to that, especially to a child. She was elegant and refined, with glossy hair and understated make-up that looked professionally applied.
“More coffee?” Lila interrupted his thoughts, wiping one hand across her pink apron.
He nodded and ran a hand down the length of his face. “Do I ever say no to caffeine?”
“Not since that little lady entered your life.” She smiled as she poured and glanced at Maddie and Lydia. “She’s a pretty little thing, isn’t she?”
Cam avoided Lila’s eyes as he opened a packet of sugar. “Yeah, I guess. I hadn’t really noticed. Clearly not from around here, though, huh?”
When Lila didn’t answer, he looked up at her. She gave him an impish smile as a tendril of hair escaped her messy ponytail, falling into her eyes. “I was talking about Maddie.”
Well, damn. He leaned back in his seat and took a noisy slurp of coffee. There was no doubt in his mind that she had set him up for that. The gossip would be around town before his coffee got cold. A message would be waiting on his machine from every sibling and his mother once he got home.
Lila winked and then moved on to harass one of her other loyal customers.
“So, you get paid to travel and take pictures of things?” Maddie’s little voice cut through the low hum of the café. She was sitting on her knees, elbows on the table.
Lydia laughed, the sound refreshing and sprinkling over him like a sun shower on a hot day. “Yes, pretty much. It’s not quite as easy or glamorous as you think, though. Traveling is exhausting. Different time zones. Living out of a suitcase. I love my job, but sometimes I wish I could be home for more than a few weeks at a time.”
“It sounds cool. I take pictures too. My mom got me this camera a few years ago.” She opened her backpack and pulled out an old steel-based Minolta.
Cam tightened at the mention of Maddie’s mother. She didn’t bring up Hannah often. He swallowed and leaned in closer.
“Wow,” Lydia said, holding a hand out. “Can I see that?” She took hold of the heavy camera body. “Not many people use film anymore—not since digital took hold of the market.”
Maddie shrugged. “My pictures are always fuzzy, though.”
Lydia inspected the lens. “This camera’s probably too heavy for you to hold steady. It’s called camera shake. Next time, try balancing the weight on an object to help stabilize it.” She leaned in closer and dropped her voice a few notches. “And honestly, camera shake happens to me sometimes, too. Especially when I’m shooting with a heavy, long lens.”
“No way.” Maddie’s eyes widened, the whites like two large ping-pong balls.
“Way.” Lydia motioned at her portfolio. “These are my best of best pictures. None of the ones in here are subject to camera shake. I don’t bother showing the ones that are out of focus. Editing is a photographer’s best tool.”
For all of a moment, Cam was lost in watching Lydia’s interaction with Maddie. Though it was fleeting, it seemed like Lydia was truly enjoying their conversation. She was in her element, talking about photography equipment and techniques. He studied her—where had the woman from the coffee shop seven months ago gone? Where was the woman who took the number of a man who sneered at a mother for bringing her child into a café?
She leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table. Her silk button down shirt slid down and billowed with the movement, revealing just the slightest hint of a black lace bra. Cameron’s mouth went dry. He forced himself to look away from the soft skin. What the hell was wrong with him? He slammed the coffee mug down and hopped up from the table, grabbing his jacket that was flung across the back of his chair. He needed some air. A nice blast of frigid, winter air.
“I’ll be back in a bit, Lila, to settle up on the bill.” He stalked over to Maddie and kissed the top of her head. “I gotta run a quick errand. You okay here for a few minutes by yourself?”
“I’m not by myself. I’m with Lydia.” She smiled up at him. “I’m going to be a travel photographer when I grow up.”
*
As the door shut behind Cam, it was as though a gush a fresh air whooshed in. Lydia could breathe again.
His eyes and ears had been glued to her since he’d arrived. Even though he’d been sitting at another table, her body had buzzed with awareness.
