Page 83 of Caught in the Middle

He could hear the smile in her voice. “He’s a fair man, and he’ll respect you for reaching out to him.”

“Any tips?” he asked.

“Sleep with one eye open.”

Cam laughed at that one. “You can count on that.”

“Oh, I’m kidding. Just be yourself, you’ll be fine. Besides, he doesn’t let his personal life affect the workplace.”

Cam sighed, deciding he didn’t want to think about the call any sooner than he had to. “How’d it go after we left?” he asked.

“Eh,” she started. “Let’s just say there was no wedding.”

“I’m so sorry,” he began, guilt washing over him again at his part in ruining Lauren and Asher’s special moment.

Lulu seemed unfazed. “Don’t be. Lauren was picking a fight with everyone after you two left. I was the evil sister who let her look like a fool. Dad the overbearing one who just had to force you along on the trip. Asher for not speaking up at all or coming to her defense.” She let out a sigh that made Cam think she was reminiscing fondly. “It was a sight to see,” she said.

He shook his head but a smile formed on his face. “You seem unscathed by it all.”

“Like I said, not my first rodeo.”

He wished he’d felt as unfazed about it all as she did.

“It’ll all come to pass sooner or later and we’ll drink margaritas together and laugh about how ridiculous we all were,” Lulu said confidently.

“You’re really not worried about it?”

“No,” she admitted. “There’ll be some tough conversations to be had and maybe some awkwardness to smooth over, but we’ll get through it. We all love each other.”

He smiled. Somehow he felt better knowing Emma would have open arms ready to welcome her when she was ready to face them.

“Speaking of love,” she cooed. “Have you talked to Emma?”

He frowned. “No.”

“Did you guys get into it?”

He sighed. “Let’s just say when it was time to leave, we didn’t leave together.”

“What?” She sounded shocked, then her next words came out more gently. “I know she threw you under the bus, but–”

“It wasn’t that,” Cam interrupted. “I mean, yeah, I was pissed off about it, but I was hoping we could talk it out.”

As if understanding, Lulu said, “Give her time.”

He took a deep breath. “I don’t know, Lulu. She looked at me like the week hadn’t meant a thing to her.” That’s what he’d tried explaining to his friends last night as they assured him it could all still work out. They’d insisted that once she was back in the States, he could fly to North Carolina and work it out with her. Maybe it was still too soon to be hopeful, but he just didn’t believe it was possible.

“Trust me,” she insisted. “I’ve known her almost all my life. She likely needs time to sort through the mess as much as the rest of us.”

Ironic, he thought, considering Lulu seemed just fine, but then again he knew better than to believe anyone came by wisdom and understanding without some suffering of their own. He nodded with his phone pressed to his ear.

“Does it make me pathetic if I admit that I hope you’re right? That I’m hoping the three months in Europe has her missing me?”

“No,” she said kindly. “It makes you a man who recognizes a good woman worth waiting for.”

He couldn’t help but smile at that. “That she is,” he agreed.

They chatted for a bit longer before Lulu wished him luck with his call to Henry later and then hung up the phone. Cam felt a little lighter heading back into work for the day, but there was still that heavy ache in his chest that had formed from the moment Emma told him to go.

---