Page 39 of Only in Our Dream (Moonflower Cove #15)

Cameron

B eing married to Melanie was better than Cameron could have ever dreamed.

Not only did she get to spend every day with the love of her life, but she got to spend it with her best friend.

It was as if they had always been married for longer than the five months since their wedding.

Everything had been so blissfully perfect that Cameron still felt the need to pinch herself to remind her that the life she was living wasn’t only in her dreams anymore.

Melanie had been her absolute rock with all the transitions their family had grown through in the last few months.

Not only had they gotten married, but they had also moved Jonah into his college dorm and Dylan started her first year of high school.

Cameron felt vastly overwhelmed at how monumental the year had been that she couldn’t imagine what else the last few months of the year held for their family.

Through it all, Melanie had been by Cameron’s side.

They’d cried as they left Jonah in his dorm.

After taking Dylan to her first day of high school, they had taken the day off to distract themselves from the fact their babies were growing up.

“We’re going to be empty nesters soon,” Cameron whined as they walked along Main Street after lunch at Carlson’s.

“Oh, stop.” Melanie squeezed her hand. “Dylan will be at home for at least four more years.”

“That’s basically tomorrow.”

“Think about how much has happened in the last four years. Four years ago, I was married to Rob, and you were whining about Jonah going to high school. Now look where we are. You’re still whining but now you’re married to me.”

Cameron chuckled. “Bitch. You were so sweet there for a moment.”

“You know I’m just teasing you.” Stopping their walk, Melanie took a step in front of Cameron and put her hands on her hip. “There’s nowhere else in the world I’d rather be than right here with you and your whining ass.”

“I love you, too.”

“And I love you.”

Smiling widely, Cameron leaned in and kissed her. It felt so freeing to be kissing her wife on the street. Cameron knew how lucky she was to have Melanie by her side and she’d never take that for granted.

She smiled back at the memory, remembering how they’d gotten ice cream before spending the afternoon in bed with each other.

They’d picked up Dylan from school together before going to the Pizza Parlour for dinner.

Their house felt so weird going from three people living there to four then back to three in the last two years.

There had been so many changes in their lives that Cameron was thankful that Melanie had been there with her through so much.

Even before they were together, Melanie had always been there.

Their history together added to the sweetness of the life they were able to share now.

They knew each other so well that there was nothing that could get past them.

Finishing her rounds on her few patients in the hospital, Cameron made her way back to her office. She plopped into her office chair, which let out a loud creak in return. Cameron took her phone out of the pocket of her white coat and checked her messages. The one from Melanie got her priority.

Lunch?

Positioning her fingers over the keyboard, Cameron smirked as she typed out a response.

Once upon a time you used to send me elegant messages asking me out to lunch and now I just get a one-word question?

Cameron smiled as she waited for a response. But before it came, her phone rang with a FaceTime from Jonah. She answered it quickly as her baby boy’s smiling face filled the screen.

“Hey, baby!”

“Mom! I got an A on my first exam!”

“Jonah!” She matched his enthusiasm. “I’m so proud of you, honey.”

“Thanks! They just posted the grades and I’m walking to my next class, so I decided to just call you.”

“I’m glad you did. I’ve missed you.”

Jonah laughed. He had on a backward baseball cap and a tee, but that was all Cameron could see aside from his AirPods. “I was just home two weekends ago.”

“Two weekends is basically forever.”

“You’re so dramatic.”

“No, that’s your sister.”

“Then you’re where she gets it from,” Jonah chuckled as Cameron jokingly rolled her eyes. “Mom, hang on.”

She watched as Jonah’s attention got pulled away from the camera. His eyes lit up as he said hello to someone. The female voice that responded said hello back with a giggle as Cameron watched Jonah grin widely.

“And who was that?”

“No one.”

“Mhmm. Sure.”

“She’s just a friend.”

Cameron leaned back in her chair as her smile spread. “You know, Mama and I used to be just friends too, ya know.”

“What’s that? I can’t hear you. I’m going through a tunnel.”

“Whatever, you little shit.”

“How about I come in this weekend to make it up to you?”

“Don’t toy with my emotions.”

“I’m not.” Jonah pulled open a door to a building. “I gotta get to class, but I’ll talk to you later and see you this weekend. I promise.”

“Bring your girlfriend home with you.”

“Bye, Mom.”

“Bye, baby.”

Hanging up with Jonah, Cameron went back to her text thread with Melanie.

Sorry, babe. Been a rough shift. I’ll fill you in at lunch.

Although Melanie had been working mostly days, she’d picked up a night shift before her regular shift to help cover for someone whose child was sick.

Selfishly, Cameron hated that Melanie was working twenty-four hours.

But at least they could eat lunch together like they tried to do as often as their schedules allowed.

Melanie never left a laboring mom for lunch, so on those days Cameron would eat lunch alone before bringing Melanie something to the nurses’ station.

I’m sorry, baby. You want to go to lunch now?

Yeah. I’m heading down now.

On my way.

Discarding her coat, Cameron left it draped over the back of her chair as she headed down to the cafeteria.

Since it was almost noon, the cafeteria was busier than usual.

Cameron searched through the crowd of people in scrubs to find Melanie.

She waved from the daily special line as Cameron went to her.

