More than Neighbors

by Shannon Stacey

  “I want to stay with Cam,” she whined. “What if he leaves again?”

  “I’ll come play with you in a few minutes,” Cam promised in soft voice. “I want to hear all about how school is going, okay?”

  Very reluctantly, Sophie walked to the slider and pulled it open. Oscar went with her, and Elinor passed close enough to Cam to leave hair on his pants before she followed the others out. After giving Cam the saddest look she could muster, Sophie pulled the slider closed and sat on the deck to sulk.

  Alone in her kitchen with Cam, Meredith heard nothing but the sound of her own breathing and the ticking of the analog clock she’d bought so Sophie could learn to tell time properly.

  She’d noticed he hadn’t promised Sophie he wouldn’t leave again. Just that he’d play with her and hear about her new school.

  “How long are you in town for?” she asked, deciding that facing the heartbreak head-on was the best way to go.

  “I don’t know yet.” She winced and held up her hand as he took a step toward her. “I’m hoping Blackberry Bay will be my permanent address soon.”

  “You’re going to stay here?” The only thing more painful than not seeing Cam would be randomly running into him at the market.

  “I hope so.”

  “What about your job?”

  “Things change.”

  She frowned, trying to make sense of the few words he was giving her. “Tell me you didn’t walk away from everything—from a business that’s been in the family for generations. And before you say it, yes, I remember that Calvin Maguire III is not your biological father, but he is your father.”

  “I didn’t walk away. But I set some boundaries that are nonnegotiable. I’m going to continue to work remotely. Video chatting. Phone calls. Email. There’s absolutely no reason I have to be physically in the office on a daily basis. There are times I will have to be there, so I’ll keep my apartment and travel into the city when necessary.”

  Her heart was hammering in her chest, and she pressed her fingernails into her palm to give her something to focus on besides the hope trying to rise up inside her. “Having seen your mother in action, if only for a couple of minutes, I’m surprised your parents accepted that.”

  His jaw flexed. “I didn’t give them a choice. When you’re willing to walk away from the table for good and the other side knows it, you have a lot more power.”

  “So why did you come back here, Cam?”

  “Because there’s no place else I want to be.” His jaw clenched as he swallowed hard. “I want to make a life with you here in Blackberry Bay, together. I love you, Meredith. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. And Sophie’s not my daughter, but I love that little girl.”

  “Even when she’s a teenager and only looks up from her phone long enough to tell me she hates me?” she asked, trying to inject enough humor to keep herself from bursting into tears.

  “Even then.” He cleared his throat. “But this is about you and me, Meredith.”

  “I’m a mother. Nothing is ever just about me. You broke that little girl’s heart. You didn’t even say goodbye to her.”

  “I couldn’t.” He pressed his lips together and blinked a couple of times before clearing his throat. “I’m sorry I did that. I always will be, but I wasn’t strong enough to say goodbye to her.”

  She understood that, even if it would be hard to forgive him for it. “I kept telling her you were busy and then finally told her you were too busy to come back. Even though she missed you so much she’d cry, she believed the whole time that you would come back.”

  “I’m here, and if you’ll have me, I’ll never leave either of you again. I want to be all in. I want to go to sleep with you in my arms and wake up to your hair tickling my nose. I want to celebrate your wins and hold you through your losses and everything in between.”

  “I want that, too. So much. I do.” She swallowed hard past the lump in her throat. “But you have to be sure. If you go out there and tell that little girl you’re staying and you leave again? And me. If you tell me you’re staying, you have to stay, Cam. Forever.”

  “Do you love me, Meredith?”

  “Yes,” she whispered. “Completely.”

  “You know I have baggage. I learned a lot about who I could have been while I was here, and I hope that knowledge will change who I actually am for the better, but I’ll always be a Maguire. I mean, you met my mother. That was a particularly ugly version of her, but she’s not exactly the warm and fuzzy type even on her best day. Not even Christmas.”

  She laughed through her tears. “I’ll make a note to spend Christmases with my parents.”

  “Yes.” He sucked in a breath and stared at the ceiling for a long moment before walking slowly toward her. “I can see it, Meredith. Waking up with you in my arms on Christmas morning. Sophie running in and jumping on the bed because she wants to open her presents.”

  “I can see it, too,” she said, stepping into his arms.

  “Will you marry me?”

  She gazed up into his blue eyes and saw his love for her—his certainty—shining there. “Yes. Yes, I’ll marry you.”

  He lifted her off her feet and kissed her so hard it took her breath away. The weeks apart and the tears were all but forgotten as she wrapped her arms around him and held him close.

  It was the high-pitched squeal that finally broke up the kiss. As Cam set her on her feet, she turned to see Sophie staring at them. She was clapping and bouncing up and down on her toes, with a yipping Oscar on one side of her and Elinor on the other.

  “Our family is excited for us,” she said, looping her arm around his waist.

  “I’m not sure about the cat, actually.” He kissed the top of her head. “But I love the sound of that. Our family.”

  Epilogue

  “How do you think Carolina would feel about this?”