Being around a kid was painfully unnatural for her, but Maddie was actually pretty cool. Sure, she switched topics every time a dust bunny flew past her nose. And she insisted she was correct on most topics—like when Maddie tried to tell Lydia that there was also a country called Mama New Guinea. But she knew adults just as stubborn and misinformed.
“So… Maddie, tell me about your charity auction. Did you come up with the idea all on your own?”
“Uh-huh. Pretty much. Though my Grandma and aunt helped.” Her face lit up and she shifted her weight from one knee to the other, itching with excitement. The chair wobbled beneath her nervous energy. Lydia caught the wooden base, steadying it before it slipped out from under the kid’s knees. “Except I wanted it to be only an art auction,” Maddie continued as though nothing happened. “But my dad and Mr. Tucker said that would be hard. So we had to get stuff from local businesses, too.”
Lydia kneaded the crook of her neck as Maddie shifted, finally sitting her bottom on the chair. Because that’s all she needed—Maddie to break an arm while on her watch. “So it’s a joint art and item auction? Silent, I assume?”
Maddie paused, eyebrows slanting together. “No. There’s gonna be talking.”
Lydia froze with the edge of her pen in her mouth. “Right. Okay. I meant will there be an auctioneer? Like—um, you know the guy who talks really fast? Or will people write down their bids?”
“Oh. People will write them down. My dad said those guys cost a lot of money.”
“Are the local artists in residency contributing art as well?”
Maddie’s nod was emphatic, and her whole body shook with the movement. “They are, but the real focus is the kid art. For every kid who put a piece in, their residency mentor put one in, too.”
“So, most of the students paired up with one of the artists from the Maple Grove Residency? Who were you paired up with?”
“No one. I was arranging everything and I didn’t have time to work with a mentor. I’m still working on my piece, actually.” Maddie ripped another piece of the muffin, popping it in her mouth.
“I’d be h
appy to help you with your piece, Maddie.” The statement came out faster than she realized what she was offering. Then again, if there was one thing that Lydia knew, it was photography. And after Cam offered to put her up in his guest cabin? It was the least she could do.
“You can? Could we meet tomorrow after school?”
“Sure. How about right here at Elsa’s?” Maddie nodded and Lydia leaned over to steal a blueberry off of the muffin. “Perfect,” she said. “So, do you happen to know the names of some of the artists who mentored?”
Maddie gave her a few names, which Lydia wrote down. There had to be some kind of angle with the residency. A bunch of up-and-comers helping with a charity auction? Unfortunately, for Mara to get on board, one of them would have to be of some relation to Andy Warhol.
“And what is the charity that you’ve chosen to give the proceeds to?”
Maddie’s eyes glistened, but her smile beamed even brighter. “It’s called Women in Red. It’s for women with heart disease.”
She said nothing more. No other explanation about the charity. Lydia snuck a glance around the cafe—every now and then people glanced at them talking, but no one seemed to be paying them much attention.
“That’s interesting. You don’t hear of too many children your age taking an active interest in heart disease-related charities. May I ask what made you choose this one?”
Maddie took a deep breath, and Lydia could see all of her features sag. It was as though all the muscles in her forehead, eyebrows, chubby cheeks, and her mouth quit working all at once.
Finally, she said, “My mom was born with heart problems.” Her eyes shifted up to Lydia without moving her head. Tears danced in the corners of her eyes like a delicate ballet. “She died a couple years ago.”
A mix of emotions surged in Lydia’s belly. Of course. She knew that Maddie would have been related to Noah Blue’s sister-in-law… but she didn’t realize it was Maddie’s mother. Cam’s wife. It tugged at her heart and Lydia’s throat tightened. Despite the threat of tears, there was a resilience about Maddie. A strength that Lydia admired. It was a similar strength she’d had herself back when she was a kid. This was the story. A human interest story about a little girl’s broken heart and how she was healing through a charity auction.
Capturing You (Maple Grove Romance Book 1) Page 5