CHAPTER ELEVEN
Adalyn
“You WHAT?”
I lowered my voice to a whisper. “I blackmailed him. I think.”
“You think?” The pale blue in Josie’s eyes flashed with confusion. “But… How? When? WHY?”
“Let’s see.” I held up a finger. “I threatened to expose him to the whole town.” A second one. “Last night, right after you left with Diane and Gabriel.” And a third. “Because I’m desperate and I…” A shiver crawled down my arms. “I need him, so I panicked. The words came out of my mouth before I could stop them.”
Josie’s eyes remained that full-moon size for a long moment. I was almost sure she’d stopped breathing. That is, until she threw her head back and laughed.
“I just confessed to a crime.” I blinked at her. “The second one I’ve committed in the span of a few days. Maybe even the third, if you count me hitting Cameron with my car.” My throat worked. “That’s it. I’m going to jail.”
“Wait, wait,” she said breaking off the cackling. “You did what to Cam?”
“I… I bumped into Cameron,” I confessed. “With my bumper. Right after I almost murdered his chicken. I also kind of momentarily fainted and he— It doesn’t matter. I didn’t say anything because I thought you’d be horrified.”
Another burst of laughter left the woman in front of me. People scattered around the café turned at the noise. All right, maybe Josie wasn’t horrified.
“Oh God,” she wheezed out, patting her chest like that had been the best joke she’d ever heard. “I wish there was a way I could get Lazy Elk’s security footage of that exact moment.”
I felt myself pale. Not another incriminating video. “There’s a security camera?”
“Oh, I don’t know, but wouldn’t that be great?” She shook her head. “If there is, though, I wouldn’t really have a way to get that tape. The property belongs to a hospitality company of some sort. They were the ones who renovated the big cabin last year.” A shoulder was shrugged. “Ah, how I wish I had the money to make my place look like that.”
“I’ve been trying to get a hold of the owner actually.” I’d gone as far as doing as Cameron suggested—which I’d never admit out loud—and pretended to be his assistant when I called the managing agent. “With no success.”
“Oh, is there something wrong with the cottage? I could try to help if you need me to.”
Words that had been thrown at me by two different men in the last twenty-four hours rang in my ears.
Leaving behind the comfort of the life I’ve provided for you is not easy.
Is the idea of sleeping on the floor not good enough for the princess?
“The cottage is perfect,” I said. “It was about something else. Invoices. I need them for my travel expenses.”
“That makes sense,” Josie said, pushing a tray in my direction. “Try a macaron. It’ll erase that look from your face.” She pointed at the green one. “Pistachio is my favorite. Plus, it might be the last one you ever get to eat. You know, if they lock you behind bars for all those nasty, gnarly crimes.”
“It isn’t funny,” I deadpanned. But she chuckled and I snatched one either way. Before bringing it to my lips, though, I ventured a question I hadn’t had the courage to ask. “How are you so okay with all of this? With what I just told you about Cameron but also with the video of me… being so uncivilized.”
Josie’s permanent smile wavered for what probably was the first time since I’d met her. “I’ve been engaged four times,” she told me. “And never married. I know a hurt woman when I see one.”
I studied the woman in front of me. Her kind and beautiful features were framed by waves of light brown hair. In the short time I’d known Josie, she’d been so relentlessly optimistic and happy that her confessing to being hurt—four times at that—shocked me. Not by the fact she’d been engaged numerous times before thirty, but by how her inner light had dimmed just now.
“My parents split before I was born,” I offered. “He proposed when they found out my mom was pregnant, but they never married. I have the suspicion they still love each other, even when my mom is relentless in her reminders of how happy and blissful her life is—not despite, but because she never married.” I felt my cheeks warm. I never talked about my parents’ relationship. And just like that, I heard myself say, “I’ve only ever been in one relationship. At some point, I thought he’d propose, but he broke things off with me instead. It never hurt me, not like it should have. So I never resented him.” That sensation right at the bottom of my stomach stirred. “Until I heard him saying some things about me a year later.”
