A Reason to Be Alone (The Camdyn Series Book 2) Page 10

  “Oh, Camdyn!” Rachel exclaimed. “You look like an angel.”

  “It is perfect,” Rosalie agreed. “Cole won’t be able to keep his eyes off you.”

  “Liz?” I asked, turning around to look at her. She sat there with a handkerchief covering her mouth, tears filling her eyes.

  “I think Mama likes it,” Kimberly said with a smile. “Is this the one, then?”

  “This is definitely the one,” I said with a laugh, and Charlotte jumped up and down.

  We spent time choosing dresses for Rachel and Trina, settling on a dress of eggplant-colored chiffon that featured the same ruching that was on my dress. Rachel tried on her dress excitedly, and it was easy to order Trina’s, since she was the same size as me. The dress was flowy around the midsection, so I thought it would be safe regardless of whether Trina had lost the baby weight at that point. We also ordered a dress for Charlotte in a matching purple tone, with rose petals sewn into the hem, and she pranced around as though she was a little princess. She insisted that she try on three or four dresses as “Aunt Cammie” had, and it was fun watching her. When everything was finished, I settled pickup dates with Kimberly, and then I pulled out my credit card. She shook her head with a smile and pushed it back toward me.

  “Mama took care of everything,” she told me, right before she was called away by another sales girl. I glanced over at Liz, tears filling my eyes, as she talked to little Charlotte. When everyone was ready to go, we all converged near the door, and I put my arms around Liz and gave her a solid hug, kissing her on the cheek. When I pulled back, our eyes met, and even though I couldn’t say a word, I knew that she knew what I was saying.

  -§-

  That night, around ten o’clock, I sat in my bedroom with the light on, thinking about the dress. I imagined walking toward Cole, his eyes watching me, and I felt a shiver of anticipation go down my spine. I wondered what Cole was doing at that very moment. Surely he would have been home from the baseball game by then. Pulling out my phone, I sent him a text message to ask him if he was asleep. When the phone started ringing seconds later, I had my answer.

  “Hi,” I said into the phone, unable to keep myself from smiling.

  “Hi. I miss you, Cam. Did you girls have fun today?”

  “Yes, we had fun. I found the dress.”

  “You did? What does it look like?”

  “No, I’m not going to tell you,” I laughed. “I want it to be a surprise.”

  “Come on, not even a hint?”

  “Well, your mom cried,” I told him. “And then she paid for everything, and I cried.”

  “She loves you,” he stated softly.

  “I know,” I agreed. “I can’t figure out why.”

  “Are you ready to go camping tomorrow?”

  “Oh, I completely forgot about that! What am I supposed to bring, and wear? I have no idea what to do.” He chuckled softly, and I closed my eyes and enjoyed hearing the sound of his voice.

  “Wear your swimsuit under your clothes, and you don’t need to bring anything. I’ve got you covered.”

  “Nothing? No food, or anything to sleep on?”

  “No, beautiful, I will take care of everything. Just make sure you’re here. I don’t want to go another day without seeing you.”

  “I will definitely be there,” I assured him. “If you weren’t so adamant about not being alone with me, I would have come over to see you tonight.”

  “Don’t tempt me too much,” he laughed. “I don’t know if I can handle it. Four weeks and one day isn’t so long, is it? Once that time is up, you can torment me all you want.”

  “I don’t know if I want to torment you,” I chuckled. “I just want to be with you.”

  “Trust me, I want to be with you, too,” he sighed. “Tomorrow will be fun, though. I love you. Get some rest.”

  “Okay,” I agreed. “I love you. Goodnight, Cole.”

  “Goodnight,” he whispered. I hung up the phone and concentrated really hard on falling asleep.

  Chapter Eight

  Friday morning I listlessly rolled out of bed, in no hurry to do anything. Not having any pressing business to attend was beginning to take its toll on me. Normally I was up bright and early, eager to start the day with a morning run, but I was beginning to feel lazy. Chiding myself for not keeping up with my routine, I threw on some jogging clothes and slid on my purple tennis shoes. Grabbing a hair tie, I pulled my hair into a high ponytail and studied my reflection in the mirror.

