I nodded. "Yeah, sorry. Just trying to think of the best way to put it."
"Put what?"
"Why Brian and I broke up," I answered.
"And what did you come up with?"
"Complete truth—we wanted different things out of our relationship. He wanted to get serious and I wasn't ready. There was no way to compromise on that so..."
Cam studied me as I spoke then said, "That was an incredibly vague answer, even if it's the truth."
"Well, it's not exactly something I'd like to unpack at the dinner table."
"Fair enough."
I knew that Cam wasn't going to let this go. She'd wait a few days, letting me be lulled into a false sense of complacency, then BAM, she'd ask me about it when we were hanging out on the couch watching some random show.
She was a sneaky, sneaky woman. It was a quality I adored in her, but it was also damn inconvenient at this moment in time.
"It's just a little raw right now," I said, hoping she'd cut me some slack.
"Then, it might help to talk about it."
I bit back a sigh. There was no way I was getting out of this conversation.
"We'll see."
Obviously, Cam knew me as well as I knew her because she gave me a hard side-eye.
The rest of the dinner went off well with the exception of Ben Murphy. Every time I looked up, he was watching me. At any other time, that would freak me out because it was something a creeper would do.
I couldn't complain because I couldn't keep my eyes off him either. When Cam introduced me to him, I'd thought he was good-looking. Especially his butt in those Levi's.
After today, he was even more gorgeous. Not just because I'd gotten another look at his behind, but because he was intelligent. And charming.
But he wasn't arrogant.
In fact, he was funny. He'd made me laugh several times. I also enjoyed listening to him talk because, holy shit, even his voice was sexy. I could have listened to him read from the phone book and still been enthralled.
I wasn't sure what was going on with me because I'd never felt such a strong pull to a man before. Attraction, yes. Lust, definitely. But this level of magnetism was out of my realm of experience. If he'd been sitting next to me, I wouldn't have been able to concentrate on eating. It was difficult enough when he was just across the table. Any closer and I wouldn't have been able to carry on a conversation with anyone.
When the meal was over, I volunteered to clear the table. If I was moving and cleaning, Colette couldn't corner me about my break-up with Brian again. And Cam was definitely her daughter, so she would want in on the conversation, too. I couldn't deal with them double teaming me right now. Not with his pain and those sharp, stinging words still so fresh in my mind. No, not my words. His. Brian had somehow managed to hurt me just as much as I'd hurt him, even though I hadn't been in love with him.
I hustled back and forth between the kitchen and the dining room while Malcolm and J.J. did the dishes. Colette followed them, saying she was going to make coffee and get dessert ready to serve, but I was pretty sure she just wanted to make sure the men weren't doing a half-assed job at dishwashing duty.
Cam and Brody were nowhere to be seen, but I figured they were avoiding each other. Brody wasn't Cam's favorite person. I'd never met him because he wasn't living in town when Cam and I used to come back from college for visits, but he wasn't what I expected based on her descriptions of him. In fact, if she hadn't told me some of the things he'd said and done over the years, I would have thought he had the hots for her based on the way he watched her any time he didn't think anyone was looking. Then again, it could also be because of the Girls Gone Wild: Spring Break Edition outfit she had put on after his daughter had accidentally spilled tea on her upon our arrival.
Bah. Why were men so damn complicated?
Since I still wasn't quite ready to face Colette's gentle questioning, I stripped the dirty tablecloth and placemats from the table and carried them into the laundry room. After I moved Cam's wet and still tea-stained outfit from the washer to the dryer, I loaded everything into the washer, turned it on, and added soap.
"Just get it over with, Sierra. Colette loves you. She doesn't know that you're a freak," I muttered to myself.
With nothing else to do, I couldn't avoid my fate any longer.
I took a deep breath and turned to leave the room. And found Ben Murphy standing in the doorway with his arms crossed over his chest.
"Sweet baby Jesus!" I jumped backward and nearly landed on my ass when my foot slipped on the floor. "Why are you standing there like some creepy...creeper?"
