Chapter 9 Cam
Chapter 9
Cam
When I woke up on Saturday morning, I found Ada, Emmy, and Teddy waiting for me in Gus’s kitchen. It smelled like they had made coffee and breakfast.
“Morning!” Emmy said cheerfully. She was holding a coffee cup with both hands, soaking in its warmth. Emmy was never this cheery in the morning, a legendary grumpy riser.
“Are you hungry?” Teddy asked. She was at the stove piling a plate high with pancakes. Ada just smiled at me and went back to what she was doing on her iPad.
“What’s going on?” I asked suspiciously, taking a seat at the kitchen table.
Emmy bit her lip and was quiet for a second. “It’s time, Cam,” she said. “You’ve been staying at your baby daddy’s house for a week—we think it might be time to start thinking about what’s next.” Emmy’s voice was soft—thoughtful. I had only stayed at the Big House with Amos for two nights before I migrated over here. I knew Gus had been worried about me.
“Not that we don’t love having you,” Teddy chimed in as she slid a plate of pancakes toward me. “We’d all do anything for you, but it might be time to re-establish some routine here. Maybe some normal boundaries, you know?”
Oh god. Teddy Andersen was telling me about routine? And boundaries?
She took the seat next to me and bumped my shoulder with hers. “I am a saint, but a week is where I have to draw the line,” she said with a laugh. “I need to get laid.”
Ada snorted at that, and Emmy made a gagging noise.
“Oh, grow up, Clementine,” Teddy teased. “I’m just saying—things have taken a little bit of a hit in that department lately. But I don’t want Cam to be subjected to all of the sounds coming from our bedroom across the hall when the dam finally breaks.”
“Oh god.” Emmy put her hands over her ears. “Make it stop.”
“Understandable.” I sighed. Both she and Gus had been so kind to me this week—too kind, almost—especially for two people who were better known for their tough love.
“But only if you’re ready,” Emmy said, and Teddy and Ada nodded in agreement.
“It’s understandable if you aren’t,” Ada said. “You can also come stay with me and Wes to give Gus and Teddy some…um…alone time.”
“I can’t just bounce between all of your houses for the foreseeable future.” I sighed. “Teddy’s right. It’s time to get some routine back—for me and Riley.”
Teddy smiled. “I was hoping you’d say that. Not in a ‘I want you out of my house’ way but in a ‘we have a plan’ way.”
“What did you have in mind?” I asked.
“Well,” Ada said from across the table, “I’ve put together a list of every home in Meadowlark that’s for sale or for rent, which is not that many, but it’s enough for us to work with.” She slid her iPad across the table to me.
“The ones highlighted in green are the ones that I think are the most promising based on size, cost, and location. I figured at least three bedrooms and at least close-ish to Rebel Blue.”
Ada’s love of organization spoke to my soul. I slowly scrolled through her list, thankful that she’d included pictures. I got to a blue Craftsman-style cottage and stopped.
“Is this the Wilson house?” I asked and looked up, even though I already knew the answer.
Emmy nodded excitedly. “Just went up for rent yesterday. Apparently, Mrs. Wilson moved into a care facility.”
Anne Wilson was a kind, elderly woman who was as much a part of Meadowlark as the diner or the Devil’s Boot. I met her when I was in high school. Dusty and I used to park at her house before we went hiking, and she would leave treats on her porch for when we were done. Like everyone I knew, Anne loved Dusty. I remember him weeding her yard in the summer and shoveling snow for her in the winter, but most of all, I remember him talking to her and listening to her stories.
I thought back to the gas station and how Dusty was so at ease with Stan. He’d always had a knack for people and loved building and maintaining relationships. There were probably hundreds of Annes and Stans in the world now, since Dusty had been all around it.
“According to the clerk at the post office,” Ada said, “there’s already been a lot of interest in it.” My shoulders sagged a little. Of course there was—it was a beautiful home.
“But,” Teddy said, holding a finger up, “we have an advantage.”
“How so?” I asked.
“Well, you obviously get pity points because you got left at the altar,” Teddy said with a wave of her hand. “And the real estate agent in charge of vetting tenants is Ed Wyatt.”
I didn’t know Ed. “How does that give me an advantage?” I asked.
“Because Ed’s little brother still has a soft spot for his high school homecoming date.” Teddy’s gaze moved to Emmy. “The one and only Clementine Ryder.”
Emmy rolled her eyes and held up her left hand and wiggled her ring finger, which was adorned with a simple diamond-encrusted gold band. “I don’t think that advantage applies anymore, Ted.”
“Only one way to find out,” Teddy said before looking back at me. “Is this the house you want, Cam?” That didn’t even cover it. This is the house I had always wanted. I slowly nodded. “All right then. Let’s get it for you.”
