Chapter 12 Emily
EMILY
“Done!” Maya called out from down the hallway, before she appeared in the living room doorway, brown hair tied back in a messy bun, wearing black leggings and an old t-shirt. “Everything’s unpacked and put away. I even hung up that weird tapestry my mom gave me for Christmas.”
I looked up from where I’d been curled on the couch with my sketchbook. “The one with the wolves howling at the moon?”
“That’s the one.” She flopped down beside me with a dramatic sigh. “I figured she’s going to notice if I don’t and if I have to look at it, then so can you. Plus, it’ll give me something to blame if I have weird dreams.”
“Very thoughtful of you.”
“I’m a giver.” She stretched her legs out, nudging my thigh with her foot. “Seriously though, thank you again for letting me move in. You have no idea how much I needed this.”
“Trust me, I needed it too.” There was an unintended edge to my words. My stomach clenched. Maya was sharp, and I didn’t need her catching on. But no, she just smiled and didn’t push. Bless her.
The relief of not being alone in this house anymore was almost overwhelming.
No more walking into that too-quiet kitchen every morning.
No more sitting in the sunroom painting while the silence pressed in from all sides.
Just Maya, with her easy presence and terrible taste in wall decor, filling up the empty spaces.
She grabbed the throw pillow from behind her back and hugged it to her chest. “So. Now that we’re officially roommates, I feel like I need to know all the dirt.”
“What dirt?”
“Any dirt. All the dirt.” She grinned. “But specifically, have you seen any more of Hot Dad Next Door since the trampoline incident?”
Heat crept up my neck. Of course she’d ask about that. I took a moment to think about how much to tell her. Lying and saying I hadn’t seen him at all felt wrong, but the whole truth felt impossible. So, I settled with, “Actually, yeah. I saw him the other day.”
Maya’s eyebrows shot up. “Uh huh. Tell me more.”
I set my sketchbook aside, pulling my knees up to my chest. “I made cupcakes. For his girls.” We’ll just skip over the whole reason why I did that.
“For his girls, you say. And how did that go?” Her tone made it clear that she didn’t buy the daughters cover story one bit.
The memory made me smile. “Really well. The girls are so sweet. They’re convinced I’m secretly a princess because I sleep in a queen bed.”
Maya laughed. “That’s adorable.”
“It is.” I picked at a loose thread on my jeans. “And Cam was... he was great. We had coffee and um…” It was hard to describe the tsunami of relief that had hit me when he’d simply invited me inside and made me coffee.
“And um?”
“And chatted.”
“Sounds cozy.”
“It wasn’t like that.”
“What was it like, then?”
The memory of how he’d looked at me when he asked if I was okay surfaced. That soft, genuine concern in his eyes. It made my breath hitch all over again.
“It was nice,” I said finally. “Different from what I expected.”
“Different how?”
“I don’t know.” I struggled to find the right words. “He’s grumpy and quiet, but he’s such a good dad. Patient. Present. Like they’re his whole world, you know?”
Maya was watching me with narrow eyes. “You like him.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You didn’t have to. Your face said it for you.”
I opened my mouth to argue, then closed it again. You can’t really cry your heart out in a man’s lap and expect nothing to change. “I don’t know what I feel,” I admitted. “It’s complicated.”
“Feelings usually are.”
Before I could respond, a flash of chrome glinted outside the window. A truck pulled into the driveway next door. Cam’s truck.
Maya followed my gaze. “Is that him?”
“Yeah.”
“Oooh, here we go!” Maya bounced up from the sofa and crossed to the window, peering out.
Of course I followed her.
We watched as he climbed out of the driver’s side and moved to open the back door. Alice tumbled out first, backpack wobbling, already talking a mile a minute. Audrey followed more carefully, adjusting her own bag on her shoulders.
“Oh my god.” Maya’s voice had gone slightly breathless. “You weren’t kidding. He’s gorgeous.”
He was. Even from a distance, the man was a masterclass in kinetics. Controlled strength, easy confidence. Too fucking hot for words.
“I mean, objectively speaking,” Maya continued, still staring, “that man is a work of art. Look at those shoulders. Look at those arms. Is he always that attractive or is it just because he’s doing the dad thing?”
“It’s always like that,” I said without thinking.
Maya turned to look at me, eyebrows raised. “Always, huh?”
“I just mean…”
“You’ve been paying attention.”
“He’s my neighbor. It’s hard not to notice.”
“Uh huh.” She was grinning now, clearly delighted. “And you made him cupcakes.”
“For his daughters.”
“Sure, Jan.”
I was about to defend myself when Cam straightened up, his hand on Alice’s shoulder. Then he turned, his gaze sweeping across the street toward my house.
My heart stuttered.
For a second, just a second, our eyes met through the window. His expression didn’t change, but something passed between us. I felt it in my chest, warm, unsettling and entirely too much.
I stepped back quickly, letting the curtain fall back into place. My pulse was racing like I’d just run a marathon.
“Oh, you are so into him,” Maya said, laughing.
“Shut up.”
“You practically jumped away from the window.”
“I did not jump.”
“You absolutely jumped. Like a guilty teenager who got caught staring at her crush.”
I grabbed the throw pillow and hit her with it. “I’m going to make some coffee. You want some?”
“Don’t think I didn’t notice the change of subject.” She was still grinning as she followed me into the kitchen. “But I’ll allow it. For now.”
“Gee thanks.”