A shaky laugh was all I could muster in reply.
Then his arms were around me, pulling me against him. I went willingly, gratefully, burying my face against him and breathing him in.
His hand rubbed slow circles on my back, grounding me, keeping me from floating away into the overwhelming mess of feelings threatening to pull me under.
“I think I love your mom,” I mumbled into his shirt.
He chuckled, the sound rumbling through his chest. “Yeah, she has that effect on people.”
I stood there for another moment, letting myself have this. Then I pulled back just enough to look up at him. “I can’t believe she hung it where everyone can see it.”
“That’s Mom. When she loves something, she wants to share it.”
The way he was looking at me made my breath catch.
“Emily! Daddy!” Audrey appeared in the doorway. “Come on! Grandpa’s starting the grill!”
“Coming,” Cam called back.
But neither of us moved.
He leaned down and kissed me, soft and quick, the kind of kiss that saidI see youwithout needing words.
When he pulled back, his eyes searched my face. “You good?”
“Yeah.” I nodded, meaning it.
“You sure?”
I smiled, real this time. “Yes.”
“Okay.” He took my hand, pressing a quick kiss to my palm. “Let’s go before they send a search party.”
I followed him outside, into the chaos of voices and laughter, the smell of charcoal and lighter fluid, the sound of children shrieking with joy. Dale was at the grill doing something with a spatula that involved far too much flourish. Travis and his wife were setting up a table. Erica sat in a chair with her hand on her belly, watching her son chase Audrey and Alice around the yard.
I dragged in another breath and let myself sink into it.
CAM
The house was quiet by nine-thirty. I’d somehow managed to get the girls through their bedtime routine on autopilot, my mind stuck on Emily. She’d been too quiet on the drive home, staring out the passenger window while I’d snuck glances at her profile in the dim dashboard lights. When I’d reached for her hand, she’d linked her fingers through mine immediately and held on tight, but she hadn’t looked at me or said a word.
I changed into sweats and a t-shirt, climbed into bed, and stared at my phone.
Watching my family fall a little bit in love with Emily had left me feeling unsteady, like I’d had one beer too many even though I’d been nursing the same bottle for an hour.
At one point she’d turned to me mid-laugh, her whole face lit up, and I’d had to grip the arm of my chair to stop myself from dropping to one knee right there in front of everyone. The urge to make her mine forever had hit me so hard I’d actually felt dizzy.
But Emily McIntyre was far from ready for a declaration like that from me.
I knew enough about her past, with the scars, and the terror of garden sheds, to know that she was dealing with some big stuff. Or not dealing.
The way she’d been on the drive home, how quietly she’d said goodnight to the girls, let me know that something about today had gotten to her.
And that was the big, capital P Problem, wasn’t it? I had no fucking clue what to do about it.
Should I text her? Give her space? Before I could decide, my phone screen lit up.
Hey.
