Page 15 of Caught in the Middle

Emma waved her hand to brush it off. She’d never been a messy person concerning her surroundings, but she could see how her life would appear to be in chaos at the moment.

Cam took a deep breath. “The only way we’re going to survive this is if we approach it as a team.”

Emma paused her pacing. “I bet you’re a good boss,” she said.

He gave her an appreciative smile, then checked the time on his phone. It wasn’t too terribly late, and if he was going to be traveling first thing tomorrow, then maybe it was best to make some phone calls now.

“I need to make some calls,” he said.

Emma nodded. “I bet Lulu will be calling me as soon as she gets home.”

“How about I come over in an hour? Then we can figure out what we're going to do.”

“Sounds good.” Emma watched him walk to the door. “And Cam?”

“Yeah?” he asked, looking over his shoulder.

“Thank you.”

“We’ll figure it out.” Then he was gone.

Emma plopped backward on the bed, her arms sprawling out by her head. She was so screwed, she thought. She was many things, but a liar wasn’t one of them. Until tonight.

She kept feeling like everyone could see her shame written all over her face. If she was worried about them pitying her before, that would be nothing compared to what they’d think if the truth came tumbling out.

Yeah, sure, there were all those wise people saying that the truth sets people free and whatnot, but she didn’t believe it. And she didn’t need freedom, she needed to survive this vacation.

What’s sad was she had been eager for it before finding out that Asher and Lauren would be there.

God. Asher and Lauren. The latter had been so joyous for her, which she’d always been anytime Emma had something good going on in her life. The former had been his same self. She knew eight months wasn’t that long but she’d expected him to somehow be different. The only difference though, was that he was next to Lauren instead of her.

Then the way he questioned her about backpacking and the workaholic comment. Ugh, she could’ve flipped him off. He had always been on her about how much time she spent on the road for work, especially when she flipped the bill for some of those jobs she took, which lowered the profit extensively. But he never understood it. It wasn’t always about the money and time, it was about opportunity. Her photography built her connections and chances to see parts of the world and exposure to cultures she’d never explore otherwise.

He’d always considered it a waste of her business degree, though what he didn’t understand was that she used that education plenty behind the scenes.

Besides, she doubted he was too bothered by Lauren’s travels and photo-taking if he was willing to date her. Lauren had built a huge influencer platform for herself, sharing content in a lifestyle format from clothes and skincare routines to daily vlogs and travel tips. She had that chic and glamorous aesthetic to her content that so many dreamed about.

Quite ironic for Asher to judge a career of photography and entrepreneurship to date another go-getter woman who was also building a life for herself. It didn’t matter if one woman was behind the camera and the other was in front of it. They were both smart, savvy, and hard workers, so she just hoped he was smart enough to not harp on Lauren as he had her.

Emma put a hand over her eyes. What was she doing lying here worrying about how Asher was treating Lauren? Maybe looking out for Lauren like a little sister was such second nature to her now that she couldn’t stop, even if they were all grown.

The vibrating of her phone stole her attention and she found herself thanking Lulu for the impeccable timing.

“Are you calling to tell me how pathetic I am?”

Lulu’s laughter rang out over the phone. “Girl, I have no words. No freaking words.”

“Ugh,” Emma groaned into the phone. “Me either. I’m so stupid.”

“Stop that. But I am curious how this came about? Because I know you and Cam aren’t dating. Right?”

Emma laughed. “I’ve known him twenty-four hours if you can even call a dinner that.”

“What? How’d you guys have dinner together? And where’d you pull that story about meeting him from? Besides your ass, because I know you would’ve mentioned him to me before tonight if that’d been true.”

Emma launched into the details of last night and her failed attempt at a distraction that led her to dinner with Cam and then proceeded to explain the panic that gripped her when they arrived and she pulled Cam into her horrible lie. She let out another groan when Lulu wouldn’t stop laughing multiple times.

“Of all the people in this world, I can’t believe it’s Cam,” Lulu finally said.

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