Three Little Wishes

Chapter Twenty-Four

The door to Cami’s bedroom opened, and Willow poked her head inside. “I’m going out, and I just wanted to make sure you’re okay.”

“I’m good.” She smiled, knowing she looked far from good when Willow’s eyes narrowed and she walked into the room, standing with her hands fisted on her hips. “Sage said you didn’t go help Nonna at the restaurant today. Did something happen with my mother? Did she say something to hurt your feelings? And don’t try and tell me everything’s fine because you’ve obviously been crying, and Riley said you’ve locked yourself in the room for most of the day.”

“I didn’t want to get in the way, and I knew Gia didn’t want me there. I don’t really blame her.” She raised her casted arm. “I knocked a couple things over in the kitchen. Gia thought I did it on purpose. I think she’s mad at me for whatever I did that made them leave me behind. I just wish they’d tell me what I did so I could make it up to them.” Other than the part about not knowing why her sister hated her, everything she’d said was true.

“I’ll talk to my mom.” Willow worried her bottom lip between her teeth as she studied Cami. “Maybe I shouldn’t go out tonight.”

“That’s what I’ve been telling you for the last twenty minutes,” Noah said, coming into Cami’s room.

Something had been up with Willow and Noah for the past couple of days. When they weren’t avoiding each other, they were sniping at each other. Cami figured it was sexual tension making them act that way. When they were within ten feet of each other, the room practically sizzled with it. If it were anyone else, she’d tell them to do it already. But they couldn’t, and it was her fault that they couldn’t. And as much as she didn’t like to see either of them unhappy, it made her job of keeping them apart easier.

“I don’t believe you,” Willow said to Noah. “You actually followed me up here to continue a conversation that I told you was over. O-V-E-R.”

“I came to check on Cami. You just happened to be here,” Noah said, crossing his arms. He had that broody look on his face that she knew Willow loved, but she didn’t look as if she loved it at the moment.

“What are you guys fighting about?” Cami asked.

“We’re not fighting,” Noah said. “We have a difference of opinion, that’s all.”

“We’re fighting,” Willow told Cami. “He ordered me not to go out for a drink with Megan.”

“I didn’t order you,” Noah defended himself. “I simply said I didn’t think it was a good idea.”

“I agree with Noah,” Cami said. She was not a fan of Megan or of her daughter putting herself in a position to get hurt again.

“I do too,” Riley said, coming into the room.

“What is wrong with you people? Have none of you ever made a mistake?” Willow shook her head. “You don’t know Megan like I do. Did she mess up? Of course she did. But everyone deserves a second chance. You don’t throw away a twenty-year friendship, or any relationship for that matter, just because someone did or said something that hurt you.” She walked to the door. “Now I’m going to get ready to go out, and the three of you are just going to have to suck it up.”

Cami stared after Willow, and that flicker of hope that had been there since she’d talked to Hugh got a little bit bigger. Her daughter didn’t throw away friendships or relationships because someone screwed up. She believed in second chances, and that gave Cami hope that Willow would give her one too when she found out she was her mother.

“I’m going with you,” Noah said as he followed Willow out of Cami’s bedroom.

Riley sat on the side of Cami’s bed as the argument continued in the hall.

“You’re not going with me!”

“Fine. I’m driving you, and don’t even think about arguing with me.”

“Fine!”

“I have work to do at the station so I’ll pick you up when you finish your drink.”

“You’ll be waiting all night. After the past couple of days I’ve had, I need more than one drink.”

Riley made an eek face at Cami, and they both winced when a door slammed and Noah swore and another door slammed.

“We can’t let Willow go alone, Cami. You know what Megan’s like.”

“You… we can’t go to a bar, Riley. You’re underage.” She chewed on her thumbnail. “But you’re right. Willow might need backup.” She sounded as if she was ready to party, and when a Rosetti partied, she partied hard. “I’ll go, and you can stay here.”

Riley shook her head. “Are you crazy? I’m not staying here all by myself. We’re in the middle of nowhere.”

“Noah will kill me if he finds out I took you to a bar, Riley.”

“He’ll never know, and it’s not like I’ll be drinking.”

“Okay, fine.” Cami got off the bed and walked to the door, closing it. “And if we’re really doing this, you need to look twenty-one.”

