Chapter 17 Cam
CAM
Ipulled into the driveway forty minutes early, my shoulders aching from lifting furniture all day. The house was lit up, warm light spilling from the windows, and my heart squeezed at the knowledge that Emily was inside. Waiting for me.
She’s not waiting for you, asshole. She’s there because you pay her.
I cut the engine, trying to ignore the way my pulse kicked up in anticipation. Yeah, this was getting to be a problem.
Dragging in a deep breath that had no effect on my galloping pulse, I grabbed my things and headed inside.
I’d barely made it through the door when I heard the girls giggling and talking in hushed tones.
I followed the sound to the playroom and stopped dead in the doorway as all the air whooshed from my lungs.
Emily was lying on the daybed covered in a blanket, eyes closed, hands folded across her stomach. She looked heartbreakingly lovely, lying there with her hair splayed across the pillow, her lips curved in a half smile as my girls flitted around her.
I was so mesmerized that it took me a full minute to take in what they were actually doing.
Audrey and Alice were placing hand drawn flowers all around her, their movements careful and deliberate, like they were performing some kind of sacred ritual.
“Daddy!” Alice spotted me first, her face lighting up.
“Hey, monsters.” I forced myself to sound normal, casual. “What’s going on here?”
Emily opened her eyes and started to sit up, but both girls immediately jumped forward.
“No!” Audrey pressed her hands against Emily’s shoulders. “You can’t move yet.”
“I can’t?” Emily’s brow furrowed in confusion. “Why not?”
“Because we’re not done with the test,” Alice said seriously.
“The test.” A hint of laughter sparkled in her eyes. “Right. Of course.”
I crossed my arms and leaned against the doorframe, too curious now to interrupt whatever this was. “What kind of test are we talking about?”
“A very important one,” Audrey replied.
They stood there staring at Emily, identical expressions of intense concentration on their faces. Waiting for something.
Emily lay perfectly still, playing along. “Am I supposed to be doing something?”
“Just lying there,” Alice said.
More staring. More waiting. Watching Emily try to keep a straight face while my daughters conducted their mysterious experiment was possibly the best thing I’d seen all week.
Finally, Audrey and Alice exchanged a look. Some kind of silent communication passed between them, and they both nodded.
“Okay,” Audrey announced. “You can get up now.”
“Thank God.” Emily sat up, brushing flower drawings off her shirt. “I was starting to think I’d failed whatever that was.”
“You did.”
“Wow, that’s brutal, Alice.” I didn’t even try to hide my amusement, and you bet my heart stuttered when Emily’s eyes met mine, glowing with the same humor.
“But we’re not finished yet,” Alice assured her
“There’s more?”
“Daddy.” Audrey turned to me with that serious expression she got when she was on a mission. “You need to make Emily coffee while we get ready.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Get ready for what?”
“The next part of the test. Duh.”
“Oh right, sorry.” I pushed off the doorframe. “Come on, Emily. Apparently we’re making coffee.”
She followed me down the hallway into the kitchen, confusion radiating off her. “Do you have any idea what’s happening right now?”
“Not even a little bit.”
“Should we be concerned?”
“Probably.” I started the coffee maker. “But they seem pretty committed to whatever this is, so we might as well go with it.”
Behind us, I could hear the girls in the playroom, giggling and shuffling around. Then footsteps in the hallway, getting closer. One of them passed the kitchen doorway, heading toward the laundry room.
Emily’s head whipped toward the sound. “What are they doing?”
The chest freezer opened with a creak. Closed again. More footsteps, faster now, running back to the playroom.
“I have no clue.” But I was starting to get concerned.
Whispered conversation drifted down the hall, too quiet to make out the words.
Emily leaned against the counter, close enough that her scent washed over me. It hit me harder than a jolt of double espresso.
I kept my eyes on the coffee pot because looking at her right now, flushed and smiling in my kitchen, felt dangerous. I handed her a mug, our fingers brushing for a fraction of a second. Heat shot straight up my arm.
This was fine. Just two friends, shooting the breeze. No need to think about how badly I wanted to touch her. And kiss her, And… Don’t do that.
Before my thoughts could spiral any further, Alice called out. “Emily! You can come back now!”
“Here we go,” she murmured.
I followed her back to the playroom, coffee in hand. Both girls were standing beside the daybed, practically vibrating with excitement.
“Okay,” Audrey said. “Lie down again.”
“Seriously?” Emily set her mug on the small table by the door.
“It’s very important.”
“Alright then.” She climbed back onto the daybed, settling in with exaggerated care. “Like this?”
“Perfect.” Alice grabbed the blanket folded at the foot of the bed. “Now close your eyes.”
Emily did as she was told and the girls moved forward with the blanket, clearly about to cover her.
But before they could even get it over her legs, Emily jackknifed upright with a yelp.
“What the hell?”
Both girls erupted into cheers, jumping up and down and clapping like they’d just won the lottery.
“I knew it!” Alice shrieked. “I knew it, I knew it, I knew it!”
“Told you she was a princess.” Smug satisfaction was written all over Audrey’s face.
Emily stared at them, then down at the bed, then back at them. “What did you put under there?”
“Frozen peas!” Alice was still bouncing. “From the freezer in the laundry room!”
I nearly choked on my coffee. “You put frozen peas under the sheet?”
“Yes, Daddy, because that’s how you test. It’s in the book with the princess, remember?
But we didn’t know if it was the letter p or the vegetable, so we did both.
” Audrey stepped forward and lifted the sheet, pulling out two pieces of paper with the letter P written all over them.
“This didn’t work, so then we had to do the other pea. ”
The logic was absolutely insane and completely perfect. I looked at Emily, who had one hand pressed to her lower back where the frozen peas had apparently made contact, her expression caught somewhere between bewilderment and delight.
“So.” She cleared her throat, clearly trying to keep it together. “The verdict is in? I’m officially a princess?”
“Yes!” They rushed at her, throwing their arms around her in a tangle of limbs and excitement. “We knew it! We knew you were!”
“Well then.” Emily hugged them back, her eyes meeting mine over their heads. Christ, she was gorgeous. “I guess I should start working on my royal wave.”
“You have to wear a crown,” Alice insisted.
“And a fancy dress,” Audrey added.
“I’ll see what I can do.”
I stood there in the doorway, coffee cooling in my hand, watching Emily with my daughters. Watching her fit into my life like the missing piece I’d been too stubborn to look for. Yeah. I was in so much trouble.