Page 87 of Brides and Brothers
Cade huffed. “Don’t we deserve to know what happened? We put our necks on the line, and I think it’s perfectly fair we get our answers tonight.”
“Please, listen to me,” Camille said. “I know what happened. Macey is friends with Shondra, the girl Daegan and Cade asked out.”
Cade blanched. “What?”
He looked at Daegan, who looked equally pale. “Shondra couldn’t have said much about us since neither of us ever took her out.”
“The trust was still broken,” Camille explained. “My friends were angry and wanted to show you how it felt.” No one spoke for several minutes, but the guilt was evident on the twins’ faces. “I’ll invite my friends over for breakfast, and we can either hash it out around the table, or you guys can split up and talk it out.”
Benson and Easton nodded.
Camille returned to her room and texted all her friends with the breakfast invite. When no one responded, she tried calling a few of them. None of them answered. Things must’ve been worse than she thought. She threw her phone on the bed. She was going to have to make up an excuse about why her friends didn’t come. Fessing up to the alternative, that the girls were too mad to forgive them, would be almost more than she could handle right now. She felt responsible for pushing her friends and her brothers-in-law together in the first place. She picked up the phone and tried calling Daisha again. On the fourth or fifth time, she gave up and called Aiden.
“Isn’t this a little late for my early-bird wife to be calling?” Aiden’s deep voice rolled lazily from the phone line, and Camille savored the sound. He must’ve been asleep.
“I was hoping you were still up working or watching television. I’m sorry I woke you.”
Aiden yawned, and she immediately yawned too. “I knew it was too late for you to be calling. You must be upset about something. What’s happened?”
Camille moaned. “Everything.” Where to start? She was frustrated with his brothers and frustrated with him for being gone and leaving her to deal with all of this.
“Sweetie, I’ll be home in less than a week. Nothing is allowed to go wrong until I get there.”
Camille almost laughed into the phone. Instead, she sighed and kicked off her slippers. Tucking her feet under the covers of her bed, she melted against her pillow. “If only life would cooperate.”
“I know what you mean. I think I’ll pull my hair out if I have to stay here one more day. I might come home bald. Would you mind?”
“Premature baldness? Yeah, it’d be a tough call.” Camille turned on her side. “But seriously, things are getting a little out of control over here.”
“Is it Flynn?” Aiden asked.
“Flynn? No, I think he’s the only one who doesn’t have problems right now.”
“Youhaveshaken things up around there,” Aiden said, amazement in his voice.
Guilt pushed tears to her eyes. “Does it have to be my fault? Because right now it feels like I’m to blame, and I wanted you to tell me the opposite. I haven’t figured out how things went so wrong so fast.”
Aiden laughed softly. “I can’t help you. I don’t even know what happened.”
“Daegan broke his arm.”
“Did you arm wrestle him or something?”
“No,” Camille said.
“Then how didyoubreak his arm?”
“I didn’t.” Camille told him what she knew of the story and finished by recounting how none of the girls would answer their phones.
“I don’t see why you’re blaming yourself for any of this.” Aiden’s words should’ve comforted her, but they didn’t.
“I’ve been so excited that everyone is dating each other, I didn’t think about what would happen if everything fell apart. I didn’t consider having brothers who hated my friends and vice versa. I’m stuck in the middle, and it’s my own fault.”
“Millie the Matchmaker can’t quit because a few matches went awry. Who will match up our kids?”
“Very funny.” Camille wasn’t even going to think about matching up her children. She put her hand on her stomach. She ached to have Aiden home so she could share the news with him about their baby. She was tired of waiting and needed something happy to focus on. “By the way, I have important news for you.”
“Hmm?”
