Page 38 of The Long Game

My brows furrowed. “Why would I—”

“Code yellow,” Josie insisted through a toothy smile, her eyes jumping quickly behind me. “Code bright-Diane’s-hair-yellow.”

“You need to stop calling for codes I don’t—”

The bell on the café’s door rang.

The sound of heavy footsteps followed.

“Act cool,” Josie whispered. But one of her eyes started twitching.

I opened my mouth to ask her if she was okay but before I could, a large hand was flying in front of my face.

A palm that ended in five long and strong fingers—some crooked, and a pinky wearing a signet with a C—placed something right beside the macaron tray.

I waited, but Cameron didn’t speak.

“Odd way to say hello,” I finally said, feeling the weight of Cameron’s gaze on the top of my head. I nodded at the flyer in front of me, still not looking at him. “What’s this?”

Nothing came from him.

“That’s Green Oak’s activity brochure,” Josie whispered loudly, leaning in. “It has the full list of seasonal activities on offer. There’s sports, our end of summer celebration by the lake, arts and crafts, our fall fest, the—”

I shot her a glance, and she answered me with a complicit glance. “Well, this is great. But I don’t see why it’s been thrust in my face.”

Instead of talking, Cameron let out one of those throaty noises that made him sound like someone straight out of the Paleolithic era.

I felt my throat work. “I don’t need this.”

“Oh, you do,” he finally said, and it was his tone—or maybe his voice—that brought my gaze up. Green eyes were pointed right at me and he looked so… cocky. Smug. “I signed you up,” he announced. “For every single activity on the agenda from this weekend to the end of fall.”

The chair I’d been sitting on scratched the floor of the café, thenoise making me realize my body had just sprung up. “You did what?” I squeaked.

Cameron’s lips twitched beneath that beard I was growing to resent so much. It made getting a read on him so hard. “Diane—you remember Diane, right?” he asked, and I blinked away my reaction to that name. “Besides being president of the parent association, she also happens to be council secretary. And guess what she’s in charge of?”

“Some of the organizational tasks,” Josie answered for me, making us both glance at her. She was holding the brochure. “Actually, I remember very vividly telling her not to use this font. God, the color scheme is also wrong. I…” She trailed off the moment she looked up. “Oops. Please, continue.”

My attention returned to the man to my left, finding his eyes on me. Again. “She was so concerned about your involvement in the community,” he said, shrugging those wide shoulders and daring to look… flippant. “I thought to help you tilt the balance in your favor.”

“You thought to help,” I repeated, and when his eyes dipped to my mouth, I realized I was pressing my lips so tight, I probably gritted the words. “How generous of you, Cameron.”

“Some would saycharitable,” he shot back calmly, making my cheeks heat at the reminder of last night’s conversation. “I wouldn’t feel obligated to go to any of these, though.”

Josie cleared her throat. “Diane is actually a little bit of a… stickler for rules? She kind of hates people signing up and then not showing up. Last year Grandpa Moe accidentally signed up for our fall fest worm race.” I glanced at Josie with horror. “You should have seen Diane when Grandpa— Not helping? ’Kay. I’ll tell you about it later, though. It’s a fun story.”

“I’d love to hear about it,” Cameron piped up in a serious tone. “Adalyn, too, I’m sure. She’s signed up for that, too, after all.”

My head whirled in his direction. “I—” I was mad. Extremely frustrated. But I deserved this. I… “I’m a big fan of worms, actually.”

Cameron tilted his head, studying me, and the motion made menotice a dark spot peeking out of the neckline of his thermal. Right above the right side of his collarbone. Ink. It had to be—

“Oh hey, Diane!” Josie blurted out suddenly. My whole body stiffened. Could I please catch a break? “We were just talking about you and the wonderful brochure you put together. Wow, this year looks better than ever.”

I ripped my eyes off Cameron Caldani’s collarbone and looked over at the mayor of Green Oak with an obvious question:What are you doing?

Josie shot me a quick glance:Trust me.

It was either that or storm out of here, so I braced myself for the worst and watched how Diane crossed the distance to our table.

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