A Reason to Be Alone (The Camdyn Series Book 2)

by Christina Coryell

  “So what is it about, then, if not a sorcerer?”

  “It’s the story of a German-American family who emigrated at the turn of the century and found themselves facing persecution during World War I,” I stated with a smirk. “I’m sure that’s why my dad made up the other story. You can’t very well describe a book like that to a four year old, can you?”

  Cole and I instinctively glanced at Charlotte, who was still crawling in and out of the box. Had I really been that age when I lost my dad? Looking at Charlotte while thinking about the timeline made it feel a little surreal somehow.

  “So how did you come to possess the library book, then?” he asked, reaching out to take it from me and thumbing through the pages.

  “I kept checking it out, over and over,” I explained. “After the fifth or sixth time, the librarian felt sorry for me and told me to keep it. It’s not a great copy, and there are even a couple of pages missing, but it didn’t really matter. I know this sounds crazy, but it felt like this secret that we shared, Dad and me. He must have loved history too, since he taught it for a living, so that’s all I have to tie us together. I didn’t really possess any of his characteristics – Grandma always said I reminded her of my mother. History always felt like the only connection I had with him, and this book is like a visual reminder of that. I’m sure that’s way more information than you wanted, but that is the story of the ugly green library book.”

  “That’s awesome, really,” he shook his head, and then a playful smile touched his lips. “I enjoy hearing your stories, Cam. The truth is, I always have been fascinated by a girl who speaks her mind. I think that’s far more important than being well-bred or accomplished, after all.”

  “Is that so, Mr. Darcy?” I asked with a giggle. “I think you really did watch that movie. I find that strangely humorous and somewhat dreamy at the same time.”

  “Really?” he wondered with a glint in his eye, twisting the book in his hands. “Thank goodness Charlotte is here, so I don’t have to fight you off.”

  “Yes, thank goodness,” I whispered as I pulled the little green volume out of his hands.

  We finished putting the rest of the books up quickly, which was a good thing because Charlotte was rapidly winding down. She had forgiven Pop enough to play with him for a few minutes on the back deck, and then Cole said he thought we should take her home. Jeff was watching a baseball game when we arrived at his house, so we hung out long enough to watch it go into extra innings and enjoy a dinner of barbecued ribs before Cole returned me to the bed and breakfast. It was then that I finally received the two minutes of alone time that I was craving, in the truck in Rosalie’s driveway. It wasn’t much, but it was long enough to tell Cole I loved him and to kiss him goodnight.

  I went to bed that night wondering silently how long those two minutes would have to tide me over.

  Chapter Eleven

  Monday morning the first thing I did was decide that I needed a wedding checklist. Three weeks and four days left, so I couldn’t waste any more time. I opened my planner to a blank page and began to neatly write the words:

  Wedding Checklist

  Create invitations.

  Mail invitations.

  Think of a present for Cole.

  Admittedly, I couldn’t seem to get any farther than that, but I decided it was a good start. I felt fairly certain that I was capable of creating an acceptable invitation on my laptop, and I knew I had seen a one-hour printing place in town, so I could knock numbers one and two out by the end of the day.

  After enjoying a brisk run and a blueberry muffin, I enlisted the help of Rosalie to come up with the right wording. When she asked me what sort of vibe I was going for, I thought about it for a moment, and then muttered, “Timeless simplicity.”

  “Well, honey, I was hoping for romantic or elegant or something like that,” she chuckled. “Leave it to you to come up with a description that I have no hope of understanding.”

  “How about this, then? I don’t care, as long as it isn’t pretentious.”

  “Sure, that I get,” she answered.

  We worked on making sure the phrasing was exactly right for probably half an hour, and then I headed into town with my laptop. The gentleman at the print shop had some templates already set up, so he was able to plug my invitation into his computer program fairly quickly. He told me to give him an hour and he would have them ready, so I walked a couple of blocks to wait at the library. Before I even made it inside the door, I could already see Lily rushing toward me.

