Chapter 27 Cam
Chapter 27
Cam
With the number of butterflies in my stomach, you would’ve thought I was about to jump out of a plane or off a cliff—not that I was about to attend a fancy-ass gala with my high school boyfriend and current…friend.
“That dress is amazing on you,” Ada said through my phone screen. We were on FaceTime—Riley was on her lap. Ada and Wes were taking Riley for the night. It was technically my weekend, and I’d asked Gus for a lot since the not-wedding and the move.
I hated the mom-guilt that I felt for spending half of the time that I got with my daughter away from her. Knowing my parents, they probably planned this timing of the gala on purpose.
“What do you think, Sunshine?” I pulled this dress out of the back of my closet. I’d never worn it before. I bought it when I thought I’d be married and attending this gala with my husband. It was a stunner—satin, cobalt blue, one shoulder, and clung to my body until mid-thigh.
“You’re a knockout,” Riley said, and I laughed.
“Where did you hear that?” I asked. She absorbed every little thing.
“Dad says it to Teddy.” She shrugged.
“And it works here, too,” Ada said. “How are you feeling?”
“Good,” I responded and held two different earring options—one in each hand—up to the screen: one with a teardrop diamond and the other with two small diamonds and a sapphire in the middle. Both Ada and Riley pointed to the sapphires, so I put them in.
Ada arched a dark brow at me. She wasn’t a fan of my one-word answers.
“Are you and Dusty going on a date, Mom?” Riley asked out of the blue.
My eyes widened. “U-um,” I stammered. “No, Sunshine, we’re not going on a date. Dusty and I have been friends for a long time,” I said. Ada rolled her eyes and looked like she was fighting a smile.
“Oh,” Riley said. I couldn’t tell for sure, but it looked like she…deflated a little bit? “I like Dusty.”
“Me too,” Ada said, and I gave her a look.
My doorbell rang—saved by the bell. “I’ve got to go, Sunshine. Have fun tonight, okay?”
“I will. Uncle Wes said we’re making s’mores and that Loretta could sit by us.” Loretta was Wes’s bottle calf from last year. Riley was obsessed with her.
“I love you, Sunshine. I’ll see you in the morning.”
I hung up the phone. I shot off a quick text to Dusty, telling him to come in and that I’d be out there in a second.
I slipped on a pair of nude slingbacks and checked my hair and makeup for the thousandth time. I loved getting ready— doing my own makeup and hair, spending time on myself. For my hair, I’d gone with a full blowout and then did my best attempt at some soft old Hollywood waves. I pulled my hair back on one side—the same side that my shoulder was exposed on—and I loved the way it looked.
I took one last look in the mirror, but before I walked out of my bedroom, I realized that I hadn’t put my necklace on. I quickly grabbed it off my dresser—I’d put it on in the car—and grabbed my clutch.
Dusty had his back to me when I walked toward the entryway. He was looking out the window—there was still a decent amount of snow, but the sun was breaking through more and more every day.
Half of his blond hair was pulled back into a bun at the back of his head. His broad shoulders filled out his suit perfectly and when he turned, I lost my breath.
A lock of hair that was too short to be pulled back fell down the side of his angular face. Without his hair down, his eyes were even more striking than usual. I watched them drink me in.
He brought a hand to his chest—the one with the rose tattooed on it—and his mouth dropped open a little bit. “You look…” He swallowed, and I tracked the movement of his Adam’s apple. “God, you look stunning, Ash.”
Dusty’s voice was almost awestruck, and it made me want to run and hide but also bask in it.
“Thank you,” I said, running my eyes up and down his form. On further inspection, he wasn’t wearing just a suit—it was a tux. I didn’t think he’d actually wear one. He wasn’t a tux sort of guy. “You, too—where’d you get a tux?”
Dusty flashed me a grin. “I’m full of surprises.” He saw the necklace in my hand and nodded toward it. “Do you want me to put that on?”
“I don’t think it goes with your outfit,” I said.
Dusty reached out, and I tried to dodge him, but he softly flicked my nose. “Smartass,” he said. “Give it here,” he said with a palm out. I dropped the necklace into his palm, and he used the other hand to motion for me to turn around. I did.
