Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
Cameron
It had been a few days since my girl returned to Nashville, but the weekend couldn’t have gone better if I’d scripted it.
My family loved her, just like I knew they would. And my mama gave me a nugget of advice that had been playing in my mind on repeat, “Don’t worry about moving too fast, son. When it’s right, time, like age, are just meaningless numbers.”
I was having a few beers at a local watering hole with friends I’d known for years, when the cover band took the stage and started talking about how they’d been inspired by one of Rylee’s new songs.
Since we were the worst kept secret in the country, I knew this would lead to more trash-talking from my buddies about how Rylee was way out of my league. They weren’t wrong, but I’d learned to quit questioning why she’d fallen for me, and just be grateful she had.
My rowdy crew actually stopped talking long enough to listen to the song before the local fire chief, and my long-time friend, Billy, slapped me on the back.
“Man, I don’t know how long you’re gonna be able to hold onto that little bombshell, but just know we’re all livin’ vicariously through you, for as long as it lasts. ”
“Cheers to that,” my friends said, raising their glasses in unison.
I knew they didn’t mean it as a gut-punch. I hadn’t told them things were getting serious, and since I hadn’t known Rylee long, they probably assumed it was just a feel-good fling. But there was nothing casual about the way I felt about her.
If anything, it was all-consuming.
“I don’t know,” my buddy, Rob, a police detective said. “I saw the pics your sister posted at your folks’ place this weekend.” He raised an eyebrow at me. “You’re introducing her to the fam already, Sheriff? Sounds serious to me.”
All my friends were married with kids. They’d settled down with local girls they’d known forever, or college sweethearts they’d met when going to school out of state. I was the lone holdout. Not by choice, but because it took me this long to meet… Rylee.
We were out for beers, talking shop, sports, and hobbies. I didn’t want to get too heavy, but I couldn’t let them think what I had with Rylee was just a brief fling either.
“She’s a great girl.” I brought the bottle to my lips, weighing how much I wanted to reveal. “I’m really into her.”
Billy laughed. “I bet you are.”
That prompted laughter from everyone else before I silenced them with a look. “It’s more than sex. A hell of a lot more.”
Rob frowned. “Yeah, but it’s not like it can go anywhere. Man, she’s way too young. No way she’ll be ready to settle down anytime soon.” He chuckled. “And if she tells you she is, she’s lying. To you and herself.”
The other four guys at the table nodded in agreement before, Jake, a friend who owned a local contracting business said, “He’s not wrong, Cam. Shit, I thought I was ready to get married at twenty-four too. Biggest mistake of my life.”
He’d married young and divorced within two years, but claimed he didn’t regret it because the union produced twin boys he adored.
I wanted to argue. To claim Rylee wasn’t like them. She’d been through hell, and that made her more mature than most twenty-four-year-olds.
But was I just believing what I wanted to believe?
“Look brother,” Rob said, curling his hand around my shoulder. “No one’s tellin’ you not to have a good time with her. Truth is, we’re all jealous as hell that you get to heat up the sheets with that little firecracker. But don’t expect it to go anywhere.”
“Yeah,” Billy chimed in. “She may tell you she’s all in.” He laughed. “But give it a few months. She’ll meet some rising country star at one of those fancy red-carpet events or awards shows and it’ll be ‘Cam who’?”
The beer was churning in my gut as I imagined the scene he described playing out.
My phone buzzed and I was grateful for an excuse to bail. I couldn’t listen to any more of this shit.
“I need to take this outside, guys. Be right back.”
I didn’t wait for a response before I bolted for the door. I needed fresh air. And to hear her voice.
“Hey, babe,” she said, as soon as I connected the call. “I know we were supposed to talk later, but I have this thing to go to tonight and I’ll probably be getting in pretty late.”
I leaned up against the old building. My head and the heel of my boot resting against the brick. “It’s okay.” I cleared my throat when I realized my voice sounded raspy. “I’m just having a few beers with the boys. What’re you up to tonight?”
She sighed. “A friend of mine, Easton Hart, is opening a bar in town and the label wants a bunch of us to make an appearance, maybe sing a few songs.”
I knew Easton Hart was happily married with kids. But my friends’ words came back to haunt me as I imagined the next big thing in country music chatting her up, flirting with her, wanting to take her home.