Cami and her sisters had started sneaking into bars when they were sixteen. She had fond memories of those times, but unlike Cami and her sisters, Riley had led a sheltered life. She was sweetly innocent.

“Maybe we should just stay home. I’m sure Willow will be fine.”

Riley frowned. “What’s wrong with you? You’re acting weird.”

Dammit.“Easy for you to say. You’re not the one who Noah will strangle if we get caught.”

“He won’t find out. Besides, Willow needs our protection. You know she does. She’s too nice, and she lets people walk all over her. I bet Megan is plotting to embarrass her somehow, and that won’t look good for Willow, not with them trying to sell Channel 5.”

Riley made a strong case for them going, and Cami folded like an accordion.

Twenty minutes later, she was wearing a pair of Willow’s loose dusty-rose pants that had uneven painted black lines and a wide, gathered elastic waistband, paired with a black, scoop-neck tank top. She added a black ball cap over her blond hair to complete her disguise of a seventeen-year-old going on twenty-one.

She’d found a cute off-the-shoulder white ruffled Swiss-dot top for Riley and paired it with a flirty powder-blue skirt decorated in tiny white flowers. Cami had curled Riley’s hair in long, loose waves that framed her face and done her makeup.

She cast an experienced eye over Riley. “If I didn’t know you were fifteen, I’d think you were at least twenty-one. You look gorgeous, Riley.” It was the truth. The kid was stunning.

“It’s the makeup. You’re really good at it, Cami.”

“It’s not. I hardly used any. I just used enough to enhance your incredible bone structure and amazing eyes.” She looked down at Riley’s feet. “But the sneakers have to go.”

Cami walked over to the piles of her clothes and footwear and found what she was looking for. She held up a pair of delicate white heels. “Try them on.”

“I can’t wear heels,” Riley protested.

It took almost thirty minutes of Riley practicing walking in the shoes for her to get the hang of it. Then they had to cordon off Lucky in the living room. Riley didn’t want to leave him in his crate. So by the time they’d gotten in the station wagon and were headed for the bar, Willow had at least an hour’s head start.

“Are you sure she’ll still be at this bar?” Riley asked, tottering in her heels on the sand.

Cami hooked her arm through Riley’s. Last Call had been one of her family’s favorite bars. The locals considered it their bar, and it tended to get rowdy. It was on the beach just down from the pier. Christmas lights were strung along the wooden roofline, and the front of the bar was completely open to the outside when the weather was good, and it was a beautiful night, warm with a light breeze. The bar was packed with people spilling out onto the sand, drinking and dancing to the music that drifted down the beach.

“If she isn’t at Last Call, we’ll try Surfside on Main Street.”

“Um, that might not be a good idea, Cami. The station is on Main Street, and Noah’s there, remember?”

“Right,” she said as they made their way through the crowd. “Play it cool. You look twenty-one. You are twenty-one.”

Riley nodded, her gaze moving around the bar. “I see her.” She raised her hand.

“Don’t point her out. Just tell me where she is, and we’ll get close enough that we can intervene if Megan gets nasty.” Or if she looked as if she was about to cause a scene or if Willow did.

“She’s sitting at the bar with Megan. Left side, four stools from the end.”

“Got her.” The two women had their heads bent together. Willow had on a cute sleeveless A-line shift dress trimmed with gold ribbon. Thankfully, instead of sneakers, she wore gold sandals. No heels, of course. The lights of the bar shimmered like sunshine on her golden hair.

Cami searched for a table and found one in the perfect location. She caught Riley by the hand. “We’ve gotta move fast. The table right behind Willow and Megan is free.”

“There are three guys headed for it, and they’re big.”

Riley was right. They were. “Leave it to me.” Cami wove her way through the bar, dragging Riley behind her, reaching the table half a second before the bodybuilders. Grabbing a chair, she pushed Riley into it and lowered herself onto the one beside her.

“Hi, boys.” Cami tipped her head back. “Is one of those for me?”

“If I say yes, what do I get for it?” the tallest guy asked.

“A thank-you?”

He put the beer in front of her. “We’re giving you our table, and I’m giving you my beer. I think that deserves more than a thank-you, don’t you?”

She picked up the beer, took a sip, and said with a flirty smile, “A thank you, and a dance… with the three of you.”

The other two men put their beers in front of her, and she laughed. “You haven’t seen me dance yet.”

