She made a note to talk to him about it later and went about making Piper’s snack.
They spent the remainder of the afternoon hanging around the guesthouse; then Audrey took the time to go through Piper’s school folder while Piper went to the backyard to play. There were a half dozen forms Cameron needed to sign.
Daylight slowly faded into twilight, and Cameron pulled his rumbling Camaro into the driveway around six thirty.
Her traitorous heart did a triple beat when she watched him unfold his long legs from the driver’s seat. Piper skipped toward him, but Audrey remained behind the screen door, grateful for the cover so she had a moment to compose herself. He already saw too much when he caught her watching him. She didn’t need to be giving the man any advantages.
Lord knew he had too many.
Piper jumped up and down on two feet as she followed Cameron to the front door. Audrey couldn’t be sure, but she thought maybe he’d glanced in her direction as though wondering where she was.
Before she could consider it too long, her cell phone rang. Her stomach clenched when she spotted her brother’s name on the display. The only time he called was to talk about her mother’s disappearance and the case that detectives were still working on. However, as much as Audrey wanted to hear something about what had happened to her mother, she wasn’t in the mood to talk to him. Their conversations made Audrey long for the time when she and Paul could laugh and tease and play. Now they just passed along information, like two coworkers who occasionally saw each other at a staff meeting. She allowed the call to go to voice mail. If Paul had important information to relay, she could call him back.
It wasn’t supposed to be this way. Life wasn’t supposed to be this way. At least her life wasn’t. When she’d been a kid, she’d received an unreasonable amount of satisfaction planning her future. Her career, husband, kids, and all that. So far, nothing had worked out the way she’d dreamed all those years ago. Everything was upside down and constantly changing, and the element of the unknown placed a throbbing tension in the back of her skull.
Mom gone. Best friend gone. A brother she barely talked to. A father who was emotionally unavailable. A career that was finally thriving, and one that she loved. But was that what she’d been reduced to? That woman who threw herself into her job because she had nothing else going for her? No husband waiting for her, no kids to tuck in at night? No big, overly loud Christmases with family bustling around the kitchen and nephews and nieces running down the halls?
And then there was Cameron. He was everything she’d once wanted. He had a good, stable job. He was a homeowner. Not to mention how softhearted he was with Piper. Smart. Good-looking…
Oh, who was she kidding? The man gave new meaning to “good-looking.” It was like looking at Chris Hemsworth and thinking eh.
But Audrey had enough experience to know life was more about a checklist. It was about feelings and instinct. Spontaneity and living. Not simply going from point A to point B. Sometimes Audrey felt like she’d become one of those people.
Only thing was all her instincts about Cameron had been screaming at her since day one.
Be careful with this one.
He’s just like the others who’ve hurt you.
Audrey pulled in a breath as she lifted her head and spotted Cameron on the back porch watching her. The look on his face was peculiar. His brows were knitted in a way that she thought maybe he wanted to go to her, but for some reason he held himself back.
Don’t, she wanted to say to him.
“Everything okay?” he called.
“Yeah.” Audrey stood from the step, because she needed to do something with her nervous energy.
Audrey reached the top of the steps, but Cameron hadn’t moved from his spot behind the railing. He had one lean hip pressed against the wood, his hands folded over his impressive chest. That was another thing Audrey noticed about him. The man leaned a lot, as though casual were his middle name. As though he had all the time in the world. He moved with an easy, casual grace of someone who was confident in his own skin. And yet he always watched her with an intensity that made her want to squirm.
“I see Piper found you,” she said.
Cameron surprised her by smiling. The action had been unexpected and sent Audrey’s hormones into overdrive. “Yeah, she’s been telling me about her day for the past half an hour. Some kid named Gavin kept poking her in the shoulder with a purple crayon and was sent to the time-out chair.”
Audrey smiled along with him because it was impossible not to smile when talking about Piper. “I think she had a good day.”
A look of concern flashed across Cameron’s face. “Were you worried she wouldn’t?”
“How could I not worry about that?”
He lifted one shoulder. “I guess you can’t really help it, can you?”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing.”
She took a step toward him and tried not to notice how the man towered over her. “No, there was something there. You had a disapproving tone.”
“No, I didn’t.”
“Yes, you did. As though I can’t help but to fuss over her, as you put it before.”
He blew out a breath. “I only meant because you care about her. Not everything has a double meaning, Audrey.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah,
