Page 61 of Best Laid Plans
Like he’d already done multiple times today, he tried unsuccessfully to push her away. He focused on the prep station underneath his hands, the shiny metal reflecting his unsmiling face back at him. He threw his towel down on the station. That was enough of that. He checked the accoutrements instead of looking at his steely reflection, assessing what he’d need to cut up before the dinner rush. After he took a mental inventory of the garnishes, he moved over to the walk-in refrigerator, welcoming the cold burst of air on his body.
But still, Elle was there, persistent and unabating when he had even a minute to think.
What was most important though, was that Cam didn’t have the luxury of letting himself get caught up inpossibilities. And that’s what Elle Pierce was trying to make him do.
Cam spent his life looking at what was right in front of him. It was the only way he’d made it this long and this far. Which is why he didn’t think about the possibility of Elle getting the job in Boston tomorrow, her interview looming over him like a black cloud. Or the possibility that Wyatt found out about them and slugged him hard enough to crack his jaw. And he definitely didn’t let himself think about Elle bringing up the idea that they could keep seeing one another when they were both back in Boston.
He hadn’t wanted to be dismissive when she’d brought it up, but judging from how Elle had been keeping her distance since Tuesday, it seemed like a real possibility that she hadn’t liked his answer.
He’d been shocked, mostly. And he’d blurted out the truth–that his career in Boston was very likely over–before he’d considered any other options. At this point, his honesty felt like a character flaw because there were about a million other ways in retrospect that he could have handled things.
He took a deep inhale in the refrigerator and let the cold air rush through his lungs.
But what was he supposed to say? Nothing that could make the reality of his situation any more palatable for a woman like Elle–someone whose plans had plans. She was slumming it while she got back on her feet, and Cam should just be grateful for the few weeks he’d had with her.
Elle was the epitome of the kind of woman who shouldn’t wait for a man like him to get his shit together. He had nothing to offer her, of that he felt sure. He shared an apartment with three roommates. He was currently unemployed. And hecouldn’t even sac up enough to consider Wyatt finding out about them. But he looked at that last one as a favor to both Elle and him.
So maybe this is how it was all supposed to end–not with a bang, but with a whimper. And not even one of the little self-satisfied ones that he could tease out of Elle when he fucked her just right, hitting the spot inside that made her legs go all wobbly while they were wrapped around him.
“Fuck,” he breathed into the silent room, bracing his hand against one of the cool metal racks, his fingers wrapping around it so forcefully that he was leaving indents in his skin.
He couldn’t even remember why he’d walked in here a minute ago.
His phone buzzed in his pocket, providing a much needed distraction.
Mr. Pierce
Dinner tonight at the house? Wanted to check in and see how everything at the restaurant is going.
Or maybe not.
But… no. This could be good. A little bit of time with Mr. Pierce to catch up with him. Maybe Cam would finally get that breading recipe. A night without Elle or Wyatt could be just the thing he needed to get his mind back on track. They could shoot the shit about the restaurant for a few hours and Cam could pass out exhausted before midnight, sleeping blissfully before he woke up tomorrow to do it all again.
If he hustled with closing, he could make it over there at a reasonable dinner hour. But the great thing about the Pierce family is that given they’d had this restaurant for thirty years, dinner was always a relatively late affair.
Cam
8:30?
The response came back quickly.
Mr. Pierce
See you then.
And even as his traitorous heart rebelled at the idea of not seeing Elle tonight, he knew that it was for the best.
The fates were conspiring against him. That’s the only thing he could think as he pulled into the Pierces’ driveway to see Wyatt’s truck already parked. And Cam knew that if Wyatt was at his parents’ house, Elle was sure to be there, too.
It had been years since he’d been at their home when Elle was there. Usually, he stayed in Boston for holidays, popping into town on random days of the week when his schedule allowed it.
He and Elle had gone years of their adult lives without ever crossing paths. A few days together and he’d set his life on a collision course of monumental proportions. But even so… had this always been simmering below the surface, ready to explode between them?
Cam shook his head. Another intrusive thought that he refused to follow, especially given that he was walking into her family’s home.
Wyatt had bought this house for his parents about a decade ago, when his future had been bright. Cam had seen, firsthand, how quickly the tides could turn.
Two years of professional football salary for a kid whose family pulled in less than a-hundred-grand a year in one of the most expensive parts of the country had meant that Wyatt,young and filled with confidence, wanted to do right by his parents. His home would come down the line, when he’d settled with a team. When he and Hannah had gotten married. Only, none of that had happened.
