Chapter 35
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
cameron
“NO LITTLE VISITORS TODAY?” Daphne asked, poking her head into my office.
“Not today.”
I hadn’t been entirely sure how Daphne would react to Chloe’s coming to work with me yesterday, but she’d loved it. She viewed it as me going the extra mile for my client, even though we both knew it was bordering on unprofessional. Luckily, Daphne’s obsession with the Londons trumped that.
Chloe had been a little celebrity yesterday.
She’d bounced back and forth between my office and the Briggses’, depending on what we had going on.
Most of the time, she spent reading her book or doodling on her tablet.
We deemed one of my pens on my desk to be Riptide—Percy Jackson’s sword that appeared as a disposable ballpoint pen when in its dormant form.
Chloe used a permanent marker to scribble “Anaklusmos” on its side, and I’d smiled to myself.
Overall, it really hadn’t been a problem at all. If she’d been a more challenging guest, Daphne might have felt differently. But as it stood, she’d been thrilled.
“That little girl adores you,” Daphne cooed, which sounded a little strange coming out of her mouth when I was so used to the commanding, authoritative tone she usually used. But I nodded, trying to ignore the lump in my throat.
“She’s a sweet kid,” I said, attempting to sound as bland as possible. “The Londons are a great family. My sister went to college with Noah, so I’ve known them for a long time.”
There. That sounded neutral, right?
Not like I was completely obsessed with my client and had grown attached to her daughter, too.
Not like I had a text sitting on my phone from that same client that was destroying me inside every time I looked at it.
SUNNY: I think we need to end this, Cameron. Can we talk later?
I’d been staring at the text message from Natalie all morning, wishing my heart didn’t feel so constricted.
End this.
End what?
Daphne flashed me a polite smile and then disappeared from my doorway, which was good.
I needed to return to torturing myself by staring at Natalie’s message.
Did she want me to end the way I couldn’t stop thinking about her? End how I felt about her? Did she want me to end caring for Chloe? End the way we were sneaking into each other’s beds at night?
She needed to tell me what we were ending because it was driving me wild.
Mostly because I was afraid she was going to say all of the above.
And while I’d always known that there might come a time where she cut me off, I didn’t expect it to be so soon, not before we even finished our arrangement.
And I certainly hadn’t expected it to be after the last night we spent together.
But then again, Natalie never asked for the things I’d been giving her.
She hadn’t asked for flowers or baseball dates.
She hadn’t asked for someone to make her tea after late-night shifts or wash her hair.
And while I knew she was appreciative of the things I’d done for her and Chloe because she’d made a point to tell me on more than one occasion, they still weren’t things she asked for.
She’d wanted a guy who could treat her right in the bedroom, not a guy who could treat her right everywhere else, too.
Was this her finally realizing that it was all too much? Too soon? I’d pushed too far, crossed a boundary I shouldn’t have, and now I was going to regret it.
Fuck, I was already regretting it. Because whatever she meant by that text, I didn’t like it. As far as Natalie London was concerned, I didn’t want to end a single goddamn thing.
I wanted all of it.
My phone lit up, and for a second, I thought Natalie might be calling. But it wasn’t her. Of course not.
It was my mom, calling back about visiting this upcoming weekend, I was sure.
“Hey, Mom,” I said, answering.
“Oh, hi!” She sounded almost surprised that I’d answered, making me think there were more times than I realized that she called and I didn’t pick up. “I hope I’m not catching you at a bad time.”
“Always have time for you, Mom,” I promised.
“Oh, shush,” she muttered. “I know you’re busy. My busy boy.”
I pursed my lips, not liking how her default was to brush me off. “Not too busy to come home this weekend, though. Maybe go with you and Pops to the Summerfest Street Parade if he’s up for it?”
“Oh, Cam.” The dip in her tone made me frown. “You know we’d love to see you, but we don’t want to take you away from Boston. You have so much going on, and we’re fine. You know that, right? We’re good here.”
I wasn’t shocked she was doing this. In the past, I probably would have listened to her.
I had listened to her when she gave this speech now and again because, yeah, life was busy, and I’d been putting all my eggs in one basket, thinking my career trajectory was the one way I could be as great as my dad, as successful as him.
“I know you’re okay, Mom,” I acknowledged. “But it’s been a while since I’ve been home, and I miss you all.”