  “Camdyn!” she exclaimed in an excited whisper, glancing behind her to make sure the older librarian, Ollie, wasn’t nearby. “Oh, congratulations! I heard about you and Cole. It’s so exciting!”

  “Thank you!” I stated quietly. “It seems like it’s been forever since I’ve been in here, doesn’t it?”

  “Yes! It’s been fairly miserable. I got used to having you here, you know. Ollie’s been a little grumpy lately, too.” She turned to make sure Ollie wasn’t nearby, and then she motioned for me to follow with a nod of her head. “Are you here to do some more research?”

  “No, I finished my book,” I told her. “No more research yet.”

  “Well, we can pretend you’re looking for something, that way I can talk to you without her telling me to get back to work.” She giggled a little, and I followed her into the cozy room that was set aside with a table and chairs for those doing in-depth study. I secretly wondered if many people in this small town had used it, besides me. She pulled a large volume of county historical data off a nearby shelf and sat down next to me, spreading it out before both of us.

  “How’s Jake?” I asked, still feeling slightly proud of myself for the way I had gotten them together a couple of weeks before. She let out a sigh and shook her head before she answered.

  “Jake’s just Jake, I guess. You were very sneaky the way you tricked him into eating lunch with me, by the way. I wish I had the nerve to pull something like that off.”

  “But did he ask you out?” I wanted to know. She grinned, tugging on the long end of her dark asymmetrical hair.

  “Sure, we went out. The very next night, though, someone I know saw him with another girl over in Jackson. After not hearing from him in several days, he called me last night to talk about you and Cole, strangely enough.”

  “I’m sorry, Lily,” I said, folding my arms across my chest.

  “Oh, don’t worry about it,” she told me lightly. “Like I told you before – Jake isn’t really the kind to be serious or settle down. He is fun to hang out with though, so whatever. Enough about me. Is it true that you’re getting married right away?”

  “Yes, very soon,” I laughed. “In fact, I was just over at the printer ordering the invitations. I’ve got about forty-five minutes left until they’re ready.”

  “I’ll bet you are going to have a gorgeous wedding, too,” she stated wistfully, drawing my hand up to get a better look at my ring.

  “You will come, I hope. I’ll probably only invite as many people as I can count on one hand, and the rest will be people Cole knows. And I know that you technically knew Cole long before you knew me, but I do consider you my friend.”

  “Are you kidding?” she asked a little too loudly, causing Ollie to finally peek her head around the corner with a scowl. “I am most definitely your friend, and I wouldn’t miss it for the world. I figured the wedding would be full of all your big-city publishing friends and what not.”

  “Well, we might have some ‘what not,’” I chuckled at her choice of words. “I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.”

  “Ugh, Ollie’s giving me the evil eye,” she exhaled sharply. “Are you going to be around at lunch time? We could walk over to the café and catch up.”

  “Yeah, I can come back after I visit the printer,” I told her. She waved as she stepped out of the door, and I put the huge volume of records back on the shelf and wandered around the library until the hour was all but gone.

/>   The printer did an awesome job on the invitations – they were simple but still managed to be pretty, and I was pleased. I slid one into an envelope before I left, addressing the envelope simply to Lily. When I returned to the library and presented it to her, telling her that it was the official first invitation, she gave me a swift hug.

  After catching up with Lily over lunch, I drove to Cole’s parents’ house so I could get Liz to help me with the invitations. She asked who I wanted to invite, and I told her that she should just invite whatever family Cole wanted to include, and then ask him about the rest. She seemed pretty concerned that I only took a handful of invitations for my own use, but I tried to explain to her that I didn’t really have many close friends.

