Allie is biting her lip to stop herself from laughing.
“What the fuck, Cam?” Fisher’s hands are fisted at his sides.
“What?” I situate myself so Allie doesn’t have to see my raging hard-on.
“What the hell are you doing?” The line between Fisher’s eyebrows is as deep as I’ve ever seen it.
“I told you I was gonna pursue her.”
Allie raises her eyebrows and leaves the room. She must be in the kitchen because I hear noise coming from there.
“I didn’t think she’d actually go for it. Fuck.” He pushes his hand through his hair.
Allie peers around the corner. “Language.”
“The kids are asleep. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.”
I sit up on the couch. “What? Am I that bad? I’m not good enough for your sister?” I try to keep the hurt from my voice.
He sighs. “No, it’s not that. It’s just…” Chevelle returns to the room, and he looks at her for a long beat, speaking to her now. “He’s my person.”
I’m thrown by his words. Fisher isn’t an emotional guy. Half the time I don’t even know what he’s feeling because he’s so nonreactive. Sure, I see how he loves Allie and the twins, especially the way he talks about them. But us, we’re best friends. I share everything with him. That’s the reason I felt it was so important to tell him about Chevelle.
“He’s mine too,” Chevelle softly admits.
Allie walks out of the kitchen. “Fisher Greene, if you think you’re going to sabotage this between them just because you’re worried you’ll lose Cam if it goes south, we’re going to have words. Everyone, come into the kitchen so we can talk about this.”
We all follow because as nice as Allie is, she’s got a scary side too.
We all sit at the kitchen table, and Chevelle looks at a small box that rests in the middle. “What’s this?”
“Just something I found in the basement. I’m trying to get it open, but no one has a key. I think I’m gonna have to drill it.”
They’re talking about this damn box when really, I just want to get this cleared up.
I look between them both. “I can be both of your people.”
“Excuse me?” Allie says and looks at Fisher.
“He’s my person,” Fisher admits, and Allie teasingly slaps his arm.
“I’m supposed to be your person. I’m your wife!”
He turns to her. “You are. It’s just Cam was there when my mom died. I told him everything, and he always understood that if I was quieter, I was thinking of my mom and stuff. But you, you’re my person now.”
“Sure. Okay.” She rolls her eyes.
“But he’s that for me too. I guess we could’ve told you,” Chevelle says.
“Hello, I did tell him, and they all blew me off like I didn’t have a chance with you.” I turn to her. “And look… we’re on our way somewhere, right?”
Chevelle takes my hand, threading our fingers together. “I hope you can accept it, Fisher, because regardless of your feelings, I’m going to date Cam.”
He pretends to choke on something, and Allie rolls her eyes. “Grow up, Fisher. You’re not in high school. Just because you turned a blind eye to their obvious feelings for one another all these years doesn’t mean they’re not there.”
Fisher looks at both of us. “Really? You two like each other? Like like?”
I smile at Chevelle. “Definitely like like.”
She matches my smile. “Totally like like.”
I kiss her, just a small peck, but Fisher clears his throat. “Can you guys refrain from doing that for a little bit? At least until I get used to this.”
“No.” I kiss her again, and she giggles. “Now that you guys are home, we’re gonna go home too.” I stand and offer Chevelle my hand.
“Do we need to talk about this some more?” Fisher says.
“There’s nothing to talk about,” I say and lead Chevelle out of the house.
Everything is right on track now.
23
“I’M IN THIS FOR THE LONG HAUL.”
Cam
In the last two weeks, Chevelle and I haven’t been extremely public with our relationship, though I think the news has spread. I miss being with her every day since she’s out on fishing excursions and I’ve been working my ass off to get the third boat ready for the water.
The days are hard, but the nights… the nights have been the best nights of my life. Every night we eat dinner together and watch movies on Netflix. The best part is that we go to bed in Chevelle’s bed and wake up in each other’s arms. We haven’t talked again about what the future will bring, and I’m still taking things at a snail’s pace so as not to scare her.
Tonight, I want to show her how special she is to me.
“Where are you taking me?” Chevelle holds her hands out in front of her since I have her blindfolded.
“It’s a surprise. Hence the blindfold.”
“Be careful, I can’t see where I’m going. My knee might accidentally hammer into your balls.” She stops and moves her leg in the air.
I chuckle and walk us through the marina gate and down to the pier. The keys to the boat are burning a hole in my pocket. Once we get to the third Five Seas boat, sitting in the water, I take off her blindfold.
“Oh, Cam, it’s beautiful.”
“Not half as beautiful as you.”
She gives me a look and rolls her eyes.
“Hey, I’ve always wanted to use a cheesy line like that. But it’s the truth.” I pull her to my side and kiss her temple. “Please step aboard.”
She slips off her shoes and dangles them from her fingers. “Don’t mind if I do.”
Holding my hand, she steps down and sits on the bench by the steering wheel. Damn, she looks good in it. So much so that I don’t want to sell this boat in two days to the customer I have lined up.
“Aren’t you going to come aboard?” Her voice has a flirtatious lilt, and I toe out of my shoes and hop on board.
I put the key in the ignition while her eyes take in everything. “Sadly, no sex on the boat. Everyone would see us.”
She laughs. “We could dock somewhere.”
“We could, but it’s dusk, and these old boats don’t have lights like our fishing ones.”
“Don’t worry, I have a place for us that’s not too far away after the ride.”
I get us out of the marina to the open water, and Chevelle pulls her hair into a ponytail once the wind hits us. She snuggles up to my side and lays her head on my shoulder.
Just a few years ago, I never would’ve thought this was something I wanted—to be responsible for someone besides myself. I’m not financially responsible for Chevelle. She does that all by herself, but her happiness is in my hands to a certain extent. And instead of that scaring me, I’m glad I’m the one who gets her to smile every day.
I slow the boat once we get to a spot I took a lot of my charters to fish, and we coast. Her hand moves to my thigh.