Before I can say another word, Ashley reaches across and takes Cam’s hand that was on my shoulder. “Can I tell you something?” she asks.
“Is it going to make me feel like I’m being stabbed in the heart?” he asks, making me feel even worse.
“I hope not,” she replies.
“Then, go for it.”
“Watching all of this, us talking, watching the videos, interviews, and seeing photos and all that…. you know what I think?”
“Tell me,” Cam replies.
“Hewas her boy, butyou? You’re her man. Don’t get me wrong, I loved Maca, but there’s no way in a million lifetimes he could’ve sat here like you have and watched George up there, so very much in love, if the roles were reversed. That takes a man. You’re that man—herman—and that’s something he never was.”
Cam presses his lips together, but they still tremble.
“And I’m sorry George, I just need to put this out there because it’s bothered me for years. . . I know Romeo and Juliet was your song, yours and Maca’s, but every time I hear that line, ‘It’s just that the time was wrong’, I think of Cam, specifically,youand Cam.” Ash let’s out a long slow breath as her eyes slicebetween me and my husband, and I know, that I’ll never hear that song the same way again.
“We love you big man Thank you for loving our Georgia the way you do. We all know it can’t be easy. Especially since you also have to put up with her weird family. But at least you get me and Jim as a consolation prize, right?” Ash says, not a trace of a smile on her lips.
Cam, on the other hand, does smile.
“Thanks, Ash. You and Jim are the only reason I’m able to get out of bed and face each day,” he tells her with a wink.
“I know, babe, I know,” she says as she pats the back of his hand.
His eyes shift to me. “Is there anything you want?”
“Just you close,” I tell him.
“Why don’t you sit here? I’ll sit on Marley’s lap,” Ash suggests.
“How about you stay where you are, and Georgia sits on my lap?” he offers instead.
“Perfect,” Ash says, and my eyes slide to Marley as she does.
He’s looking at her like he’s just seeing her for the first time.
“Your wife’s amazing,” I tell him.
“Struck gold there, didn’t I? Think I’ll keep her.”
“Think you should,” I reply with a smile.
In the end, I don’t need to sit on Cam’s lap. Jim and Ash squish up, Cam squeezes in, and the four of us fit tightly but comfortably on the sofa.
These are my emotional support people. I’m braced for what I know is to come. The New Year’s Eve scenes just took me by surprise, but now I’m ready, I think.
“So,” Daniel begins with his usual opener. “It’s well documented that your pregnancy was ectopic, and you unfortunately lost the baby. Can we talk about that?”
“We can, and I want to start by saying that nothing, none of it, was how it was reported in the press.”
“We’ve collected some of those headlines. Would you like to see them, then tell us your thoughts?” Dan questions. He’s Dan not Daniel again now, because he’s stopped pissing me off with his leading questions.
The screen shifts from where it was frozen on the scenes of celebration, to newspaper, magazine, and news channel headlines.
Maca Parties While Wife Almost Dies is the first.
“Absolute bullshit,” Marley says.