Page 35 of You're So Vine
Moving this along. “So … you went to dinner and met Lee?”
“Nope.” Cam shook his head. “Stayed put. The place had power, an old outdoor toilet and running water. Had some food that I ate cold. Sat out in the woods for hours. Slept. Did that for eight days.”
“They left you alone for eight whole days?” I’m amazed. “Not even a tuna casserole left on the doorstep?”
Cam screws up his face. “Like I said, Billy wasn’t a rescuer. He wasn’t going to force me to do anything. Had to be my choice.”
“What finally got you up to their house?”
“Ran out of food,” says Cam. “Considered nuts and berries, but I wouldn’t know an edible berry from one that would kill me soon as it passed my lips. Briefly wondered how long I could last on water alone, but I’m not like you—Ihaveto eat. Followed Billy’s directions, knocked on the door. It opened, and there she was—”
His very good friend. His text pal. Lee Armstrong.
“—the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen in my life.”
I think I’m going to throw up.
ChapterTwelve
CAM
I’m about to add, “until I met you” but I don’t get a chance.
“Gotta pee,” declares Ava, and she dumps her beer bottle on the floor, scrambles out of bed and hightails it down the stairs, like she’s being chased by the demon of incontinence.
Or by some other demon. She said before that she was afraid Lee would be a third wheel in our relationship, and I haven’t exactly helped ease that concern. I should have just said, “And that’s when I first met Lee”, but like an idiot, I plunged into the “most beautiful woman” quicksand. Communication has never been my strength. I’ve talked more to Ava in the last day than I’ve talked to anyone in the past eighteen years. Except Lee, of course.
Shit.
It’s quiet downstairs, and I have a sudden fear that Ava might have left. Grabbed a jacket of mine and ran off into the cold. Because I’m an idiot.
I’m half out of bed when I hear her feet on the stairs. She’s walking slowly and leans on the doorway looking kind of pale.
“You okay?”
I sound worried. I am worried. What with one thing and another, I’d almost forgotten that Ava isn’t well. That she’s about to undergo a battery of medical tests because the doctor doesn’t know what’s wrong with her. And here am I using up all the oxygen and tiring her out with my lame-ass story.
“I hate Lee Armstrong,” she says.
“O—”
“I mean, I really fucking hate her.”
“Got it.”
Ava schleps over and falls on top of the bed face first. Lets out a muffled, “Gah!”
Can’t help it. I laugh.
“Not funny,” she says into the crumpled-up blanket.
Then she slowly rolls over onto her back and gives me the side-eye.
“The most beautiful woman you’ve ever seen in your life?”
“I was about to add ‘until I met you’.”
Ava snorts. Which is all that deserves.