“We don’t have to to know that you’ll be good,” the first guy said. “We’re picking the song, though.” He winked. “Drink up.” Then he looked at Riley. “What are you drinking, beautiful?”

Riley stared at him with her mouth hanging open.

Cami dropped the flirty smile and gave the guy a look that had him backing off with his hands up. “Okay, mama. I won’t go there.” He lifted his chin at his friends, and they sauntered back to the bar.

“He called me beautiful,” Riley whispered. “And they gave you their beers and didn’t fight over the table just because you said you’d dance with them.”

“You are beautiful, and this is a do-what-I-say-and-not-what-I-do moment. Don’t do what I just did.”

“Don’t worry, I wouldn’t have been able to even if I wanted to, and I really don’t want to.”

Their backs were to Megan and Willow, and Cami glanced over her shoulder. “We need to move the table closer. I can’t hear what they’re saying.” Although from what she could see, Willow looked a little tipsy. Her hand movements were exaggerated.

Cami and Riley couldn’t move their chairs back more than a few inches without getting in the way of anyone going up to the bar. Cami leaned back anyway. She still couldn’t hear them. “I’ll get you a soda.”

She tugged the brim of the ball cap lower and got up from the chair, moving the beers to the far side of the table. “Don’t talk to anyone and don’t look around or make eye contact with anyone.” She grabbed the drinks menu and handed it to Riley. “Pretend you’re studying this.”

She picked up her wallet and made her way to the corner of the bar, four stools away from Megan and Willow. She angled her back to them, keeping an eye on Riley while she waited to be served.

“I’ll need to see ID,” the bearded man behind the bar said.

Cami wanted to cheer. She was being carded! She couldn’t wait to tell Gail. She looked up to smile at the bartender while coming up with an excuse not to show him her ID. And that’s when she realized he was talking to the girl beside her, who looked twelve.

“I’d kiss you if I wasn’t married,” the girl said, pulling out her ID. “I’m thirty-two.”

Bully for you, Cami thought, rolling her eyes. The bearded bartender didn’t ask for Cami’s ID, but he did cock his head when he handed her the soda. “Do I know you?”

“I don’t think so,” she said, changing her voice to low and sexy. “It’s my first time here. Great place.” She should’ve gone with high-pitched and annoying, she thought, when he studied her with interest. She gave a little wave and turned her head to the right as she slowly walked behind Megan and Willow.

“I knew she looked familiar!” Megan said.

“Keep your voice down,” Willow whisper-shouted. “No one can know Cami’s my mother or that she’s in town.”

“Okay. But Will, one look at you two together, and everyone will know she’s your mother.”

Cami tripped over her feet, reaching for the back of a chair to keep herself from falling on her face. Willow knew she was her mother, and she didn’t hate her. She still talked to her even though she knew the truth. She still smiled and laughed with her. She liked her. She really, really liked her. And the little flicker of hope inside her grew bigger.

“My mother is having a hard enough time dealing with everything,” Willow said. “She doesn’t need it playing out in the tabloids.”

The flicker of hope sputtered and went out, and Cami moved away before Willow or Megan saw her. She hadn’t understood why her relationship with her sister was getting worse, not better. Now she did. Gia didn’t want her around now that Willow knew she was Cami’s biological daughter. She didn’t want Cami to have a relationship with her daughter.

Gia was afraid she’d come between her and Willow, and Cami had backed herself into a corner. Until she told her family she had her memory back, she couldn’t tell her sister that she would never, not in a million years, do anything to come between her and Willow. She just wanted to be a part of her daughter’s life. She didn’t think that was too much to ask, but maybe it was.

Riley frowned when Cami pulled out her chair and sat down. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” She smiled, handing Riley her soda. “Megan’s being nice to Willow.” She picked up a beer and took a long swallow.

“That’s good,” Riley said, taking a sip of her soda as she took in the crowded bar. Her eyes got big, and her head whipped around to Cami.

“What is it?”

“I see someone I know,” Riley said, her cheeks flushed.

“Really?” Cami looked around. “I didn’t think you knew anyone in Sunshine Bay.”

“I just met him today. I mean, I met both of them.” She held her finger behind her glass, pointing at the entrance to the bar.

“The two guys with the group of teenagers trying to sneak in?”

Riley nodded. “It’s the guy you thought was Flynn, and the other one is Green Board Shorts Guy from the sandbar.”

