Chapter 9
Cole
While being laid up with half my body covered in bruises and scrapes, and one hundred percent of it sore as hell, undeniably sucks, there’s a silver lining…and her name is Camille. She showed up when I landed my ass in the hospital then she stayed when I came home. She tried going back to Miss Mary’s place, but I have a feeling it was out of fear of wearing out her welcome, not because she actually wanted to go. Even then, she still brought breakfast and dinner…still helped with the kids at bedtime.
She gave me my pain meds an hour ago then curled her small ass up on my couch and was out in minutes…but not me. I’ve been watching her sleep…for an hour…like a damn creep. I swear, everything in my world has shifted since she showed up, comforting my kid right outside my damn door like she belonged there…and, damn it…it feels like she does. I fought it, lord knows I did, but she carved out a place for herself in my world and I never even stood a damn chance...I just didn't know that at the time.
I’ve spent the last few days wondering what the hell it is about her that broke down my damn defenses, but the only thing that comes to mind is the boys. My boys took to her like moths to a flame and it’s not just that they connected with her so easily, but she connected with them too. She opened her heart to them without ever being asked to. She just…did it…and she keeps doing it every damn day.
I tried to build up those damn walls, to reinforce them at every turn, but she came in and tore that shit down, plowed through them without even trying and I tried not to notice…tried not to feel the shift…I tried not to see her, but I screwed up. I let her in, I stood up for her and then I let her wreck me without so much as lifting a finger. She broke me down by doing nothing more than existing. These are my thoughts as I finally manage to drift off into a peaceful sleep.
It’s been eight weeks since the accident and I’m finally back to work and, much to my relief, sleeping in my own damn bed. Aside from the sharp pain in my chest when I move too sharply, I’m doing great. Cam’s still watching the boys, partly because the boys begged for her too and partly because Janet’s husband managed to reinjure his back when he took a tumble down their front steps. Cam and the boys made them cookies and Janet decided she loved her the second they met.
I’ve been working on this damn kitchen renovation for almost four hours when the text alert on my phone goes off and I want to check it, but with the big boss here, watching our every damn move while never lifting a damn finger to help, I can’t risk it till I’m on break.
I push through, working ten times harder in an attempt to make the time go by quicker. When my lunch break hits, I haul ass out to my company truck where my lunch box is waiting with the lunch Cam packed for me, but the first thing I do when I get into my truck is check the message.
Cam: Some woman stopped by. She was kind of a bitch and Holden freaked out. He won’t come out and won’t talk.
Me: Did she say who she was?
Cam: She said she’s a friend and said she’ll stop by again around six?
Me: Ok. Thanks, Cam.
After that text conversation with Cam, the rest of my workday drags on too damn long, but I finally leave the job site at five and head straight home, driving too damn fast with my mind too damn preoccupied. I make it home just before five forty, but my question about who the woman was is answered before I even get out of the car. Hell, I think that part of me already knew, but now it’s confirmed…fucking Sarah.
“What the fuck are you doing here?!” I’m barely out of my work truck when I shout my far from welcoming greeting and she at least has the decency to act surprised by it.
“I thought we could talk and…I wanted to see the boys.” This woman…no…this vile, sorry excuse for a human being, she left our boys when Joey was only five months old and never once stopped to visit. She never called to check on them. I doubt the bitch has even spared them more than a few fleeting thoughts since she walked out that damn door two years ago, but now she’s here?
“We’ve got nothing to talk about. Those boys…my boys…you aren’t going to see them. You walked out on them without looking back, so you don’t get to come in here and undo two years of hard work just because you have some fucking agenda, or some delusion that you can sweep back in and pick up where you left off. You need to leave, Sarah. Leave…and don’t fucking come back.” Cam, poor fucking Cam, has been sitting on the top step of the porch with wide eyes this whole time, clearly not knowing what to say, or if she should say anything at all.
“Cole, I’d rather handle this between us, but I will get the courts involved if I have to. Don’t make this harder than it has to be.” The mention of going through the court shit again has my entire body tensing, my stomach twisted in knots and my heart lurching.
“Fine, you want to talk? Then talk, but right here. You’re not going near my sons.” I don’t miss the look of disgust she gives Cam before redirecting her attention o me.
“I think this is something we should discuss alone…without your little girlfriend here. Hell, how old are you anyway? Are you at least legal?!” I know that Cam is younger than me, but I’ve never been bothered by it since she acts more mature than most people my age do.
“Excuse me?” Sarah rolls her eyes then refocuses her gaze on me.
“Oh, hon, don’t be offended. Now, why don’t you hurry along while the grown ups talk, okay?” Cam arches her brow, but doesn’t make a move to leave. I would keep my mouth shut and let her handle it herself, and something tells me that’s exactly what she’s about to do, but I can’t let her get dragged into this mess. Sarah is baiting her and I don’t need to give her more ammunition if she does end up dragging my ass to court again.