  Camdyn Taylor. Well, for four more weeks, anyway, and then I will be Camdyn Parker.

  Camdyn Parker. I like the sound of that.

  Four more weeks, wow, has it really already been a week? Time is going so much faster than I planned. I don’t know where we will get married, or what time. We don’t even have invitations – I should have done that by now, shouldn’t I?

  Feeling myself start to hyperventilate, I knew I had to escape that room. I threw open the door only to find Rosalie standing in the kitchen where she was working over a mixing bowl. She had several pans nearby, and the kitchen was an uncharacteristic mess.

  “You look like you’re really busy,” I remarked as I walked up, leaning my hip against the counter.

  “That’s because I am!” she exclaimed, pausing to brush a stray hair off her brow with the back of her hand. “Two wedding cakes that have to be finished tomorrow, and a full bed and breakfast all weekend. I think I might have bitten off more than I can chew this time!”

  “Not you,” I insisted. “You are a superhero – I have seen you in action before.”

  “Ha! Some superhero, covered in flour and scraping the bottom of a mixing bowl! Will you be a dear and hand me that pan there beside you?” I reached for the pan to my left and pushed it next to her on the counter, where she blew upward to try to get the hair off her face and then shook her head. I stepped up and pushed the hair behind her ear with a laugh.

  “I am available to assist you in whatever way you desire,” I told her then, and she smiled broadly.

  “I just might take you up on that, missy. Here, mix this one for a second.” I took the bowl from her hands and began twirling the spatula around, the chocolate scent wafting up and causing my stomach to growl.

  “What kind of cake do you think we should have at the wedding, Rosalie?” I asked, staring out the window dreamily. I heard the oven door close behind me, and then she was pulling the bowl out of my hands.

  “Well, I don’t know. I suppose I can work with whatever you dream up, within reason.” Rosalie gave me a wink as I smiled at her and shook my head.

  “When Cole asked me to pick up a cupcake from that place in Memphis a couple weeks ago, he wanted chocolate-covered strawberry. Do you think you could do that?” I watched as she mulled it over and then nodded her head. “And what about white-chocolate raspberry? I love that. Or peaches – I just love peaches. Something that tastes like an orange creamsicle, maybe…”

  “How many cakes are we talking about here, darlin’?” she asked with a laugh.

  “I don’t know, maybe three tiers?” I grabbed a piece of paper and a pencil from behind me on the counter and started sketching. “Chocolate-covered strawberry on the bottom, peaches and cream in the center, and then white-chocolate raspberry on the top. White square cakes, with a rainbow of flowers cascading down the tiers. Start with a red, orange, yellow, light green, deep blue, and then end with a purple, like a big sugar iris. Yeah, that would be incredible, don’t you think?” I hurriedly scrawled the flowers onto the tiers and then held out the paper to her, and she chuckled.

  “Well, that was some pretty fast planning,” she stated, taking my paper. “I do believe it would be pretty, but we’ll give it some more thought after I’m done with this cake.” She pointed to the bowl in front of her and opened her eyes wide.

  “Sorry, I shouldn’t be bothering you,” I acknowledged. “What can I do to help?”

  “You can chop those apricots for me,” she stated, poi
nting to a cutting board on the counter. “And you know you’re not bothering me, sweetheart. I like your company.”

  “I just realized before I came out here that the wedding is four weeks away. Shouldn’t I be panicking? We don’t even have invitations sent yet.”

  “A lesser person might be panicking,” she admitted, “but you’re not going to. Not in front of me, anyway. Do you know the date, the time, the place? The invitations would probably be a pretty important step.”

  “June first, and I don’t know,” I sighed, slicing an apricot with my knife. “You want to hear something crazy? I would really like to get married right here, in your backyard, overlooking the river. Do you think that’s totally insane?”

  “No, I don’t think that’s insane.” She stopped mixing and paused to look at me for a moment. “You’re welcome to get married here, if that’s what you want.”

  Yeah, that is what I want. Why haven’t I thought about it before?

