“He’s not wearing his uniform,” Hadley whispered back.
“That’s okay,” Darla said. “He’s still going in my next book.”
“Thanks for helping me,” Kit was saying to Alex. “He’s harmless, just a little drunk. When…did you get into town?”
“Just got here,” Alex said, glancing around. “Thought I’d come check out the celebration.”
“I emailed you,” Kit said. “I told you not to come on my account. I really don’t need help with the McKinnon house. I’m sorry if you didn’t receive it.”
“I got your email,” he said. “I’m actually back home to visit my mom. I’m still on active duty until next spring.”
Kit frowned and opened her mouth to say something but Alex interrupted.
“It’s a shame to waste a good song. Want to dance? I promise I’ll do better than our friend there.”
Kit’s eyes widened in shock. “Dance? Now? With you?”
Say yes was the look that passed between Hadley and Darla. Say yes now.
Alex started to sway to the music. “I love this song. C’mon.”
Kit scanned the crowd, maybe to see if her parents were watching. But then she took his hand.
“I can’t believe she just did that,” Hadley said.
“Me neither,” Darla said. “But just FYI, I’d let him work on my house anytime.”
“Is that Alex?” Cam asked, walking up. “Maybe we need to worry more about him than that jerk who was bothering her. I was ready to give him a piece of my mind until I saw you all had it covered.”
“All I know is I never did get that drink,” Darla said. “Shall I bring three?”
Hadley glanced at her watch. “Thanks anyway, but I’m on the clock for another half hour.”
“I’ll get you one,” Cam offered to Darla.
Darla placed a hand on both their arms. “Go dance. I’ll handle it.”
“Shall we?” Cam asked. “Unless there’s something we need to do in the next five minutes?”
“I did want to check with Lucy one more time. But to be honest, the last time I did that she kicked me out of the kitchen.” She set down her clipboard and removed her headset. “I’d love to dance.”
Cam didn’t hesitate to take her hand and lead her onto the boardwalk.
“We haven’t danced together in a long time,” Hadley said as Cam wrapped an arm around her waist.
“Prom, senior year?”
“Father Martin told us not to dance so close that the Holy Spirit couldn’t fit between us.”
He chuckled and held her close. He was wearing…shaving cream and soap, her favorite aphrodisiacs. “No chaperones tonight,” he said with a smile.
“Just the whole town watching us,” she said. But she couldn’t bring herself to look at anyone but him. For that moment, there was just the two of them on a warm summer night, the stars peeking out above their heads, lights twinkling from far out in the ocean.
“Hi, sweetie,” her mom said, suddenly sailing by on the dance floor with her dad. “Hi, Cam. So nice to see you again.”
“You two are a cute couple,” her dad said, winking before turning to her mom. “Shall we show them our moves?” he asked.
“Moves?” Hadley asked with a creeping sense of horror she hadn’t felt since she was a teenager.
Her mom shrugged. “We’ve been practicing.” Her dad pulled her mom in, released her, and spun her around. After which they both giggled and spun away, leaving Hadley shaking her head in wonderment.
“Your parents are pretty cute.” Cam chuckled, pulling her close again. “Speaking of unexpected, look at that.” Hadley craned her neck to follow his gaze.
Cam’s dad was dancing with Mayellen.
“I totally called that,” Hadley said.
Cam didn’t look surprised. “There must be magic in the air tonight. There’s your grandmother and Paul.” He nodded in their direction. “Let’s dance by and say hi.”
“Are you sure you want to do that?” Hadley asked. “I’m afraid we’re going to get a giant I-told-you-so.”
Cam spun them around just in time for Hadley to see Paul chuckling as he slow danced with her grandmother, who was actually dancing. Cautiously, but nevertheless dancing. She was smiling radiantly into Paul’s eyes.
“Well, look at you two,” Hadley said. “Hi, Paul. I love the bow tie. You look terrific, Gran.”
“Well, look at you two,” Gran said. “You make a great team. Everything turned out amazing. Thanks to both of you, I’m certain we’ve raised a ton of money for the new pediatric outpatient building.”
As they were separated from Gran and Paul by the sea of dancers, Hadley asked Cam, “Do you ever wonder if my gran devised our ‘punishment’ for a reason?”
Cam smiled down at her, his blue eyes twinkling. “Well, it turned out not to be punishment after all. Maybe she knew all along.”
“Knew what?” Hadley asked, looking up at his handsome face. “That we could work together without killing each other?”
He shrugged. “Maybe she knew we just needed a reason to set aside our differences.”
She nodded. “I haven’t even thought about the build—”
“Don’t say it,” he warned. “Not tonight.”
“How did we manage to forget our differences?” she asked.
“People grow and change?” he offered.
Maybe so. Despite all the upheaval and the broken heart that brought her home, Hadley felt…like herself for the first time in a long time. She closed her eyes and gave in to the moment as they swayed slowly to the music.
“Do we have more things to do?” Cam asked softly as the song wound down.
Did the music have to end? Did she have to open her eyes? “I should see if Lucy needs anything,” she murmured against his shoulder, “but I think everything’s taken care of.”
“Good. Because I want to take you home.”
She looked up to find him staring at her, his gaze filled with heat. “Better be careful, Cammareri. If you kiss me on the dance floor, tongues will be a-flapping.”
As the music ended, she stepped back. He looked…amused. With the tiniest gleam in his eye that she was coming to recognize well.
“Well, I should probably do a final pass and thank all the workers and make sure that someone puts the chairs—”
“We’ll get it done together,” he said. Before she knew what was happening, he’d planted his lips on hers and kissed her until she was boneless, until she couldn’t hear that the music had stopped or that people around them had stilled.
And then she heard clapping. And saw the faces of all their people—her mom and dad, Nick and Lauren, Mayellen and Cam’s dad. And the very pleased and overjoyed face of her grandmother, who was standing next to Paul one step away from jumping for joy. Even Mayor Chaudhry and the members of the town council were yelling, “Bravo! Bravo!”
Cam, completely nonplussed by the fact that he’d outed them to the entire town, bent and whispered in her ear.