Chapter 20
CAMERON
Cameron sat in his truck and stared at the front of The Cosy Badger pub while Cupcake whined his thoughts on how bored he was from the back seat.
It was a cosy-looking pub created from small, square bricks painted in a light cream colour with a traditional thatched roof that reminded him of the pictures he’d seen on chocolate boxes.
A hand-painted sign swung above the porch and antique, leaded glass windows framed the dark wood door.
Through the windows he could see warm, orange fairy lights glimmering, and the flickering glow from a fire in a hearth at the far corner of the saloon.
He could just make out a crowd of men and women waiting at the bar so knew it was busy. But he hadn’t seen Izzi since she’d walked through the entrance ten minutes ago and wondered if she was already sitting with her mysterious appointment, perhaps having a drink and talking. He hoped she was okay.
His palms started to ache, and he realised he was crushing the steering wheel so made himself let go.
It was killing him not being able to see her.
Not knowing if the person she was meeting was here to upset her or had a dark motive for whatever this evening was about.
He hadn’t been this suspicious before Sophie – it was like she’d triggered something in him and now all he could see was danger and deceit.
He wondered if he was permanently broken – if he’d ever get over this sense that his world was about to come crashing down.
Trying to distract himself, he scoured the surrounding pub garden.
There was a wooden structure with a clear roof attached to the right side of the pub.
It had pretty fairy lights woven into the rafters, which threw a sprinkling of shadows over the wooden tables and chairs underneath.
Someone had already decorated the space ready for Halloween and there were pumpkins sitting on each of the wooden tables with tealights shimmering inside.
The door of the pub suddenly opened and Izzi walked out. Even from here Cameron could see she was upset and he quickly swung his door open and crossed the car park so he could meet her halfway.
‘What’s wrong?’ he asked, scouring her face.
‘The person I was supposed to meet isn’t here,’ she said, her voice raspy. ‘I checked with everyone in the pub and there was nobody sitting alone. I waited but…’ She spun on her heels and searched the car park.
‘There’s nobody sitting in any of the cars either,’ Cameron told her. ‘I’ve been keeping an eye out just in case.’
She nodded, her cheeks paling. ‘Do you think they left because I was late?’ she whispered.
He shrugged. ‘It was only fifteen minutes. I think most people would at least get a drink and give you more time. Perhaps they’re the one running late?
’ he suggested. ‘Why don’t you go back inside, and I’ll wait in the car for a while longer?
’ He started to turn away, but she reached for his arm and pulled him back.
Then Izzi gave him a long look and her forehead pinched. ‘I don’t want you hiding in the car like my dirty secret,’ she said before letting out a long breath. ‘Maybe whoever it was saw me arrive with you. Perhaps they’re upset that I didn’t come alone like they asked.’
‘Maybe.’ Cameron pulled her in for a hug and dropped his chin on her head.
He could smell caramel again and wished he could lose himself in it.
In her. Wished so many things he wasn’t ready to admit.
‘Why don’t we go inside and get a drink?
’ he suggested. ‘I saw someone take a dog in earlier, so I think Cupcake would be welcome. We could get something to eat, wait for a while longer. I could sit on another table, so nobody knows we’re together? ’
Izzi shook her head. ‘I’ve got this feeling they’re not coming.
’ She glanced around. ‘I’d like to go in the pub with you, though.
Food would be good.’ She scrubbed her arms. ‘But we’ll sit together.
I’ve got some things to say. Things I probably should have told you a while ago.
I might as well do it here.’ She frowned.
Cameron nodded as something stuck in his throat. He wasn’t sure if he was happy or afraid – but now he knew he’d been right about Izzi hiding something. He only hoped whatever it was, it wasn’t too bad…
Cameron watched Izzi push a piece of scampi to the other side of her plate before sliding it back again like she was playing a game of chess.
