Chapter 26
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
FILLING THE AFTERNOON
JULIANA
Present
I get a call later in the afternoon. Camden.
I look around before I answer. It’s the afternoon lull, so the cafe is quiet. Papa Hector is in the kitchen, and last time I checked, he was reading the paper at the little table back there.
“Hello?” I say.
“Hey, beautiful. So…there’s been a slight change in plans,” he says. “I’m sorry. I don’t know if you’ve heard from Jackson yet because he’s been here all afternoon, but he’s throwing an impromptu party tonight at the restaurant…with both our families.”
My phone buzzes, and I hold it out. “He’s calling now.”
He laughs. “I figured he wouldn’t waste any time. I really tried to push it back, to say I couldn’t do tonight, but you know how he gets when he’s got something on the brain.”
“Oh, I know how he works.” I sigh. “Well, it’ll be good to hang out with everyone.”
“I really wanted you all to myself,” he says.
My heart warms and I smile, but I try to be nonchalant when I say, “It’s probably for the best. I need to get to bed earlier tonight anyway.”
“I can’t convince you to stay over tonight?” He sounds disappointed.
“You think we’ll keep things a secret if I stay for the night?”
He groans. “I didn’t have enough time with you last night…and I’ve been thinking about you all day.”
I want to be with him too, more than anything, but I’ve thought about him obsessively all day, and I worry that I’m just a way for him to get all his sexual energy out.
We’ve moved from enemies to peace to sex pretty fast, and I feel like I need to keep my wits about me, even if those wits are barely hanging on by a thread.
His pattern in the past, whether intentional or not, has always been to make me feel like we’re getting closer, only for him to push me away. I don’t want to think about the other shoe dropping all the time, but it is hanging over my head a bit. I can’t let him break my heart again.
“Thinking about me is good,” I say coyly.
“Mm-hmm. Little tease…I didn’t realize how many ways you’d fit that name when I called you that the first time.”
“Almost like you’re speaking it into existence,” I say, laughing.
“I want to kiss you quiet right now.”
I gasp. “You don’t want to hear my words?”
He groans again. “No, I always want to hear your words…less so when they’re shutting me down.”
I can’t help the laugh that comes out.
“You’re loving this, aren’t you?” he says.
“A little bit. The quiet, stoic Camden Whitman has a dirty mouth and wants me all to himself. What’s not to enjoy? If you were here, I’d pull you into the walk-in cooler and teach you a lesson––”
I hear a snort behind me, and I turn to see Everett Whitman. My face drains of color, and I have to hold on to the counter to steady myself.
Camden is saying, “Don’t threaten me with a good time, Fair. Give me twenty minutes and I’ll be right there.”
“I’ve gotta go,” I say.
“What? All right, I see what you’re doing, little tease.” He laughs. “Will I see you tonight?”
“Mm-hmm,” I say before hanging up.
I meet Everett’s eyes and gulp.
“Hey, Juju. How’s it going?” Everett asks, unable to hold back his grin.
“It’s going.” I laugh awkwardly. “What can I get for you?”
“I’ll have your grilled cheese with a slice of tomato…and a large mug of chamomile tea.”
“Coming right up.” I get his hot water and teabag right away and slide it across the counter to him, and then I get to work on his food while he sits on a stool and watches.
“Everett, I’m really, really sorry you had to hear that,” I say.
A laugh roars out of him. “I’m not,” he says.
“In fact, I cannot tell you how thrilled I am to hear about this development.” He leans over and squeezes my shoulder, and I pause as I’m putting cheese slices on his bread to look up, and I see his earnest expression.
“Stella and I always hoped the two of you would end up together.”
My breath stutters, and with a wobbly voice, I say, “You did?”
He nods. “Parents notice things, and Stella was always far more perceptive than I was, but even I always noticed the way the two of you were drawn to each other…even when things were…less than friendly,” he says diplomatically.
“When you went away to school, Stella said again that she thought when the time was right, you’d find your way to one another. ”
“It’s not…I mean…we’re not…” I’m a stuttery mess. “Camden would like to keep it a secret.” It comes out in a rush and then hangs there.
Everett blinks and then lifts his eyebrows. “Really?”
He couldn’t sound more surprised.
The weight of it lands between us.
“Well, I’m sure he has a good reason, although I can’t think of any,” he says before wincing.
“He thinks it’s better this way…mostly because of Jackson. They have that agreement, you know.”
“I always thought that was a ridiculous agreement,” he says.
“And then there’s the fact that our families are close. It could be weird, if…” I leave the rest unsaid.
He looks at me for a moment and then smiles. “And what do you think?”
I freeze. What do I think?
I can’t tell him what I think…that keeping it a secret puts a bubble around us where everything is private and heady and nothing can touch it.
That I see the allure there, but it also makes me want to stand outside and yell, Mine.
That I want to kiss him out on the street and never have to explain to my brother that we’re not a bad idea.
That I’m afraid Camden is using Jackson as an excuse for not really being sure that I’m anything more than a good time.
That I’m afraid I am more into him than he is into me. God, I hope we’re on the same page.
“I don’t know yet,” I say honestly. “I like him. A lot. But I don’t…know what we are.”
Everett’s eyes soften. “That’s fair.”
“Your family has been through a lot…Stella…your health…I don’t want to make anything harder. And I’m just not sure what I really mean to him…and I don’t want to push him to find out.”
He sets his cup down. “Secrets can be okay for a little bit, but you don’t deserve to be kept a secret for long. I’m surprised he wants to hide something that makes him smile the way he has been lately.”
I pause. “He’s been smiling?”
His mouth twitches, and he leans in conspiratorially.
“I’ve caught him several times smiling at nothing.
” He lifts his hands up like That settles it, which makes me laugh.
“For what it’s worth, Stella would have had a fit about this being a secret.
She would’ve been throwing a party. She liked to expose joy in the brightest light possible. ”
“I miss her,” I say softly.
“So do I.” He nods as we exchange a look. “So do I.”
I hand him his sandwich. “Are you sure you don’t want a sweet treat too?”
“You know I do, but I’m trying to lay off some of the sweet treats right now.”
“Okay. Understood.”
“If you decide not to keep it a secret and Jackson has a problem with it, send him my way. I can give him a reality check about how short life is. You’ve gotta live your best one while you’re here.”
I nod. “Thank you. I’m going with it for now, but…I’m not sure how long.”
He sobers, studying me. “Understood,” he says, echoing me. “In that case, I will practice selective amnesia and pretend I didn’t hear any of that, unless you need me to say my piece.”
“Thanks, Everett.”
“Anytime.”
He eats his sandwich, and we talk about the latest updates on Windhaven until he’s ready to go.
“This has been fun,” he says when he gets up. “I hardly ever get you all to myself. It’s rather enlightening.” He winks. “I think I’ll have to time it out to happen again sometime…see what else I can discover.”
I laugh. “You’d be surprised at the things I hear inside these four walls.”
“Whew.” He shakes his head. “I’m scared to even ask. We don’t want to get these walls talking…”
He puts his coat on, and I go around the counter and hug him.
“You’ve always been so special to our family, Juju. Nothing will ever change that. Okay?”
I pull away and look up at him, nodding. “Okay. Thanks, Everett. Your family is so special to me too. That’s what makes this so scary and so wonderful…”
“It’s going to be okay. Trust me on this. Now that my boy has had the sense to let you in, he’s not going to let you go.”
I watch as he leaves the cafe, waving one more time before he opens the door, and the gust of cold comes wafting in.
I hope he’s right.