Teddy stood up, walked over to Emmy, and pulled Emmy’s phone out of her back pocket. Emmy immediately tried to snatch it back, but Teddy was already on the move.
“I can’t believe your password is ‘brooks,’?” she called back to Emmy as Emmy chased her around the table. “You two are so predictable.”
“Give me the phone, Teddy!”
“Kenny Wyatt, where are you?” Teddy was focused on scrolling but was still managing to evade Emmy. “There you are, you cheating bastard.”
“You really need to get over that,” Emmy said. “He kissed another girl at junior homecoming. ” Emmy emphasized the last two words of her sentence. “As in high school !”
“As your best friend, I will never be getting over that,” Teddy said before she tapped Emmy’s phone screen a few times. The ring tone of an outgoing call filled the room, and Teddy finally gave the phone back to Emmy.
“What do I even say?” Emmy whisper-yelled, but Teddy didn’t have time to answer because a man’s voice picked up the phone.
“Emmy?” Kenny Wyatt’s voice was on the other end.
“Hey, Kenny,” Emmy said calmly. If I couldn’t see her, I would never know that she was giving Teddy the world’s dirtiest looks. “How are you?”
“Uh…good?” I’d never heard a man sound more confused than right now.
“That’s good,” Emmy said, and Teddy gestured for her to keep going. “So, um, I don’t know if you heard about Cam…” Emmy trailed off, and I flinched.
“Oh, yeah,” Kenny said. “I’m really sorry. That really sucks.” Kenny did not even sound a little bit sorry.
“Yeah, so Cam needs a new place to live—we’re trying to keep her in Meadowlark because of Riley, you know…”—nice, use the kid—“and I saw that your brother is vetting renters for Anne Wilson’s place.”
“Yeah, he is. His phone has been ringing off the hook, apparently.”
“I’m sure,” Emmy said, getting a little more confident in her delivery. “Cam loves the house, and it would be so perfect for her and Riley. I was wondering if you might be able to put in a good word for Cam?”
“Oh, Emmy, I don’t—” Emmy cut him off.
“Please, Kenny. It would mean a lot to me.” If she were face-to-face with Kenny right now, I am a thousand percent certain she would’ve batted her eyelashes at him.
The phone was silent, and I held my breath.
“Okay,” Kenny finally said. “I’ll call him now. I’ll text you when I hear from him.”
“Okay! Thanks, Kenny.”
“Anytime.” Emmy cringed as she said goodbye and hung up the phone. She immediately pointed a finger at Teddy.
“You are the most annoying person that has ever walked the planet,” she said.
Teddy just smiled. “All right, now that that’s taken care of”—she shifted her gaze to me—“let’s talk about how we’re going to get your shit out of dickwad’s house.”
“Don’t I need to like…send an email or something? Make sure Ed knows that I’m interested in touring the property?”
“Already sent on your behalf while Emmy was on the phone,” Ada chimed in. These women were unstoppable.
Emmy and Teddy both sat down at the table. “So,” Teddy said, “have you talked to Graham at all?” I shook my head. I hadn’t talked to anyone. I’d even ignored every call from my parents, which I would no doubt pay for very soon. When I was here, at Rebel Blue, surrounded by my daughter’s family, I felt braver than I normally did—not brave enough to deal with Graham on my own, though.
“Do you want one of us to do it?” Emmy asked thoughtfully.
“I can,” Ada said, and I nodded. I trusted Ada with this. I trusted Teddy and Emmy, too, but I could depend on Ada to do this gently and quietly and in a way that allowed me to get in and out with minimal damage. She would let me avoid what I wanted to avoid. I wasn’t like Emmy or Teddy, who never backed down from a fight. I didn’t have it in me to get mad at Graham or tell him all the ways in which what he did was wrong. Sometimes, I wished I wasn’t so comfortable with going quietly, but I would just rather things be easy.
“Thank you,” I said.
“No problem,” she said with a kind smile. I met Ada when she came to Meadowlark last year to help Wes renovate one of Rebel Blue’s buildings into a guest ranch. I liked her immediately. She and I were similar. We were both a little quieter and tended to live inside of our own heads. Sometimes, we both felt a little outside of everything, which wasn’t a bad thing—being in the center of the action was never really my thing; I preferred to watch from the outside, and so did Ada. We did it together. I handed my phone to her, and she nodded.
“Kenny texted!” Emmy said excitedly. “We can look at the house today at four.”
“Seems like that soft spot is still as soft as a marshmallow,” Teddy said with a mischievous smile. “Kind of a bummer that he never stood a chance.”