Page 16 of Call It Home

The girls all stared at me for several seconds before there was a chorus of excitement.

“Oh, my god, that’s incredible!”

“Holy shitballs! That’s exciting.”

“Eek! How did that happen?”

“You’re going to be famous!”

I laughed, reveling in their excitement for me, especially now that I no longer had to worry about a partner.

“We need to celebrate,” Teagan said. “Hey, Cheyenne,” she shouted to the owner of the bar, “we need another round, stat! We’ve got a future TV star in our midst.”

Cheyanne grinned and gave a thumbs-up.

“I’m so proud of you,” my sister exclaimed. “When did all this happen? And how come you didn’t tell me you were applying?”

I filled them in on the details. “And so, I have a lot of paperwork to fill out and a lot of plans to sort, but I have time. All I know is filming doesn’t start until spring because of the snow season.”

Cheyanne brought over our drinks. “What’s the gossip, girls? What are we celebrating?”

Megan filled her in.

“Well, that’s just amazing, Cam. I love that show. I can’t wait until we get to see the show for ourselves,” she answered, her soft, southern lilt sounding more pronounced. “This round’s on the house.” She tucked the tray under her arm and pushed a piece of hair that had fallen from her ponytail behind her ear. “But I have one question. Who are you working with? That show is always done in pairs.”

“That’s right,” Megan answered, snapping her attention back to me. “Who is it? Someone we know? Is it Will? He’s really good at fixing things. He just helped my dad redo one of their bathrooms.”

Teagan wrinkled her nose. “He knows what he’s doing, for sure, but isn’t he expecting a grandbaby around then?”

“Actually, Mac is going with me.”

Bristol’s mouth dropped open. “Mac? As in Mac Caldwell? Mister quiet and broody? I mean, he’s a really nice guy, but I can’t see you and him working together, especially for that amount of time. You two are like mixing water and oil most of the time.”

“Oh, but he’ll look so sexy on camera,” Paige responded. “And you two might make some great sparks for the audience.”

“Or off the camera,” Megan injected. We all looked at her. “What? I mean, he’s super good-looking and tall and muscular. How’s a womannotsupposed to notice that? Just because I’m taken doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate it.”

“Ooh, she’s right,” Paige exclaimed. “He’s got to be packing. And all that quiet? I bet he has to let out that energy somewhere. Might as well be in the bedroom.”

“Whoa! There are not going to be any sparks anywhere. We had a nice conversation just a couple of nights ago, and neither of us killed the other.” I didn’t bother adding that I knew he had to be well-equipped after seeing him in his sweatpants. Just remembering it caused my face to flush, so I quickly took several sips from my ice water.

Bristol just gave me a worried look and shook her head. “I’m not sure which of you I worry about more,” she joked. “But I’ll say this. I don’t know Mac well, but I think he has a lot going on in the background. But when push comes to shove, I think he’s really protective, mostly of himself, but also of others. Remember how he showed up at my house after everything that went down? I think he’s going to do his best for you. But don’t push him too hard, Cam. Still waters run deep and all that.”

I scowled at my little sister. “I won’t. Why would you say that?”

“Because I know you. You know what you want, and you go after it. I’ve always admired that about you, and I tried to be like you in that respect.”

Her words pleased me, but I knew there was a “but” coming. Sure enough…

“But if you push and don’t listen to him, I think he’ll shut down on you. I don’t know his story, but from the time we’ve spent with him, I think he’s been through something big.”

“I think Mac can hold his own.” After all, he never had a problem standing up to me in the past.

“I think you’ll either bring out the best in each other…or the worst.”

Her words hung in the air like an ominous fog.

“Well,” Megan said after a few seconds of silence, “this is all very exciting, and I predict great things for you both.”

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