  Upon returning to the bed and breakfast, I sat at the kitchen table and carefully addressed an invitation to Charlie and Trina, and then realized with a pang that I didn’t need to send out any other invitations. It was a rather depressing thought. I did manage to remember my promise to Jerry back in Nashville to send an invitation to the fire station where Cole used to work. Although he was probably joking, I knew he would get a big kick out of seeing it in print. Cole would probably love to have his buddies from the station at the wedding, anyway. I looked the address up online, but I had to do a lot of searching to figure out Jerry’s last name. I almost felt like an amateur sleuth by the time I was finished.

  Around three o’clock my cell phone started ringing, which was still a strange occurrence. I was so accustomed to not getting service inside the bed and breakfast that any noise from my new phone almost rattled me. When I saw that it was a New York number, I figured it was my editor’s office and picked up right away.

  “Edith?” I asked cheerfully, waiting for her familiar voice.

  “Hello, is this Camdyn Taylor?”

  Strange voice. Definitely not Edith.

  “Yes, this is Camdyn.”

  “Miss Taylor, this is Stacy calling from Mr. Fairmont’s office. He would like to set up a meeting with you next week.”

  “Mr. Fairmont?” I asked doubtfully. He was the head of the publishing company, and I couldn’t imagine him wanting a meeting with me.

  “Yes, he would like to fly you in to discuss your upcoming book and your ‘outing,’ so to speak,” Stacy continued in her rather throaty voice. “Would next Monday work for you? We will fly you in that morning and have you meet with your editor that afternoon. Mr. Fairmont will meet with you Tuesday morning, and then there will be one more day to work out any odds and ends before we fly you back to wherever you request next Thursday.”

  “Monday through Thursday?” I questioned, still in disbelief. “Usually Edith just conferences with me on the phone.”

  “I’m afraid a phone conference isn’t going to work in this situation,” she explained. “If you’re worried about accommodations, we will be setting you up at a five-star hotel, and I will take care of everything. Now, which airport will you be flying from?”

  Five-star hotel? She cannot be serious. Besides, I don’t have time for this.

  Still, a five-star hotel? That’s certainly intriguing.

  “Um, Memphis?” I answered reluctantly.

  “Okay, Memphis,” she repeated. “I will make all the arrangements, and will e-mail you the details. Thank you, Miss Taylor, and I will see you next week.”

  I have no idea if I managed to reply or not, I was so shocked. Why would Mr. Fairmont want to meet with me, and setting me up at a five-star hotel? The more I considered it, I felt certain that I was being pranked, but who could have set up such an elaborate scheme? Could Edith have had something to do with it? It seemed highly unlikely.

  An hour later, when I received an e-mail from one Stacy Mallott-James, Personal Assistant to Mr. Fairmont, I started to get really worried. First class airfare, a three-night stay at a really classy hotel… If this wasn’t some sort of joke, they must have called the wrong author. There simply couldn’t be any other explanation. I had never even spoken to Mr. Fairmont before. The highest person I had ever dealt with there was an associate something-or-other. I kept staring at the e-mail, reading the words over in my mind. Mr. Fairmont is very anxious to meet you. See you next week!

  Not knowing how else to solve this little mystery, I picked up my cell phone and dialed Edith’s number.

  “Camdyn Taylor,” she practically sang into the phone. “I’ve just heard through the grapevine that you and I are going to be face-to-face next week. How long has it been? At least two years?”

  I remembered well the last time I had met with Edith. Trina had gone to New York with me, and we stayed at a dinky little hotel that wasn’t very clean, but it was all I could afford. We joked that night that we were afraid to sleep because the rats might carry us away. After that, I managed to convince Edith that talking over the phone was sufficient.

  “It probably has been two years,” I admitted.

  “Well, I’m very much looking forward to it. You are all the buzz around here. This new book is going to be another bestseller, I’ve no doubt.”

  “That’s great news,” I said, but I didn’t even sound convincing in my own ears. “Edith, do you know why Mr. Fairmont wants to meet with me?”

  “Mr. Fairmont?” she asked with a chuckle. “I would imagine he wants to schmooze with his bestselling authoress.”

  Schmooze? Seriously?

