by CBelle
She winced. Her eyes flickered with emotion. “I have some unfinished business here in town,” she said. “Some things I need to settle up.”
Bitter laughter burst from deep inside him. His lips curved into a sneer. “Business? The last business you conducted in this town left Love on the verge of bankruptcy. Let me warn you, our coffers are empty, if you’re hoping for a repeat performance.”
She visibly bristled. Anger flared in her eyes. “That wasn’t my doing, Cameron. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I had no idea what my father was up to when he was working on the cannery deal with you.”
“Right,” he snapped. “Tell me another one, only this time please realize that I’m not the same fool I was two years ago.”
“I never thought you were,” Paige said in a soft voice that brought him back to a point in time when she’d been his everything. His stomach twisted painfully. Seeing her after so long made him feel as if he’d been sucker punched in the gut. That was what it felt like to be staring into Paige’s big, expressive eyes. The pain rippling through him served as proof that he wasn’t over the past. Not by a long shot. The weight of it was sitting on his chest like a five-hundred-pound elephant.
“But I was a fool,” he said in a low tone that matched her own. “A complete and utter fool to let my heart rule my head.”
She shook her head, the long strands of her hair swirling about her face. “I want to make things right, Cameron. My father regretted what he did. Believe it or not, that’s the truth. That’s why I’m here. I want to return some of the money my father stole. And I want to do whatever I can to help get the cannery up and running.”
Paige’s words nearly knocked him off his feet. She was here to revive the project? And give back some of the money her father had stolen? That was crazy!
“You’re about two years too late to resurrect the cannery deal, although I’m not about to say no to a big fat check made out to the town of Love,” he spit out. The old resentment was rising up in him again. Try as he might, he couldn’t contain his emotions. They were bubbling over like an overflowing pot on a stove.
She took a few steps toward him, quickly swallowing up the space between them. Her nearness made him want to take a step backward. Having her so close was dangerous to his equilibrium. His fingers itched to reach out and tuck a few strands of her glossy hair behind her ear. Or run his palm against her cheek. He shook his head to rid himself of those treacherous notions. How could those thoughts have even crossed his mind?
“It’s not too late. It can’t be.” Her voice rang out stridently. “This town still desperately needs the business.”
“Those dreams died, right around the time you and your father absconded with the funds.” Paige’s eyes pooled with tears. Her chin quivered. He could tell she was trying to act brave, even though she was failing miserably. He shouldn’t care that he’d hurt her with his gibe, but he did care. Even after all this time and everything she’d done to him, he still hated to see her suffer. It caused a physical ache inside him.
“So where is he? Your father? Mr. Big Shot. Shouldn’t he be here making this speech? Or is he too afraid he’ll be put in jail and brought up on charges?”
Tears slid down Paige’s face and she choked back a sob. Her graceful fingers wiped away the evidence of her sorrow. She bowed her head for a moment, then slowly raised it, her mournful eyes meeting his gaze.
“He’s dead, Cameron. My father passed away two months ago of liver cancer.”
Cameron felt as if someone had knocked him in the teeth. Robert Reynolds was dead. His former mentor. The man who’d betrayed his trust and made him a town pariah. Paige’s beloved father. He didn’t know how to explain it, but he felt a slight ache in his soul. They had once been close friends, or so he’d believed. The feeling of loss surprised him since all he’d felt toward Robert for the past few years was a hot, burning anger.
Paige, an only child, was now alone in the world, having lost her mother when she was a teenager. Before she’d shown up here today, he’d thought he was well past caring about her hurts, but the sight of her looking so wounded and grief-stricken tugged at his heartstrings. He knew that, with no family to speak of, she must have gone through the ordeal alone, with no one to share the burden. He steadied himself against the feelings of sympathy coursing through him, knowing it wasn’t wise to make himself vulnerable to the one woman who knew how to bring him to his knees. He’d vowed to never go down that road again. He couldn’t. His very survival depended on it.
She stuck out a wobbly chin. “I know you think he’s a monster, but he had remorse for what he did. On his deathbed he made me promise to right his wrongs.” She shrugged. “So you see, I don’t have a choice. I need to fix everything he destroyed.”
“Everything?” Cameron asked with a raised eyebrow. Robert’s treachery hadn’t harmed just the town of Love. Cameron’s relationship with Paige had been a casualty of the town scandal. Nearly everyone in town had believed Paige was in on her father’s scam. Even though it had killed him to think she was capable of such duplicity, he’d grown to believe in her guilt, as well. Nothing else had made sense. As a result, everything in his life had fallen apart. He had been at rock bottom trying to claw his way out of the abyss. He had emerged on the other side, but not without an abundance of scars.
“I’m aware some damage can’t be undone, no matter how much I wish otherwise.” Her simple statement was full of meaning. Once it would have meant the world to him to hear her speak of regret and making amends. Now, with so much standing between them, her words seemed hollow.
“You’re absolutely right,” he snapped. “Some things can’t be fixed.”
She let out a sigh. “I know you’re still angry, Cameron. And you have every right to be. But if you would only hear me out, you’d realize that what I’m proposing is in the best interest of this town. You can’t let anger and bitterness cloud your judgment.”
