More than Neighbors

by Shannon Stacey

  She’d just popped the last bite of cone into her mouth when her cell phone chimed. She dug it out of the tote and found a text message from Reyna.

  Caramel apple guy wants me to meet his sister. Help.

  Meredith chuckled as she typed in a response. Poor Lucas. It didn’t matter how long he dated Reyna. They were always going to call him the caramel apple man.

  That sounds less serious than meeting his parents, and you’ve been dating long enough for a sibling.

  His parents live in the Midwest, so I can’t meet them without staying with them. That’s a long way off. But I don’t know if I want to meet his sister. That’s a big commitment.

  Isn’t commitment what you’re hoping for?

  It took Reyna longer to respond this time, so she’d either been interrupted or she was giving serious thought to the question. Knowing her friend, probably the former.

  Fine. I’ll meet his sister. I’ll tell you when so we can have lunch after. Or drinks. Probably drinks.

  Keep me posted.

  After dropping the phone back in her tote, she looked across the park for Cam and Sophie, hoping he wasn’t sending some kind of signal to her, begging to be rescued from her energetic chatterbox of a daughter. But he wasn’t.

  She wasn’t sure her heart could take the sight of Cam and Sophie sitting side by side on the dock, their legs dangling over the water, while she pointed at something in the distance.

  Over the last few weeks, it felt as if the countdown clock to Cam leaving had been ticking faster and faster in her head. She’d failed at not falling for him. She’d failed at keeping some distance between him and Sophie. And that was on her. She’d gotten herself and her daughter through a devastating loss before. She could do it again.

  When several kids on bikes wheeled into the park, Sophie got up and ran toward them. Meredith could tell by the way they greeted her they knew her, and she thought she recognized two of them from summer reading program events.

  Cam made his way back to Meredith and sat on the grass beside her. “I’ve been traded in for the younger crowd.”

  “She’ll know quite a few of the kids before school starts, so that’s a good thing.” She sighed. “And it’s right around the corner. My baby’s going to be in first grade.”

  “That sounds like a good reason for cupcakes.”

  She wondered if he’d be around to eat them. “Speaking of school starting, which means Labor Day, have you given any more thought to the yard sale idea?”

  He groaned. “I know I have to, but I really don’t want to.”

  “We’ll help you. And you said Tess Weaver told you she and some of Carolina’s other friends will help, too. You really need to get it done and behind you.”

  “Do you know how long it will take to put price stickers and tags on everything in that house?” he asked. “I think we would have had to start in 2006 to be done by Labor Day.”

  “So only price the larger items and things with an obvious value. Let people make an offer on all the other stuff, and you can group similar things in a bundle. Like, fill a bag with yarn instead of selling individual skeins.”

  “You sound like a woman with exemplary yard sale management skills.”

  She laughed and swatted at his shoulder. “Nope. This is your show, Cam. I’ll help behind the scenes, but I’m not running your yard sale.”

  “I’ll call Tess and ask her to help. I have a feeling once I call her, this yard sale’s going to be a runaway train and I wouldn’t be able to back out if I wanted to.”

  “I think you’re right about that. I’ve seen this kind of thing in Blackberry Bay before, and it’s no joke. We might have to hire a traffic cop.”

  He looked at her, eyes wide. “Seriously?”

  “No. That part was a joke. But I think you’ll be pleased with the results.”

  “It would be good to have that part done,” he said, and then he seemed content to watch Sophie playing with the kids.

  “I can’t believe it’s almost Labor Day, though,” she said quietly, because she couldn’t stop herself.

  “I know. Summer’s almost over.”

  The way he said it and the long silence that drew out between them told Meredith the impending holiday weekend was weighing heavily on his mind, as well. At some point they were going to have to talk about what was happening between them. The wondering and hoping and trying not to hope was taking a toll on her.

  “I guess you’ll be leaving soon,” she finally forced out.

  He inhaled slowly before blowing out the breath. “I don’t know what’s happening. I mean, the cottage isn’t anywhere near ready to sell and... I guess things are still up in the air.”

  It was enough for now. He was wavering and she didn’t want to push too hard and force him into a corner. If he decided he was going to stay in Blackberry Bay, she wanted it to be a decision he’d come to on his own. She wanted him to want to stay.

  “We have to get going, honey,” she called to Sophie, signaling an end to that conversation before she got to her feet. “I’m trying to get better about dinner and bedtimes now that school is looming on the horizon. It’s hard when it’s not dark yet.”

  He stood up and brushed the grass off his shorts. “Some room-darkening shades might help. I have those in my apartment.”

  It was tempting to ask him what his apartment looked like. Maybe being able to visualize what his life looked like in the city would help when it came to keeping her hopefulness in check. But Sophie was already back with them, picking up her tote bag of books.

  “I might order a set,” was all she said, and then they started walking toward where she’d parked.

  * * *

  I guess you’ll be leaving soon.

  For the last week, all he’d been able to think about when he was alone were Meredith’s words at the park.

