Chapter 53 Emily
EMILY
Iwoke slowly, disoriented by unfamiliar sheets and the weight of an arm draped across my waist. My brain fumbled through the fog, trying to place where I was.
Cam.
My memory came back in sharp, jagged flashes. The panic. The spiraling climb up the walls of my own brain. The way I’d just shown up at his door in the middle of the night, raw and crying and ugly.
I winced, waiting for the shame to hit.
You’d expect the morning after a breakdown to come with a heavy dose of regret. That I should be planning my escape route or drafting a text to apologize for being too much. For being broken.
But the shame didn’t come.
Instead, I just felt... safe.
Cam hadn’t pushed me away when I told him the things I’d never told another living soul. He hadn’t treated me like damaged goods. He’d just held me.
And here I was. In his bed. Still being held.
His arm tightened around me, and I felt his breath change against my neck as he started to wake.
“Hey,” he murmured, his lips brushing the back of my shoulder.
“Hey yourself.”
He shifted behind me, pulling me closer until there wasn’t any space left between us. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m okay.” I turned in his arms so I could see his face. His hair was a mess, his eyes still heavy with sleep. He looked absolutely perfect. “Thank you for last night.”
“You don’t need to thank me.” His hand cupped my cheek, his thumb stroking across my skin. “I meant what I said. I’ve got you.”
My throat went tight. I wanted to say something meaningful, something that would convey how much it meant that he’d held me while I fell apart. But the words got stuck somewhere between my brain and my mouth.
Cam seemed to understand anyway. He leaned in and kissed me, soft and unhurried. When he pulled back, he pressed his forehead to mine.
“You don’t have to go through this all on your own, Em. You know that, right?”
I nodded, not trusting my voice.
“Good.” He kissed the tip of my nose, then my forehead, then found my mouth again for something a little deeper.
I pressed myself closer, my blood humming. Until small footsteps in the hallway, followed by a whispered argument about whose turn it was to check if Daddy was awake.
The girls.
I went rigid, my heart jumping into my throat. I needed to get up and slip out before they found me here, in their father’s bed, with questions I didn’t know how to answer.
I tried to pull away, but Cam’s arm locked around my waist, holding me in place.
“But the girls,” I whispered urgently. The footsteps were getting closer.
“Don’t stress.” He pressed another kiss to my forehead. “I’ve got it.”
Before I could argue, his bedroom door burst open.
“Daddy, can we have eggs for—” Audrey stopped mid-sentence, her eyes going wide. “Emily?”
Alice pushed past her sister, bouncing on her toes when she spotted me. “Emily’s here! Why is Emily here?”
Heat rushed into my cheeks. I felt like a teenager caught sneaking in past curfew, but Cam didn’t even flinch. He sat up, keeping his arm firmly around my waist, totally unbothered by the interrogation committee at the foot of his bed.
“She had a nightmare and needed a cuddle,” he said. Simple as that.
Audrey’s expression shifted from surprise to understanding. She nodded sagely. “That makes sense. Daddy gives the BEST cuddles.”
Alice was already climbing onto the bed. “I’m good at cuddles too. Do you need another one?”
Oh god, I was for sure gonna cry.
“I would love another cuddle,” I managed, my voice a little thick.
Alice threw herself at me, wrapping her small arms around my neck. Audrey climbed up on Cam’s other side, reaching over to pat my arm.
“It’s okay, Emily,” she said, her voice grave. “Daddy says nightmares are just your brain playing tricks on you, coz sometimes it likes to be scared.”
Okay, well this was adorable and it sure went a long way to making me feel better. “Is that what’s happening?”
She gave a solemn nod.
“And what does Daddy say we should do about it?”
“You need to tell your brain to stop being stupid and that you don’t like it.”
I hugged Alice close, catching Cam’s eye over her head. The way he was looking at me made my heart roll over. Dragging my gaze away, I turned back to Audrey.
“Thank you, sweetheart,” I told her. “I’ll try that next time.”