Well, that was embarrassing. But she had to act as if it weren’t. “Cool! Should we call them over? They’re super cute. I call dibs on the guy who looks like Flynn.”

“Are you crazy?” Riley cried. “We’re not calling them over!”

Aware of how close they were sitting to Willow, Cami whispered, “Keep your voice down.” And she slowly turned her head to catch a glimpse of her daughter at the same time that Willow and Megan glanced their way. Cami whipped her head around. “They’re looking at us. Stare straight ahead.”

Beside her, Riley froze.

Cami let out the breath she’d been holding when Willow didn’t march over or call out their names. “That was close. We have to be careful.”

“Maybe we should go.”

“You’re probably right. Megan seems to be trying to make amends, and Willow—”

“Will, Megs!” a group of women shrieked, arms in the air as they ran to their friends at the bar. “Time to par-tay, Beaches!”

Riley sighed. “I guess we’re staying.”

“It’ll be okay. We’ll keep a low profile, and if Megan gets out of hand, we’ll call… Sage.”

“There’s one problem. I don’t have a phone or Sage’s number.”

“Me neither.” Cami tapped her pointer finger on her lips, trying to come up with an idea. “I’ve got it. We’ll yell fire, everyone will run out of the bar, and then we’ll grab her.”

Three minutes later, Cami’s hope of keeping a low profile ended. She’d forgotten about the bodybuilders. A microphone screeched, and she glanced toward the stage to the left of the bar. Last Call was famous for its karaoke. She couldn’t see through the crowd, but she recognized the deep voice booming, “Hey, Pretty Badass, your daddies are waiting. Get up here and shake your booty for us.”

“Is he frigging shitting me?”

Riley tugged on Cami’s arm. “Shh. Everyone’s looking over here.”

She hadn’t realized she was standing. But seriously. “Pretty Badass. I’m a straight-on badass.”

“Your hat says Pretty Badass,” Riley pointed out.

Cami took it off and turned it around. “Okay, but my daddies? Shake my booty? What are we, in the eighties?”

“We’re waiting, mama-licious!” the three of them yelled into the mic, and then Donna Summer’s “Love to Love You Baby” came through the speakers.

“I love that song!” a woman behind her yelled.

Cami turned her head. “Good. You go dance with him.” Just then she realized how loudly she’d spoken, and swore under her breath in Italian. Riley said the same thing, only not under her breath, when Willow marched over to their table.

“Cami! What are you doing here?” Willow picked up the half-empty beer mug. “You shouldn’t be drinking with a head injury!”

“Told you,” Riley muttered.

Which drew Willow’s wide-eyed gaze to her. “Riley?” She swatted Cami’s shoulder. “What were you thinking? She’s under…”—she glanced at the bartender and lowered her voice—“age.”

“So am I.” Cami inwardly rolled her eyes at herself. This was getting exhausting. “And don’t try and tell me you didn’t sneak into the bars when you were our ages,” Cami said, with all the teenage attitude she could muster. She never should’ve brought Riley to the bar.

“We so did.” Megan giggled, beaming at Cami in drunken glee. She must’ve started drinking before Willow got there. “I just love your mov—”

Willow elbowed her. “Outfit. She loves your outfit. Right, Megan?”

“Oh, yeah, right.” Megan frowned. “Don’t you have a top and pants like that?”

“They’re mine.” Willow glanced toward the stage, where the bodybuilders were now dancing with the Beaches. “What’s up with those guys?”

“We stole their table, and they gave Cami their beer. She promised to dance with them,” Riley said.

“Thanks a lot, pal,” Cami said, looking up when the bartender arrived at their table with a tray of shots.

“Courtesy of the guys at the bar, the three at that table.” He hitched his thumb behind him, then he lifted his chin at a group of women three tables over from theirs. “And the ladies at that table.” As he set the shots down, he glanced at Cami. “Are you sure I don’t know you?”

“Of course you know her. Everyone knows—ouch.” Megan glared at Willow. “Why did you kick… Ohhh.” Her “oh” went on for at least a minute.

Cami pressed her lips together to keep from laughing. Then she smiled up at the bartender. “They say we all have a twin. Maybe you know mine.”

“She looks exactly like Camilla Monroe. The actress.”

Willow stared at Megan. “I should’ve cut you off four drinks ago.”

Seventeen-year-old Cami wouldn’t know who Camilla Monroe was, so she stayed quiet.

