Chapter Nine
Mel
The entire dinner was a losing battle to keep my eyes away from Cammie.
Especially now that she'd come back with the desserts and was setting them out on the table.
She was wearing a short, little, hip-hugging sundress that stole every rational thought from my mind.
Especially since when she turned around, I genuinely couldn't decide if her desserts or her ass looked more delicious.
I was grateful for Aunt Dorrie's interruption to my thoughts, until I heard what she was saying.
"So, a big part of helping me out with the honey is tied up with helping out Cammie at Busy Bee Bakery and Tea," she told me.
"What?" I asked.
"Huh?" Cammie said at the same time.
We looked at each other before Cammie turned to Aunt Dorrie, looking suspicious. I followed Cammie's gaze.
"What?" Aunt Dorrie asked with a shrug. Turning to Cammie, she said, "You told me I could use some help, and you're right, but so can you."
"That's not-" Cammie started, but didn't get far before Aunt Dorrie interrupted.
"Come on, you know better than to lie to me, and I know you wouldn't let me help-"
"Of course not!" Cammie interjected. "You don't have the time either."
Aunt Dorrie continued like Cammie hadn't interrupted. "And Mattie here, the dear that he is, has been offering for ages to help, but we all know you wouldn't be happy if he stayed here."
Cammie's eyes widened, and Aunt Dorrie quickly corrected, "You wouldn’t be happy making him stay. We all know you're not going to take help from anyone unless we force you to."
"Consider this an intervention, sis," Mattie said with a grin. "You need help, Cam-a-lam. You're a workaholic, and we're going to get you the help you need."
A lot of my annoyance had melted away when I realized this had nothing to do with me; Cammie actually needed help. It wasn't going to be easy being around her that much, but I could suck it up knowing that she needed the help.
Now that I'd relaxed a bit, the situation was starting to become funny, and I was having to fight to hold in a laugh. It was obvious Cammie was fighting to hold on to her annoyance too, and losing fast.
"Hilarious," she deadpanned.
Mattie grinned, "I know I am, besides of course I want my two favorite girls to get to know each other better. What's the harm?"
Mattie knew I'd do anything for him, and this didn't even really seem like that big of a chore anyway.
I knew he'd been worried about Cammie being alone here, so I wanted to help.
If there was a small part of me that was excited to be spending more time with her for less than noble reasons, I could and would easily ignore it.
It wasn't something I was willing to examine too closely.
"What do you think?" Cammie asked. There was a silence before I realized with a start that she was asking me.
After a pause, I shrugged, saying, "Could bee fun."
Mattie and Auntie Dorrie laughed. Cammie snorted, and with a roll of her eyes said, "You two spend too much time together."
Mattie grinned. "Exactly. I'm a terrible influence, you're Mel's only hope."
"I don't know how you put up with him full time," Cammie told me.
"I don't know either," I said, grinning at him. I was going to miss the goofball, but I certainly wasn't going to miss the city. Besides, with Cammie and me both here, he'd definitely come visit a lot.
"Come on, you know you love me, both of you," he said, looking from Cammie to me and back again, grinning.
With the decision made, we finally tucked into the dessert Cammie had brought out. I wasn’t sure what it was, but it was, unsurprisingly, delicious and had the unfortunate side effect of giving me a few less-than-pure thoughts about whether Cammie tasted as sweet as the desserts she made.
I tried to push the thoughts out of my head.
Cammie is Mattie's sister, I reminded myself for the millionth time that night as I continued to try to be careful not to notice her too much or to let Mattie notice that I was noticing her.
It was too weird, and I didn't want him getting ideas.
With a little relief and a lot more sadness when dinner was over, I walked Mattie out to the rental car. I told him it was to check for my favorite leather jacket, but I knew it was safely tucked in my suitcase inside.
Truthfully, I didn't want him to leave just yet. I couldn't remember the last time I'd been away from Mattie for more than a day since we left Pine Grove years ago, and damn it I was going to miss him.
"I-" I started and stalled out when he pulled me into a hug. I was grateful for his understanding and held onto him tighter.
"I'll be back before you know it," he said into my hair. I squeezed him tighter before letting go.
"I know, I know. You'll be back soon. I'm being dramatic."
"You're not. I'm gonna miss you like crazy, too. But hey, maybe it's for the best."
"What do you mean?" I asked, immediately offended.
"I mean, you haven't been loving the city, so maybe it's good you're getting a break. Who knows, maybe you'll fall back in love with Pine Grove."
"If I didn't know better, I'd think you were trying to get rid of me," I teased.
"Never," he said immediately, "but I will say I'm selfishly glad you're staying cause Cam needs help and, besides myself, you're the only one I trust enough with my sister."
He trusts me with her? That couldn't be right.
He didn't trust me with her. He trusted me to help her, which he was right to.
That was all he wanted me to do, just help her.
He couldn't actually want me with her. He wasn't wrong about me helping, though.
Of course, I would help her. I just would have to find a way to stop noticing her as much as I was.
It was hard to believe I hadn't really noticed her much before now.
Although, now that I thought about it, I hadn't seen much of her since Mattie and I moved away.
When we did make it home to visit, she was with her douche of a boyfriend who became her douche of a fiancé.
Whether or not she could see it yet, I was already convinced the best thing that man ever did for her was leave.
And now that he had, and she was single, I was struggling not to notice her, which was extra ridiculous because she was clearly into men.
I was going to have to do a better job of ignoring the little part of my brain that kept insisting her being into men didn't necessarily mean she wasn't also into women.