He raised a hand and sliced it through the air. “There are no buts or what-ifs or maybe-sos in this situation. I lost everything because of what happened. When your father embezzled those funds, I was left holding the bag. All fingers were pointing at me. I lost every shred of credibility I had. You have no idea what it feels like to have an entire town turn against you.”
Paige raised an eyebrow. “Don’t I? I was run out of here because the same suspicions were leveled against me. And I was just as innocent as you were, Cameron. I know what it feels like to have everyone turn against me. Including the man I loved.”
The man I loved. She had loved him. Of that he’d always been certain. And he’d loved her in return. Madly. Devotedly. With every fiber of his being. He had dreamed of one day making Paige his wife. Because of her, he’d wanted to become a better man. And even though he still dreamed of pledging forever to a soul mate, he had a hard time imagining ever feeling that way again about anyone. So many of his dreams had been wrapped up in Paige. And her betrayal had left him wounded.
Despite the fact that dozens of women had arrived in town to participate in Operation Love, he never allowed himself to imagine getting into a relationship with any of them. The idea of being that vulnerable again terrified him. The past still loomed over him like a dark cloud.
Had he made the right decision when he’d forced Paige’s hand and told her to leave town? For so long he hadn’t even second-guessed himself, but now, after hearing her heartfelt words, a sliver of doubt crept in. Why had he been so convinced of her guilt? What had made him so willing to turn his back on the woman he had adored?
“Cameron. I can’t pull this off without you. Nobody in Love is going to want to listen to what I have to say. No one will work with me to make it happen. The dream this town once had of opening a cannery is still viable. I know we could make it work.” Paige’s cheeks were flushed and her voice vibrated enthusiasm.
“We?” His head was feeling fuzzy. Had he heard her correctly? She wanted him to team up with her?
“I need your support to rally the townsfolk.” Her shoulders drooped and she let out a sigh. “As you know, I don’t have a lot of credibility here. But I do have an MBA and several projects to my credit.”
“What are you asking me to do? I have a business to run now.” Cameron looked around at the café. It meant the world to him. Making a success out of it had given him the redemption he’d craved. It gave him respectability after the cannery fiasco. Finally, people in town weren’t shaking their heads at him anymore. He’d won them all over with hard work and grit, convincing them to make the Moose Café a staple in town. No way! He was done stepping out on a limb and taking leaps of faith. Once bitten, twice shy.
“Sorry to burst your bubble, Paige, but this town closed the door on that pipe dream a long time ago.”
She narrowed her gaze. “Really? I’ve been keeping tabs on Love for a while now, Cameron. I know it’s still suffering financially.”
“Things have been improving bit by bit. Don’t believe everything you hear,” he snapped. For some reason it annoyed him to no end that Paige knew how badly they’d continued to struggle. They may have fallen on hard times, but the industrious townsfolk in Love had banded together to try to reverse the town’s fortunes. That single fact made him proud to be part of this community. The town was down at the moment but not out.
A low buzzing sound cut into the silence. Paige fished in her pocket and pulled out a cell phone. She knit her brows together and peered at the screen. Her eyes slightly widened. “I—I’m sorry. I have to go, Cameron.”
“Seriously, Paige? You can’t just show up here after all this time and drop a bombshell like this and take off,” he protested.
Paige locked gazes with him. “There’s a lot more I have to say. Things I should have said a long time ago. And whether or not you approve or disapprove, I’m going to try and make amends for my father’s crimes. It’s the only way I can look at myself in the mirror in the weeks and months ahead.”
There she was. The Paige he’d fallen in love with well before he’d ever had the courage to tell her how he felt. Obstinate. Opinionated. And now she was here in front of him, determined to right her father’s wrongs. Which meant she’d be staying right here in Love to make amends. There was no point in his standing in her way. That slight edge to her voice indicated she meant business.
“I’ll be in touch with you tomorrow.” With a nod in his direction, she turned on her heel and began to quickly walk away. Once she reached the door, Paige turned around and met his gaze. “By the way, I’m really proud of what you’ve done here. The Moose Café is beautiful. Some dreams can’t be denied, can they?”
Before he could even respond, the jingling of the door serenaded Paige as she sailed out the door and into the Alaskan night.
“What just happened?” he muttered as he stood in the middle of his establishment wondering if he should follow after her or just leave it alone for now. Like a true force of nature, she’d blown into his world and left him feeling as if he’d been caught in the path of an unexpected storm.
* * *
As soon as Paige turned off Jarvis Street onto Main Street, she let out a deeply held breath. She’d faced Cameron head-on without backing down. And she was still standing! It had turned out better than expected even though she hadn’t achieved her main objective during her visit. He needed to know about Emma.
A tight knot had been forming in her stomach all day. For weeks and months she’d planned for this very moment. And somehow it had slipped through her fingers. That only served to heighten the anxiety she felt about the situation. Leaving the Moose Café without telling Cameron the most important reason for her return hadn’t been her intention. The text message she’d received had interrupted them, and due to the pressing matter at hand, she’d had no choice but to table their discussion for another time.
