“Sounds like the kitchen is mine.” She smiled. “I’ll make it worth your while. No more delivery when I’m around.”
He looked mildly disappointed. Though he had tried to hide it, she noticed.
“Oh, were you hoping for some other…demonstration of my appreciation?” She swore the tips of his ears turned slightly pink. It made her smile.
“Well, you are all loaded,” he announced as they stood beside her car. “Be safe. Take care of you. Call me when you’re through.”
“I will Kit,” she joked. “And just so you know…” She looked at him with a smirk, “You really made me feel like a prostitute just now.” With that, she gave him a peck on the cheek, climbed into her car, and headed on her way.
From the moment she left, he suddenly found himself contemplating all these horrific possibilities. It was all too much for him. He fell asleep sitting up at midnight on the couch. The phone was in his hand. His neck had dropped onto the back of the sofa. Even though he hated it, he turned the volume up as high as it could go, and saved the most obnoxious ringtone, the one that sounded like the warning alarm before a building was being blown up.
She never called. In the morning, he discovered why. He found her asleep in his lap.
It startled him. Though he had longed to wake up with her, he doubt this really counted. It wasn’t simply that it was unplanned; it was that he was completely unaware and they hadn’t even made it into the bedroom, let alone managed to get undressed and get under the covers.
The time on the phone was 8am. His neck was absolutely killing him. As much as he wanted to shift, to find a more comfortable position, to stretch and take a steaming hot shower to work out the kink in his neck, he would never move as long as Cammie slept. He looked down at her lying there. Her hair was draped over his leg. He remembered so vividly the last time his hand was knotted in it. Softy, ever so carefully, he moved his hand so that he could pet her hair. Her eyes were shut and the occasional ripple under her eyelid suggested that she might be dreaming. The way her mouth turned up at the corners convinced him it was a happy dream. Because he was so lost in thought, lost in enjoying the moment, he didn’t even register that her eyes had opened. She was staring up at him, smiling and relaxed.
“God, I hope it’s me,” he admitted aloud.
“Hope what’s you?” She asked as she stretched out the entire length of the couch. She flew up to a sitting position.
“That put the smile on your face,” he said happily. “So, what brings you here? Last I checked you were off being an independent entrepreneur. I wake up and you’re lying on me.” He tilted his head and looked out into the distance. “In all honesty, that was not such a bad way to wake up…except for the pain in the neck…literally.” He laughed as he looked over at her. “We should really try the bed next time. Oh, and undressing. Naked is good.”
“Well, this, believe it or not, was a real breakthrough for me.” She smiled proudly. Then she leaned in conspiratorially and whispered, “I’ve never spent the night with a guy before.” She put a finger over her lips and finished with, “Shhhh!”
Adam had to laugh. She was so damn cute. He wanted to spend the day with her, just getting to know her. “Let’s get ready and go to brunch. Where would you like to go?”
“That’s silly. I’m sure I can whip up something here,” she argued.
“I’m sure you can, too. I have the utmost faith in your abilities. It is my personal philosophy however that you should never bring work home. Then you’ll grow to hate it.” He gave her a stern face. “So, I’m taking you out for brunch.”
She smirked. “Are you sure that your philosophy is that you avoid taking work home by not working?” She had a playful look on her face.
“Actually,” he said, kissing the end of her nose, “my philosophy is that by not working I avoid getting tired of anything. Smart thinking, right?” He stood and helped her off the couch, wrapping his arms around her for a moment in a much needed hug. She may have been fine, but he truly needed it. “Now go shower.”
The bathroom door had barely closed before his cell phone was ringing. He sighed when he realized that it was Sam calling. “I swear, we build a relationship and now you can’t stay away from me. I usually only have this problem with women.”
“Listen, smart ass, Haley and I are going to brunch. I thought maybe you’d like to join us. Can you be ready in an hour? We’ll pick you up.”
“One, you don’t need to pick me up because I have my car keys back. And two, Cammie is here.” He might as well have screamed, “so there!” It would have had the same effect.
“Great. We have wedding details to discuss. We’ll see you in an hour.” With that Sam hung up the phone.
Adam sighed a few times. So much for some alone time with Cammie. He trudged into his bedroom and pulled out clothes for the day before starting his shower.
Brunch wasn’t nearly as bad as Adam anticipated. It also wasn’t as intimate as he had hoped. Of course, what was most important was that they were all working together to make sure that Sam and Haley had an amazing engagement party, followed by the perfect destination wedding. Though they would only be a party of six, there was still plenty of planning and preparation that would go into the day to ensure that it was relaxing, meaningful, and memorable.
As he leaned back in his chair listening to Cammie talk about the plans to date, he marveled at how organized she was, how, alive and beautiful she looked, and how amazing she was. “Did you know that Cammie is graduating with her MBA from Columbia at the end of the semester?” He asked them.