“Can Emily have breakfast with us?” Alice asked, pulling back to look at her dad hopefully.
“If she wants to,” Cam replied. “Emily’s welcome to stay as long as she likes.”
The way he said it, steady and certain, made me believe it.
There was no way I could face being alone right now, and since Maya had picked up a weekend shift, I said, “I’d love breakfast. What are we having?”
“Options are eggs or pancakes,” Cam said.
“I can’t pass up the best pancakes I’ve ever tasted.”
“Yay!” Alice scrambled off the bed. “Come on, Audrey! We need to get the syrup ready!”
The girls thundered out of the room, already arguing about whether they needed regular syrup or the special strawberry kind.
The sudden quiet they left behind felt loaded. I glanced at Cam, feeling oddly shy all of a sudden. He still had that soft look in his eyes. He reached up and brushed my hair back from my forehead before leaning in to kiss me, soft and lingering.
“You sure you’re good?”
“I’m sure.” It wasn’t the whole truth, but I was much better than I’d been last night and that was enough for now.
“Okay then.” He kissed me one last time, then climbed out of bed, holding out his hand. “Come on. If we don’t get down there soon, they’ll have dumped half the syrup bottle on the counter.”
I let him pull me up, and we made our way downstairs together. In the kitchen, the girls had indeed gotten into the syrup, though Alice had at least managed to get it onto a plate rather than directly on the counter. They were debating pancake shapes when we walked in.
“Can you make them look like butterflies?” Audrey asked Cam.
“I can try,” he said, moving to the stove. “But they might end up looking more like blobs with wings.”
“That’s okay,” Alice said generously. “Blobs are good too.”
I took a seat at the kitchen table, unable to drag my eyes away from Cam. He moved around the kitchen like he was performing a choreographed dance he knew by heart. Crack an egg. Whisk the batter. Help Alice find the chocolate chips. Remind Audrey to use her inside voice.
He caught me watching and smiled, something private and just for me, before turning back to pour batter onto the griddle.
Something tight in my chest unspooled.
It was just breakfast. It was loud and messy and sticky. Yet, sitting here at his table in my pajamas, I was more grounded than I had ever been in the silent, pristine rooms of my parents’ house. This was what safe looked like.
“Emily, do you want chocolate chips in yours?” Alice asked, holding up the bag.
“Definitely.”
“Me too!” She climbed onto the chair next to me. “Daddy says too many chocolate chips turns them into cookies, but I think that’s silly. Cookies for breakfast sounds amazing.”
“I’m with you on that one.”
Cam flipped a pancake with more force than necessary, giving me a look that said he’d heard that exchange and I was not helping his case for moderation.
I just smiled at him.
When the first batch was ready, Cam plated them and brought them over.
He’d managed something vaguely butterfly-shaped for Audrey, and Alice’s was indeed heavy on the chocolate chips.
He set a plate in front of me, his hand brushing my shoulder as he moved past, the touch lingering just a second longer than necessary, making me shiver in the most delicious way.
“Thanks,” I said quietly.
“Anytime.”
We ate together, the girls chattering about their plans for the day.
Cam had taken the seat next to me and his arm rested along the back of my chair.
Every so often his fingers would drift down to brush my shoulder, or his knee would bump mine under the table, little touches that somehow felt anything but little.
When breakfast was done and the dishes were cleared, Alice tugged on my hand. “Can we watch a movie? Please? You can pick!”
I looked at Cam, uncertain if maybe I’d outstayed my welcome now that breakfast was done.
“I said you were welcome to stay as long as you like. I meant it.” His eyes locked on mine and his voice dropped lower. “Stay. Please.”
“Okay,” I said, doing my best to ignore the way my stomach flipped. “I’ll stay.”
The cheers the girls let out sure did good things to my ego. They took off toward the living room, discussing which movie to watch first.
I moved to follow them, but Cam caught my wrist and pulled me back toward him. His other hand came up, his fingers threading through my hair as he dipped his head, kissing me with way more heat than was safe with his daughters in the next room.