  He should be leaving soon. If he wanted to be real with himself, he should have been gone a long time ago. He could have stripped the cottage of personal items and the journals and let somebody else deal with the rest.

  And if he wanted to be really real with himself, he’d admit it wasn’t his family or Carolina keeping him here. Yes, he’d enjoyed learning about his grandmother, and he hoped to embrace her philosophies of joy and love as he went through the rest of his life.

  But he wasn’t in a hurry to leave because he was struggling to imagine having joy and love for the rest of his life without Meredith in it. Without Sophie.

  He hadn’t been in a hurry to find a woman to settle down and start a family with. He wasn’t opposed to marriage, but he’d always had a hard time imagining himself as a husband and father. Maybe it was growing up with parents who hid a lot of unhappiness behind polite smiles, but the urge for his own family hadn’t exactly been at the forefront of his mind.

  The idea of being a stepfather was...simply terrifying. Not only would he have to learn to love a child with a lot more heart than his father had loved him, but Sophie wasn’t his. And she’d known and would forever miss the love of a man who sounded like a really great dad.

  It was a lot of pressure.

  He was a man who usually worked best under pressure, thanks to his father. But if he was wrong—if he and Meredith weren’t the real thing—he could do a lot of emotional damage to a little girl who’d already been through a lot.

  And to himself. If he took the leap and was wrong, he wasn’t sure he could recover. Meredith hadn’t invited him into their lives fully. She hadn’t invited him into her bed. And she hadn’t asked him to stay in Blackberry Bay.

  His gut told him it was wrong, but the possibility existed she was just enjoying his company because she’d been alone a long time and he’d be leaving at the end of the summer. He was safe. But he didn’t think so.

  “You’re going to be having this yard sale in the house at the rate you�
��re going,” Meredith said, walking by him with an armload of folded fabric.

  He shook away the what-if thoughts and pointed at her load. “What is all that for?”

  “Based on some of the stuff I found with this, I think Carolina went through a very brief but well-stocked quilting phase.” She paused, looking at him thoughtfully. “I just realized when my husband died, I was only three years younger than Carolina was when she lost her husband.”

  “Do you want all the quilting stuff?”

  She laughed, rolling her eyes. “No, I do not want to take up quilting. Or knitting or counted cross-stitch or... Actually, I’ve always wanted to learn to knit. But I’m not taking all this. I’ll start small. But she must have been lonely. That’s a long time to be alone.”

  “I guess she never found anybody else she loved as much as her husband. My grandfather. And she had Elinor.”

  “I don’t think Elinor’s that old.” She frowned. “Do we know how old Elinor is?”

  “Believe it or not, she’s only six. I’d call her a rescue, but according to the journal entry, she just showed up and moved in. I’m not sure Carolina had a lot of say in the matter. So the age is approximate, I guess, but that’s what the vet records say.”

  “I hope she had other pets before Elinor, to keep her company.” She dropped the fabric on top of an existing pile. “And maybe she chose not to get married again. Though I don’t know that you’d love again in the same way. You’d love differently, because it would be a different man. A different relationship.”

  She was looking out the window as she spoke, and he wasn’t sure if she was talking in vague terms about Carolina, or if she was talking about herself. About how she would love a man differently from the way she loved her husband.

  Maybe she loved him.

  His pulse quickened as hope surged through him. Maybe they’d finally talk about what was going on between them. He couldn’t make a decision like this without all the facts, and whether or not she even wanted a future with him was a pretty important piece of information not on the table.

  Then she looked at him and took a slow breath. He held his, waiting for her to speak, but he saw the moment pass in her eyes and she shrugged. “You didn’t leave Elinor’s vet records buried in a box, did you?”

  “No, they’re in an envelope with her name on it on the counter, so they don’t get mixed up with everything else.” Apparently they were just going to keep on going as they had been.

  For now.

  A burst of laughter from outside caught their attention and he moved closer to her so he could see out the window.

  Tess and some of her friends, along with Meredith’s friend Reyna and her mother, were setting up a boatload of folding tables they’d borrowed from the church. Usually they held all the slow cookers a Blackberry Bay potluck dinner required, but Tess had decided they’d be perfect for a yard sale of this magnitude.

  The reason for the laughter seemed to be Sophie, who had one hand on her hip—looking very much like her mother—and was directing the women with her free hand.

  “I should go rescue them,” Meredith said, scooping up the towering pile of fabric.

  “I hope all this work is worth it,” he said, stepping forward to take the heavy stack from her. “I don’t know what I’d do without all this help.”

  “That’s the nice thing about a town like Blackberry Bay. There’s always somebody willing to help.” She chuckled. “Whether you want it or not.”

  She held the door for him, since his arms were full of fabric, and he managed to get out the door without tripping over Oscar or Elinor. It was a very warm day, but that didn’t seem to be slowing down the women who’d begun arranging things on the tables.

  “What are we going to do if it rains?” he asked, setting the fabric down on one of the tables.

