“You’ve made us all proud. There was a time I wondered if I was even capable of raising good kids. I’m thrilled you all turned out okay.”
He flicked his gaze up at his dad. “What did you just say?”
“When your mother left, you were eight, Nick was five, and Lucy was one and a half. That was my curveball.”
Of course it was. How had he not even thought of that? His dad had been left alone to raise three kids. And he’d never complained, never talked about how that—they—had altered his life.
His dad drummed his fingers on the table. “Maybe I never told you this, but I wanted to start a restaurant.”
That made Cam sit straight up. Yes, his dad was a phenomenal cook. Yes, he often cooked for fun. But a restaurant?
His dad nodded. “I’d been saving up for a down payment, but after your mother left, I put it toward a college fund for you kids. The restaurant business has bad hours for a single parent, you know?”
“Why didn’t you ever tell me this?” Cam asked. A restaurant? How could he not have known?
“I’m not complaining about how my life turned out. I’m happy with our business. But maybe I should’ve told you more about my struggles. And dreams. You and I are alike in some ways. We don’t talk about our own issues.”
“Maybe we need to do a little more of that.” A lot more.
His dad nodded. “After she left, you kept watch by the front window. Do you remember that?”
Cam shook his head. Thank God he didn’t.
And then he realized his dad was talking about his mother, and he never did that.
“Every night, you’d leave your bed and drag your blanket out to the living room and fall asleep by the window. You told me you wanted to be the first one to see her when she came back. Imagine, having to break a young child’s heart and tell him his mother wasn’t ever coming back.”
Cam winced. “That must’ve been terrible for you.”
Angelo nodded. “That’s when you started to do everything perfect. You fixed your bed without a wrinkle. You got the highest grades. You excelled in all the sports. Looking back, I thought, I don’t have to worry about that kid. You were so driven, such a hard worker. But truth is, I should’ve worried about you the most.”
“No, Pop, no.” He put a hand on his dad’s shoulder. “I did fine. You raised me fine.” Geez, his eyes were watering.
And, to his shock, his dad’s were too.
“Maybe you thought that if you were perfect at everything, she’d come back and love you again.”
Cam rubbed his neck. The conversation was uncomfortable. “I got something good out of it,” he said. “I’m determined.”
“Maybe too determined.”
He lifted his head. “What?” He’d never heard that before. Ever.
“Yeah. I mean…maybe taking a step back for a while is a good thing,” his dad said in a musing tone. “Maybe take a little time off.”
“I’ve had eight months off.” An eternity.
“All I’m saying is, it’s okay not to know where you’re going for a little bit.” His dad spoke animatedly, with lots of hand gestures, reminding Cam of advice his dad had doled out to all three of them over the years, especially when they were teenagers. Probably the last time they’d sat and talked like this. “But that doesn’t mean you should turn everyone away until you’re perfect again. There’s no such thing as perfect. People who love us, love us for our warts.”
“Hadley pretty much told me the same thing.”
“I knew I liked that girl,” his dad said.
“I love her too, Dad.” That had slipped right out of his mouth without thinking. Yet it felt exactly right.
It was a long time before either of them talked. “I’ve been thinking,” Cam said. “If I take some time off, will you take me and Nick fishing? We haven’t done that for years.”
“Of course.”
All right, then. Fishing it would be. He looked around the kitchen. “Thanks for the pizza. And for being a great dad.”
His dad waved him off, too choked up to answer. But then suddenly he was next to his chair, and Cam was standing up to meet him, although his knee caught a little, getting wrapped up in a warm hug. “You’re a good boy, Anthony.”
“I love you, Dad.”
His dad patted him on the back. “I love you too.”
“Don’t clean up, okay?” Cam said. “I’ll do it later. There’s something I’ve got to do.”
His dad picked up the pizza stone and started putting away the leftovers. “Good luck,” he said with a wise smile. “And tell her I love her too.”
Chapter 29
Twenty minutes later, Cam found himself at the Sand Bar, the last place he could think of where Hadley might be.
“Hey, Darla. Hey, bro.” He nodded to his brother, who was drinking a beer with his ex. That might’ve been interesting if he weren’t on a mission. “Has anyone seen Hadley?”
“You look like death,” Nick said.
“I was supposed to take the red-eye last night but a few of my planes were delayed,” he said.
Nick reached over and pulled out the chair next to him. “You look like you’ve taken two red-eyes.”
“Thanks,” he said drily, sitting down. “How’s everybody doing?”
“Great,” Darla said.
“Fantastic,” Nick said.
He had no idea why they were sitting together. But right now, he didn’t care.
“We were just having a drink and talking about you and Hadley,” Nick said.
They were bonding over him and Hadley? Weird. He telegraphed his brother a don’t-even-go-there look.
“I’m going to go there,” Nick said, setting down his beer. “Darla and I were just saying how lucky it was that you found each other again. And we hope you don’t let that go.”
“Nick’s right,” Darla said. “We hate to see you screw this up.”
Wow, they were actually agreeing with each other. “Thanks,” Cam said, scanning the place. “Hadley wasn’t at home or at the shelter and Maddy said she might be here but I…”
“I know where she is,” Darla said, taking a sip of her fruity drink. “But I’m not sure I should tell you. I keep trying to like you, but you keep messing up.”
Cam just looked at her. “I did mess up.”
“Oh.” Darla looked up from her drink. “Well, then, that’s different. And since my mother’s still talking about her free team wear, I’ll tell you.” She leaned forward. “Hadley said she was going for a walk. That-a-way.” She pointed a thumb down the beach. “Toward my house. If you run, you might catch up with her.”
“Thanks.” He tried not to sound too incredulous, but frankly, he was shocked that Darla actually helped him out for once. He responded with a quick hug, which shocked the heck out of her, then waved to her and his brother as he took off down the beach.
* * *
Hadley’s friends had arranged for a night out at the Sand Bar. That was the plan. But she wasn’t in the mood for company, even the company of dear friends who were trying their best to see her through this.