“No, I wasn’t aware of that. Did you know that Cammie turned down the opportunity to study broad?” Sam asked.
“She’s a self-made woman. I really admire that about her.” He smiled warmly at her. A moment later, he was rewarded when she reached under the table and rubbed his leg. Now he was feeling warm all over.
“So, about the wedding and engagement party,” Cammie said, in an obvious effort to try to redirect the conversation. Clearly she was uncomfortable talking about herself. “I know we’ve already agreed to hold the party at the loft and the wedding in The Keys, let me tell you what I have already planned. That way we can make any changes from there.”
“Sounds great,” Haley said with a twinkle in her eye.
Sam sat back in his seat and sipped from his coffee mug. Adam watched him, saw how different he was with Haley, how she softened his gruff exterior. He saw how much Haley had changed, the confidence that she had once lacked, now completely restored. Finally, he turned to watch Cammie. She was so vibrant. He loved her ideas, and how they were perfectly attuned to the needs and desires of her clients. She was a natural…or maybe this came with experience, having done this to some degree her entire life. One of the many questions he would be unraveling as soon as he could.
Soon was never soon enough. They managed to close down the restaurant. True, it was only three in the afternoon, but it was still far more time than he had cared to spend with his brother and far less alone time than he had hoped to have with Cammie, unless he could convince her to stay. He cocked his head to the side while he was driving. Since she never missed anything, she commented immediately.
“What are you thinking?” She asked with a playful tone. “I know that look. I’ve seen it for years. It usually precedes you getting into trouble, as I recall.” She chuckled.
He looked at her with a contemplative gaze. “You paid a lot of attention. I’m so sorry I didn’t notice you before. I could kick myself for all that wasted time.” He frowned. “If I could do it over, I’d spend all of it with you…” He let his voice trail off in what he hoped would be a sentimental manner. He had little experience in this department to fall back on.
“Really? Rascal Flatts?” She teased.
“What’s a rascal flat?” He asked curiously.
“You don’t know who Racal Flatts are…the country band. You were all but quoting God Bless the Broken Road a moment a
go.” She laughed. “Never regret the past. Be happy in the present. Whether it makes sense to you or not, life really is unfolding as it should. It is your past that has made you who you are. Had you not had some of those experiences, you might not be enjoying your life so much right now.”
He frowned. Did she deliberately not understand what he was saying? Was she really that thick? Or was she simply trying to protect herself given his past history? Just as he was about to ask, he pulled into the parking garage and Cammie hopped out of the vehicle. She started walking to her vehicle parked a good twenty feet away.
“Hey!” He called after her. “Aren’t you forgetting something?”
She stood there, seriously, thinking for a moment. “Oh, crap! You are right. I left my storage containers upstairs. I’ll go grab those and then I’ve got to go.”
“Why?” He asked sadly as they walked to the elevator.
“I have class in the morning. I haven’t studied the entire break. Instead, I ended up working…for a change.” She chuckled. “Thank you for that. Thank you for introducing me to your friends and family and building my catering career. Speaking of which…call me when the graphics are ready for the campaign and I’ll meet you at the office to go over them.” She stepped off the elevator, headed to Adam’s door and pulled out the key.
Adam might have stopped her, but he was admiring how natural it seemed to have her unlocking his door. “Are you sure you don’t want to stay?” He asked hopefully.
“Positive,” she said with a chuckle. “I have way too much to do. I mean it.” She went to the dishwasher. She went to the counter and started packing up her containers. “Now, there are some leftovers in the fridge for you. Eat them before they go bad.” With that, she skimmed the room with her eyes as though to ensure that she had collected everything. She nodded and headed to the door.
“Are you really leaving without saying anything to me?” Adam was completely baffled by her behavior. They had engaged in some pretty passionate sex on more than one occasion over the past week and now she was acting like none of that had meant anything.
“Oh, right,” she said. “I’ll be here on Friday when I’m cooking for the holiday party being thrown by the Whittiers. And I have a cocktail party on Saturday, so I’ll be back the next morning. See ya!” She turned and headed to the door.
“See ya?” He frowned.
“Yeah. Tonight is Sunday dinner with the family. I wasn’t there for Thanksgiving. There is really no avoiding this. And then…back to my cupboard to study.” She shrugged. “I’ll call before I come over in case you are entertaining.”
Then she was gone. She didn’t give him a kiss goodbye. She didn’t try to make plans to come over later. It was…everything he had always wanted in a woman, only this time he wanted more. He wanted her to want to come back. He wanted her to want to spend the night. He wanted her…apparently in a way that she didn’t want him. That was fast becoming obvious.
