24. Ava
It was ridiculously stupid to be so nervous on the short drive out to my parents’ place. Mom and Dad loved Cameron. They already knew we were giving this a shot, and last week when I told them, I also filled Mom in on the fact that Cameron was part of the reason why I’d fled to Florida. I told her almost everything, mostly starting with that kiss in the hallway and the fact I’d had a crush on him for so long that being with him now didn’t feel quite real yet.
To which my mom, in all her wisdom, giggled. “If you think you were fooling anyone with that crush you had on him, you’re dead wrong, sweetheart. I’ve known that since you were in middle school.”
I’d rolled my eyes, told her to be nice, and that was it.
Up until she ambushed us in the middle of the grocery market thanks to Mr. Haven’s nosiness—something I’d texted Lydia about this afternoon after Cameron and I ate breakfast and spent some time getting to know each other with his dick lodged tight and deep inside of me—I would have thought taking Cameron home with me would have been the most natural thing.
It was different now. He wasn’t only Isaiah’s best friend, he was mine. Didn’t every girl get nervous introducing her boyfriend to her parents? Even if said boyfriend had practically grown up in that house?
“You bounce that leg any more, and I’m going to have to pull over and play with you until all you’re thinking about is how I feel inside of you.”
I froze said bouncy leg and whipped my head toward Cameron. “What?”
He chuckled and reached his hand out to settle on my thigh. “You’re nervous, and that’s ridiculous. Your parents already love me.”
“Yeah, as Isaiah’s best friend, but this is different.”
“How? Hell, I grew up in that house when I wasn’t at my own, and it’s not like they could tell me embarrassing stories about you I don’t already know.”
Okay, so he had a point. “I don’t know. It’s weird. After all this time…”
I drifted off because it was weird, but it was also right.
“What’s so weird about this?”
Oh, come on. He had to know. “It’s nothing,” I muttered instead, because the more I thought about it, the more my stomach tightened into a tiny, aching ball.
Cam slammed on his brakes, yanked us off to the shoulder of the road, and slapped his hand to turn on the emergency flashers.
“What are you doing?” I shrieked. “Cameron!”
“What’s bugging you, Sunshine?”
“The fact we’re sitting on the side of the road is what’s bugging me!”
“Bullshit.” He leaned in closer, one arm on the steering wheel, the other snaking up to the back of my neck. I loved when he grabbed me there. It was so sexy. Like he was claiming me in some way, and my body shivered as his fingers pressed in. “Something’s bugging you. And it started when we went into town this morning. I get not wanting people to talk, but you already knew that was going to happen. And I don’t want you a nervous jitterbug every time we leave your house.”
“You’re you,” I blurted, and his eyes narrowed. “And I’m just… I’m me… and people are going to think it’s weird and doesn’t make sense, and it doesn’t!”
God, I was being dumb. So stupid. But insecurities were insecurities, and there was no telling when they’d rear their ugly heads.
“I’m me, and you’re you. What do you mean by that?”
“Nothing.” I pulled back, but his hand at my neck kept me from moving too far, and I really needed him to let me go. My eyes were starting to burn, and I was soon going to be a foolish idiot crying in his truck. “It’s nothing, Cameron. Just forget it. Mom’s waiting.”
“Not going anywhere until we get through this. Tell me why it’s weird that we’re together.”
“Because you’re a stupid superstar and I’m just a small town girl. We don’t make sense!”
“Made sense to me when you were sitting on my face last night. Made sense to me when you were riding me until I came so hard I thought I might die. Made sense to me when you took me in your mouth this afternoon, something I’ll never forget in my life.”
God. His words. My body was warming, and those nerves were fleeing to the dark corners to hide. “It’s not about the sex, Cam.”
“It’s about…” He arched his brows and waited. He had a patient look, but the veins bulging in his neck showed me how frustrated he was with me.
I didn’t want that. I never wanted that.
“I thought we’d moved past that you have small dreams and I have a huge life nonsense.”