  Meredith heard the emotion in Cam’s voice and wrapped her arms around his waist. “I think she’d love it.”

  They were standing in the middle of the cottage, but it was almost unrecognizable. The renovation had been extensive, right down to the studs, and now the interior was bright and airy, with light hardwood floors and new furnishings.

  Movement outside the newly replaced glass sliding door caught her eye and she saw Elinor pacing out on the deck, pausing with each pass to glare at them. During the renovations, they’d removed the cat door and she was highly displeased.

  “I don’t think Elinor loves it, though,” she murmured.

  Cam laughed. “She’ll get used to it. But we should probably put a note in the rental listing letting people know there will be a bossy cat trying to visit them.”

  “The bus will be here soon,” Meredith said after a glance at her watch. “We should finish up.”

  “It doesn’t feel like Carolina’s cottage.” Her fiancé clearly wasn’t ready to leave yet.

  “It will, when people are staying here, laughing and relaxing and making summer memories together.” She took his hand and tugged him toward the door—not the slider, but the new front door with the electronic keypad. “Come on.”

  When they were standing in the front yard, she felt his hand relax in hers. The inside of the cottage might be all new, but outside, it was all Carolina. They’d freshened up the pink paint. The trim and window boxes had a fresh coat of turquoise and, though they’d straightened all the window boxes, they’d left some of the plastic flowers.

  Every touch that they could tell had been Carolina’s had been repaired and repainted and touched up, so it had eclectic and adorable curb appeal, while keeping the heart she had poured into it.

  And next to the door was a small sign Sophie and Meredith had painted, with Welcome to Carolina’s Cottage in a carefully written childish script.

  “You’re right,” Cam said. “She’d love this.”


  They heard the bus coming up the road and a few seconds later, Oscar ran toward them from the backyard. He stopped a few feet shy of the road, his little body shaking with excitement, while the bus stopped and Sophie climbed down the big steps.

  After waving to her friends on the bus as it pulled away, she hugged her dog and then hugged Meredith before turning to Cam. She put her arms up and he lifted her off her feet for a big hug—he loved hugs—before setting her back on her feet.

  “How was school today?” he asked, taking her backpack as they walked down the driveway.

  But Meredith saw the way he looked back at the cottage as they walked, his mouth curving into a soft smile that warmed her heart.

  Keeping the cottage had been the right decision. They’d talked through all of their options and eventually Cam had been able to say he didn’t care what made financial sense. He wanted to keep it and fix it up without stripping it of everything that made it special.

  They’d considered making it his office, since he’d need space for more than his laptop. He needed a proper desk and a printer and a setup for video meetings and all of the other clutter an office needed. But he wanted more separation between his work and his family, so he’d rented a private office space in town and they’d decided to make the cottage a short-term rental so other families could enjoy the lake during the summer.

  “There’s only one more month until summer vacation,” she heard Sophie telling Cam as they went in the house to go through the after-school routine of emptying her backpack and doing her homework.

  At least one day during the week, he made sure to wrap up at his office and be home in time to meet the bus, and then he’d work on his laptop at the table while Sophie did her homework and Meredith started getting dinner ready. He’d taken today off to do a final walk-through of the cottage with the contractor before cutting the last check.

  After dinner came Meredith’s favorite part of the day. It still got chilly as the sun got low in the sky, so they grabbed a blanket and went to the backyard.

  She had no idea where Cam had found it, but one day she’d come home from volunteering at the senior center to find a huge, double-wide hammock on a stand in the backyard. It had taken them a few tries to master it, but now Meredith and Cam were able to get in and then steady it while Sophie climbed in between them. Last up was Oscar, while Elinor stretched out on the deck rail and watched them all.

  Looking out over the still water of Blackberry Bay, Meredith listened to Sophie and Cam talking about what kind of ice cream they were going to get when their favorite ice-cream parlor opened for the Memorial Day weekend.

  Turning her head, she met Cam’s gaze and smiled. He arched one eyebrow, questioning, and she nodded. It was time.

  “Mommy and I have some fun news,” he said to Sophie. Then he glanced back at Meredith, leaving it to her.

  She kissed the top of her daughter’s head. “How do you feel about having a baby brother or sister?”

  Sophie managed to jab each of them several times with her little elbows as she sat up. “A baby? I love babies!”

  Meredith laughed because Sophie didn’t actually know many babies, but as long as her daughter was happy, so was she. “Yes, a new baby.”

  Sophie flopped back down between them and heaved a very dramatic sigh.

  “What’s the sigh for?” Cam asked gently, reaching his hand across his body to ruffle her hair.

  “We’re going to need a bigger hammock.”

  As Cam’s laughter filled the yard, with Sophie’s high-pitched giggle joining in, Meredith’s heart swelled with love and she closed her eyes. She’d come home to Blackberry Bay looking for happiness.

  She’d found love.

  * * *

  Keep reading for an excerpt from In Search of the Long-Lost Maverick by Christine Rimmer.