  “That’s why we have tarps,” Tess said, putting her hands on her hips as she surveyed the tables. “Haven’t you ever done a yard sale before?”

  “No, I can’t say that I have.”

  “He’d never had a library card before, either,” Sophie volunteered. “Mommy had to help him get one.”

  “At least he’s got one now,” Tess said over the laughter around them.

  Setting up a yard sale was a lot of work, with women going in and out of the cottage all day. He and Meredith had moved his few belongings into the bedroom along with the boxes of journals and a few other things he wasn’t sure about yet.

  The rest of it was brought outside for display or, in some cases, put in a pile to go to the dump. He’d also told everybody helping they were welcome to keep anything they wanted to, so more than a few trips were made to the cars parked along the road, too.

  The cottage was emptying out fast, and when he went inside to get the burgers and dogs for the grill—the least he could do was feed his volunteers—he was struck by the fact it wouldn’t be long before it was actually empty.

  He looked at the photo of his biological father hanging on the wall. The one that was almost, though not quite, like looking in a mirror. Every night he read more of Carolina’s journals, and every night he got more answers to his questions. One thing had become very clear to him over the last couple of nights, and that was that Michael Archambault was a good man. A very good man, and Cam was always going to regret not having met him.

  He’d needed the money. Or rather, Carolina had needed it because she got sick, and Michael had two battles on his hands. Tess was right about the fact he wouldn’t have won against the Maguires. But he could save his mother.

  “Are you okay?” Meredith’s arms slid around his waist, and she pressed her cheek to his back.

  “I am now,” he said, covering her interlocked hands with his and pushing thoughts of Michael to the back of his mind. “Just taking in the echo, I guess. I didn’t think we’d ever get through it all. Hopefully everything sells because I don’t want to have to bring it all back in.”

  “It’ll sell. And Tess said if there was stuff left over at the end of Sunday, she’d spread the word it’s free for the taking the next morning and, trust me, people will be like locusts. You’ll be lucky if your car’s still here by noon Monday.”

  “I hope you’re right. Except, you know, the part about my car. I need that.”

  After a quick squeeze, her arms fell away and she wasn’t smiling when she stepped past him. “I promise, a ton of people are going to show up tomorrow and Sunday.”

  It took him a few seconds to realize that it was his comment about needing his car that had changed the mood so suddenly. The fact he was supposed to be leaving soon wasn’t a black cloud looming off in the distance anymore. It was over them now, casting shade over their days.

  They were going to talk about it soon, he promised himself. Because if nothing else, he knew two things.

  Things couldn’t continue as they were. He needed to close out Carolina’s estate and close that chapter. And he had angry parents waiting for him in New York City with growing impatience. There were loose ends that had to be tied up.

  And he was 100 percent in love with Meredith Price.

  Chapter Sixteen

  “I think that’s the last of it.”

  Cam looked around the yard and back at Meredith, finding it hard to believe. “We did it?”

  “There are still a lot of personal belongings in the house. The stuff that Tess said she and her friends would go through and give away to people they knew would want it. And the important documents and all that. But the extra stuff is all gone, so the yard sale was definitely a success.”

  “And as soon as these ladies are done, it’ll be officially over.” Cam looked at the two women who’d piled their purchases around a very small car and had spent the last five minutes trying to fit it all in like puzzle pieces. He’d offered to help, but they assured him they did this all the time.

 
“Just in time, too,” Meredith said. “My parents will be dropping Sophie off any minute, so I’m going to take the money box inside and sort it while I wait. You can break down the folding tables.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” He wanted to kiss her, but they still had an audience, so he held himself to appreciating the view as she walked inside.

  He was folding the last of the tables when a black Cadillac SUV pulled up in front of the house, parking on the side of the road. Not paying much attention to it—they’d be able to see the yard sale was over—he leaned the table against the others.

  “Good lord,” a woman snapped from behind him and the voice turned his insides to ice.

  “Mom?”

  “Hello, Calvin,” she said, and his back stiffened. She’d deliberately set the tone by opening with the name she knew he loathed.

  She was wearing a black pantsuit with her typical high-heeled shoes, with her dark hair pulled into a sleek ponytail, showing off the ridiculously large diamonds in her ears. Obviously she didn’t care how much she stood out in a small town on a warm holiday weekend. Or maybe that was why she did it. Even her clothing choices were power moves.

  Not wanting to give the two ladies putting the last of the bags into their car anything to talk about over lunch, he gestured for her to follow and went into the house. He could see Meredith standing at the counter, banding together bundles of dollar bills, but he couldn’t focus on her right now.

  “How did you find me?” he demanded from his mother. Her expression told him that question was utterly ridiculous, and anger churned in his gut. “How long have you known I was in Blackberry Bay?”

  “You’re my son. I know that if you’re determined to do something—no matter how foolish—you’re going to do it and trying to stop you will only push you harder. You were behaving very unlike yourself and it didn’t take me long to figure it out, so I’ve known for most of the summer where you were and why. What I don’t know is what exactly you’re doing with this situation.”