“A charter?” I say with raised eyebrows and a smirk.
“Yeah, right. I’m the low one on the list so far.” He pours coffee into a mug and sits at the table.
Thankfully, he is last on the list right now. Rowdy is number two and I’m number one. I’ve been able to keep a level head and not brag too much. I’m afraid if I do, one of them will sabotage one of my charters.
“Does it bother you?” I stay a safe distance away from his gorgeous body that smells too good not to touch.
“Does what?” He leans back in the chair and looks at me.
“Not being the best?”
A slow and easy smile crosses his face. “Am I usually the best?”
I regret my choice of words. “I guess what I mean is, does it bother you that you suck at the fishing excursion thing?”
He chuckles. “There’s the girl I know.”
“What does that mean?” I frown.
“You never want to compliment me.”
“I compliment you plenty.”
He sips his coffee and swallows. “It doesn’t bother me because I’m just getting started. Plus, I don’t see it as my endgame. I have other things that are more important to me.”
“Like running the marina?”
He shrugs. “Maybe.”
“Do you really want to spend all your time cooped up in an office? Have people not like you?” I sit at the table. We have a few minutes before we have to leave.
“And be rich?”
My head tilts. “Is money that important to you?”
“Well, I’ve never not had it. It’s a nice life, I can’t lie.”
I don’t know if he’s purposely being this way or if he thinks he can’t be straight with me. Maybe he’s afraid to be vulnerable with me.
“I guess we’re different in that way then.”
“What do you really wanna ask me, Chevelle?”
I stare across the table, and he raises his eyebrows at me. “I guess I’m wondering if you really want to make a living at the fishing excursion thing. You have the personality and arrogance that fishermen would trust. This is your chance to get out from under your dad’s thumb.”
“With the boat he bought me? With the profits he’s taking? I’m far from being out from under my dad’s thumb right now.”
“Well, maybe you could make arrangements to buy it from him?”
He shakes his head. “You don’t get it. My dad wanted to start this business. I never would’ve put myself in competition with you.”
My heart pitter-patters, and I can’t help the smile that forms.
“Would I love a life outside of my dad? Hell yes. But I ruined that chance a long time ago. Everyone in this town sees me as the perpetual bachelor who doesn’t work for what he has.” He rises from the chair, takes a sip of coffee, and dumps the rest in the sink before rinsing the cup.
“That’s not true.”
He turns and leans against the counter. “Isn’t it?”
I open my mouth but shut it, unsure what to say. “Well, I don’t think that. I think you can do whatever you want and make it a success.”
“Thanks for believing in me.” He smiles and lets Gunner in the house through the back door. “I’ll be out by the car when you’re ready.”
I dump out my coffee and grab my purse, petting Gunner as he sits by the front window. He’s used to going almost everywhere with us.
I unlock the car and Cam doesn’t take long to sit in the passenger seat, buckling himself in.
“You can drive if you want?”
He shakes his head. “Nah, I like you being my chauffeur.”
I start the car and pull out of the driveway toward the courthouse. The silence throughout our drive feels like a third passenger. I should’ve never started that conversation in the kitchen. Cam’s future is none of my business.
The judge’s gavel pounds the wood in front of him, finalizing the adoption of little Althea Greene. Marla ushers Trey to join his parents, and the four of them all smile and hug while she takes pictures.
I sit in the courtroom and watch my brother and his wife, their smiles contagious as the rest of our big family swarms them. They’ve been through so much, and it warms my heart to see them so happy now.
The judge smashes the gavel down again. “I’m happy for you all, but this isn’t a movie. You can do this outside the courtroom.” She smiles, and my dad apologizes while ushering all of us out.
Like a reception line at a wedding, we each take turns hugging and congratulating Adam and Lucy and welcoming Thea to the family.
“Can I take this off now?” Trey grabs the hem of his “Big Brother” T-shirt and starts lifting it.
“Not yet.” Lucy stops him. She looks at me. “I guess when you’re eight, you’re too cool for T-shirts like this.”
“Yes, he is, Luce,” Cam tells it how it is.
I did think when I saw Trey sitting next to Marla that those shirts are for younger kids, but I’m not a mother, so what do I know?
Lucy looks at Trey and how miserable he is, then takes a shirt out of her big bag she carries everywhere and hands it over. I swear she has one of everything in there. “Go change in the bathroom. And since Uncle Cam has his opinions, he can go with you.”
Cam grabs the shirt. “He’s a boy. We can do it right here. Take it off, Trey.” Trey doesn’t think twice before tearing off the shirt and Cam puts the other shirt over his head and Trey puts his arms in. “Voilà. Not hard.”
I laugh and Lucy’s head rears back.
“What?” I ask.
“Did you just laugh at something Cam did?” she asks.
All our family members stop what they’re doing and stare at me.
“Um…”
Cam swings his arm around my shoulders. “She’s softening up to me. Helps that I make her breakfast every morning.”
“I have to admit, I thought for sure one of you would kill the other by now,” Nikki says, holding a sleeping Noah to her chest.
“We’ve managed fine,” I say.
“I knew we should’ve bet on it,” Jed says, rocking his new baby, Joshua.
All eyes are on us. I want to hide so no one sees that my usual MO of always starting shit with Cam is lessening because I’m with him so much. I’ll be the first to admit maybe I didn’t know Cameron Baker as well as I thought I did. After all, he hasn’t gone on one date since he’s moved into my house. He hasn’t been partying. He hasn’t been a major pig where I’m concerned. In fact, he’s been somewhat thoughtful and funny, and…
I shake my head, shutting down that line of thought. A crush on Cam is one thing. Falling for him is something else entirely.
I glance at Fisher, looking at Cam’s hand dangling off my neck, dangerously close to my breast. Sliding out of Cam’s hold, I pick up my niece Leighton. She’s just about to walk and squirms out of my hold.
“She’s independent, don’t you know,” Presley, her mom, says, running her hand over her very pregnant belly.
“She’s ready to move,” I say.
“If only she wouldn’t just rock the furniture and let go. She’s like her father.” She smiles at my brother, Cade, who rolls his eyes.