I swallowed, trying to tuck away my fears. “It doesn’t mean I’m fully over it. I mean, you could have anyone. Snap your fingers and a thousand girls would be ready for you. And now, we’re going to eat at my parents like it’s something we normally do, and in a few days, you’re leaving…”
Leaving me alone.
My eyes must have given me away because his expression softened into pure tenderness. His hand moved, thumb swiping over my bottom lip, and he tugged me closer to him, forcing us to meet, both curled over his wide, center console. “And you’re the only girl, the only woman I’ve ever met in my entire life who I could envision a future with, and I envisioned it back when I was sixteen years old, Ava. What does that say about me? Or us? And how is that weird?”
When he put it like that… “It’s not.”
“Exactly.” His lips curled at the edges, and then they were pressing against mine. “There’s nothing to be nervous about when it comes to me. I swear it to you.”
He was right. I knew it deep down in my soul, but my heart had been so twisted over him for almost as long that it felt strange to unravel all that ugliness and focus on the pure goodness he was giving me.
“I’ll try to remember that,” I said and kissed him back. “Okay?”
He pulled back, turned off the flashers, and pulled back onto the road. “See that you do, but if you need some help remembering, all you gotta do is jump me like you did today and all will be well.”
I scoffed. “Jump you? I didn’t jump you.”
“I was sitting at the table, and you climbed right into my lap and told me you wanted my dick, Ava.”
He was smirking.
I was fuming all over again.
“There might not have been a literal jump, but it’s all the same.”
I was lost in the memory of the way that’d felt when I’d slid off his knees to the hard kitchen floor and he’d had his shorts and shirt off before I could blink. My mouth watered all over again, feeling that stretch of my lips as I took him as far as I could, barely halfway, and I’d had to use my hand for the rest.
“Still no jumping.” I pouted, crossed my arms over my chest, and grinned out the side window.
He chuckled and didn’t bother trying to hide it.
I knew how to shut him up.
“You should know, Lydia and I started planning our weddings to you and Caleb back when we were twelve so we could someday become sisters.” There was a quick hiss of breath, and I kept my eyes on the land outside my window. “So, you might have known you wanted me since you were sixteen, but I’ve wanted you longer. Sometimes it’s hard to realize my dream is coming true and it’s not a fantasy anymore. Especially with everything else that’s happened. That’s why I freak out.”
His thumbs tapped the steering wheel. “I’ll keep apologizing for all of it for as long as I need to, you know.”
“I don’t want that.” I didn’t, I realized it that moment. It didn’t mean the memories didn’t still sting, and that’d take a while to get over, but I trusted Cameron when he said he’d make it up to me and never hurt me like that again. Deep down, I knew the kind of man he was, and he wouldn’t lie to me about that. It was the only reason why giving him a chance had come so easily to me.
“Then what do you need from me?”
“Time.” I reached over his large center console and settled my hand on his thigh. “Time to trust this will work.”
His hand covered mine. “I’ll give you that.”
“Well, look at you.” My mom had her hands pressed to Cameron’s cheeks, arms stretched high above her head. At five-two, she was even shorter than me, but that didn’t stop her from having a larger-than-life personality when her mood struck. “You get more handsome every time I see you.”
Cameron grinned at her and glanced at me, and I rolled my eyes behind her. “You saw him this morning, Mom.”
She looked at me over her shoulder and frowned. “Now, that’s not a very nice tone.”
“Yeah, Ava,” Cameron crooned. “That’s not very nice.”
I’d show him not nice if he kept up acting like a soldier who’d returned from a three-year deployment overseas and not the man she saw at least once a month. Heck, over the last several years, she’d seen much more of Cameron than I had.
“Leave the boy alone, Connie, you’re smothering him,” my dad said and slapped Cameron on the shoulder. “Good to see you. Good game yesterday.”
“Thanks, Bram. Farm’s looking in good shape.”
Where Cameron’s family raised cattle, our family land was substantially less, just less than a thousand acres, and we harvested winter wheat and potatoes.
“Been a good weather season. Wheat harvest was plentiful, and the potatoes are looking even better.”
“Let’s let the men talk shop,” my mom said, sliding her hand into mine and pulling me through the house to the kitchen.