“Oh.” Something about what I’d said made her perk up, but not necessarily in the way I’d been hoping. “Oh, well, you know we miss you, too.” A pause sat heavy between us. “Is everything okay, Cam? Is work okay?”
“Work’s good,” I assured her. Busy as fuck, as usual. But that would never change. And I didn’t want to waste all the other good parts of life. “There are just…” I released a sigh, one filled with pent-up emotions. “There are other things I want to start prioritizing outside of work, I think.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
Definitely.
“Does this mean you’re finally going to start dating?”
This time when my mom spoke, she sounded hopeful. And honestly, I needed that right now, when I still wanted to be hopeful, too.
“I…” I trailed off, unsure how to answer that, especially considering Natalie’s text that still sat on my phone, unanswered. “I’d like to, but we’ll see.”
There was only one person I was interested in dating. So if she wasn’t also interested in it, then no, I probably wasn’t going to start dating.
“Hmm.” I could hear the wheels turning in my mom’s head. “You met someone at Mulligan’s not that long ago, right? Whatever happened to them?”
She would hit the nail on the head.
“What was their name again?” she went on, musing more to herself than me. “I can’t remember.”
“Natalie,” I said with a laugh, pinching the bridge of my nose and tipping my head back as I let the truth wash over me. “And I think I’m in deep with her, Mom.”
I was heading out of the office later that day when Julian called after me, halting me in my tracks when I heard the tension in his voice.
“Cam, hold up.”
My friend’s blue eyes were extra vibrant when I turned around in the Gardner Law lobby, putting me on edge.
“What’s up?”
He did a quick look around us before he spoke, further stretching my nerves to their breaking point. “You’re going to meet with Korey Abrams’ lawyer, right?”
Answering with a nod, I looked at my watch to check the time.
I had about twenty minutes to get to Wilson and Thomas, but it wasn’t far.
It was my last meeting of the day, the one that I was least looking forward to, especially because I’d much rather go straight home and call Natalie, get to the bottom of whatever the fuck she wanted to end.
But earlier this week, Korey’s lawyer had reached out about meeting before the trial. They wanted to present some kind of custody agreement, and I suspected it was because they knew that sole physical custody was a leap they weren’t going to make happen in trial.
Korey might have some things on his side—a more consistent work schedule, a supposed partner to help with childcare, and proximity to grandparents with his move—but Chloe had roots here, in Boston.
There was extended family here, too. Sure, maybe they weren’t retired, maybe they didn’t have the flexibility of Korey’s parents, but they were here.
They’d proven to be a good support system, even if Natalie did need a lot of help.
And Natalie had more than proven herself.
Korey and Keller knew this. She’d shown that she had always been the involved parent, that she’d always prioritized Chloe.
Natalie hadn’t been able to fit the meeting into her schedule this week—we hadn’t even been able to reschedule our meeting from the day she’d gotten called into the hospital—so she told me to go ahead without her, and I could fill her in on what they wanted later.
“I was talking to Gemma, and she said that Korey came to skating practice last night,” Julian continued, and I stood straighter, brows furrowing. I didn’t like the direction this was going one fucking bit.
“Asshole’s trying to make himself look better, huh?”
Julian nodded, but it was in an impatient sort of way, like he hadn’t actually made his point yet.
“Chloe mentioned you,” he said, causing dread to creep into my veins. It flowed straight to my heart. “To Korey. A lot, I guess. Like about her coming to the office yesterday.”
“Fuck.”
“Yeah.” Julian drew out the word. “I wanted to make sure you had a heads-up before your meeting.”
“Thanks, man,” I said with a sigh, shaking my head in irritation.
I didn’t blame Chloe, of course. I hadn’t even thought to say anything to the nine-year-old about her dad.
It wasn’t really my place, and she saw her dad so infrequently I didn’t even consider it would be an issue.
But I should have expected that he might try to show up more, especially with the trial looming, and I just knew that he was about to make this meeting even harder than it had to be.
“Need backup?” Julian offered, but I waved him off.
“I can handle that asshole,” I assured him. “It’s fine. He doesn’t have proof of anything.”
Julian tilted his head to the side, a crooked grin sliding onto his face. “He doesn’t have proof of what?”
Shit, I hadn’t meant for that to slip out.