“Cam, why don’t you head on home for the night and I’ll see you in the morning?” The look of shock and hurt on her face fucking guts me, but I’m trying to do what I have to in order to protect the boys and I hope like hell she can see that.
“That’s right, run along. It’s probably past your bedtime anyway.” My eyes snap to Sarah, my glare sharp and cold.
“Shut the hell up, Sarah. I’ll see you in the morning, Cam.” She doesn’t say a damn word, just gets up and walks over to Mary’s house and goes straight inside without even looking back. I don’t know why, but that shit hits me too damn hard.
“You have exactly five minutes to say what you need to say then I want you to get the hell off my property.” At this point, she could tell me she won the damn lottery and I wouldn’t give a shit. I just want her gone!
“Cole, I know I hurt you and the boys and I know I made a lot of mistakes, but I want to try to fix this. I’m back now and I want us to be a family again.” I…what the fuck?! No! Not just no, but hell no!
“We were never a family, Sarah. Our marriage consisted of me working my ass off just to come home and find our boys with a babysitter because you decided to go out partying instead of taking care of our kids. Hell, I had to practically beg and threaten you to get you to quit drinking while you were pregnant with Joey! I don’t know what the hell brought you back, but you don’t have a family here. Me and the boys, we’re not your family…we’re just four people you used and then tossed aside when you got tired of us. Your five minutes are up. Get the fuck off my property.” She opens her damn mouth like she wants to say more, but I think she can see how close I am to losing my shit because she gives a stiff nod and storms off down the stairs and down the sidewalk. I don’t go inside until I can no longer see her.
I’ve been inside, pacing the damn living room, for forty minutes while Holden sits on the couch with Cody and Joey is passed out beside them. I had to explain to them who the ‘mean lady’ was and now I’m letting them process, but I wasn’t prepared for Cody, that amazing kid who seems to have no problem saying what the rest of us are thinking.
“I want Cam.” His little eyes are filled with tears and, damn it, I want Cam too…which is why I pull out my phone and fire off a text as fast as I can.
Me: Hey, you busy?
Cam: Oh yeah, big stuff going on over here. Just moved gram’s recliner to the other side of the living room…then she decided she liked it better where it was before. Real riveting stuff I tell ya.
Me: You should come over and eat dinner with us. Please, Cam?
Cam: Is she gone?
Me: Thank fuck, yes.
Cam: Be there in five, provided I don’t throw my back out moving this damn chair…again.
I turn and march my ass into the kitchen, following the delicious smell of whatever culinary masterpiece Cam threw together for tonight, you know, before our day got shot to shit by my ex. Without a word, Holden comes in and starts grabbing plates and silverware, getting the table set while I get the pan with the roasted chicken and vegetables moved to the table just in time for the front door to open. I swear, my breath catches in my throat at the sight of her brown hair pulled into one of those messy knots of sheer fucking chaos on top of her head, her tank top that shows the top of her cleavage and those short jean short that give me the most amazing view of her creamy white legs.
“Cam!” Holden is tearing off after her before she can even close the door and Cody is wrapping himself around her seconds later.
“Hey, guys!” She wraps one arm around Holden and the other pulls Cody tighter against her, but her gorgeous green eyes, those are watching me.
“Come on! I helped dad set the table!” Holden’s excitement has her smiling and delivering her response with just as much enthusiasm.
“You did?! I’m so damn proud of you, Holden. You’re an amazing kid, you know that?” As if this woman hasn’t already turned my whole damn world on its head, she leans her head in and kisses the top of his head, which has Holden’s face lighting the hell up.
Without a word, she gently wakes Joey up and gets him strapped into his booster chair. That kid, the one who almost always has a full on meltdown anytime he’s woken up from a nap, is beaming the biggest damn smile at her, like this woman hung the damn moon and stars herself. Hell, maybe she did.
The second we started eating dinner, we all fall back into our usual rhythm of everyone discussing their day, Cody spilling out every damn thought that enters his mind and Joey chanting voodoo curses at the carrots on his plate before viciously biting them in half. It’s a kind of routine I never thought we’d have, but like with everything else where Cam’s concerned, it just came out of nowhere and burrowed it’s way into our very foundation.
Once dinner’s been eaten and the dishes are done, we work together to get the boys settled for bed with Cam handling Joey’s bath so I can play a round of Mario Kart with Holden and Cody before tucking them in at ten till nine. After Cam has Joey dried, dressed and tucked in, I go in to give him goodnight kisses while she does the same for Holden and Cody, meeting me at the top of the stairs as she leaves Holden’s room. I act on instinct, taking her hand and leading her downstairs, not stopping till we reach the living room.