Cameron, you’re a father. How exactly did one just blurt that news out? No matter how many times she had practiced her speech in the mirror, it never came out sounding right. Tears gathered in her eyes. She’d been so wrong about so many things.
If she was being honest with herself, telling Cameron about Emma wasn’t something she’d wanted to do with Hazel within earshot. In her heart she’d wanted to tell him in a private moment shared by just the two of them. And that moment hadn’t presented itself.
Ever since her daughter had come into the world, Paige had made her the number one priority in her life. Now it was time to give Cameron that choice, as well.
As a woman who’d moved toward her faith after becoming a mother, she harbored regrets about not being married to Emma’s father when her daughter was conceived. Her actions hadn’t been consistent with her upbringing or her own moral compass. But in the aftermath of her dad’s massive betrayal, she and Cameron had turned to each other for comfort. Days later she’d fallen under the town’s suspicion and Cameron had distanced himself completely from her. With no other options, she’d left Love and headed back to Seattle. Her life had been in shambles until she’d made the discovery some weeks later that she was pregnant.
Looking back on her life, she realized that what had been missing had been a spiritual base. Even though she had always considered herself a joyful, content person, there hadn’t been anything to anchor her to the world around her. Perhaps if her father had led a more spiritual life, he wouldn’t have been so tempted by financial gain.
Bringing her beloved daughter into the world had given her life meaning. God had given her a foundation on which to stand. With His forgiveness, she had been able to move forward. Praying, attending church and being part of the faith community had all taken center stage. Because of Emma, her relationship with the Lord had strengthened and blossomed. For fourteen months Paige had lived every day with some measure of contentment—all the bitterness and anger she’d been harboring about the past had been soothed because of Emma and her faith.
But being back in Love meant facing up to her truths. Somehow she had to find a way to tell Cameron that he was the father of a baby girl.
Chapter Two
Cameron watched helplessly as Paige walked out of the Moose Café and hustled down the street at a fast clip. He drifted toward the window, his gaze trailing after her as she faded from sight. He pressed his eyes closed as the ache of loss swept through him.
Still, after all this time, it hurt to acknowledge that Paige was no longer a part of his life. Getting over her had almost killed him. Yet here she was, back in Love and vowing to make amends. Suddenly everything he’d been trying to forget had come bubbling back to the surface. Pain. Embarrassment. Loss. He didn’t know what to do with all these chaotic feelings roiling around inside him. Even though he’d been trying to stuff down these raw emotions ever since he’d come face-to-face with Paige, they were still riding on the surface.
He couldn’t help but wonder if he was being played again. Hadn’t Paige mentioned returning a portion of the money her father had stolen? If that was true, it could help the community immensely. But he didn’t want to get his hopes up without seeing an actual check in his hands made out to the town of Love, Alaska. He’d already been burned once by Paige and Robert Reynolds.
It was all coming at him too fast now—like an out-of-control train. He pulled out a chair and sank down in it, his shoulders slumped forward as he held his head in his hands. The sound of Hazel’s clunky footsteps heralded her arrival. She bent down and began gathering up the ceramic pieces in a dustpan and wiping up the liquid on the hardwood floor.
She looked up at him. “Are you okay?” Her voice was filled with worry.
“Never better,” he said. Hazel had already seen him at his worst. He couldn’t count the number of times she’d consoled him when he’d broken down over Paige and the financial s
candal that had sent shock waves through his hometown. There was no way he was going to burden her with any more of his misery.
She let out an indelicate snort. “You look like you’ve been run over by a truck.”
Cameron shoved his hand through his hair and let out the breath he’d been holding. He stood up from his chair to face her. “I can’t believe this is happening. Paige thinks she can undo the damage she and Robert caused. She thinks she can just stroll into town after all this time and put all the pieces back together.”
“I heard every word she said,” Hazel admitted, rolling her eyes. “She always did have a pie-in-the-sky mentality.”
He frowned at her. “You were eavesdropping?”
Hazel planted her hands on her hips. “It’s called watching out for me and mine. I saw the carnage she caused the first time around. I’m not about to let it happen again. Not on my watch!”
A sigh escaped his lips. “Hazel, I love you dearly, but I’m begging you to stay out of this. And whatever you do, please don’t tell Jasper or Boone that she’s back. I want a little time to digest everything before complete chaos breaks out.”
Hazel quirked her mouth. A sinking feeling landed in the pit of his stomach.
Cameron folded his arms across his chest and narrowed his gaze. “Hazel,” he said in a reproachful tone. “I hope you didn’t—”
The door of the Moose Café burst open with a loud crashing sound. His brother Boone, town sheriff, and his grandfather, Mayor Jasper Prescott, came barreling into his establishment.
“Hey! Didn’t you two read the sign? We’re closed,” Cameron shouted, knowing it was too late to stop the impending hurricane from whirling all around him.
Jasper darted his gaze around the café. “Where is she?”
Cameron crossed his arms again and rocked back on his heels.
“Who are you talking about?”