Page 1 of Caught in the Middle

Chapter 1

Cam Wright switched lanes before he missed his turn. With all of the road construction, he had been doing well to make it on time this week, especially since he wasn’t familiar with Dallas. He’d been here all week for leadership training and with tomorrow being Friday and his last day, he was ready to get back to the hotel and relax.

It wasn’t that the week’s meetings and speakers had been exhausting or boring, but he'd been persuaded into taking a more active role than just an attendant. Normally, he could show up to one of these, see colleagues from other locations, and catch up while bringing back solid information to apply at his office in St. Louis. However, his center had been making waves with the new systems the company rolled out last year, and his team in particular had been catching the notice of the bigwigs.

The nice part about his job was that it didn’t go unnoticed when an employee worked hard and produced. The downside of that meant he was roped into being one of the speakers without more than a day’s heads up and he had to find an innovative way to explain what he was doing to hit numbers. That was the exhausting part. It didn’t help that in the world of telecommunications, things were always changing too. His motto was to be adaptable while finding ways to stay proactive instead of reactive. He’d done his best to explain that in a way that didn’t put his colleagues to sleep.

As Cam recognized where he was, he could feel the tension of the day begin to fade away. Soon, he’d be back at the hotel, could change into something more casual, and decide what he wanted to do for dinner. As his destination came into view, his phone sounded over the rental car’s speaker.

“You off work already?” he asked by way of greeting.

Nate chuckled. “Yeah, I promised Katie I’d stop micromanaging and learn to call it a day.”

Cam smiled. Nate Winslow had become one of his good friends over the past six months. He’d ended up falling for one of Cam’s best friends from college, Katie Johnson, who had always been like a sister to him. They were both driven with the kind of work ethic that made the people around them seem lazy in comparison. Katie had been on Nate about keeping a healthy workload and work-life balance, which was comical considering she gave him a run for his money in that department. Still, as the owner of several restaurants spread over different cities and states, Nate was having to learn to delegate more and trust his instincts since he couldn’t be everywhere at once.

Cam had been skeptical of Nate at first, mainly due to Katie’s last boyfriend having been a worthless ass. But it didn’t take them long to hit it off, and now they’d grown as close as any of his other friends.

“Did she give you a speech before or after she made an excuse as to why she would be working late?” Katie was in the marketing industry, and the hotel she worked for, which also housed one of Nate’s restaurants, was working on expanding and she had been delivering on her promise to grow their business and revenue to make that happen.

“I think the only person who can guarantee that she’ll be out of there at a said time is Slone, and that’s only if she’s promising a dinner.” Nate heard Cam’s laugh and echoed it.

Their entire friend group loved Slone’s cooking. She was another one of Cam’s best friends from college, who married Nate’s best friend, Derek, a famous actor who gave up his spotlight to be a podcaster. It was at Derek and Slone’s wedding anniversary celebration last winter that Nate met and fell for Katie. Hard. Now they all felt like one big family.

“Just wait until Slone’s due date, and we’ll really see Katie rush out of the office.” Slone and Derek were expecting, the first of their friends to start a family and they were all excited for them. They’d just shared the news a couple of weeks ago as they entered their second trimester.

“She’s already been buying baby stuff and gushing about being the best auntie this world has ever seen. I’m drowning in baby supplies as it piles up around the apartment.” Nate laughed. “I had to check and make sure she remembered it was Slone and Derek who are pregnant and not us.”

Cam cracked up as he could imagine it just as Nate described. He pulled into his hotel, getting in line behind a couple other cars waiting for valet. “Wait until it’s your turn. This is probably a fraction of what it’ll be like.” Nate and Katie hadn’t begun talking of kids or anything, but he had no doubt they were a couple that was going to last.

“Shit. I hate to admit it, but I think I’ll be just as bad at that point,” Nate said.

A small pang hit Cam unexpectedly. He was happy for his friends, all of them, but there was still that small part of him that looked forward to finding happiness with his person down the road. They’d deemed him the romantic one ever since college, and he had nothing against the label, but it sure never helped him find the right woman.

Thankfully, Nate interrupted his thoughts. “What are you going to do tonight?”

“Probably throw on shorts and order room service.”

Nate grunted. “Have you done anything exciting since being there?”

“No?” It sounded like a question. What was he supposed to do? It was a work trip, nothing else. Sure, he’d had a few drinks with some of the guys he hadn’t seen since the last conference, but that was about as exciting as one of these things got.

“Man, you gotta get out and go explore or something.”

“Explore what?”

“Anything. It’s Dallas. You’re somewhere else. There’s got to be something fun to do besides hang out in your hotel room.”

Cam thought about it as the valet approached him and he grabbed his work bag to get out. “I don’t know. There’s not much I want to do, I guess. Besides, I’ll be back this weekend and then I can pester all of you if I feel up to anything.”

“Nah. You need some adventure. At least go rock climbing or something.” As Nate continued, Cam entered the hotel and headed for the elevator.

“I’ll see what I get up to,” Cam replied, brushing off the suggestion.

“Go have some fun before we’re all wifed up with kids and you’re our only babysitter for a parents’ night out.” Nate laughed and Cam smiled realizing how his tone had sounded more hopeful than dreadful at the thought.

“Yeah, yeah,” he responded. “I’m back at the hotel though. I’m sure I’ll holler at you when I get back this weekend or pop by.”

“Sounds good, man. Go have fun.”

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