“Is Isaiah coming, too?” I’d be surprised if he didn’t.
“He said he’d stop by later. Probably be here when we’re finishing up dinner.”
Good. That was good. Isaiah and I had talked, and Cameron had told him he and I were going to be together, but I hadn’t seen my brother much in the last week, and the teasing that would happen when he showed could be astronomical depending on his own mood.
“I’m still mad at you for embarrassing us in the store like that this morning,” I told her when we were alone, and she shoved a bowl full of vegetables to be chopped for a salad in front of me. She didn’t need to tell me what to do, I’d been helping my mom in the kitchen since I could safely stand on a chair.
“I should have called and asked, you’re right. But I was getting anxious, and I knew Cameron didn’t have much time here. You two are good?”
“It’s new, Mom.”
“Please.” She made a sound of disbelief. “You’ve been scribbling your initials inside of hearts since middle school, and if you thought you were hiding your crush on him all those years, you’re in denial.”
“Thanks. This is turning into a pleasant time.” Because I needed the reminder of my long schoolgirl crush, the art girl and book nerd who couldn’t look Cameron in the eye for two months after she got her period for the first time, she was so embarrassed he’d know somehow.
“Don’t pout. It’s unattractive.” She poked me with the end of her wooden spoon, right in the sensitive flesh above my hip.
I slapped her hand away, laughing. “Hey!”
“I’m happy about this,” she said and turned to stir the chopped chicken she was frying in the pan. “I’m glad you’re home, too. And that he’ll be around more. He might play football and be some superstar on the field, but he’s always been a small town boy. I like that for you.”
So much better than that Kip guy, was what she left unsaid.
“I’m happy too,” I admitted. “Although it feels like a dream I’m going to wake up from, and I keep freaking out about it.”
“All great love stories start that way,” she mused, smiling at me over her shoulder. “The best ones stay that way, and if you stop getting worried, you’ll wake up and enjoy the ride.”
She winked at me, and I turned back to the tomatoes she’d grown from her garden. While my dad worked the land and Mom helped, it was her gardens and chickens she tended to the most. Her gardens were so vast and well-loved, we rarely had to buy produce from the store. Hopefully, my own backyard could be as plentiful someday.
“Thanks, Mom.”
She came over and kissed my cheek. “Now, tell me what he’s like when it’s the two of you. He’s kind?”
“Yeah, Sunshine.” Cameron stood in the doorway, and I’d been so immersed in the conversation with my mom, I hadn’t noticed him watching us. Odd, considering I usually had a pretty good Cameron radar working. His look said he’d been there awhile. “Tell her how good I treat you.”
“He’s a bossy jerk,” I told my mom, glaring at him. “And if you’re in the kitchen, you know the rules. You have to help.”
“That’s why I stopped in the doorway.” He gestured to his feet, right at the line. He and Isaiah had been busted more often than not as they hovered in the kitchen. Of course, he knew where the line was. “Besides, I’m on a beer run for your dad.”
“Here you go, kiddo,” my mom said, and I had to fight down a laugh. What was with everyone calling this mountain of a man a boy and kiddo like he was a toddler? She handed a bottle of beer to Cameron.
He took it from her and risked the kitchen to come straight to me. “Your dad did ask for that beer, but I would have come anyway, seeing as how I somehow can’t stay away from you for too long.” He kissed my lips that had parted in surprise, flashed me a wink, and left the kitchen, leaving me staring after me.
My mom, with her back to me at the stove, gleefully said, “Seems to me you like the bossy jerk. And trust me, a little bit of bossiness isn’t too bad.”
“Mom!” I guffawed. She could not be talking to me like this. She never did.
She shrugged and started peeling carrots to add to whatever dish she was making.
Homemade chicken pot pies from the looks of the ingredients stacked to her side.
“You’re old enough to handle it,” she teased right back.
Good grief.
Cameron walked into my home, and my mom became a different kind of woman.
Like mother, like daughter, I suppose.
My mom went all out for dinner like Cameron being there for dinner with me was a special occasion. We forewent the casual seating in the kitchen’s breakfast nook, and the formal dining room table was set like it was a Christmas family dinner.
