Chapter 25
THEA
Addy and I barely make it into my room before she breaks down in tears, and I pull her over to the bed.
She drops her head into my lap, just like when we were girls and she was too overwhelmed by a new home and a new set of rules she didn’t understand yet.
I murmur soothing words, running my hand over her hair until her tears slow.
“It’ll be okay, Addy,” I whisper into the silence, and she hiccups in response.
Addy doesn’t lift her head from my lap. “I was so scared something happened to you.”
“But it didn’t. I’m right here,” I say, and Addy shivers.
“I can’t lose you. Please don’t leave me alone.”
My heart squeezes. “I’m not going anywhere, but you aren’t alone anymore. You have so much more than just me, so many people who love you.”
She shakes her head against my leg, a new set of sobs shaking her body. We stay like that, me running my hand through Addy’s hair, her tears soaking my jeans.
“Am I making a mistake?” Addy whispers, like she’s scared if she speaks the words too loudly, they’ll echo through the inn.
My hand stills in her hair. “A mistake in marrying Harrison?”
A little sob escapes her. “Yeah. I’m so certain of him, but what about the rest of them?
No one else wants me in this family. His opinion should be the only one that matters, but I don’t know how to stop caring about them liking me.
I don’t know if I can handle spending my life as an outsider in my own family. ”
“Why do you think you’re an outsider?”
“They want nothing to do with me. I try, but I can’t keep up.
It’s like a constant battle of wits and teasing, and by the time I get up the nerve to say something, they’ve already moved on to a different topic.
I can tell they think I’m boring, and that only makes me more nervous. How do I ever break out of that cycle?”
Addy’s not boring, but she is closed off to new people.
If it was hard to break the perfect facade with our foster siblings who she knew were going to be out of our lives in a handful of months, it probably feels impossible to break it with Harrison’s family—her dream materialized as flesh and blood.
But those who are patient with her find the most precious jewel.
“Give it time,” I say, twisting her on my lap so she can see me. “You love this man. Don’t give him up because his family takes some time to warm up.”
“I wish I was more like you,” she says, eyes trained on the comforter.
I guffaw. “Oh yeah, who wouldn’t want to be a mess who constantly screws up and embarrasses themselves in front of the family.”
Addy’s body tenses. “Of course you see it that way.”
The words are quiet, almost incomprehensible. I open my mouth to ask what she means when a knock interrupts us. Camila is there when I open the door.
“Hey! We never got to talk yesterday. You free?” She looks over my shoulder, her posture stiffening. Addy’s at the mirror, frantically wiping away the mascara streaked down her face. “I can come back later.”
Addy sighs. “Might as well come in. Everyone’s already seen me at my worst.”
Camila slips inside, walking over to Addy and pulling her into a hug. Addy’s eyes are wide when they meet mine over her shoulder.
“Your sister was missing,” Cami says. “I’d think worse of you if you weren’t a mess.”
The tension in Addy’s body releases, and she relaxes into the hug. “Thank you.”
Camila holds on for a few more seconds before letting her go.
“What’s up, Cami?” I ask.
She shoots a furtive glance at Addy. “Can we talk, just the two of us?”
Addy scoffs, looking up to the ceiling and shaking her head. “Yup. I’ll go.”
“Addy,” I call, following behind her as she walks for the door. “I can talk to Cami later. We should finish our conversation.”
Her fist closes around the door handle. “It’s fine. You talk. I need to shower anyway.”
She’s gone before I can say anything else.
“Is she okay?” Camila asks behind me, and I spin on her.
“No, she’s not okay. Can’t you make even the smallest bit of effort to get to know her?”
Cami’s eyes widen at my tone. “Can she make an effort to get to know me? You think we haven’t tried to talk to her? She’s not like you. She just stands there and smiles. This is the first real emotion I’ve seen from her.”
“Because she’s anxious as fuck that you all won’t accept her,” I spit out. “And you telling her to leave so you can talk to me only makes it worse.”
Camila’s body deflates, and she drops onto the bed. “Shit, I didn’t think about it like that.”
No one in this family thinks about it. It’s a sign of just how secure their relationships were growing up.
“Yeah, well, now you should,” I say, the last of my anger seeping out.
Camila nudges me with her foot. “I’ll work on it.”
I drop into the chair, propping my feet on the bed next to her. “Now, can you please tell me why you’ve stalked me for the past two days?”
She laughs again, and I love the way we shift from arguing to being friends again.
“Come work for me,” Camila says.
“What?” The word bursts out of me without consciously processing it.
“Come run the restaurant.”
My mind is whirling, struggling to catch up with the lunacy of the offer. “But … but I have no experience.”
She lifts an eyebrow. “You worked at another restaurant for twelve years.”
“As a server,” I say, too loud from the way it booms through the room. “Not as a manager. Fuck, they didn’t even trust me enough to make me a shift supervisor, and you want to give me a whole damn restaurant?”
Camila shrugs. “I don’t know what your old boss’s problem was, but you did a great job a couple nights ago.”
“I covered the restaurant for a few hours, and we served eight fucking tables, Cami.”
“Look, I’ll level with you,” she leans forward, dropping her voice like she’s sharing government secrets.
“I’m desperate. I’m going on maternity leave in four months—and that’s assuming this little girl cooks as long as she’s supposed to—and I have nothing lined up.
Mira’s taking on a lot, but I can’t leave it all on her, especially when she wants to spend time with the baby, too. ”
“I’m your last option?” I say with a laugh. This is more comfortable territory. She doesn’t want me, per se, she just needs someone.
“You knew what you were talking about, and I like you. Working relationships have been built on far less.”
I’d love to work with Camila, getting to spend my days in these mountains and my nights working at a restaurant where the owner respects me.
Camila continues. “I want to use your ideas on how to get the locals back into our restaurant. It’s a trek up the mountain, but we did it before. And with you at the helm, I think we could do it again. Focus on special occasions. Build a community here.”
God, it all sounds too good to be true. I genuinely like Camila and could see her being a friend, and there’s something magical about these mountains, something that lets me feel like I can move past the persona I developed in Florida, just like Cece said.
“What about Owen?” I ask quietly.
Camila’s mouth twists in a wicked smile. “Owen’s a consideration?”
I nudge her with my foot. “Shut up. You know he is.”
“I know no such thing because you won’t tell me shit.
” She lifts her hands in front of her. “Look, I don’t know how serious you and my cousin are.
If it’s real, I love that for the both of you.
He’s incredible, and he deserves happiness.
But you don’t belong to him. I’m offering you this job because I think you’d be great at it.
I’m not going to cut you off from your choices just because you and Owen may be something. ”
Choices.
That word hasn’t been a part of my vocabulary for as long as I can remember. A mythical thing, like unicorns and fairies.
“Just think about it, okay?” Camila asks, and I nod.
Obviously, I won’t take it. Owen and I have plans. I think of his handsome face—the way he dips his head to hide a smile when he’s embarrassed and the concentrated furrow of his brow while baking. If it’s a choice between him and a new job—him and anything, really—there’s no choice at all.
But that’s not accurate. I know what it’s like to truly have no choice.
This isn’t like me and Addy being forced to move homes because a broken system decided it was time.
Or me taking a job at Cibare because it was the only place within walking distance when I was a kid, desperate for money.
This is the first true, free choice of my life.
And I choose him.