It must’ve been the muscle memory of holding that hand so many times, of strolling hand in hand through the sidewalks of their town, of that hand touching her cheek, of that hand being tender.
Against her will, something in her cracked. Maybe it was the sentimental girl in her, the remembrance of a first all-encompassing love.
They’d both moved away and become people with lives that were so different from how they’d grown up here, in this place, where everyone knew everyone else, for better or for worse. They’d experienced success, wealth, and celebrity. Big-city life.
Yet the way he held her hand was exactly the same. So was the tender, hungry way he looked at her. Just like when she was a girl, she seemed helpless under the power of his gaze.
She shook her head, forcing herself to break the connection. It was okay, she thought, talking herself down from the ledge—she’d grown past it, past him. Like everyone else who’d ever had a broken teenage heart, she’d moved on.
“It’s a deal,” he said softly, his voice sounding a little muffled and strangely soft.
“A deal,” she said back before snapping out of the haze. Yes, a deal. That was all it was. A competition. That she would win. Regardless of how much her hand was tingling.
Chapter 6
Hey, want to go to lunch?” Cam asked a few days later, sticking his head around the gray fabric partition dividing the customer part of his family’s renovation business office from the desks.
His sister, Lucy, jumped in her seat, where she was loading numbers into a spreadsheet on the computer. A hand flew to her chest as she gave Cam the stink eye. “Tony! Geez. Give a woman a heart attack!” Her black-and-white Border collie, Molly, who was lying in her bed next to Lucy’s desk, startled.
Cam chuckled in the way that only an older brother could, then shrugged innocently.
“Sorry about that.”
“You don’t sound sorry,” Lucy said. Molly stepped out of her bed and ambled over to greet Cam.
“Hey there, Mol.” He stooped to pet her, catching himself before he bent too far on his bad knee. “You want to go to lunch too?”
A desk chair rolled back into view from the next cubby. Not just any desk chair. A leather model with padded head- and armrests and wait—was that a cup holder? “I can be ready in five minutes,” his younger brother, Nick, said. He grabbed a pen from behind his ear and tossed it onto his desk.
“What are you doing here?” Cam asked. Usually his brother and dad were out and about in the town, renovating one of the many Victorian-era homes that were their specialty. Seeing him in an office chair—even if it was the Cadillac of office chairs—was a little strange, since Nick loved nothing better than drilling, pounding, sawing, and stomping around a construction site.
“Hey, I have brains as well as brawn, you know,” Nick said.
“Well,” Lucy said, a devilish look in her eyes, “why don’t you use your brains to get moving on that job on Gardenia Street? I need the paperwork by one if you want that special reproduction tile by next week.”
Cam laughed. “Guess you’re getting a doggie bag today, Nicky.”
Nick shot him a look. “Where are you two going?”
Cam looked to Lucy for the answer. “Let’s go sit outside at Mussels,” she said. “Sound good?”
“Perfect,” Cam said. Dining at the oldest seafood restaurant in town would be a treat.
Nick now wore that middle-child expression over missing his favorite restaurant. “Bring me back some shrimp scampi, okay?”
“If you’re good,” Cam said, raising a brow, “we might even throw in a piece of cheesecake. And a coffee for your cupholder.”
As Nick made a face, his sister entered one last number into her spreadsheet, then closed her file. “Shall we go?” she asked as she grabbed her purse.
Lucy did a great job as the front person for Cammareri Vintage Home Remodeling Inc., and she did it with a smile. She worked some weekends for a local caterer too. But Cam understood, maybe more than Nick or his dad, how much Lucy had given up to do this job, and that made his heart ache.
She’d studied accounting in college, but that Cammareri thirst for risk and adventure had made her apply to the Culinary Institute of America in New York to pursue her dream of becoming a chef. But right after she’d found out she was accepted, she’d also found out she was pregnant, and things hadn’t worked out with her ex.
Cam had offered a million times to finance her tuition. To get her an apartment and a nanny, a car, and whatever else she needed, but she’d always refused. She’d taken the job crunching numbers at the company because it was safe and close to family, but Cam knew she loved spreadsheets about as much as he loved not playing football.
She was a big reason why he’d come back home. Now that he was back, he had a plan to help her fulfill her dream. And he couldn’t wait to tell her about it.
It made him more determined than ever to prove to Maddy that he should be the one to take over her building.
Before they could leave, their dad came in, probably to grab the sack lunch that he ate every single day at his desk.
“Hey, Dad.” Cam slapped him on the back. “Want to come out to lunch?”
“No thanks,” Angelo Cammareri said. With his leonine features and full head of silver hair, he was an imposing presence. Looking up at Cam, he said stoically, “And have my accountant back in twenty minutes.”
“I’ll be back in an hour.” Lucy kissed him on the cheek. “But we’ll bring you back a piece of cheesecake too.”
“Well, fine.” He cracked a little smile at Lucy, the only girl in the family and his clear favorite. Second only to Baby Bernadette, who was an adorable eight-month-old and already showing the discerning Cammareri taste for good pasta. “All right, then. Make it plain. With cherries on top. None of those fancy flavors.” To Cam, he said, “I ran into Mayellen and she told me you’re thinking of buying Maddy Edwards’s property and turning it into a restaurant.”
“Maddy approached me about it,” Cam said.
“But Hadley’s not having it,” Nick butted in.
Cam gave his brother a look. “How do you know that?”
Nick sat back and propped his feet up on his desk. “You can’t argue with your old flame in the middle of the street and not expect people to notice.”
Small towns. He kept forgetting how quickly everyone figured out his business.
“I’ve always liked Hadley,” was all his dad had to say about that. “She back in town?”
“Just for the summer,” Cam said.
“And how does she feel about you being around?” his dad asked.
Cam shifted his weight a little nervously. Something he probably hadn’t done since the age of twelve. “It’s complicated, Dad.”
His dad didn’t say anything for a long moment. “Okay, well, as far as the food, I can give you all the old family recipes.”
“Even Grandpa’s pizza dough?” Lucy asked. His dad kept that sacred recipe on top of his dresser, in a polished wooden box that his grandfather had brought over from Italy.
His dad smiled at him. “If Anthony wants it, yes.”