Page 14 of SALT

"Hot, but the house we are renting for the summer is on the water, and the owners are even letting us use the boat. You need to come down and spend a weekend with us. We can lay out by the pool while Connor plays cabana boy."

"Hey, I thought the two of you were going to be so busy you didn't have time for anything else. Why is Everett here if Connor is running around down there wearing aprons and playing drink bitch?" I ask as I throw my suitcase on the bed in her guest bedroom.

"Cam, you know he's busy, but on the weekends, he's going to try to be home with me. He has other goals while we're down here, if you know what I mean."

I know exactly what she's referring to. Connor didn't want to fly home on weekends to work in Waterloo because he didn't want to miss an opportunity to put a baby in her. They've been trying since their wedding, which hasn't been too long. Mackenzie is fine with it not happening right away. Granted, I'm sure there is some level of disappointment that affects her every month when her period shows up and she doesn't get to give Connor the news he's hoping for.

"If you were trying to sell me on coming down for a weekend, you probably should have left that last part out. The last thing I want to hear is the two of you fucking while I'm in the other room becoming a born-again virgin."

"Fine, we'll schedule it for two months from now and have both you and Everett down. The two of you should be sleeping together by then, and we only have one spare bedroom."

I fall backward onto the bed. "You think coming to your place was a good idea?"

"I do?—"

"Make sure Cameron uses the alarm system while she is at the house. I want it armed at all times." I hear Connor in the background.

"Did you hear that?" She asks.

"Yes, I heard. Why is he so worried about the alarm? Do you guys have something crazy valuable in the house I should be aware of?"

"As a matter of fact, we do… you."

"Haha, very funny. Well, right now, I'd be open to a home invasion with a masked man having his way with me. Forced entry—the whole nine yards. My brain won't have time to shut it down the way I have every other offer that's come around in the past year," I say as I roll over on the bed and inspect my new room for the foreseeable future. It's not the royal-blue four walls I've become accustomed to at Everett's. Mackenzie is great with interior design, but this room has yet to be touched since she moved in. It's plain and screams designed by Moira Callahan. Apparently, I'm destined to be reminded of that woman everywhere I stay. Connor grew up in this house. It was Moira and Everett's home before they gifted it to Connor for his eighteenth birthday. I bet Mackenzie hasn't decorated this room yet because she has plans to turn it into the nursery. "You swear you haven't told Connor about my crush on his father?"

"I promise, but…"

"But? You can't leave me hanging on a 'but,' not when it comes to this."

"Sorry, I had to go into the bathroom so Connor wouldn't overhear our change in subject. What I was going to say is I think he suspects something."

I sit straight up on the bed. "What did he say? I need the conversation verbatim." Connor's lack of approval could end things between me and Everett before they start.

"When I told him you wanted to stay at our place for the summer until you could find a place of your own, his exact words were, 'I guess that means she's not fucking my dad.'"

"And what did you say?" I ask as I bite my nails, a terrible habit I haven't had since I was a teenager.

"Well, initially, I didn't say anything. The comment put me in an awkward spot. It caught me off guard, and I couldn't tell if he was fishing, joking, or legitimately believed that was what had been going on. So I went with, 'Why would you say that?' and his response was, 'Cameron has been obsessed with my dad for years. He's single, and she's no longer jailbait.'"

"That's it?" Out of all the comments he could have made, that's tame. "How was his tone? Lighthearted, annoyed, relieved, indifferent…" I hear a toilet flush. "Did you really just pee with me on the phone?"

"As if you haven't been in the bathroom with me at the bar while I peed. I needed to pee, and I had to make my reasoning for coming here authentic."

I hear the faucet turn on and grow impatient. "Well…"

"I was getting there, sheesh. It was obviously said with a great deal of sarcasm, but it's also clearly something that's been on his mind, which means he's had time to sit with the idea. I don't think he loves it. Cam, I know you've already considered how a relationship between the two of you will look to those who have been in your life forever. It will be shocking, but I know my husband, and I think if he sees that his father is happy, he would be accepting of whatever that looks like."

There's a knock on the door… "Mackenzie, we're going to be late for our reservation."

"I gotta go. Text me if you need anything," Mac says right before she cuts the call.

I toss my phone across the bed. Mackenzie's opinions on my relationship fuel my hope that all of this will turn out as I've always wanted. Not only is she my best friend, but she's new to town. She and Connor were married a week after meeting each other. Mac has a unique outsider perspective on top of having a family connection. Connor is her other half. If she doesn't think he'll stand in the way, the only person who can is Everett, and I can feel him breaking.

I knew exactly what I was doing this afternoon when I said I'd move out. I said I wouldn't force his hand. That ended badly the last time; he literally booked a red-eye to Boston the same day. Hindsight is a bitch. It was a low blow that showed my age, but I wanted him to feel something. I wanted him to admit his feelings are more. I'm confident that's what this is now, or at a minimum, I'm sure that's where his short fuse is coming from. He didn't stop feeling things for me, and now he's stuck with me, not only at home but at work too. If I had to bet money on it, that's part of why he entered the team store like a bull in a china shop. His conflicted thoughts about what he should feel versus what he does feel got the best of him.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder, or at least that's what the old adage says. Sure, he's technically been gone for a few months, so if this axiom is true, our reunion shouldn't have been so toxic. However, we weren't lovers, there was no romantic relationship between us, or at least an acknowledged one, but there were entanglements, and it's those damn knots that we're struggling to untie now. I am off-limits to him. I understand that. In his mind, all that exists are reasons he and I can't be together. Which is why I'm leaving. I must show him the reasons I should be in his space are greater.

The creaky-ass screen door downstairs pulls me out of my thoughts, and I'm immediately out of my bed. While I'd love to hope that whoever is at my new front door is Everett, I'm positive he hasn't missed me enough to show up yet.

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