  “Thank you,” I told her with a smile. “Maybe seven o’clock, so it’s not too hot, and then after dinner we can dance under the stars.”

  “That sounds beautiful, honey,” she stated. “That’s fine with me if it’s what you and Cole want.”

  “I’ll ask him tonight, while we’re camping,” I remarked casually, going back to slicing. “Cole told me not to bring anything – does that sound right to you?”

  “Well, he probably has the tent and the sleeping bags and all that. Rachel is probably packing the food. I would guess if he said not to bring anything, then they’ve got it covered.”

  “But he said just to wear swimwear and some clothes over. Shouldn’t I take a change of clothes or something? Soap for a shower? Shampoo?” She paused and gave me a puzzled look before she started measuring flour.

  “Honey, you’re going to be at the river. There’s no shower.” I took a moment to let that phrase permeate my brain. No shower? Perhaps it was a very city girl thing to think, but yuck. The river was all peaceful and tranquil and everything, I will grant that, but to imagine myself wading through it, covered in fish poop and bugs and no way to shower after…bleh. I shuddered a little, grateful that Rosalie was not looking in my direction and couldn’t see the concern spreading across my face.

  “I don’t have any swimwear, either,” I said with a sigh. “I guess I am totally unprepared. What would you suggest?” I was expecting her to direct me to a boutique or a department store or something, but the conversation took a turn for the worse.

  “Well, I guess if it was me, I would get a two-piece,” she offered. “It would be really awkward in a one-piece.”

  “What would be awkward?” I asked, cringing a little. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know the answer.

  “You know, taking care of business.”

  Taking care of business? I hadn’t even considered it, but now that I was, I was fairly well panicking on the inside.

  “Where exactly would one, as you put it, take care of business?” She glanced over at me then and laughed out loud at the mortified look on my face.

  “Out of sight, in the bushes!” she exclaimed, still chuckling.

  So all I have to look forward to is swimming in fish poop and peeing in the bushes? Lovely.

  After helping Rosalie for a while, I drove into town to a little boutique and picked up a bikini that contained the same colors as peacock feathers. I had been looking for something on the modest side, and this one contained a halter with a fair amount of coverage, so I felt like it was a good choice. Not that it mattered much, since I would be covered in filth, but at least I would start off looking semi-decent. I also stopped at a drug store and picked up a package of disposable toothbrushes, because the thought of going twenty-four hours without brushing my teeth was already grossing me out completely. No toilet and no shower, maybe I could manage, but no toothbrush? Definitely not.

  I dressed in a pair of denim cut-offs and a pale yellow t-shirt that boasted that I completed a half marathon. Thankfully it didn’t contain a disclaimer. If it had, there would have been fine print reading something like: Camdyn Taylor did indeed complete a half marathon, albeit rather slowly, and with a giant gash on her leg, because she had a collision with another runner in the first mile. If I added my two cents, I would include the fact that the guy wasn’t watching where he was going because he was too busy trying to take a selfie with me in the background. Stalker.

  No one needed to know that, however, so I would just wear my boastful shirt. I did earn it, after all.

  I drove over to Cole’s house at five o’clock and was surprised to find his truck in the driveway where he was packing things. As I slid out of the car and shut the door behind me, he came around the back of his house and gave me a huge smile. When I thought about the fact that this beautiful rustic log house would be mine soon as well, I couldn’t help but smile myself.

  “I would have picked you up,” he said, folding me in his arms and swinging me around in a circle. “I am so ready for this. I’ve missed you, ‘little miss half marathon.’” I smirked at him for his teasing tone, but I grabbed onto both of his forearms as he set me on the ground.

  “I know you would have picked me up, but I wanted to see you already. Do you need help?”

  “No, I’m packed up and ready to go. Did you bring anything?”

  “Well, you told me not to, but I did bring a couple things,” I admitted. I turned back to my car and retrieved a small black satchel that I had picked up at the boutique, throwing it over my arm. Sheltered inside were a white hat I purchased at the boutique to keep the sun off my face, a pair of sunglasses, and the disposable toothbrushes.

