Page 87 of Feels Like Coming Home

“What’s almost the end?” I asked, the voices in my mind were already starting to run away.

The end of us? The end of our time together? Was this his way of telling me he was leaving?

Was he seriously going to leave me,again?

“The end of the trip. You and Piper, you have to head home soon, right? She mentioned the end of March or something?”

Oh, he meant the end of the trip,one voice in my head said, relief started to settle over my already racing heart.

But then another voice spoke; a meaner, nastier one.

Yeah, and the end of you two. You don’t even live in the same city. This is his chance to break things off with you. A clear ending point. An easy out. He never really loved you, he just wanted to sleep with you. And you were stupid enough to fall for his games, just like he knew you would be.

I took a deep breath and tried to settle the growing anxiety in my head and stomach before speaking.

“Ye–yeah. The end of March. We have the bungalow through the last weekend of the month and then we need to head back to Wilmington to finish planning the conference.”

Our walking had slowed, but his hand was still in mine.

“That means I’ll also be heading home soon too…” Cam’s voice trailed off and he didn’t look at me when he said it. He kept his eyes on the water as it came in and out. His body language was awkward, almost uncomfortable, and he continued to avoid my eyes.

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Cam was leaving and by the way he was talking, he was going to be leaving me when he did.

My fears were coming true. He was going to leave me just like every other man in my life had. My father when I was just a girl, Cam when we were in college, and Connor who was supposed to be the love of my life. I can’t believe how stupid I was to let Cam back into my life like I had. I should have told him to go home when he found me here two months ago. I should have told him to fuck off and leave me alone. I’d cut him out of my life entirely and I should have left him like that.

I couldn’t believe he was going to leave meagain.

“So I guess that means you’re leaving me then too, right?” My stomach flipped as the words left my mouth and I ripped my hand from his.

He turned to look at me when I did.

“What?”

“You’re leaving me, that’s really what you mean. ‘I’ll be heading home soon,’”I mocked, “What you really mean is that you’ll be leavingme.”

“Jones,what are you talking about?” His face was screwed up into a confused expression but I knew it was just a cover. He was mad because I’d figured him out and was calling him out on it. I was getting to the punchline before he could this time.

“You, Cam! I’m talking about you, and how you’re leaving me. Again! You’re taking the easy way out with the end of the trip and are going to leave me just like you did before!”

I started to walk back toward the boardwalk, my hands crossed in front of my chest.

“Haley, come back here! Stop walking away. I don’t understand what you’re talking about!” I heard him calling out to me but I was moving quickly back toward the boardwalk and he had lost some distance on me. The sand on my feet made me cringe but I didn’t care because the thought of standing there next to Cam any longer was worse than feeling it on my feet.

The tears burned in my eyes as I stomped off the beach and made my way toward the road. Feeling stupid and ashamed, I kept my eyes forward as I heard Cam trying to close the gap between us and catch up.

I wouldn’t be the one left behind. Not this time.

This time, I would be the one who left.

41

CAM | NOW

Icontinued after her, watching her long, cinnamon-colored hair blow behind her back as she made her way toward the end of the boardwalk. She had stormed off so quickly that she’d gotten a good lead on me, but thanks to my training and my literal job being to run fast, I caught up to her before she hit the road.

She didn’t stop to look at me until I was on her heels and was close enough to grab her. My arm reached for her and I spun her around to look at me. She tried to wrestle her arm out of my hand, but I held on just tight enough so she couldn’t escape.

“Let go of me, Camden,” she hissed, not looking me in the eye as she did. Tears were in her eyes and it nearly killed me to see her this upset.

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