Chapter Thirty-Four

Cameron

I was dragging ass. All week I had been sleeping like shit, and just coming off a graveyard, I felt like I could have fallen into bed and slept for a week. But I couldn’t. I couldn’t because I didn’t have my own bed. I couldn’t lounge around on the couch while I recuperated from the long week. With both parents retired, it meant they were home all the time. The house wasn’t huge. It was smaller than my house. Well, the house I used to have.

I had to get my own place. I loved Mom and Dad dearly, but this was too much. I was never alone. I felt like I always had to be chatty with Mom and want to do things with them when I wasn’t at work. I loved them, I absolutely did, but I loved them more when I could get away from them.

I pulled into their driveway and took a few minutes to myself before going inside. I knew they would all be up, eating breakfast and wanting to chat. I wanted to fall into bed, but that was never going to happen. If I fell into bed, my head would probably go through the wall.

“Hey, guys,” I said, hoping I sounded cheery as I walked through the door and saw them seated at the table.

“Hi! Want some pancakes?” my mom said, pointing to the stack of fluffy pancakes on the table.

I sighed and considered saying no but thought better of it. I didn’t want to be rude. Plus, I was kind of hungry.

“I’ll grab a plate,” I said when she moved to get one for me.

I didn’t need her waiting on me. I was a good boy and ate two pancakes before buying some alone time by saying I needed to shower. Once in my room, I called Scarlett, not expecting her to pick up but still hoping.

“Hi,” she said, answering the phone.

I had to remind myself what I was going to say. The sound of her voice knocked me into a memory of holding her close on the dance floor. It took me a few seconds to regain my composure as all my cylinders started firing at once at the mere thought of being close to her.

“Hi. You answered,” I said. I felt like a complete moron the second the words crossed my lips.

She chuckled softly, and I closed my eyes, imagining her next to me. “I did,” she replied.

“I, uh… Can we meet? I’d like to talk, please. I really need to get out of here. If anything, take pity on me,” I begged.

“That’s fine. Where and when?” she asked, once again catching me by surprise.

I wasn’t prepared for her to say yes and scrambled for somewhere to meet. “Uh, coffee shop? In, like, thirty minutes?”

“I’ll be there,” she said and hung up.

It wasn’t exactly a sweet good-bye, but I would take what I could get. I quickly showered and changed into some of the clothes she had bought me and asked Mom to watch Ella for a little while. She was eager to have me make up with Scarlett and practically shoved me out the door.

I felt like I was going on my first date with a hot girl I had finally managed to get the courage to ask out. When I walked into the coffee shop and spotted her at a table next to the window, I felt a sense of calm. She made my world a little brighter, and it had nothing to do with the sunlight streaming through the window and plucking out those blond highlights in her hair.

“Hi,” I said, unable to stop smiling as I sat down across from her. I wanted to reach out and grab her hand or lean over and kiss her but stopped myself. “You look beautiful,” I told her, needing her to hear the words that came straight from a place of honesty.

I needed to feel her out a bit and see where we stood before I made any kind of romantic gesture.

“Thank you. You look tired,” she said when I pulled off my sunglasses.

I nodded. “I just got off work, and I haven’t been sleeping much this week.”

“We could have done this later. You need your sleep.”

I shrugged. “It’s fine. I want to do this. It’s not like I’m going to get to sleep there anyway,” I said, knowing I sounded ungrateful and bitter, two things I despised in a person.

“I saw Isaac,” she blurted out.

“Here, in Nashville? Are you okay? Did you report it?” I asked the questions in rapid fire, fearing for her.

“I’m fine. It wasn’t like that.”

“Scarlett, he shouldn’t be anywhere near you. Period. Even if he was across the road, you need to call that in,” I lectured.

She shook her head. “It wasn’t like that. I went home Friday. Hannah and I went out on Saturday and I saw him at the bar with his new girlfriend. I approached him even though he did try to walk away.”

“Scarlett!” I said, angry she would put herself in jeopardy. “A restraining order works both ways. You can’t start tracking him down, especially if you thought he had done something violent.”

She gave me a disgusted look. “Will you let me finish?”

“Yes. Sorry. Go ahead,” I said, still in disbelief that she had actually tracked the man down after working so hard to get away from him.

