“Are the residents of Fisher Falls really that bad?”
She shook her head. “Not all of them, but a few do have some backwards beliefs.”
Cam leaned back against the counter, took another sip of the Merlot, and studied her. “If I had to take an educated guess, you’re pretty progressive. That makes me believe you’re not native to this area. What brought you to Fisher Falls?”
“Not a job, like you. I actually went to Penn State’s Main Campus, and after graduation, decided to stay in State College. Three years ago, at a friend’s barbecue, I met Darren and he was from this area. We immediately hit it off and, not even two weeks later, moved in together. When we broke up a couple of months ago, he decided he wanted a fresh start somewhere new.”
Cam couldn’t decide if that had been a dick move or not. He was inclined to say it was. She moved to Fisher Falls to be with her ex and then he left the area, leaving her with the house and expenses.
“And you stayed.”
“I considered leaving, but despite some of the backwards thinking, I really like the area. And Ireallylike this resort.”
“Apparently, so do all the guests. My daughter attendsPenn State as a communications major. What was yours?” They had at least one thing in common. He looked forward to discovering others.
“Useless.”
He chuckled. “As much as her education is costing me, to say your degree is useless has to hurt. Was it in interpretive dance?”
She choked on a laugh while taking another sip of her wine. “You almost made wine shoot out of my nose.”
“Don’t you know, that’s all part of the interpretive dance for wine making. You must not have been paying attention in class.”
“As well as stomping on grapes.” She made an exaggerated motion of picking grapes, then stomping her feet.
His smile couldn’t get any bigger. “Oh, nice. And you said your degree was useless.”
He originally assumed this would only be a fast and furious hookup, but he was really enjoying their conversation and didn’t want to rush it.
“Does having a daughter mean you were previously married?”
“It does.”
“And?”
“We’re friendly still. Our marriage wasn’t full of turmoil or anything. One day I simply realized that…”
That he didn’t want to limit himself to only a woman. But he also didn’t want to cheat to fill his needs. He and his ex sat down together one night and actually had a very reasonable conversation about it. Luckily, not all divorces turn out to be ugly.
But then, he was completely honest with Molly and accepted all the blame. He didn’t want her to think it was her fault. Restlessness had been clawing at his insides.
Sometimes it still did.
“Realized?” she prodded with curiosity in her eyes as she peered at him over the rim of her mug.
“That I needed to be true to myself to be happy. One day I realized I was suppressing some of my urges. I was bottling it up inside and needed to relieve that pressure before I exploded, possibly leaving a path of destruction.”
“Urges? Like serial killer urges?”
“No.” Of course she was joking, but… “I’m?—”
Holy shit.Was he actually going to admit it out loud to someone he hardly knew? Even his family and closest friends didn’t know. But…
It was time.
And if he was reading Hope correctly, he doubted she’d judge him for it. “I’m…”
One of Hope’s eyebrows cocked and she drew out, “You’re?”
