Page 90 of Call It Home

“Now, look, Cameron, I didn’t mean—”

“Didn’t you? You went behind my back and offered a contract to Bruce Montego that I explicitly said I didn’t want. There have been other small incidents, as well. Don’t think I don’t know that the guys look up to you. They see you disrespecting me on decisions such as that, and then they follow your lead.”

“You’re right. They do.” He stood up and stormed toward the door. “And just see if most of them don’t quit on you when I tell them about this.”

“Anyone who leaves with you is one less person for me to fire, if that’s how they feel,” I said, not wavering a bit. Maybe a clean house was what I needed.

He took one last parting shot. “No wonder Mac quit. It’s obvious he couldn’t stand your holier-than-thou attitude either.” He stormed out, slamming doors as he went down the hall.

God, that had been hard, but it felt good. In some ways, I owed Will a thank-you. He’d made me see that I’d been too focused on preserving the past, trying to convince a bunch of men who’d worked under my grandfather that I was like him. What they couldn’t see was how much I was. My grandfather saw the need to grow and change.

“And that’s exactly what I’m going to do.” I looked at the picture of my grandfather and his father-in-law again. “This is an opportunity I need to take. It’s going to mean some adjustments around here, though. I hope you both understand that. You left this company to me. That has to mean you trusted me to do what I thought was best. You knew my dreams. We had a plan. I just wish you were still here to help me with it. But I swear, I’ll make you proud.”

I shook my head. This time, I swore it looked like both of their eyes were twinkling.

Chapter36

Mac

I hadto park way down the street from Cameron’s house. It was the last day ofRenovation Station.I was relieved that I wouldn’t have to be on camera ever again. But it also was the final severance between me and her. I hadn’t seen her since that last day in her office. It was going to be hard as hell to see her again, to be near her and not be able to touch her. But for her, I would. I wouldn’t do anything to cause her more pain than I already had.

No one heard me knock, so I walked in. There were several people buzzing about, and cameras were already set up, along with extra lights. And there, in the middle of everything, talking to Chelle, was Cameron.

My heart skipped a beat, but then, I don’t think it had beat correctly since things ended between us.

She looked positively gorgeous. Her hair fell in soft curls around her shoulders, and she wore a pretty blue top that was lacy on the body but had long, sheer sleeves that gathered at her wrists and white pants. She had on a pair of silver sandals with heels and a thin silver chain that hung around her neck. Beautiful. Classy. Professional. Just like the woman who wore it.

Chelle saw me first. “Mac! Finally. You’re here. Come on over to the kitchen and let Lucia put some makeup on you.” She peered closely at me. “She’ll need to do something about those dark circles under your eyes.”

Cameron’s eyes snapped to me as Chelle spoke.

“Hey.” I offered her a quick smile, ignoring Chelle so I could soak up the vision before me.

She gave me a quick wave of her fingers. “Hi.”

Chelle looked between us. “Makeup first. Then you two need to get comfortable. I don’t know what’s going on,”—she held up her hand—“and I don’t want to, but you two look more uncomfortable than you did the first day of shooting. I promise, this will be easier. As I already explained to Cam, the cameras won’t be filming the entire time. The show will bounce back and forth between live shots here, the other contestants, and reviewing the updates you made on your houses. They will largely focus on the last day when the group judging happened. They’ll also go to Cash, who will be live on-site in Randolph, Colorado. He’ll be announcing the winner near the end of the show, then the cameras will mostly focus on the winning team. Cash will wrap up, and then that’s all. We’ll be out of your hair in no time. And I’ll be here the entire time, cluing you in on what’s happening so you won’t be completely lost.”

“Yeah, sure,” I said, only half listening to what Chelle said. “I’ll be there in a minute.”

She rolled her eyes but walked away and started talking to someone else.

I only had eyes for Cameron as I walked to her. “You look incredible.”

“Thanks.” She tucked her hair behind her ear. I noticed her fingers were a little shaky. “You ready for this?”

Her lip curled up on one side. “Not like we have a choice.” She glanced at the floor, then looked at me. “I feel better now that you’re here, though.”

Her admission made me feel calmer, as well. I blew out the breath I felt like I’d been holding since I drove back to Sterling Mill last night. As if it had a mind of its own, my hand reached out to lightly grab her fingers with mine. “Hey, we’ve got this.”

Her pinkie finger linked with mine. “Yeah, we do.” Her free hand reached up, her thumb rubbing across the top of my cheekbone. “Chelle was right. You look tired. Is everything going all right with Trey?”

I captured her hand and held it to my face, amazed at how much stronger I felt with just her simple touch. But I’d taken it a step too far. She pulled her hand away and took a step back.

“It’s going okay. I set up an easy website for free. Christian’s wife, he’s Trey’s lawyer, helped me, since she runs her own business. I’ve got some pictures of some things I’ve done, and she helped me organize them and create an interest form. And I found a short-term apartment until everything else is finalized. You know, just in case things don’t go as planned.”

“Are you worried?”

I snorted. “Nothing ever goes right for us, so it’s hard to be optimistic.”

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