Adam sank down in the couch to think. The winter sky was turning dark, just like his loft. He should turn on the lights, but as he sat there in the dark, the less he could see the more clear everything became. She had wanted to be with him before. If she had liked him enough to have sex with him, then he should be able to turn that into something. That was his job…advertising. He took nothing and turned it into something special all the time. Okay…all the time he worked and when he freaking felt like it. His every success in that business was based upon his ability to sell a product, to inspire an emotion for a product. That’s all he had to do…inspire her to want to be with him. That could be a full time job.
The chime sounded on his phone. It was a text. He felt his heart start to pound in anticipation. Maybe she had changed her mind. Only it was Sam.
Don’t forget. You have to be at the office from 9am to 5pm Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Thank you.
His first reaction…crap…now he was an advertising executive. His second thought was this full time job was really going to cut into his free time. Although in the end, he decided that this, too, might work in his favor with Cammie. She would see him differently than ever before. She would realize that he was a changed man and that while those experiences had shaped his past, even he had redeeming qualities, and even he could change his future. That’s what it would take if he was going to build a future with her. He shuddered some as he wondered where that thought had come from. Then as he ruminated on it more, he decided that maybe his heart did know best.
After going back to her place to change and drop off everything from Adam’s house, she pulled out her sensible navy dress with matching ballerina flats, pulled her hair into its standard pony tail, spread some lip gloss over her lips, and after a cursory glance at her appearance in the reflection of the teeny tiny bathroom mirror, she headed back out the door. Although they rarely ate before 7pm, it was widely accepted that everyone would get there at 5pm. The women would work together in the kitchen; the men would sit in the living room and discuss politics, the day’s events, and the world news. No week was any different from the next.
Maybe this week would be. Certainly between giving notice to her parents so she could start her own business, and that she hadn’t been there for her first holiday…ever…it would be more memorable than most. They were a Greek family who like those before them believed in big families and frequent gatherings. Sunday dinner was treated with the same importance as any major holiday. The food was plentiful and came in many courses. There was always cheese and olives, always pitas and hummus. There was always love and laughter.
This was what Cammie was used to and she tried to imagine how a man like Adam would ever fit in. While he would definitely be able to hold his own in the conversation department, and the women would fall for his devastatingly handsome good looks, there was more to it than all that. Could he ever be happy in that kind of life, having every Sunday for the rest of his life all laid out for him? Sometimes she really despised it. Other times, the routine offered her comfort and forced her to be around her family when she might have otherwise lost her roots like so many of her friends had. What did it matter if Adam fit in anyway? He was a business associate. He was not marriage material. Only marriage material would ever get through the door of her parents’ house.
“Will you look who finally decided to remember who her family is?” Her father shouted to her mother as she walked into the house. He hadn’t even climbed out of his recliner. Now that he was working predominantly in the office, he had put on the pounds and cut down on the activity. It was hard to tell which caused the other.
“Hello, Daddy,” she groaned. “Nice to see you, too.” Like the dutiful daughter she was, she walked over and kissed him on the cheek before continuing through the groups of male relatives into the kitchen.
“Well, I hope this means that you have changed your mind about leaving the family business,” her mother said with a frustrated sigh.
“Is my invitation contingent upon my being in the family business?” She asked. “Because the last time I checked, Uncle Joe isn’t in the family business and he gets to come to dinner. Oh, and Aunt Millie, when was the last time Momma dressed you up in a bustier to work the bar at a birthday party?” Cammie crossed her arms over her chest and gave her mother a challenging look.
“Just so you know…you are making a horrible mistake. Now come slice the tomatoes.” Her mother passed her the knife and pushed the cutting board toward her. “Do you know how many new catering businesses fail every year?” She asked, as an obvious last-ditch effort to convince Cammie to give up her dream.
Slamming the knife down on the cutting board, she looked at her mother and asked, “No, Ma. Do you?”
Her mother bristled. “Not exactly,” she said quietly, “but I know it’s a lot.” She sighed. “I just don’t want to see you fail. I don’t want you to be hurt. You live in an apartment no bigger than your old bedroom. You were better off living with us!” Her eyes were watering.
; “Ma,” Cammie said more calmly. “I wish you had more faith in me.” She frowned and considered her words very carefully. “Do you know why most businesses fail?” She asked her calmly. Her mother shook her head. “Under funding. High overhead.” Her mother was staring at her sadly. “Do you know how much debt I have?”
“You are about to get your MBA. I don’t even want to think about it.” Her mother said, grabbing at her head.
“Zero.” Cammie said proudly.
“Wha…” Her mother sat down. “How is that possible? No student loans? No credit card debt?”
Shaking her head,” Cammie explained, “I never took out a single loan. I lived on my own to qualify for financial aid, grants that I wouldn’t have to pay back. I saved every cent I earned, did no shopping, no spending that wasn’t absolutely necessary. I know my car is on its last leg, but when it finally kicks the bucket, I will buy another used car and drive it until it too passes on to that great scrap yard in the sky.” She walked over to the table her mother was sitting at and pulled out the seat next to her.
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