Page 44

CHAPTER 44

Cami

Coco

Mom asked me to ask you to bring her a water

Me

I just landed. Does she want me to stop by somewhere? Or does she think I can magically conjure up a bottle of water?

Coco

I don’t know, I’m the bride. She just asked for water.

Me

I jump one, two, three times as I try to shimmy the dress over my hips. The dress my sister chose for her bridesmaids is a beautiful forest green, but it’s made in this silky material that has zero stretch. Even though this was made specifically to my measurements, getting into it is a struggle.

I finally get it over my hips and pull the sleeves up onto my shoulders. The wedding is later this month, and even though Florida “cold” is only somewhere in the low sixties, we’re in long sleeves. I tried to mention that it likely wouldn’t be very chilly here, but my mom and sister insisted it would. I didn’t fight much after that, I’ll just put on plenty of deodorant.

The attendant outside of the dressing room helps me zip up the back, and I walk out to stand in front of my mom and Colette.

“Oh, that looks lovely on you,” my mom says. She stands and comes up behind me, pulling at fabric and smoothing down my hair. She places a sweet kiss on my cheek and looks at the two of us in the mirror.

“I love it, Cam. It’s going to be perfect. That color is great with your skin tone and blonde hair.”

“Thanks, Coco. I really like it, good pick.” She smiles at me in the mirror and I smile back, happy to have made my sister happy.

“When do you think we’ll get to do something like this for you?” my mom asks as she stares at our reflection. I smile at her and try my hardest not to get defensive. She means well, I know she does, but it’s hard to have the same conversation over and over.

“I’m not sure, Mom.”

“Well, you and Charlie sure are getting close it seems. You didn’t tell us he was the boy you were seeing.”

“I didn’t want to say names just in case it didn’t work out, but yeah it’s going well.”

“And, this is a real relationship?” my sister asks from the couch behind us. I turn around and furrow my brow, confused how she’d suspect that. Practically no one knows how all of this started.

“What do you mean? Why would you even ask that?”

“That isn’t an answer, Cami,” she says with a pitying smile.

“Okay, you want an answer, of course it’s real, Colette. Why would I lie about that?” We will all just decide to completely ignore the fact that I was lying about that at one point.

“Well, you randomly tell us you’re seeing someone and that this person is going to come to the wedding, then it ends up being someone you already spend all of your time with and consider a best friend. It’s just a little hard to believe that he’s all of a sudden your boyfriend.”

I close my eyes and take a deep breath, then step off of the platform in front of the mirrors and cross the room to her. I love her to death, but this is honestly such an offensive question. If I was suspicious of someone lying in a situation like this, I would never in a million years ask them outright.

“We’ve been friends—best friends—for a long time, and after a few different life circumstances brought us closer, we realized we wanted more than friendship.” That is sort of the truth.

“I’m so happy for you honey,” my mom says as she comes to sit with us. My sister gives me a suspicious look, and I can only hope she doesn’t pry any further into the details. The truth is, all of this was fake until it wasn’t and I don’t really know when it stopped being fake and started being real.

I mean, sure, we had the discussion only recently that we would try this out for real, but I think we crossed that line a while back and neither of us knows when exactly that happened. All of the small touches and conversations led us here and I can’t find it in me to regret any of it.

“Okay,” I say as I stand back up and go back to the mirror. “This looks good and I think it fits like a glove. Do you think it needs any additional alterations?”

“I think it looks perfect on you, sweetheart,” Mom says.

“As long as you’re comfortable, I think it looks great.”

I wouldn’t use the word comfortable when describing this dress, but it isn’t awful. I step down from the mirror and head back into the dressing room to change. When I come back out into the lobby of the store my sister is waiting for me.

“Mom went to get the car. Do you have time to go grab lunch?”

“Yeah, that sounds good. Where are we going?”

“How do you feel about trying something different? There’s this new vegan restaurant that opened pretty close and I’ve heard great things.”

“I’m always down to try something new. What kind of food is it?”

“They have all kinds of stuff. Burgers, nachos, salads, you name it. It’s just all vegan.”

“Sounds great. My flight doesn’t leave until six so as long as I’m headed back to the airport by three-ish I should be good. I’m sorry I couldn’t come to stay for longer, work is just crazy right now and I’m taking off for the wedding.”

“Well, not to worry. I plan to get your opinion on a million different things in the next few hours,” she says as she wraps her arm over my shoulder and pulls me into her.

I laugh and hug her back, thankful that we’re on equal footing again. That’s the thing about sisters, you can be on weird terms one minute and then a few minutes later you’re laughing and talking about going to grab French fries. It’s just a sister thing.

“I’m just going to call Charlie really quickly,” I say, as I grab my phone from my purse. “He’s about to get on a flight for an away game and I want to talk to him before he takes off.”

“Okay, I’ll let Mom know,” she says with a smile.

I turn away and press his name on my phone, waiting for all of five seconds before he picks up on the second ring.

“Hey, baby.”

The words make my stomach flip and I smile without even realizing I’m doing it. I used to hate the pet name baby. It felt cheesy and weird, but when Charlie says it to me it’s anything but.

“Hey, superstar. You on the plane?”

“Yeah, just boarded. Is the dress fitting over? Thanks for the picture. You looked beautiful.”

“Thanks. Yeah, it’s over. It went well, although I think Colette may be onto us.”

“What do you mean?”

“She asked if we were actually in a real relationship. I sort of freaked a little because there is absolutely no way she knows, but she said she just thought it was weird that we’ve been best friends for so long and since you’ve always been around it’s hard to believe you’re my boyfriend.”

“I like hearing you calling me your boyfriend.”

“That’s seriously all you got from that?”

“No, I’m just saying I like it.”

“I didn’t hate it,” I say with a laugh.

“So how did you respond to her?”

“I told her it was real and I’m sure she could tell I was irritated that she’d think I was lying to her. She backed off and things are fine now.”

“That’s good. I’m sorry you had to have that conversation. Hopefully it’ll be the first and last.”

“Hopefully. Who are you sitting by?”

“No one yet, but I’m assuming Soren will sit by me. We’ve got a thing going.”

“By thing, do you mean superstition?”

“We sat together for the first time a few weeks ago and he got a hat trick that night.”

“Makes sense. How long is the flight?”

“About an hour and a half, not bad.”

“Not at all. Well, have a good flight and text me when you land.”

“I will. You text me when you’re about to take off and when you land tonight, okay?”

“You got it.”

“Are you planning on watching?”

“Already purchased a wifi voucher for the flight so I don’t miss anything. You know I’m always watching.”

“Thanks, Cam. It means a lot. Have a good time with your mom and sister, and I’ll talk to you in a little bit.”

“Talk to you soon, superstar.”