Page 16 of Forged in Peril

“Oh, nice,” Bristol said breezily, trying to contain her surprise. She couldn’t believe that he was still living in their hometown of Silver Grove when he could easily afford a great place in the heart of San Antonio.

“I like the small town life, I guess,” Cameron explained without prompting, checking over his shoulder as he merged onto the highway. The traffic was easing up now that they had escaped downtown, and within a few minutes, they’d be surrounded by farmland. “Besides, it’s still really close to the city, and it’s home. I’m trying to convince a couple of the boys to move there, too.”

“I guess I can see the appeal of leaving the big city chaos every night. I miss my old place, but it is a lot easier to sleep without motorcycles blasting by my window all night.”

“One day, I want to buy a farm, and have some land of my own. I guess that part of the original family business rubbed off on me,” Cameron joked.

She said nothing for a moment.

Cam had wanted to buy a farm of his own, with a country house like the one he and his brothers had grown up in, for as long as she could remember.

All he had ever wanted was to settle in, and all she’d ever wanted was to run. They were never going to work. They should have realized that, even as a couple of lovesick teenagers.

Cameron cleared his throat. “I, uh, thought that maybe we could stop at the Screaming Peach Cafe. It’s close. I haven’t been there in a while, but I know you always loved it way back when.”

If Iris was there, she’d be matchmaking them before they even sat down, but the sweet older woman’s shift had probably ended hours ago.

“That sounds great,” she said. “I was actually in there this morning. It’s just as great as always.”

They drove for a few more minutes in comfortable silence. Bristol looked out the window at the endless fields dotted with houses and barns. Though the sun had long since set, the moon was bright, casting a gentle blue glow over the countryside. It was beautiful, and despite the fact that she would move back to the city the first chance she got, she could certainly enjoy her time here while it lasted.

Finally, Cameron pulled onto the long stretch that was Main Street, and she watched as the houses moved closer together until finally they were in what passed as Silver Grove’s downtown. He eased the Jeep slowly into the small parking lot of the Screaming Peach and turned off the engine with a click.

As they walked through the front door, listening to the friendly chime of the old-fashioned bell, she was surprised to see that the place was still fairly busy, even nearing closing time.

She could see a group of older women taking up most of the back right corner, several copies of a Francine Rivers novel piled on the table between them as they chatted and laughed with one another.

“I assume you want the famous peach pie to go with your green tea?” Cameron asked as he walked up to the counter. She hesitated for only a moment before agreeing, and waited as he ordered for both of them, resisting the urge to insist on splitting the bill. Her bank account would thank her.

The cafe had hardly changed in twenty years.

There were the same worn board floors, and the same painted white tables with their mismatched chairs, replaced only as necessary. Nearly a whole wall was dedicated to built-in bookcases that stretched from the tin-paneled ceiling to the floor, stuffed with hundreds of books and a decent collection of playing cards and board games.

It was the kind of place that made you want to stay, just like Silver Grove itself.

Bristol pushed that uncomfortable thought aside as she followed Cameron to a table near the front window, not bothering to try and carry over her own plate of steaming pie. For the moment, she was tired enough to allow him to play the gentleman if he wished.

“Thank you for this,” she said, picking up her fork and taking a bite. The sweet peach and flaky pastry were perfectly prepared, and no matter how many times she ate the dessert, it never seemed to get old.

“You’re welcome. This really is the best pie in Texas,” Cameron said after swallowing a huge bite of his own. “Clearly I need to eat here more often. Ben is always telling me I need to bulk up, anyway. It would be a good excuse.”

Bristol chuckled. “Ben looks like a computer-nerd version of Gaston from Beauty and the Beast. I’m not sure you could be as massive as him even if you ate five thousand calories a day.”

She didn’t tell him what she was actually thinking; that his toned, muscular body couldn’t be improved. No, that was dangerous territory, and she wouldn’t go near it.

“I caught him eating five dozen eggs for breakfast once,” he said, giving her a wink. “Raw. With the shells.”

She smiled down at her plate, quickly adding a huge bite of pie to her fork and stuffing it into her mouth before she started singing along about Ben being roughly the size of a barge.

She was thankful for Cam’s company tonight, after what had happened, but she had to make it clear that on her end, at least, their reunion was all business.

Cameron took a few moments to work on his own pie, and she started in on her tea as she listened to the book club ladies laughing over in their corner.

Finally, he set his fork down.

“So, how’d you end up back in Silver Grove?” he asked, his blue eyes meeting hers.

She sipped her tea for a moment, savoring its warmth as she tried to think of how much she could share.

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