After a moment, I felt Dusty’s fingers on my shoulder, moving my hair to one side. I remembered him unzipping my wedding dress a few months ago.
He always seemed to show up right when I needed him.
Goosebumps rose on my skin as his fingers dragged across it, and I had to fight the shiver vibrating through my spine. I closed my eyes and basked in his featherlight touch.
I felt the necklace at my throat, pulled taut as Dusty fiddled with the clasp. My breath caught, and I tried not to let the room go sideways. Once he’d gotten the clasp fastened, he dropped the necklace, and it found the proper place on my neck. I didn’t move for a moment, and neither did he.
When I turned around to face him, he said, “You’re beautiful, Ash,” and I rolled my eyes, trying to regain the playful mood. Suddenly, Dusty gripped my chin firmly.
“Don’t do that,” he said. “Don’t hide from me. I want to see you.”
I should’ve tried to pull away, but I didn’t. Instead, I let my eyes grab hold of his, just like his hand held my chin and refused to let go.
His eyes moved over my face like he was memorizing me and this moment, then they’d come back to mine every few seconds. I was helpless when his hands were on me, so we stood in my entryway, and I let him see me.
“You’re beautiful,” Dusty said again. “So fucking beautiful.” He leaned forward, and I waited for my brain to go into fight or flight, like it had the last time we were this close. But it didn’t. It welcomed him into my space—it wanted him there.
“W-we should get going,” I stammered out. One of the corners of Dusty’s mouth lifted.
“We should,” Dusty said. “Where are your keys?” We were taking my car—better gas mileage, and probably more reliable, but don’t tell Dusty I said that about his Bronco.
I fumbled with my clutch and somehow was able to get my keys out, and Dusty gently took them from me.
“Oh,” I said. “I can drive.”
Dusty looked at me like that was ridiculous. “I don’t think so,” he said. “Let’s get you a coat and then we’ll go.”
I grabbed a long wool coat from the hall closet, and Dusty helped me slip it on. Apparently, I couldn’t do anything by myself when he was around.
I didn’t mind.
I kept the entryway light on, and we went out the front door, which Dusty locked, and then he led me to my car with a hand on the small of my back. He opened the door for me and made sure I was inside before shutting it.
When he crossed the front of the car to get to the driver’s side, I watched him through the windshield and came to the same conclusion that I’d come to over and over again: He was beautiful, too.
“Ready?” he said when he got in the car.
“Ready,” I responded. And with him, I might actually be.
—
It took us a little over two hours to get to the venue in Jackson. Dusty and I talked the whole way—about Riley, Rebel Blue, getting the yard ready for spring, a porch swing, Fall Out Boy’s evolution into emo dads—that sort of stuff.
We were in a heated debate about the merits of Nicolas Cage’s filmography and whether or not National Treasure Three would ever happen. Dusty took the turn into the lodge where the event was being held. It was a log cabin–style building—rustic, timeless, and grand.
When my car rolled to a stop, silence fell over our conversation. I felt the weight of who we’d find inside creep back onto my shoulders.
“So,” he said after a minute, “is it true that this place won an architectural award for their bathrooms?”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “What are you talking about?”
“Bathrooms,” he said with a smile. “I heard they have backlit white onyx and gold-plated sinks.”
“They do,” I supplied. “The bathrooms are actually annoyingly gorgeous.”
“Annoying,” he repeated, and I gave him a small smile. I knew what he was doing—lifting the weight again. “Are you sure you want to do this?”
“No,” I said honestly, but I was hoping this might help change my parents’ opinion of me. Maybe they’d see that I was fine. I didn’t make it down the aisle, and everyone survived. I still had a good job, and I lived in a house I loved. I was happy. Maybe they’d see that was more important than their expectations of me.
Even though I wasn’t quite happy—not yet. But I thought that I could be.
“You don’t have to do this,” Dusty said. “We can go hit up a middle-class chain restaurant instead.”
I shook my head. “I have to,” I said, and when I looked over at Dusty, I thought I saw him physically bite his tongue. I knew how he felt about my parents. I didn’t need to hear it right now. They would probably think I brought him to piss them off on purpose, but I didn’t. I brought him because even though I could do this alone—I could do everything alone—I liked that I didn’t have to.
“Okay, then,” Dusty said. “Let’s go check out these bathrooms.”