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  In Search of the Long-Lost Maverick

  by Christine Rimmer

  Prologue

  Melanie Driscoll let out a shriek of dismay as the bride’s bouquet came flying right at her. It hit her in the face. She put up both hands just in time to catch it before it dropped to the grass.

  “Lucky girl!” cried a woman right behind her.

  “No fair!” whined someone to her left. “I never catch the bouquet.”

  “Mel! You go, girl!” shouted her high school friend, Sarah Turner Crawford.

  Mel blinked down at the gorgeous creation of sunflowers, asters, cornflowers and delphiniums and wondered what she was doing here at this relentlessly romantic outdoor wedding in Rust Creek Falls Park.

  She shouldn’t have come.

  But Sarah had insisted. “Come on, Mel,” Sarah had coaxed. “Believe me, I know exactly what you’re going through.” Sarah did know. She’d had some big troubles with men in the past. But now she was happily married to one of the five brothers of the groom. “It’s going to be fun,” Sarah had promised. “And you need to get out.”

  Fun. Right. Mel sneered at the bouquet.

  “It’s official,” another of Mel’s high-school friends announced with a giggle. “You’re next!” Everybody started clapping.

  Mel knew she should just roll with it. She should smile and pretend to be thrilled that her “turn” was coming right up.

  But it wasn’t coming up. Not a chance. Her life was a mess and a man was to blame. And as for smiling sweetly and pretending to be pleased as everyone applauded and hugged her and patted her on the back?

  No way.

  Mel tossed the damn thing back over her shoulder. She felt bitter satisfaction at the gasps and shouts of shocked surprise that followed.

  Then a childish voice cried, “It’s okay! I got it!”

  Mel turned. Wren Crawford, the flower girl and daughter of the groom, came running toward her, ribbon-braided pigtails bouncing, the giant bouquet of flowers clutched between her two small hands and her flower basket swaying on her arm. Wren skidded to a stop in front of Mel. Big blue eyes stared up at her accusingly. “You threw the bouquet away.”

  “Yes, I did.”

  “Don’t you want to be the next bride?”

  No, she did not. But the pretty little girl was only six or seven. Mel couldn’t quite bring herself to say anything that might spoil Wren’s innocent fantasies of love and happy-ever-after. Instead, she gentled her expression and answered softly, “You keep it. I don’t have anyone special in my life right now.”

  One of the other single women muttered, “Well, if that kid is next, I’ll be forty before my turn comes around.”

  Everybody laughed.

  Except Wren and Mel. Frowning, the child continued to gaze up at her. “You came to the ranch with my aunt Sarah last week, didn’t you?” Wren’s branch of the Crawford family had moved to town the summer before. Her uncle Logan was now Sarah’s husband.

  “Yep. That was me. I’m your aunt Sarah’s friend and my name’s Mel.”

  “Mel, do you really want me to have this bouquet?”

  “Yes, I do.”

  “Then I have something you are going to need.” Wren turned and headed for a wooden bench several yards away.

  Mel couldn’t think of a single thing she might need from the little girl, but she trailed after her anyway—partly to get away from the crowd and partly out of curiosity.

  “Sit down.” Wren hopped up on one end of the bench, the organza skirt of her ivory lace dress fanning out around her like the petals of a delicate flower. Mel sat beside her. “Here.” Wren held out the bouquet.

  “No, thanks.”

  “Just for a minut
e. Please?”

  Reluctantly, Mel took possession of the bouquet again. She watched, intrigued in spite of herself, as Wren folded back the swatch of ivory silk covering her flower basket and pulled out an old book. Of brown leather, it was studded with gemstones and stamped with a giant A on the front cover.

  “It’s a diary,” Wren explained. “My uncles found it under a floorboard at the Ambling A.” The Ambling A was the ranch where Wren lived with her dad and now her new stepmom, the bride, along with her grandpa and more than one of her dad’s five brothers and their new brides. “Here.” Wren held out the diary. “It’s for you.”

  Mel’s free hand seemed to open of its own accord. She looked down and the diary was firmly in her possession.

  Wren hooked her flower basket over her arm again and held out her hands. “I’ll take my flowers now.” Still puzzled as to how, exactly, she’d allowed the child to give her the diary, Mel passed the flowers back. “Thank you,” the pretty child said.

  More than a little bewildered, Mel watched as Wren slid off the bench and started to walk away. “Wait!” She held out the old book. “You forgot your diary!”

  Wren only smiled. “It’s yours now.”

  “Huh? Wait. No...”

  “Yes. It will bring you good luck in love. Just ask one of my uncles. They found the diary and they’re all happily married now and so is my grandpa Max. And now, my daddy is married, too.” Wren beamed, clearly thrilled that her father, Hunter Crawford, had tied the knot with Merry Matthews. “Ask my uncle Wilder,” the little girl suggested. “Uncle Wilder will ’splain everything to you.”

  “But I—”

  “He’s right over there.” Wren tipped her blond head in the direction of the uncle in question. “Bye.” And off she went.

  Mel jumped up to follow, but then changed her mind and headed for Wilder instead. If the child wouldn’t take the old book, surely her uncle would. It looked like an antique and was probably quite valuable.