Page 56 of You're So Vine
“She’s fine,” I say quickly. “Totally fine.”
Too quickly. Shelby’s suspicious.
“Cam? You’d tell me, right? You wouldn’t make some stupidly loyal promise to Mom to keep me in the dark?”
Well, not aboutthis…
I shake my head. “She’s fine. Nothing wrong at all.”
“Good to hear,” says Jackson.
He was laughing the hardest when I came in. Not even the hint of a smile now. Lee’s hismother as well, I remember too late.
“Cam?” Nate’s on his feet. “Can I have a word?”
When the boss wants a word, it’s never good. But I deserve whatever verbal kicking he’s about to give me, so I better harden up and take it.
He leads me outside and closes the front door.
“I promised the truck to Doug,” he says. “You said you’d have it back by eleven.”
“Yeah. Sorry.” I’m looking down, scuffing my boot in the gravel, like a sulky kid.
“Cam, what the fuck?”
Surprised, I lift my head. When Nate’s in boss mode, he’s crisp and professional. Never raises his voice. Neverswears.
“What’s going on? Why were you so worried about Lee that you had to drive all the way to her place?”
Not in boss mode. Concerned husband mode. Can’t fault him for that. I feel I owe him some honesty in return.
“I freaked out at Doc Wilson’s,” I say. “Didn’t know who else to talk to.”
Nate lets out a slow breath and rolls his shoulders as the tension eases.
“You could have called Lee instead,” he says.
I could and should have.
“And Lee really is okay?”
She has a secret sister, but apart from that. “Yeah.”
“Because I don’t think Shelby would cope if her mother got sick,” Nate says. “Given that she had a whole breakdown after her dad died. You know—you were with her then.”
I was. Didn’t think about that when I was being a petty asshole. Between her grief and running around trying to keep Flora Valley Wines afloat, Shelby got poleaxed by depression and, one day, couldn’t get out of bed. All her friends and family rallied round, and with their help and some medication, she recovered. But we all know that those mental scars never fully heal. You’ll always be vulnerable.
“Lee’s not sick,” I say. “But she does have some stuff going on. Nothing bad. Just … complicated.”
Nate gives me a look.
“You did make some stupidly loyal promise, didn’t you?”
He got me.
“It’s nothing bad,” I say. “I swear.”
“Okay…” Nate blows out another long breath, looks me in the eye. “And Ava has nothing to worry about? Shelby’s always wondered … whether you and Lee…”
