Cam froze and stared at me with wide eyes.
"What? Oh, God. Is there a spider on me?" I asked, looking down in a panic.
"No, no," Cam said. "You just took me by surprise again, that's all."
My heart rate slowed. "Don't scare me like that! I thought I was going to get bitten by a black widow or brown recluse or something."
Cam laughed, and then snorted. Then laughed some more.
"Yeah, yeah. Yuk it up at my expense. I'm used to it."
"I'm sorry," she finally said, her voice hoarse as she tried to restrain her laughter. "I didn't mean to scare you."
I opened one container. It was her salad. Ugh. Why did she eat salad for lunch? I slid it across the island to her, along with her tea.
"So what are you gonna do when things get serious?" I repeated.
She took the plastic cutlery I held out to her and shrugged one shoulder. "Sierra, I'm not sure things will get serious between Brody and I."
"You said something along those lines when you told me the two of you were just friends and look what happened there," I pointed out.
Cam sighed. "Yeah, but this is different. He's got his daughter to think about. Jacks is so young. If she's uncomfortable with me in their life, we won't get very far in a relationship."
"Jacks loves you," I pointed out. "She thinks you're awesome."
"Yeah, right now. But if she feels like I'm competing for Brody's attention? She might change her mind."
"I could see that. Still, don't be so negative."
"I won't if you won't," she said.
"Fine," I said. I sighed and opened my patty melt and curly fries. I'd ordered extra fries because I knew what was about to happen.
Cam poured her dressing on her salad, mixed it up, and took a bite. Then she eyeballed my curly fries with obvious longing. I made a show of rolling my eyes before I put a small pile in the lid of her to-go container.
She smiled and finished her bite. "Thanks."
"Yeah, no problem," I said. I didn't want her to think that I'd ordered them to share with her or something.
As we ate our lunch together, I realized that I'd been missing this for a long, long time. Seeing my best friend. Having lunch together. The camaraderie and the sense of belonging.
It was going to be so hard to leave.
If I did.
The more I thought about what I'd blurted out to her the other night, the more I considered staying. It wouldn't be perfect, but it would definitely be doable. I hadn't looked for a house to rent like I'd mentioned to her, but I still had time.
If I did this, I could see my best friend almost daily. We could have lunch together like this or meet up for dinner or movies. Or girls' night in. So many things that we hadn't done much of since college.
Then, maybe things with Ben would work out...
I shut down that line of thinking. I'd told Ben that the sex was no-strings and then we'd agreed to just be friends. I wasn't going to change the rules on him now.
Ben would be my buddy. My hot, sexy buddy who made me laugh and want to kiss him every time I talked to him.
I was a grown-up. I would deal with it.
I always did.
