want you to go.”
“You can stop me with a word,” she said lightly, though he could see her eyes were bright with tears. “No, make that three words.”
He stared at her, his mouth a firm, thin line, saying nothing.
Awash with a sudden wave of grief, she nodded. “That’s what I thought.” She put Jake into his baby seat. “Say bye-bye to daddy.”
Jake bounced in his seat and waved his hands. “Dada!”
Cameron stared after them as they drove down the driveway and disappeared, leaving him with nothing but his famous grip on control.
Eleven
Barely one hour later, Sally was knocking on his door.
“Come on in, Mom,” Cameron said, holding the door open for her. “You want a beer?”
“Of course I don’t want a beer,” she said, dropping her purse on the living room chair as she followed him into the kitchen. “Cameron, what is going on? You two looked so happy. I was so proud of you for finally accepting love into your life.”
“It wasn’t what it looked like, Mom.” He shrugged. “We had an arrangement.”
“Oh, don’t be ridiculous,” she said, waving his words away. “Arrangements. Good heavens. You kids today.”
“Mom, I don’t-”
“Look me in the eye and tell me you are not head over heels in love with Julia.”
He gritted his teeth and stared her in the eyes. “No.”
She narrowed her gaze. “No, you won’t tell me or no, you’re not in love.”
He folded his arms across his chest defiantly. “I’m telling you I’m not in love with her.”
She blinked in surprise. “My goodness. Well, I guess I’ll be going.”
“No need to rush off,” he said, a little desperately. “You want to go for a swim or something?”
“No, I got what I came here for.”
“Mom,” he said, shaking his head. “I’m sorry.”
“I am, too, dear,” Sally said, and collected her purse as she headed for the front door. “Cameron, you know I love you very much.”
“I love you, too, Mom.”
“I’m glad, because there’s something I need to say to you.” She turned and he could read the disappointment in her eyes. “It’s been a long time since you lied to me, Cameron Duke, but you’re lying now. To me, and to yourself. You are nothing like your father and you know it. Now, I didn’t raise a fool, so stop acting like one. You get that wonderful girl and her darling baby back inside this house or heads will roll.”
Damn, they didn’t call her the Steel Camellia for nothing, Cameron thought ruefully. After his mother left, he took some time to brood for a while. Sally was wrong about the whole lying thing, of course. But he’d been the good son and had allowed her to say what she needed to say.
Now, alone in the house, it almost felt good, necessary even, to wallow in the pain. It had only been a few hours, but he already missed Julia like he would have missed a number of key body parts. More, in fact. Somehow, over the last few months, she had become an essential part of his life, like breathing out and breathing in. So now how was he supposed to live without breathing Julia?
But he would do it. And maybe it was better this way. He’d warned her from the start that he didn’t do the whole love thing, and she’d tried to change the rules. She was asking too much, making demands. Cameron Duke didn’t work that way. Nobody changed his rules but him.
Still, he missed Julia and Jake like crazy.
He was well into his second beer when the doorbell rang again. He wasn’t surprised to see Adam and Brandon let themselves into the house, but he was shocked to see Brandon carrying a small white box with the word Cupcake stenciled in navy blue across the top.
“What are you doing with those?” Cameron asked irately.
“I stopped by Julia’s store and bought them,” Brandon said with a grin. “Hey, now that you and she are breaking up, I’m thinking she might want to go out sometime.” He took a bite of a red-velvet cupcake and moaned, then slid into a dining room chair. “Holy smokes. You let her and these cupcakes get away? Dude, you’re nuts. I’m calling her tonight.”
Cameron started toward him with both hands fisted. “If you want to live, you’ll think twice about that.”
Adam grabbed Cameron’s arm before he could get any farther. “Don’t be a fool.”
“Why not?” Cameron asked. “That seems to be the popular opinion of me right now.”
“Well, a fool is what you are,” Brandon said matter-of-factly, and took another bite of the cupcake.
“And you’re a dead man,” Cameron said, folding his arms across his chest.
Adam laughed. “Look at you.”
Cameron glanced down at himself, then snarled at his brother. “What?”
“You’re standing there making threats, but we all know you would never hurt Brandon.”
“Don’t count on it,” Cameron muttered.
Adam shook his head. “Even when we were kids, you never threw the first punch. Ever.”
“True enough,” Brandon said with a shrug.
“Whereas, Brandon used to get into fights all the time,” Adam grinned. “Remember?”
Brandon smiled at the memories, then glanced at Cameron. “You never fought about anything unless some kid hit you first. Even then, you’d do whatever you could to prevent another punch.”
“Yeah, always the diplomat,” Adam said. “I only remember one time when you were actually forced to defend yourself.”
“Yeah,” Brandon said, then laughed. “And that was only because Jerry Miles was going to beat the crap out of me.”
“I should’ve let him.”
“But you didn’t,” Adam said pointedly. “You entered that fight with grim resignation. There was never any blood lust with you. You never enjoyed it, never got into it. And you never will.”
“Yeah,” he muttered. “Maybe.”
“No, not maybe,” Adam shot back. “Don’t you get it? You’re not a fighter. You’re not violent. You’re nothing like your old man and you never will be.”
That Saturday, Sally brought Jake over to Cameron’s house so he could spend the day with his daddy. Julia had an emergency at the bakery, Sally explained, so she had agreed to bring Jake by.
That’s when it really hit him how much he missed Julia, more than he’d ever thought possible. So much that it hurt him physically.
He took Jake swimming in the pool. After some serious splashing and laughing, they got out and Cameron dried Jake off. He let him crawl in the thick grass of the yard while Cameron quickly dried himself off. Then he watched in amazement as Jake crawled to the fence and used it to lever himself up off the ground. He stood all by himself in the grass and took his first step.
“Dada!” Jake cried, then plopped back down on his butt. He laughed and Cameron swooped him up with delight.
“Jake, what did you do?” Cameron asked, astounded by his son’s ability. “Can you do that again? Can you walk by yourself like a big boy? Here, I’ll help you.”
Cameron steadied Jake, who stood where he was for a few seconds, then took a tentative step. He began to wobble and finally fell on his knees. This time, he screamed bloody murder. Cameron picked him up to comfort him.
“That’s okay, buddy,” he crooned as he hugged the little guy. “We’ll just kiss it and make it better. All