The food had been good and he’d finished everything, but she’d avoided eating, looking uncomfortable as she’d continued to glance around the pub, jumping out of her skin every time someone walked through the entrance.
‘So,’ he said, taking a small sip of his lemonade, ignoring the crackle from the fire they were sitting beside. ‘Do you want to tell me what this is about?’
She didn’t look at him. ‘It’s not an awful secret or anything,’ she said, sounding guilty. ‘I hope you understand why I didn’t tell you about it…’
‘What is it, Izzi?’ he asked impatiently.
‘You know it’s usually better if you just rip the Band-Aid off.
Overthinking will just make things worse.
’ And not just for her; his patience was wearing thin as his mind conjured all kinds of worst-case scenarios.
Things like she was lying to him, or that this person she was meeting was planning to take her for a ride, maybe him too.
The edge of her mouth kicked up, but she didn’t look happy.
‘I’m going to go back to the beginning, so it makes more sense,’ she said quietly as she met his eyes and he saw a glimmer of guilt.
He sucked in a breath as a heavy weight settled in his gut – he wasn’t going to like whatever she told him.
‘I’ve always wondered if I had family in the world.
’ She fiddled with the stem of her glass.
‘I don’t know a lot about my dad except he died when I was a baby and had no immediate family.
It was just me and Mum for so long and I only ever knew about Regina.
We didn’t see much of her because—’ She swallowed.
‘Go on,’ Cameron encouraged.
Izzi winced. ‘Regina didn’t approve of my mum; they were very different people.
She hated my dad from the moment they met.
Whether it was because she didn’t want to share Mum or it was him, I never found out.
It wasn’t really important. She refused to come to their wedding and wasn’t in our lives until Mum died.
So the idea that I might have someone else, an uncle or aunt on my father’s side, a cousin, even a distant one became an obsession. ’
She let out a long sigh. ‘I used to fantasise about somebody coming to find me when I was living with Regina. A different family member who’d sweep me up, take me to live with them.
Love me,’ she said, her eyes shining. ‘So, a few years ago, I signed up for one of those ancestry sites.’ She let go of the glass and pushed her plate aside.
She’d barely eaten anything and Cameron guessed she was simply too churned up. He could relate.
‘Go on,’ he repeated.
‘As far as I knew, they didn’t find anybody and when I heard the company had gone into liquidation a year after I’d registered, I came to terms with the fact that I was on my own.
That aside from my aunt, I didn’t have any other family.
’ She shrugged, avoiding his eyes. ‘That was okay. I didn’t need anyone.
’ Her voice rose at the end, and even after a few weeks of knowing Izzi, Cameron knew she was lying. She did care, very much.
He could understand – hadn’t his own mother abandoned him? It had left him with wounds, but he’d had his pop and grandma and more family in the States. People he could rely on if he needed them, but Izzi had nobody.
‘Then…’ She sighed. ‘When Aunt Regina died and I was clearing out her things, I found a letter from someone who said they were related to me. My aunt had hidden it from me. I’ll never know why, but I wonder if she thought they might be connected to my dad and couldn’t stand the idea of us meeting up. ’
‘How are you related?’ he asked.
‘No idea,’ she admitted as one of the bar staff came to collect their plates. They both watched the man wipe the table down before heading back to the kitchen.
‘So you have a letter and I presume contact details. Why all the subterfuge?’ Cameron asked, confused.
Izzi pulled a face. ‘Some of the letter wasn’t legible, so I had no name, phone number, address, nothing aside from Honey Haven. It’s why I came.’
‘Ah,’ Cameron said as his stomach sank. ‘So, you didn’t stick a pin in a map?’ He felt a twinge of regret that his instincts had been right, that Izzi had lied to him.
Her shoulders sagged. ‘I’m sorry. My relative asked me to keep it to myself.’ She swallowed. ‘They didn’t explain why, but I wanted to do what they asked because I assumed they had a good reason. That’s why I told you I’d come on impulse.’