  “Okay, let’s go, then,” he suggested. He took my car keys and put them inside his house, and then we set off. It seemed like it took forever to get to the camp site – down three separate dirt roads, a very long driveway, and through a gate into what looked like an empty cow pasture. Cole explained that it was private property of some guy he knew. I didn’t think it was possible to get any further into the middle of nowhere than I had already been, but apparently I was incorrect.

  When we pulled up, Jeff and Rachel were already on the gravel bar and setting up camp. I watched as Rachel helped Jeff set up their tent, and I was intently trying to figure out how to help Cole with his tent, but it turned out he didn’t ask for my help. He just went about taking care of it himself. I watched as he drove the stakes in the ground, kneeling on the gravel in his black swim trunks and Superman t-shirt. He did seem like Superman, at least in my eyes. When the red tent was pitched securely next to Jeff’s green one, Cole tossed a couple of sleeping bags inside. The boys slipped off looking for firewood, and Rachel and I sat on the rocks and stared out at the river. She was halfway through telling me a story about Charlotte when the boys came back simultaneously with the arrival of Tony and Sara.

  “The party has arrived!” Tony announced as he stepped out of the truck. Instead of a pompadour or a mohawk, he had his hair slicked back into a neat ponytail. It made him look significantly shorter than normal.

  “Of course you get here after we do the work!” Jeff stated, throwing a piece of firewood in the pile.

  “All in the timing, my friend,” Tony stated. “Anything fun happen yet?”

  “I thought you were bringing the fun, Tony,” Rachel teased. He threw his hands up in the air.

  “Of course, as always.” He winked in our direction and then tossed his tent out of the back of the truck. Sara joined us by the river as Cole and Jeff helped Tony set up his tent, and then Jeff and Cole decided they wanted to try to catch some fish. I could see why they enjoyed doing this – the scenery was peaceful, with only the soft sound of trickling water and the twittering of a few birds. If it weren’t for the fact that soon I would be taking care of business in the bushes, I probably would have been completely at ease.

  I learned a few things about fishing right away – Cole and Jeff seemed to have pretty good aim with their lines, putting bait on a hook looked disgusting,
and disturbing the water was definitely not okay. Thankfully Tony was the one who skipped a rock and not me, earning a glare and a shush from Jeff. I noticed that Rachel’s voice seemed to soften as the boys held their poles, too, as though she had been through this routine before. The only exception was when they actually caught a fish, and then the excitement ramped up considerably. On his fourth or fifth cast, Cole reeled in a pretty big fish, and when he attempted to remove it he announced disgustedly that it had swallowed the hook. He looked down at me with his enticing smile and asked if I would hold his fishing pole while he got a pair of pliers from the truck, so I walked to the edge of the water and took the pole. It seemed so strange, having a fish on a string while I was holding the other end. I stood there looking at the scaly thing as it thrashed in the water in front of me, and then a huge noisy bug landed near the bottom of my leg. Startled, I slid the fishing pole into the crook of my arm and reached down to push whatever it was away. Big mistake.

  When I was bent to my side with my right hand near the water, the fish at the end of that hook decided to make a break for it. The pole jerked, dragging the reel until it hit my underarm and pulled me forward, and just enough off balance to send me careening into the river. It wasn’t deep, maybe two feet, but I struggled to get up with that pole lodged against me. Then, right as I thought I might be able to get my balance, the fish turned and decided to perform a kamikaze move. He swam right toward me, into the neck of my t-shirt, and started slapping his tail against my chest. I screamed and struggled to my feet, the fish palpitating underneath my t-shirt as though my heart was suddenly beating on the outside. I tried desperately to pull him out using the line and jerking upward, but he seemed determined to burrow even further. In exasperation, I brought the shirt up, pulling it quickly over my head and tossing it to the ground, the fish still struggling inside. When I looked around, panting from the excitement, everyone was staring at me in stunned silence. Then, as though on cue, they all began laughing uncontrollably. Embarrassed and a little shaky, I managed to remove the fish from my shirt and put him back in the water, standing resolutely at the edge of the bank.