Josie nodded her head, only the remnants of that stern expression hanging around her features. “This is why I like you,” she said, her smile returning full force. “Everyone else would have asked for the story. What caused those four engagements to end. But you didn’t.”
My chest warmed in a way I wasn’t used to. Josie liking me was important. I needed an ally in Green Oak and I… liked this.
“So,” she resumed, popping a macaron into her mouth. “I have questions.” Her eyebrows arched. “First one is, did Cam show up at practice today?”
Something in the middle of my chest twisted at the reminder. “He did. He stormed in and out, not even sparing a glance my way.” I’d thought I would appreciate him ignoring me but I hadn’t. I felt horrible over what I’d done. But I also needed him, so how was I supposed to take my words back and have him stay? “Diane was also there, by the way. She dropped off Chelsea and kept watch from her car.”
“Expected. But I told you he’d be back,” Josie pointed out with a tilt of her head.
I checked the nearby tables, confirming Josie’s Joint was still mostly empty. “He believes I blackmailed him, Josie. Of course he was back.”
She shrugged, grabbing another macaron and chewing on it slowly. “You forget he was coaching the team before. And I don’t know Cam super well, but I know enough of him. He probably took the whole thing about you b-wording him as playful banter.”
Not that again. “We don’t banter, trust me.” And also, “B-wording him?”
Josie chuckled. “That was cute, wasn’t it? It’s like we’re back in high school and we’re two girlfriends whispering about going behind the bleachers with a crush.” She grimaced. “I don’t think you should go behind the bleachers, though. The structure is really old and I should probably ask Robbie to have a look at it. He’s María’s dad and Green Oak’s unofficial handyman.”
“Sure, I’ll try not to sneak behind the bleachers until Robbie checks them,” I conceded in a dry tone.
“Unless the proposition comes from someone… interesting,” she countered, lips curling in a way I didn’t like. “Someone banter-y who has jokingly been b-worded like—”
“Nope,” I cut her off. “Not even a possibility.”
“Fine.” Josie rolled her eyes. “But—”
“So, games start in a week?” I deflected by asking even though I already knew. I knew everything there was to know by now.
Her face scrunched up with thought. “Oh! You could approach him to talk about that. Make a little small talk to smooth things over. First team to beat is the Grovesville Bears and they’ll be a tough cookie to crack.” That got my attention. “You don’t even need to wait until next practice on Monday. Just go to him and say—” Josie’s words came to a stop. “Code yellow.”
My brows furrowed. “Why would I—”
“Code yellow,” Josie insisted through a toothy smile, her eyes jumping quickly behind me. “Code bright-Diane’s-hair-yellow.”
“You need to stop calling for codes I don’t—”
The bell on the café’s door rang.
The sound of heavy footsteps followed.
“Act cool,” Josie whispered. But one of her eyes started twitching.
I opened my mouth to ask her if she was okay but before I could, a large hand was flying in front of my face.
A palm that ended in five long and strong fingers—some crooked, and a pinky wearing a signet with a C—placed something right beside the macaron tray.
I waited, but Cameron didn’t speak.
“Odd way to say hello,” I finally said, feeling the weight of Cameron’s gaze on the top of my head. I nodded at the flyer in front of me, still not looking at him. “What’s this?”
Nothing came from him.
“That’s Green Oak’s activity brochure,” Josie whispered loudly, leaning in. “It has the full list of seasonal activities on offer. There’s sports, our end of summer celebration by the lake, arts and crafts, our fall fest, the—”
I shot her a glance, and she answered me with a complicit glance. “Well, this is great. But I don’t see why it’s been thrust in my face.”
Instead of talking, Cameron let out one of those throaty noises that made him sound like someone straight out of the Paleolithic era.
I felt my throat work. “I don’t need this.”
“Oh, you do,” he finally said, and it was his tone—or maybe his voice—that brought my gaze up. Green eyes were pointed right at me and he looked so… cocky. Smug. “I signed you up,” he announced. “For every single activity on the agenda from this weekend to the end of fall.”
The chair I’d been sitting on scratched the floor of the café, the noise making me realize my body had just sprung up. “You did what?” I squeaked.
