Page 47 of Merry & Bright

“Cameron McMorrow!” Val hissed, her voice almost inaudible, blue eyes sending him a meaningful look. “Can youbelievehe’s got the nerve to come in here?”

Cameron McMorrow.

Rob’s stomach sank, a familiar reaction whenever he saw Cameron. Even now, months later, the circumstances of their run-in didn’t sit well with him. It hadn’t been Rob’s finest hour, and he knew it. And Val was at least partly to blame.

Now he glared at her. “You behave,” he said in a low voice, a warning in his tone, and she sent him a look that was part annoyed, part ashamed. They both knew Rob’s argument with Cameron had been caused by Val, and the fact that her intentions had been good only went so far in mitigating her actions.

“Well, I’m not serving him,” she muttered, pressing her lips together in a mutinous pout.

“All right,” Rob replied. “I’ll do it. You can take care of the kitchen for a while.”

“Fine. You’re the boss,” she retorted tartly and turned on her heel, disappearing through the kitchen door with a sweep of her polka-dot skirts. Rob wasn’t fooled by her seeming annoyance though—he guessed she was glad of the chance to escape.

Sighing, Rob turned back to the café. It was quiet today, only half the tables occupied, but Cameron McMorrow wasn’t making for an empty one—he was walking up to the table in the farthest corner where a young woman already sat. She’d arrived a few minutes earlier and had been pootling on her phone ever since, waiting for someone.

Cameron, apparently.

The girl stood up to greet Cameron, grinning hugely as she walked into his open arms and gave him a tight, rocking hug, planting a big kiss on his cheek. She was only a few inches shorter than him, a slim girl in skinny jeans, her dark hair brushing her chin on one side and shaved close to her head on the other. She was hip and pretty. Young.

Rob felt a weird pang as he acknowledged that.

The girl’s expression was animated when she finally pulled away from Cameron, white teeth flashing with smiles and chatter, eyes merry with laughter. Rob wished he could see Cameron’s reaction to those smiles, but the man’s back was turned to him. The most Rob could see of Cameron was his tall, broad-shouldered frame and, when he yanked off his grey woollen beanie, his sleek, dark head.

Cameron McMorrow wore his hair a shade too short, Rob thought idly. Hair that thick and luxuriant ought to be allowed to grow out a bit. Rob ran a hand over his own mop. It was longer than Cameron’s, though probably coarser to the touch.

Silvering a bit at the temples too.

He was forty next year—and wasn’t that a thrilling thought?

Rob sighed, watching as Cameron stripped away his winter coat and tossed it over one of the unused chairs at the table, settling himself down opposite the chattering girl. Rob was so engrossed in watching him that he didn’t avert his gaze quickly enough when Cameron glanced over his shoulder.

Their gazes collided and Rob immediately looked away, mortified to be caught staring. Even as he did so though, his brain processed the fleeting glimpse he’d had of Cameron’s face, and the oddly wary look he wore.

Rob hadn’t been expecting that. More like open hostility.

The next time Rob glanced Cameron’s way, he and his companion were looking over the menu. Rob gave them a few minutes, ringing up another customer’s bill then clearing the just-vacated table and wiping it down, before he strolled over to take their order.

They were deep in conversation as he approached their table.

“—thing is, you’re turning into a hermit, Cam,” the girl was saying earnestly.

Cam. It suited him, Rob thought.

“No, I’m not.”

“Yes, you are! You need to get out and have some fun. When was the last time you got laid?”

Rob cleared his throat. “Hi,” he said. “Are you ready...?”

Cameron’s head snapped round. “Oh, hi. Sorry, I didn’t see you there, ah, Rob.”

That stammered greeting threw Rob somehow. After their last snarling encounter, and the freezing silence that had followed, he hadn’t expected anything half so civilised. Perhaps Cameron was just putting on a polite front for the girl though. Rob glanced at her to find she was watching their stiff exchange of greetings with apparent fascination.

Rob cleared his throat again. God, could he sound more awkward? “Nice to see you, Cameron.” He gave a small smile, an attempt at a tentative welcome. “Did you have a good Christmas?”

“Cameron?”the girl spluttered, before the man himself could reply. “God, Cam, I thought only Mum called you that!” She glanced at Rob then, eyes dancing. “Seriously, is that what he gets called round here?Cameron?”

Rob opened his mouth then closed it again, at a loss, for once, as to what to say. He looked at Cameron—or rather,Cam—for guidance as to how to answer, but the man was staring at the table with a resigned slump to his shoulders, as though he was waiting for some axe to fall.