She glanced up, stared into his eyes, her gaze intense.
‘It’s hard to explain to someone who has family, but I was so excited that I might have someone else in the world.
Regina—’ She frowned. ‘Hated me. It was wonderful to know I had flesh and blood who wanted to know me. I didn’t want to alienate them, so when they asked me not to tell anyone, I decided I couldn’t.
But it’s become increasingly difficult to hide it from you in particular.
Especially once we started living together and…
everything.’ She gulped and looked at the table. ‘I’m sorry.’
‘It’s okay, Izzi,’ Cameron said, reaching for her hand because suddenly he wanted to touch her.
He was confused, concerned, worried he was being made to look like a fool.
But there was another part of him that knew Izzi was telling the truth.
That she’d been asked to withhold information and she’d done it with the best of intentions.
Done something he might even do if their situations were reversed. He couldn’t hold it against her.
She sighed. ‘People kept telling me I looked like someone they knew – even you told me I looked familiar so I assumed at some point I’d bump into my relative, or somebody would remember who I reminded them of and I’d find them and be able to come clean.’ Her forehead creased.
Cameron cast his mind back to when they’d first met. He had thought she looked familiar, but now all he saw was Izzi. A beautiful woman who cooked like an angel and had only ever shown him kindness. He saw nobody else.
‘The letter that arrived the night we first kissed –’ Her cheeks flushed and she looked away. ‘– that was from my relative too. It’s why I didn’t want you to see it.’
He frowned as concern made the hairs at the back of his neck stand up. ‘So, they know you’re living with me?’ he asked.
She brushed a strand of hair from her face. ‘Yes, I assumed they must live in the village, that they’d heard about me moving into the cabin.’
‘So, why not just knock on the door?’ he asked. It didn’t add up.
She shrugged, then gulped her wine and Cameron wondered if Izzi needed it.
Perhaps she did – Dutch courage to help her confess.
‘In the letter they asked me to meet them here tonight, but reiterated that I couldn’t tell anyone and should come alone, and that they’d explain in person.
I was going to tell them I had to tell you afterwards, that I hated keeping secrets, but…
’ She glanced around the bar again and her mouth twisted.
‘It looks like they aren’t coming and I’m not going to keep hiding things from you. It’s been hard enough until now.’
‘I’m so sorry, Izzi.’ Cameron squeezed her hand.
‘Yes, well…’ She swallowed. ‘I think it might be time for me to let this go. I’m glad I’ve finally told you everything.’ She gave him a half-smile. ‘You have to believe I hated keeping this from you. You’ve been so good to me, your grandmother has too and I’ve been feeling so guilty.’
‘You’ve got nothing to feel guilty about.
’ Cameron squeezed her hand again. This person had manipulated her – and he couldn’t think of a single good reason for why.
There was something odd going on and he was going to keep a special eye on her now.
He wasn’t going to let Izzi be exploited by someone who may not have her best interests at heart.
He might not have been able to protect himself or his grandma from Sophie, but he was going to do his best to protect Izzi from whoever this person was. If they were related to her at all.
He stared at her for a moment, exploring the curves and angles of her face.
She looked so beautiful and so unhappy and for the first time since they’d met, Cameron allowed himself to wonder if things between them could develop into something more permanent.
Whether he could ask her to forget the job she had lined up and stay in Honey Haven so they could give their relationship a proper go.
He hadn’t allowed himself to hope before this, probably because he’d suspected she’d been keeping things from him.
But now he knew the truth, now Izzi had come clean, the possibilities stretched ahead and he could feel his vision for the future shifting.
Like something inside him was finally being allowed to open up.
Izzi blinked and linked their fingers together and Cameron let her sweet scent wrap around him. They were going to get through this together and he was going to ensure nobody took advantage of Izzi.
He’d been deceived once and he wasn’t going to allow anyone to hurt him – or anyone he cared about – ever again.