Chapter 29
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
MADDY
“Victory!” I throw my hands up in the air and stick my tongue out at Cam, who is sitting across from me in the epic blanket fort Riley and I built in the living room.
“Go ahead and gloat,” he says with a laugh. “You earned it, Wildcat.”
“You definitely earned it,” Riley says with a definitive nod. “I’ve never had a better waffle in my entire life.”
“I like that you did the Reese’s Cups and M&M’s in a pattern, so you get both in every bite. How did you even think of that?” Ethan takes another huge bite of the waffle I constructed and grins at me through a mouthful of candy and whipped cream.
I laugh, wondering if I’ve ever had this much fun.
Neither of Cam’s kids blinked when I walked into their kitchen.
Ethan let out a loud whoop, and Riley gave me her Mama Mia script and asked me to run lines with her.
Then Cam handed me an iced coffee exactly the way I like it and took his place behind the giant kitchen island to mix waffle batter.
With a whisk in hand, wearing gray joggers and a black Renegades sweatshirt, dishtowel slung over his shoulder, and that messy hair falling over his forehead, I had to physically restrain myself from mauling him.
I’ve never seen Cam in full domestic mode, and now that I have, consider my brain chemistry permanently altered.
Cam in dad mode is hot. Cam being a dad while simultaneously handling the waffle iron like a pro, making the perfect cup of coffee, tossing me a wink as he puts a Celine Dion playlist on the kitchen speakers, and scattering lit candles around the living room to chase the rainy day gloom away from our little blanket fort picnic is melt your underwear off levels of scorching.
And when the waffles were finished and Cam pulled out ten different bags of candy and so many toppings the counter practically groaned under their weight, declaring that we were having a waffle making competition?
Fuck me.
This whole current situation belongs in the Louvre.
“It’s a gift,” I say breezily, leaning back against a mound of pillows and contemplating another bite of the peanut butter chip/Oreo crumble/caramel sauce situation that was Cam’s brainchild. “I take junk food really, really seriously.”
Cam grins at me, his face flushed from standing over the waffle iron for so long and his eyes sparkling with happiness and fun. And when he nudges my knee with one outstretched foot, my stomach does a little shimmer and swoop.
“You sure do.” Lisa gives my various waffles an approving glance. “And the blanket fort was inspired.”
I look around the blanket fort and smile.
“Wright family tradition. When I met my parents, one of the first things we all did together was build a blanket fort in the living room and eat tacos in it. My dad knew it was something my mom used to do with her own parents, so he recreated it for her, and then the tradition stuck.” I glance at Cam, locking eyes with him when I say this next thing.
“It’s what we do when one of us needs a little extra comfort. ”
His face goes soft, his eyes so intense that butterflies swarm my stomach at the same time as a deep satisfaction settles over me at being able to share my own family tradition with this little family that has come to mean so much to me.
Cam opens his mouth to say something before he’s interrupted by Ethan.
“Why’d you have to meet your parents?” He sounds so confused that I almost laugh, and I glance at Cam, wondering if it’s okay to share my story with his kids. When he smiles and nods, I turn back to Ethan.
“I was adopted,” I tell him. “My biological mom died when I was very little, and then my biological dad couldn’t take care of me, so I came to live with my parents. I’m pretty lucky because they’re the best.”
“Our mom died when Riley and me were little too,” Ethan says matter-of-factly. “But we’re also pretty lucky because our dad is also the best.” He slides his gaze to Cam. “Even if he won’t let me have a phone for three more years.”
And with that, what could be a melancholy moment turns into the exact opposite, as we all burst out laughing.
“I get my love of junk food from my mom. She’s been addicted to M&M’s for my entire life, so she’s the one who taught me to take candy very, very seriously.”
“Everyone should take candy seriously,” Lisa says, abandoning her waffle and eating Reese’s Pieces straight from the bag. “I’m so glad Cam didn’t turn into one of those athletes that eats all clean and stuff, whatever that means. I never could have handled it.”
I smile, taking a sip of my second cup of perfect coffee.
I may have freaked out just a tiny bit when Cam’s mom strolled into the entryway earlier, because holy shit it was Cam’s mom, but I got over that in ten seconds flat because holy moly is she amazing.
She is so much like my own family—immediately welcoming, openly crazy about her grandchildren, making me feel like I belong right here in this house—that I was instantly at ease.
