Page 36 of Feels Like Coming Home

Her cheeks flushed and her lashes fluttered to the floor, a piece of her hair falling around her face. Someone behind her cleared their throat.

“While this is a nice little thing happening, we’re all standing in the way of the door,” her friend Piper spoke, moving her hand in a circle in front of her.

Realizing we were, in fact, standing in the way of other people trying to come in, the three of us stepped outside and out of the way. I remembered seeing Piper at the funeral, but we hadn’t talked. The last time we had spoken to each other was that weekend back when I crashed her dorm room unannounced and then left without saying goodbye.

Fuck.

“Piper,” I started, trying to give her my most charming look. Piper was small but she still scared the fuck out of me. The harmless looking ones are always the ones who get away with murder.

“Hello, Camden.” Her voice was even but the smirk on her face made me nervous. She knew what I did to Haley all those years ago—she had to—and I knew she wasn’t going to forgive me for hurting her friend. Part of me was deeply aware of how easily Piper could make me disappear without a trace, never to be found again. The other part of me was grateful Haley had found a friend who loved her as Piper did.

“How’ve you been?” I asked, trying to be the most charming guy she’s ever met.

“I’d rather know what the hell you’re doing in this tiny town of ours. Can’t be a coincidence that you justhappenedto show up at the same time we did. What’s that about,Camden?” She dragged my name out as if she wanted to drag me out to the back lot and beat the shit out of me. Piper is as smart as a whip and her straightforwardness could cut your carotid before you even felt it happen.

“Piper!” Haley’s face whipped toward her friend.

“No, Haley, it’s okay. She has every right to ask. I'm thankful she cares enough about you to call me out on my shit.” Haley’s cheeks were still flushed as I spoke to her.

I turned and looked at Piper again, her long blonde hair was pin-straight like needles. “I saw your post about being here and came to see how Haley was doing. After the funeral, I got busy with football and didn’t have a chance to check in like I wanted to. Now that it’s the off-season, I wanted to come and see Haley in person, to see how she’s doing, and to make sure she’s okay.”

Piper never looked away from me, her eyes locked on mine like daggers. One of her eyebrows twitched just the smallest amount as I spoke. The movement was so small that if you blinked, you would’ve missed it. Piper had wanted to be a lawyer, I remembered, and her current behavior proves just how good of one she could have been. I stood my ground and never broke eye contact. After a few long moments, she finally blinked and exhaled deeply, as if to tame a fire that was raging inside of her.

“I just want you to know—” she took a step toward me and pressed a finger into my chest— “I studied law and finished one semester of school. And while that doesn’t sound like much, it was enough to teach me how to cover up a crime and get away with it.”

“I don’t doubt it for a second.” I pressed my lips together and tried to not let on about just how much I feared Haley’s five-foot-two, blonde bodyguard.

“Well…this has been fun.” Haley clapped her hands together in front of her chest and laughed awkwardly. Then, throwing her thumb over her shoulder she said, “We should probably get going now.” She grabbed Piper by the arm and swung her around, pushing her down the wheelchair ramp that led into the coffee shop.

“Wait, we didn’t get any?—”

“It’s time to go, Piper.”

They walked down the sidewalk Haley and I had walked down together just the day before. As they moved away from Coastal Brews, their arms looped together, Piper looked over her shoulder to me a few times to check if I was still watching them. I wondered about what they were saying and hoped that they weren’t talking too much shit about me.

Eventually, they turned the corner and were gone, headed down the street where their little bungalow sat, all the way at the end of the road.

I started to walk back toward my hotel, replaying how it felt to hold Haley in my arms. She was so close that I could smell her perfume and was instantly intoxicated by the scent. If I could bathe myself in it daily, I would.

The biggest thing I couldn’t get over though, was how cute she looked when she blushed. Her flushed face reminded me of a small girl who you just told looked like a princess. That she was the most beautiful girl you’d ever seen.

To me, Haley was the most beautiful girl I’d ever seen.

I just hoped that one day she’d let me say those words to her directly.

20

HALEY | NOW

“Well…that was interesting.” Piper closed the front door behind her and followed me as I walked into the kitchen where my laptop was sitting. I opened it up and clicked on my email, fully ready to skate past this conversation as fast as I possibly could.

“Like I told you yesterday, I don't know why he’s here.” I didn’t even try to meet her gaze, which I could feel was more of a glare. I just continued to type away on my laptop.

“You don’t knowwhy he’s here? Are you serious?” She sounded incredulous. “Hays, that man is in love with you. It’s written all over his stupid fuckin’ face.” I loved Piper, but sometimes she was so far out in left field with her accusations.

Cam wasnotin lovewith me. I hadn’t seen him in over ten years. Not including the funeral, at least. There was no way he wasin love with me.

I took a deep Deborah inhale and exhaled before speaking, “Piper, he’s not in love with me. He just…he’s just…”

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