“And she’s making friends,” Gabe squeaks.
I look down at the screen to shush him as I pull open the door, but when I look back up, I jolt at the sight of the person on the other side of it, because it is not Leah, but a man. A very tall, very handsome man.
Chapter twenty
LUCKY HAS NEVER BEEN IN MY VOCABULARY
“Cameron.”Myphonefliesout of my hand and lands with a thud at his feet. He reaches down to scoop it up, giving me a moment to compose myself.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. I wanted to make sure you found your room. I texted you earlier but didn’t get a response.”
“Who isthat?” Gabe asks as Cameron passes my phone back to me. My cheeks flame so hot that I am certain no concealer on earth could neutralize it.
Cameron looks down at the screen with a furrowed brow. “Sorry, I didn’t know you were on a video call.”
“Drew! Who is—” Gabe continues, but I smash down the volume button before he can finish his sentence.
“Sorry.” I let out a breath of relief that whatever lively discussion Gabe and Scott are having right now is muted. “Crazy family again. They called as I was responding to your text.”
“Ah.” He nods but does not say more. Instead, we stand there, looking at each other in the doorway.
“Is everything all right?” I prompt, since he can clearly see that I found my room, and as much as I’d enjoy looking at Cameron all night, I need to finish getting ready to make it back downstairs for the wine tasting and to help cover for Leah.
“Everything’s fine. I just . . .” His words trail off as he rubs the back of his neck, avoiding my gaze. I rack my brain for what he could possibly be so nervous to say, until he makes a pointed glance at the phone in my hand.
“Oh!” I say, as his discomfort becomes clear. “Just give me a second to say goodbye to my family, and then we can talk in private. Come in.”
He nods and follows me inside, closing the door behind us. I excuse myself to step inside the walk-in closet as my brain goes wild thinking of scenarios for why he would want to talk to me alone, all of which are embarrassingly akin to how I imagine a middle school girl with a crush would feel in the same situation. I am not alone in my assessment, though, based on how rapidly my brother and Gabe’s mouths are moving silently on screen.
Once I am safely behind the door, I turn the phone volume back up just a fraction and whisper, “Before you even start—”
“Why didn’t you tell us that Cameron was hot?” Gabe asks, incredulously.
“Does it matter?” I whisper back.
“No, but it makes things a lot more interesting,” Scott says, with a broad smile.
“Guys, come on. It’s not like that. I am here on a mission—”
“Letting yourself have fun is the mission,” Monika reminds me. “And having a fling with a beautiful man sounds like something right up Epic, Uncursed Drew’s alley.”
“Drew in any form would never be interested in a fling,” I correct, but my words are drowned out under their overlapping encouragement. When they don’t let up, I wave my hand in frontof the camera to get their attention and say, “Guys, I love you. But I need to go.”
“Hang on,” Monika says. “Drew, I need you to call me later, please. We need to talk about Evelyn’s book signing at the shop tomorrow. I have some questions about the instructions you left me.”
“Of course,” I say, and make a mental note to email Evelyn to wish her good luck later too. When I told her that I was going to miss her book signing at the Book & Barrel, she was disappointed that we wouldn’t be able to meet in person. But when I told her that I was missing it to attend a book retreat featuring her new release, she was tickled.
“Are you going to tell the other guests that you are friends with Evelyn?” Gabe asks.
“No, that’s weird. And we aren’t friends. We are just friendly. Now I really have to go . . .”
“Fine. Be safe. We love you.”
I hang up and take a deep breath before I head back out to hear whatever Cameron needs to talk to me about in private. He stands just inside the door where I left him, looking far more serious than in any of our previous interactions.
“Sorry to interrupt your call.”
I wave off his apology. “It’s fine. My family is crazy, as you already know from my brother’s call earlier. They’ll probably call a thousand more times throughout the weekend, even though they are the ones who insisted that I deserve a vacation.”
