There she was, all alone.
Peace.
Felt a little itchy.
Tripp materialized from upstairs.
“Morning,” she said, holding up the coffee pot.“Java?”
“That’d be great.Thanks.”As she poured, he sat at the end of the island.“Everyone gone already?”
“No,” she said, putting the coffee pot down to swing a hand in the air.“They’re all around… somewhere talking to people.Do you want something to eat?”
“Nah, this is the middle of the night for me.I never eat at this time.”But did enjoy swigging his coffee.“You worried about today?”
“Wary might be a better word.”
“Honey is a sweetheart, she won’t railroad you.And everything is off the record unless you say otherwise.”
“It’s not easy to talk about it with Cam, and I know him.I don’t know how I’ll talk to a stranger about it.”
“Look at it this way, she has no skin in the game.Honey has no agenda.You’ll be talking to a blank slate.She’s not on your side, she’s not against you.Honey’s neutral and damn good at her job.”
“Cam says she’s kind and honest.”
“Yep,” Tripp agreed with a head bob and drained the coffee into his throat then held up the cup.“Any more?”
She didn’t mind topping him off, it gave her a distraction while asking, “Did her and Cam ever…?”
“Hook up?”he asked.“No.Casp had his eye on her for a long time.A long, long time.”
“She broke his heart?”
“It never got off the ground.Casp liked the idea of her, but they’re different, way, way different.Short of her marrying some bear in the woods, Casp is as wrong for her as any guy could get.”
“Does he still care for her?”
“Can’t remember the last time he lifted his head from whatever was on his desk at CollCom.The wedding?Maybe for a half hour, it was only his own brother’s wedding after all.I guarantee he was still working in that ballroom.Guy’s missing what the rest of us call life.”
And that was sad.“I’d like to meet him.”
“Things heat up with you and Cam, it’s guaranteed.”His eye twitched.Did her body language reveal something?Her expression?“You calling it quits?”
“If I stay in Cam’s life,” as an employee or otherwise, “I won’t be able to avoid being seen.Someone else will eventually figure it out.”
“Eventually,” he said, putting the coffee down.“Rox has a lot of events.Family shit happens all the time.If you’re Cam’s girl, you’d be a part of it too.”
“What if I was his friend?”
“Nothing is mandatory.You can be his friend, his girl, and if you don’t want to show somewhere, don’t show.It’s Cam, he’s about as laid back and accepting as a person can be.”He smiled.“Present company excluded.”
“It feels wrong to cast him aside because his identity is inconvenient.”
“Do you want to be hiding in the shadows the rest of your life?”he asked.“And you’ve got another problem too.”
“Another problem?”
“Roxanna Lomond.”