She could tell by her eyes that Melanie was indeed having a hard day.

As Cameron approached her, she held her arms out to Melanie.

She went into them instantly as Cameron enveloped her in a hug.

“Aww, honey. I love you.”

“I love you, too. I ordered for us. I hope that’s okay. I need to get back soon.”

“Everything okay?”

“Yeah.”

Her face and sigh indicated otherwise.

As they took their trays, Melanie put their lunches on their tab before they found a table to sit. Cameron chose the seat closer to Melanie instead of across from her as she put her hand on her knee.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

Melanie nodded. “I had a patient with a rough labor. She came in early on my shift last night and had the baby a few hours ago. But I feel so bad for her because she had no one there with her. She finally admitted she’d had no prenatal care and didn’t have any family I could call for her.

So,” Melanie sighed, “I stayed with her the whole time.”

“Aww, honey.”

“And her delivery was rough. Vera was on call, thank God, because she had a shoulder dystopia.”

“Oh, my god. Are she and the baby okay?”

“They are, thank God.” She picked up a fry and popped it into her mouth. “We were able to get the baby out quickly. We had to send him to the NICU for his shallow breathing, though. And Leah just looked so distant the whole time. That’s her name. Leah.”

“I’m glad you and Vera were there for her.” Melanie squeezed her arm.

“I just hate that she went through all that without anyone she knew there.”

“But at least she got lucky and had the power duo helping her deliver her baby.”

A sad smile played on Melanie’s lips. “Yeah, yeah. I just hate when hard deliveries happen for anyone, but you know I have a soft spot when those deliveries are patients I’ve been with for their entire labor.”

“I love how invested you get with your patients.”

“It’s hard not to,” Melanie sheepishly smiled. “I just felt a connection with her.”

Cameron arched an eyebrow at her as she sipped on her soda.

Melanie had a tendency to get attached to patients in the time they were together.

While it made her amazing at her job, it also meant she had to deal with the loss of that connection once the patient was discharged from labor and delivery.

“I thought you had a rule about not befriending patients.”

“I know, but this one was different.”

“I can tell it’s really affected you.”

“It has.” The sadness in Melanie’s eyes displayed slightly as she smiled.

“Her baby was so cute, though. He had a full head of dark hair and these big eyes that looked up at me like he knew we were there to help him. I’m going to go check on him before I leave.

I’m worried about his mom bonding with him. ”

“You know that can take time, honey.”

“I know, but it’s not that.”

The way Melanie bit her lip made it even more apparent to Cameron about how much the birth had affected her.

Cameron hadn’t seen the look on her face before when talking about a patient, and it made a pit form in Cameron’s stomach.

She knew how hard it was to leave work at work when work was literally people’s lives.

“What is it?”

Melanie shook her head as her eyes looked out the window. “She never asked about the baby after he was born.”

The words hit Cameron like a ton of bricks.

She knew from her two births how emotional those moments were and how her only focus had been on if her babies were okay.

Cameron knew it wasn’t fair to judge, but she had to wonder why the woman was apparently not concerned with her baby.

Was it because of the birth trauma or something else?

It was clear by the anguished look on Melanie’s face she didn’t know either.

“I just hope things work out for both of them.”

“I’m sure they will, Mel.” Cameron leaned toward her and kissed her forehead. “I think once you check on the baby, you’ll see he’s doing great and that’ll help ease your mind.”

Tenderly, Cameron tucked a loose piece of Melanie’s hair behind her ear. She gently caressed her cheek as she caught a rogue tear with her thumb.

“I don’t know why this one is bothering me so much.”

“Because you’re human. Because you love your job and your patients. I think it’s beautiful that you care so much.”

“Thanks, babe.” Melanie scooted her chair closer to Cameron’s and rested her head on her shoulder. Cameron picked up a fry and fed it to Melanie as she laughed. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

“I promise I won’t be such a Debbie Downer tonight.”

“You’re good, Mel. I promise. I know how hard our jobs can be on us. But I think I know what will get your mind off of this for a moment.”

“What’s that?”

“Jonah’s coming home this weekend.”

Melanie’s eyes lit up widely as she sat up. “Aww, yay! I miss our boy.”

“I do too. And guess what else?”

“What?”

“I think our little Jonah has a crush.”

“ Oooo , how did you find this out?” Melanie was riveted as she picked up her cheeseburger and took a large bite.

“He FaceTimed earlier to tell me he got an A on his test.”

“That’s our boy.”

“Exactly,” Cameron smiled, loving how Melanie claimed him as their child. “But then a girl walked by and he got the goofiest little grin on his face as they said hello. He says they’re just friends but we know how that can go.”

“Boy, do we ever.” Giggling, Melanie kissed her. “I’m so glad I got to marry my just friend .”

“Me, too. Every damn day.”

As they ate their lunches, Cameron was relieved to see some of the heaviness Melanie had been carrying slowly start to dissipate.

She was so passionate about her job that Cameron knew how easy it was for her to bring it home at night.

After going their separate ways back to work, Cameron made a mental note to bring Melanie a snack and drink before she left for the day, since her day would end two hours before Melanie’s.

Hopefully that and a warm bath when she got off would help lift Melanie’s spirits.