Page 34 of The Summer I Loved

CHAPTER TWELVE

Cam reached downstairs to find Adrianna talking on the phone and leaning on the kitchen counter. She had pulled her hair into a ponytail that swung away while she talked. She had a notepad in front of her with a list of entries almost the length of the page. He noted she’d crossed out several completed items.

The fourth one, “speak to Dr. Perkins,” caught his attention.

"Lo, I know you got everything covered but you know how I am. I’ll worry anyway. I can't thank you enough. Youaredoing a great job and it's not easy." She paused and laughed. "Cam's exhibit is Saturday night and we'll be there Monday. I'll see you then."

When she turned around, he was waiting for her and pulled her to him by the waist of her jeans. He pressed his lips to hers for a moment.

"Good morning," he whispered, breaking away from her mouth for a second, only to go back.

When he finally let go she was smiling, "It's afternoon."

"Where is everybody?

"They all went out.”

He raised an eyebrow and came closer to her. "Perfect time to fulfill promises made last night."

She smiled coy, unlike herself, and put her hands on his chest. "About that… we need to talk first."

He sobered up, biting back an oath at the words no man wants to hear.

"Your brother gave Bron another gift." The tightness in her voice told him to tread carefully.

"So, that's what has you all freaked out." He rubbed her arm and pointed at her list.

She shook her head emphatically. "Not freaked out. Well, maybe a little. Normally, I de-stress by cleaning, but your maids take care of it. Speaking of, how come we rarely see your housekeeper or anyone that works on the house or the yard? It's like elves do the job and no one ever sees them?"

Cam cleared his throat. "They like to do things out of our way…they don't want to bother us." He walked to the refrigerator hoping she wouldn't ask any more questions.

Adrianna moved to the other side of the counter. "Why do I get the feeling there is more to this story?"

He pulled out the sparkling water and sighed, "There was…a small incident…"

She served some of the salad she made for lunch on a plate and added the grilled chicken. She grabbed his hand and took him to the dining area, passing through the archway dividing both rooms. Cam and his siblings rarely ate in the dining room. It was too big, done by a decorator and all of them preferred the large kitchen island or the family room.

But Adri was apparently a stickler for eating in the dining room and they ate there now.

Cam didn’t mind anymore. She and Bron made the room less big. He sat at the head of the dark wood dining table and she took the chair to his left, facing the wall full of photos of different places he had visited.

The center image was of the lake behind his family’s property in Acacia Falls. It was the last place they’d been together. Every time he looked at it, he remembered pressing her against the rock and the way she’d arched for him when his fingers slipped through her folds.

"Tell me everything," she said.

He didn't want to, but she was leaning on the table with her elbows, her chin on her closed fists. She looked so much like their daughter, he couldn't resist.

"There was this one time I was painting in the yard and I walked away to go to the bathroom. The gardener hit my easel with the mower. It fell on the grass. The maid was trying to help him clean stuff and ruined the painting. I found her using a rag on it…"

He finished the story five minutes later.

Adrianna slowly leaned back on the chair with her lips pressed. First a whimper came out of her mouth, followed by a snort, and then she dissolved into laughter.

She was holding her stomach. "You threatened to disembowel them? And they believed you?"

"I was quite mad, Adrianna." He struggled to stay serious, but her laughter was contagious. "What gift would make you angry enough to make lists?"

She took a little time to compose herself. "Chase made us grandparents."

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