She dragged in a deep breath. “I asked him if he did it. He said he didn’t, and his girlfriend swears he was with her. He also said the police already questioned him. According to him, the police have already checked him out. Considering he was at the bar, I guess that means they decided he was innocent of the crime you accused him of?” she said, one brow raised.

I nodded and rubbed a hand over my face, trying to stop my tired eyes from burning. “I know. I mean, I didn’t know all that, but I know they’ve traced the evidence back to someone else.”

“Thanks for telling me! When did you find out?” she said, her voice taking on a higher tone.

“I called you and then asked if you could meet for lunch,” I reminded her.

She rolled her eyes. “You could have told me why or—hey, I don’t know, you could have told me Isaac wasn’t the man who burned down your damn house!”

“I wanted to.” I shrugged. “I’ve been trying to get more information on the person who did do it.”

“Who?” she asked, her green eyes wide. “Who started the fire?”

“Some guy named Jerry Smith. I don’t know who he is. He does have one arrest on his record, but I don’t recall ever having any run-ins with him. I’ve gone through every one of my arrest records for the past two years. I’m coming up blank.” Saying it out loud made it all the more frustrating.

She leaned back in her chair and stared at me. I knew what she was waiting for. She folded her arms over her chest, and I wanted to smile at how cute she looked as she glared at me from the other side of the table. She was too pretty to look intimidating—to me at least.

“I’m sorry,” I said in a low voice, looking directly into her eyes.

She nodded. “You shouldn’t have gotten so upset with me. Even if it had been Isaac, you were blaming me for his actions. I can’t be responsible for what he does.”

“I know. You’re right. I’m sorry.”

“So, what does this Jerry guy have against you?”

I let out a long sigh. “I don’t know. I didn’t arrest him, and I don’t recognize his face as anyone I’ve even talked to on the streets.”

She was shaking her head. “I can’t believe you thought I would purposely put your life or Ella’s life in danger. That really hurt, Cameron.”

I felt like a total ass. “I know. I am sorry, but you have to understand I wanted to protect Ella. If it was Isaac and he wanted to retaliate against you or me or both of us, I couldn’t risk her getting caught in the crossfire. It was nothing personal toward you.”

“It couldn’t be. I didn’t do anything to you.”

“I am sorry—really, truly sorry. You said yourself you were afraid of him. You moved to a new city to get away from him after he nearly killed you with a baseball bat. It isn’t like my fears were completely unjustified.”

Her gaze narrowed, and I could see I had said the wrong thing. I had shown up, hat in hand, but I wasn’t going to beg for anything. I had reacted to the situation in the best way I knew.

“I appreciate you looking out for your daughter. Was that all you wanted to say?” she asked, her lips in a thin, tight line.

“I guess. I wanted to tell you it wasn’t Isaac and to apologize for offending you.”

“All right then. You did that, so I guess we’re good.” She stood up and waved good-bye.

I sat there like a dumbass and watched her walk out the door. That wasn’t exactly how I had envisioned the meeting going. I had hoped for more of a kiss-and-make-up ending. I guessed I should have thought about my words a little longer. What I’d said hadn’t been what she’d wanted to hear. That much was obvious.

Cranky and frustrated with everything going on in my life, I drove out to an old fishing hole I hadn’t been to in years. I hadn’t even looked at a fishing pole in a good five years or so. I was thinking it would be a good hobby. I could teach Ella, and it would be a nice way to bond with her while teaching her a useful skill. I imagined Scarlett packing a lunch for us and setting up a picnic while Ella and I fished.

“What the hell?” I asked as I sat on the open tailgate of my truck, my feet dangling.

Where had that come from? One second I was thinking about fishing and the next, Scarlett was there. I had it bad. I could recognize the symptoms. I wasn’t ever going to feel any better and snap out of the perpetual shitty mood I had been in if I didn’t make things right with Scarlett.

Damn woman.

Completely exhausted, I drove home to Mom and Dad’s and crawled into the small bed. I needed an hour of sleep; then I could go out and be sociable. If I didn’t get some sleep, I was going to bite someone’s head off. I didn’t need to make things tense.

Of course, the second I closed my eyes, Scarlett’s angular face and stunning green eyes were there waiting to take me into dreamland. I willingly followed, happy to spend some happy moments with her, even if they were only in my dreams.