Page 28 of Among the Stars

“You guys are too funny,” Jesse said, dismissing the ironically true statements they’d just made. “I hope you end up as happy as Ash and I are.”

“That’s the goal,” Cam replied. Then he snapped the happy couple back to reality. “How would you like to handle the deposit?”

“Oh, right.” Ash pulled his wallet from his back pocket and held out a credit card. “Put whatever you need on this.”

Instead of taking the card, he said, “We’ll need to run the payment at the bar. Go on up, have a drink on the house, and we’ll be out once I have the final figures.”

We’ll be out?Did he have a mouse in his pocket?

“I can wait with them,” Veronica said.

“No need. This won’t take long.”

A bit bossy, but fine. He clearly had something he wanted to say without the loving couple around.

Awkward smiles were exchanged before the pair did as ordered and headed back up to the bar. Mr. High-And-Mighty might think he’d won this round, but not for long.

* * *

“Ronnie?”Cam said. “You let him call you Ronnie?”

Veronica pulled her hand from his. “It’s a nickname he gave me shortly after we met.”

“A nickname you should have suggested he shove up his ass.”

“Is that what you kept me in here to say?” She didn’t look amused, which was fine, because Cam didn’t feel amused.

“I meant what I wrote on that paper. He never deserved you.”

“You don’t even know him.”

“No, but I know you.”

Golden brows arched high. “Really? We met thirty-six hours ago.”

An irrelevant point. “You’re far more beautiful than the sprite of a woman he’s marrying.”

“Don’t let the no makeup and ponytail fool you,” she said, rounding the desk and putting more distance between them than he liked. “Jesse is gorgeous.”

“Regardless. I don’t like him.”

“Why?”

Cam crossed his arms. “I don’t like the way he treats you.”

“The way he treats me?”

“Yes.”

Veronica mimicked his stance. “And how is that?”

“Like he never loved you.” Hurt filled her eyes, and Cam regretted the words immediately. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”

“Don’t apologize.” She melted into the chair her ex had just vacated. “It’s true, after all. I just thought I was the only one who noticed.”

“I saw the difference when you walked in,” he explained, measuring his words to be gentler. “Yesterday you were unapologetic. Alive in a way I rarely encounter. Today, you seemed to be turning yourself down. I prefer the way you were yesterday.”

Watching him with narrowed eyes, she said, “There you go again.”

---