My mom’s homemade butter, along with her sourdough bread, was sliced and set out on each side of the table that could seat up to ten with all the leaves in, but was currently smaller, with a leaf missing, and set for five. A tablecloth, placemats, and charger plates, along with two squat, square vases filled with zinnias from her gardens, decorated the table as centerpieces.
I couldn’t remember a time outside of a holiday when they’d ever put this much effort into a meal, including the first time I brought Kip home with me. It was as irritating as it was endearing, seeing the effort my parents were making for Cameron.
Part of me figured Mom was trying to make a point, not only to him but to everyone. Cameron was there with me, not showing up as Isaiah’s friend, and as that thought hit, the irritation melted away.
“Gorgeous table, Mom,” I said, kissing her cheek as she walked past me to the head of the table.
Dad always sat her there while he took the foot instead of proper manners dictating the other way around. “She’s the queen, and we wouldn’t eat this fabulousness without her, so she gets the honored spot to enjoy the fruits of her labor,” was his response the day I learned about etiquette and questioned it.
She trailed her hand down my arm and gave my hand a warm squeeze. “Special night for everyone,” she replied.
I sniffed back tears at her thoughtfulness and my ability to finally see it and looked to Cameron, who was preparing to take the seat on my left while Dad finished bringing the hot food to the table, setting it out on the crocheted hot pads that had been a part of our dinners since I could walk.
Cameron dipped his head low to my ear, and I had to fight a shiver as his warm breath cascaded over me. “Seems to me you’re the only one thinking this is weird and not special.”
I glared up at him and rolled my eyes. “I’m getting it now, okay?”
“Good.” He settled his hand at my lower back and pulled out my chair. Once I was seated, he guided me into the table and then waited for my mom to take her seat before taking his.
Small town boy he was, with manners to boot.
Manners that went out the door when we were alone, which frankly, I wasn’t complaining about. Not in the slightest.
As soon as we were seated, the door opened, and Isaiah’s voice boomed from the front hall. “Have I missed all the fun?”
“We’re in here, honey!” my mom called. “And perfect timing!”
Hardly. I was looking at Cameron, who was grinning at me, like he knew something was going to come from my idiot brother’s mouth.
“Dang! Nice spread, Mom. Must be somethin’ special happening tonight, huh?” He paused behind his chair and rubbed his scruff-covered chin. “Hm. Wonder what that is?”
His chair slid out and slammed into his hips. “Sit down and be smart,” Cameron said.
He’d kicked the chair out at my brother.
“No need to be mad, old friend.” Isaiah slid back his chair and took his seat. After placing his napkin on his lap, he clasped his hands together at the edge of the table. He shot us both a shameless, haphazard smile. “After all, if it weren’t for me, you two might not have pulled your heads out and finally worked things out together.”
“Right.” I rolled my eyes. “Didn’t know you could predict the weather.”
“Not the weather.” He held up a finger. “But if you were smart enough to check the dates you were supposed to be staying at Cam’s, you would have known you would have still been at his house when he got back anyway.”
Cameron’s head tilted to the side. “You’re making this up.”
Isaiah shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe not. Guess we’ll never know, but I keep telling you all I’m not as dumb as I look.”
“Oh, sweetie, you don’t look dumb,” my mom said and reached out and patted his hand. “And that’s sweet of you to try to help these two, but let’s let them figure it out by themselves, shall we?”
Isaiah preened like a peacock under our mom’s praise. Typical mama’s boy.
“How about we take some time to give thanks for what we’re grateful for and leave Cameron and Ava off the hotspot all together?” my dad said and smiled as he met everyone’s glances. “I’ve got my entire family together, back home where they all belong, and that includes you too, son.” He nodded to Cameron before continuing, “Doesn’t happen all that often, but I’m praying it’s more frequent in the future. No bickering allowed.”
He speared Isaiah with a look, whose jaw dropped in faux surprise. “Why is it always my fault?”
“Because you’re the one who starts it,” my mom piped in and nodded toward my dad. “Let’s give thanks.”