Cameron’s lips twitched beneath that beard I was growing to resent so much. It made getting a read on him so hard. “Diane—you remember Diane, right?” he asked, and I blinked away my reaction to that name. “Besides being president of the parent association, she also happens to be council secretary. And guess what she’s in charge of?”
“Some of the organizational tasks,” Josie answered for me, making us both glance at her. She was holding the brochure. “Actually, I remember very vividly telling her not to use this font. God, the color scheme is also wrong. I…” She trailed off the moment she looked up. “Oops. Please, continue.”
My attention returned to the man to my left, finding his eyes on me. Again. “She was so concerned about your involvement in the community,” he said, shrugging those wide shoulders and daring to look… flippant. “I thought to help you tilt the balance in your favor.”
“You thought to help,” I repeated, and when his eyes dipped to my mouth, I realized I was pressing my lips so tight, I probably gritted the words. “How generous of you, Cameron.”
“Some would say charitable,” he shot back calmly, making my cheeks heat at the reminder of last night’s conversation. “I wouldn’t feel obligated to go to any of these, though.”
Josie cleared her throat. “Diane is actually a little bit of a… stickler for rules? She kind of hates people signing up and then not showing up. Last year Grandpa Moe accidentally signed up for our fall fest worm race.” I glanced at Josie with horror. “You should have seen Diane when Grandpa— Not helping? ’Kay. I’ll tell you about it later, though. It’s a fun story.”
“I’d love to hear about it,” Cameron piped up in a serious tone. “Adalyn, too, I’m sure. She’s signed up for that, too, after all.”
My head whirled in his direction. “I—” I was mad. Extremely frustrated. But I deserved this. I… “I’m a big fan of worms, actually.”
Cameron tilted his head, studying me, and the motion made me notice a dark spot peeking out of the neckline of his thermal. Right above the right side of his collarbone. Ink. It had to be—
“Oh hey, Diane!” Josie blurted out suddenly. My whole body stiffened. Could I please catch a break? “We were just talking about you and the wonderful brochure you put together. Wow, this year looks better than ever.”
I ripped my eyes off Cameron Caldani’s collarbone and looked over at the mayor of Green Oak with an obvious question: What are you doing?
Josie shot me a quick glance: Trust me.
It was either that or storm out of here, so I braced myself for the worst and watched how Diane crossed the distance to our table.
“Thank you, Josie,” Diane said, after a curt hello and a skeptical look in my direction. “I took some creative liberties with it this year. I’m particularly proud of the font.”
“Which is stunning,” Josie agreed. And boy, she was such a horrible liar. It was painful to watch. “You know what else we were talking about? The girls’ soccer team.”
Diane frowned. I did, too. And Cameron… Well, he was now scowling in the general vicinity of the conversation.
“All right,” he grunted, taking a step back. “This is my cue to lea—”
“Love,” Josie finished for him. “This is Cam’s cue to finally acknowledge how much he’s loving working with the team. And Adalyn. And—”
“And the activities,” I blurted out. My eyes widened at my own words. “So much that he also wants to sign up. Right along with me.”
Cameron’s gaze fell so heavily on me that I could swear I felt my skin heating up under all that silent hostility.
Oh God, what was I doing?
“A team bonding exercise!” Josie squealed with a clap. “To build their camaraderie and trust. How FUN. Now that’s what I call dedication. To the girls, of course.”
As if some strange kind of vengeful self-destructive autopilot had been switched on, I asked, “What do you say, Coach?”
His lip started to twitch.
And I stared at him, feeling sick to my stomach over what I was doing. What I had done. God, ever since Sparkles I’d been unhinged. But this man… There was something about him that made me spring up on guard and attack before he could hit first, as if—
Cameron’s mouth bent, one of the corners moving upward and giving way to a smirk.
Even with all that facial hair, it was obvious. Visible. Right there, on display. And he didn’t even look amused. No, he looked…
It was in that moment that my memory decided to throw back at me something he’d said.
I only play when there’s something worth winning.
Oh God. Oh no.
Had I… just given a highly competitive man like Cameron Caldani a reason to take me down?