Damn it. This relationship couldn’t work if I let poison take root, but I refused to ask her for reassurance, like a wuss, every other day.
“Cam, you still there?”
“Yeah, sorry.”
“Is everything okay?”
I’d never been in a relationship that made me feel insecure.
Even with Kelly, I hadn’t known until she cheated on me that I had reason to worry. So, this was all new to me, and I needed time alone to process.
“Yeah, just tired, I guess. I’m gonna be heading home soon.” I chuckled. “Must be getting old.” It wasn’t funny when I remembered how much younger she was. Her night was just getting started while I was heading home.
“You didn’t act old this weekend.” Her voice was low and sultry when she whispered, “In fact, I had a hard time keeping up with you.”
Yeah, but for how long? I’d heard too many horror stories about low-testosterone and crashing libidos as men age. The idea of being another sad statistic who couldn’t satisfy my sexy, insatiable woman, felt like a painful reality check.
Was I crazy to think this could work?
“Hey,” she said, when I didn’t respond. “What’s up with you tonight? And don’t tell me nothing. I can tell something’s wrong.”
It was crazy how easily she was able to read my moods, like she’d known me for years.
“The boys were just doing their duty as my friends,” I said, deciding to come clean. “Giving me a little reality check about our relationship.”
“What did they say?” she asked, sounding wary.
“They said you were too young to settle down, and if you did, you’d regret it.” I didn’t give her a chance to refute that comment before I hit her with another one. “They said you’d meet some hot new country singer who’d sweep you off your pretty little feet and forget you ever met me.”
“And you believed that crap?” She was all fired up now and I couldn’t help but smile. “A bunch of guys who’ve never even met me, decide they get to be the ones to write our story, and you let them?”
“You can’t blame them for—”
“I don’t blame them! I blame you!”
“Baby, I—”
“Don’t ‘baby’ me.”
I could imagine if we were face-to-face, she’d be spewing venom by now.
“Either you’re willing to go to bat for me and our relationship or you’re not. So, what’s it gonna be?”
I knew there was only one right answer to that question. “You know I am—”
“No, I don’t know that. Because if you were, you wouldn’t be letting your friends get inside your head, right now.
What the hell, Cam? If people who didn’t even know you were trying to tell me all the reasons you weren’t good for me, or why our relationship couldn’t work, I’d tell them to mind their own goddamn business and walk away. ”
I could totally see her doing that, which made me feel like shit for not doing the same.
She was right. My friends didn’t know her, and they’d never seen us together.
They didn’t know how she felt about me, and they sure as shit couldn’t know how I felt about her…
because I’d never told them. And that was on me.
“I hear what you’re saying, but—”
“No buts. You think about what I said and when you’re ready to start thinking for yourself, you call me. And maybe I’ll answer.”
And just like that, she hung up on me.
I stared at the phone, in shock, before my pulse spiked as I re-dialed her number.
Shit. Straight to voicemail. Not that I could blame her.
She was right. She wouldn’t have wavered if her friends had been trying to plant seeds of doubt, yet I had.
She had every right to be pissed. And since I couldn’t tell her that, I marched back inside and reclaimed my seat.
“Everything okay?” Rob asked, watching me chug half my beer.
“No.” I looked around the table. “I just got into it with Rylee because I didn’t have the good sense to set you assholes straight.
Time for me to do that now.” Their looks of surprise barely registered before I said, “Here’s the deal.
I don’t give a shit what y’all think. I am gonna marry that girl, if she’ll have me. ”
“Cam, listen,” Billy said. “We didn’t mean—”
“I’m not finished,” I said, glaring at him.
“And y’all think Rylee must be some immature pampered princess, because of her career.
Trust me, she’s not. She’s been through shit that would have brought every one of you to your knees, myself included.
That woman is a fighter. She knows what she wants.
” I stood, throwing some bills down on the table.
“And for whatever reason, she’s decided she wants me.
So, that means it’s time for me to up my game, and be the man she deserves. ”
They were all calling after me, trying to apologize, to reason with me, but I wasn’t hearing it. I’d made this mess by listening to them. I just hoped Rylee would give me a chance to clean it up.