And if I had a little shot of anxiety at the thought of widening the circle of people who know about Cam and me and risking it getting out before we’re ready?
Well, I told that anxiety to fuck right off because it has no business in this warm, cozy living room.
Besides, I jingled my rearview mirror disco balls before I knocked on the door, so I’ve got luck on my side.
“I eat fine,” Cam grumbles, and it’s so adorable I have to stop myself from actually squealing.
“But do you?” I give him a raised eyebrow. “You had all these bags of candy in your kitchen, and your affinity for tossing M&M’s into popcorn is…well documented.” My raised eyebrow turns to a devious smile at the reminder of all the candy popcorn we’ve shared.
In bed.
After.
When Cam’s eyes go molten, I know he knows exactly what I’m referring to, and when he slides his foot lightly up my leg, my pulse goes haywire.
“M&M’s in popcorn is brilliant.” Riley immediately gets up from the floor to go rummage through the kitchen pantry.
She crows in victory when she comes up with a bag of popcorn, unwrapping it and sticking it into the microwave.
“What?” she says at Cam’s look. “It sounds like something I need to try immediately.”
“Same!” Ethan says. “I’m still hungry.”
“Want another waffle?” Lisa asks.
“Nah.” Ethan shoves his plate away. “I’m not more waffles hungry. I’m M&M’s in popcorn hungry. Ry, make two bags.”
“On it!” she says, going back to the pantry.
Cam just shakes his head and smiles. The candles flicker as the rain drums quietly on the windows, the storm long over, and I think this is the best day I’ve ever had.
“So, what’s the deal with you guys?” Riley asks, flopping back down on the pillows and putting a giant bowl of popcorn in the middle of the fort, dumping a massive bag of M&M’s right into the bowl and giving the whole thing a shake.
“You’re, like, together right?” Her voice is casual, but when she looks up and her gaze bounces between Cam and me, she looks more like a detective interrogating a witness.
Did I say this was the best day I’ve ever had? What I meant was, Holy shit teenagers are terrifying and thank fucking god this teenager’s actual parent is in this room to answer the question because what even are words anyway, since I don’t know one single one.
Except that parent suddenly looks like he, too, has forgotten all the words, and Lisa is trying not to laugh, and how did this go to shit so fast?
Cam pulls himself together quickly though, tapping his foot against mine, his eyes saying, I’ve got this.
“Is that okay with you?” he asks Riley.
She rolls her eyes. “Duh. Maddy is, like, so cool, and she has a giant family and so many of them are women who talk to Zoe and me like we’re actual people instead of just kids. I love them. I’m glad you waited to have a girlfriend until now so it could be Maddy. This is great.”
Well shit. I will myself not to cry, even though Riley’s words make me feel like I won a gold medal and the Stanley Cup all at the same time. Teenage approval is no small thing.
“Wait, she’s your girlfriend?” Ethan asks, and his eyes go wide. “If you get married, does that mean I get to be related to Jeremy and Oliver Wright?”
The way Cam reacts to the word married, the way he immediately looks at me with a smile curving his lips, his eyes crinkling at the corners, like this is something he wants, and he wants to make sure that maybe it’s something I want too, has my heart tripping in my chest because I could, is my first thought.
I think I could want exactly that. When I give him a wink, his whole face lights up and he turns back to Ethan.
“No one is getting married right now. We like each other, and we like spending time together.”
“And I like spending time with you,” I say to both of them, before turning to Ethan. “But if you want to hang with my dad and brother more, they would love that.”
“I want,” Ethan says immediately, making everyone laugh again.
Lisa takes my hand and squeezes it, and Cam looks like someone just gifted him the keys to the universe, and the kids are both grinning while they shove handfuls of candy popcorn into their mouths.
The kitchen is a disaster, and the blanket fort is littered with half-eaten waffles and empty mugs, and somewhere out there is probably a clock ticking down to the destruction of my career—but there’s time to worry about all of that later.
I am right where I’m supposed to be.
“Anyone want to see a movie today?” Lisa asks, glancing between Riley and Ethan. “I think a dark theater is the best place to spend a rainy day. And maybe dinner afterwards?”
“Tacos.” Riley says immediately. “Maddy mentioned tacos, and now I can’t think about anything else.”
Lisa nods. “Definitely tacos. Go get dressed and we’ll find a movie.”