  “But why now?”

  “Didn’t you have a three-book deal? And isn’t this new book number three? You think he wants you out on the market, especially with all the press that’s going to come with this one? You’re going to be getting a lucrative new offer, I would imagine. You can afford to be pretty picky now.”

  Wow, I hadn’t even thought about this being book number three. Could she be right, that I’m going to be offered a better deal? It’s certainly an exciting thought.

  “Listen, Camdyn, I’m just getting ready to head out the door, but I can’t wait to see you next week,” Edith said in a rush.

  “Yeah, I will see you Monday then. Bye, Edith!”

  As soon as Edith hung up, I felt the adrenaline begin rushing through my veins. I hadn’t really given much consideration to the thought of giving up my pen name after the fact. I knew that the books would have Camdyn Taylor as the author rather than C.W. Oliver, but was I prepared for what came with that? If there was press, that meant my name would be out there, and possibly my picture too.

  Oh, no. What have I gotten myself into?

  -§-

  When Cole showed up at Rosalie’s that night, I was anxious to tell him the news, eagerly laying out every detail of what Stacy had said to me, followed by her e-mail, and then Edith’s comments. I waited expectantly for him to tell me congratulations, or to say he was proud of me or something, but he was strangely silent. After several seconds had passed, it actually began to hurt my feelings a little.

  “I thought you would be happy for me,” I finally muttered. A flicker of sympathy crossed his face, and he reached over to take my hand.

  “Of course I’m happy for you, Camdyn,” he stated, although that statement definitely didn’t register on his face. “It’s just…why do you have to go now? And all the way to New York City by yourself? I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

  “Because the book is going to come out soon,” I explained, and then I twisted my mouth in a teasing smile. “I don’t know how I managed to take care of myself all these years without you keeping guard over me.”

  “I’ll be worried sick the whole time you’re gone,” he told me, staring deeply into my eyes.

  “So come with me then,” I blurted, the idea suddenly popping into my head. He looked away from me and rubbed his hand back and forth across his forehead.

  “Go to New York City with you and stay in some swanky hotel?” he asked in disbelief. “You know I can’t do that, Cam. Why don’t you see if you can postpone the meeting until after we’re married?”

  “It will be too late then, and besides, do you really w
ant me rushing off to meetings during our honeymoon?” He relaxed slightly then, gave me one of his heart-melting smiles, and leaned in close.

  “No, I definitely don’t want you sneaking off during our honeymoon,” he whispered, his breath floating like a tiny breeze across my ear. I felt the air catch in my throat as he kissed me on the cheek, and I let out a huge sigh. “I’ll try not to worry, but I can’t promise anything.”

  “And I’ll try not to miss you,” I added seriously, “but I know I will.”

  -§-

  Tuesday morning I began the day by looking at my wedding checklist again and revising it slightly.

  Wedding Checklist

  Create invitations.

  Mail invitations.

  Think of a present for Cole.

  Write vows.

  Choose flowers.

  Seriously, I am never going to complete number three, and I am terrified of number four. Why did Cole even suggest writing our own vows in the first place? How incredibly pathetic is it that I write for a living but am scared to do this? I can never admit that to anyone. So, today I will choose the flowers. Easy enough.

  After the morning breakfast routine, Rosalie and I made the trip to town to visit with a florist. Of course when asked what I wanted for the flowers, I was clueless - I only knew that I wanted every color of the rainbow if possible. I half expected the florist to tell me I was ridiculous or at least give me a dirty look for being so indecisive, but instead she just pulled out a book for me to look through to give me ideas. Breezing hurriedly through them, nothing caught my eye until I saw an outdoor scene that was absolutely breathtaking.

  “Look at this, Rosalie,” I exhorted. “This would be so stunning at the bed and breakfast. If you had something like this, you could do weddings all the time.” I pointed to the picture of a rustic-looking gazebo with an arbor of flowers in front, and she let out a low whistle.