“No idea who you’re talking about,” the bartender said as his gaze moved from Cami to Willow. He nodded. “Now I know why you look familiar. You two could be twins. You’re not related to the Rosettis, are you?”

“It’s our song,” Willow cried, pumping her fists, undoubtedly in an effort to distract the bartender, which it did. But probably not in the way her daughter had intended.

“Stop the music,” he bellowed. “We’ve got a Heartbreaker in the house, and this is her song.” He grinned at Willow. “No dancing on the table. Take the stage, ladies.”

“Yay!” the Beaches yelled from the dance floor, and Megan jumped to her feet, scooting past Willow to pull both Riley and Cami off their chairs. “Come on!” she cried, rushing for the stage, bouncing off chairs as she went.

“I don’t think this is a good idea,” Cami said.

“Neither do I,” Riley said.

“Ditto,” Willow agreed, looking around as people began chanting, “Sing, sing, sing.” She made a face when the Beaches ran toward them. “But trust me, if we try to escape now, the Beaches will tackle us, and we’ll make a bigger scene.” Then she smiled at Riley. “Didn’t you have ‘Do something you’ve never done before’ on your wish list?”

“I can think of way more fun things to do that I’ve never done before, and way less embarrassing.”

“You’ve never sung karaoke with me. It’s all kinds of fun,” Willow said.

“Or with me,” Cami added. “My sister Eva can sing, but I’m the dancer in the family.” Karaoke had been one of her favorite things to do at the bar with her sisters. And the thought that she was going to get the chance to do it with her daughter made her happy. So happy that she thought she might cry.

“We’ll just see about that,” Willow said with a grin. “Come on.”

The Beaches and Megan ran onto the stage with them, cheering when Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” came over the speakers. Cami had danced to the song with Beyoncé herself, so she knew all the moves but her daughter did too, and so did Riley. They were laughing and singing, and her daughter was right beside her, and Cami thought it might just be the most fun night of her life. And because it was, when the song ended, she cried, “Let’s do another one!”

Riley tugged on her hand. “We’ve gotta go.”

Cami followed the direction of her panicked gaze. The teenager who looked like Flynn and the cute boy from the sandbar were pushing their way through the crowd to get to them, and that’s when Cami noticed how many people were holding up their phones and taking pictures, and then she heard the whispers: “It’s Camilla Monroe. I’m sure it is. Here in Sunshine Bay? No way.”

Willow must’ve heard them too. “We’ve gotta get out of here,” she said, just before a large group of people surged toward the stage.

“Camilla! My mom loves you! I love your movies! Take a picture with us, please!”

“I’m not an actress! I’m not who you think I am!” Cami shouted, not only for the crowd’s benefit but for her daughter’s and Riley’s. But their audience couldn’t be convinced, and she searched the bar for an escape route. “It’s okay,” she told Riley, tightening her grip on her hand. “I’ve got you.”

“We’ve got you,” Willow corrected, taking Riley’s other hand.

“This way, mama-licious,” one of the bodybuilders said as he and his friends waded through the crowd.

The Beaches, who’d been staring in shocked silence, came alive. “We’ve got you too,” they said, closing ranks behind them.

The bodybuilders and the Beaches formed a tight circle around Cami, Willow, and Riley, hustling them out of the bar and onto the beach, and that’s when they heard the sirens.

“Rainbow Girl,” someone yelled, and then Flynn’s look-alike was there, reaching for Riley’s hand. “I’m her friend,” he told the bodybuilder who’d grabbed him by the arm.

“He is,” Riley said, and the bodybuilder lifted his arm, letting him into their protective circle.

“The cops will be here any minute. I’ll get Riley out of here and back to the beach house. I haven’t been drinking,” he said, glancing from Cami to Willow.

Cami looked at Willow, who nodded.

“Riley?” Cami asked before giving the okay.

She took the boy’s hand. “Noah can’t know I was here. I want to go with August.”

“Okay. You take good care of her,” Cami told August. “She’s precious cargo.”

Riley and August got away in the nick of time. A shrill whistle rent the air, silencing the rowdy crowd trailing behind them.

“No one move. Let us through,” said a commanding voice and two cops made their way through the crowd. They weren’t alone.

“I swear, if I have any luck at all, it’s bad luck,” Willow muttered, and that’s when Cami knew she’d seen Noah too.