Page 96 of Double Daddies
So I do the last thing in the world I want to do, but the only thing Icando, and I open the door.
Ryle
My eyes find her instantly. She’s standing in the center of the room, her distinctively beautiful eyes filled with emotion. I walk through the open door toward her, almost without noticing the boyfriend holding it open.
“Cami…” Her name is a song on my lips. I reach for her hand, but her fingers ball into fists and then she puts them behind her back. The gesture is so innocent and childlike that even though she doesn’t give me her hand, I’m smiling.
“Hello, Ryle,” she answers softly.
I hear the door slam shut, and I spare the boyfriend a glance. He’s clearly pissed, and who can blame him? “Can we sit down? I think we need to talk.”
She glances at him, too, as he comes to stand beside her.
I’ve felt many things since learning of this man’s existence—annoyance when I realized he was following me, shock at what he had to tell me, but this… the envy that rises up when I see him standing beside her, when his arm goes possessively around her slim shoulders, eclipses every emotion I’ve experienced up to this point.
“I-I can’t sit in situations like this.” She shakes off Boyfriend’s arm. “But you should. Both of you should. I feel like I can hardly breathe.”
I look around and move toward the couch and take a seat. Boyfriend walks to the nearby table for two and sits as well. Then I return my gaze to Cami. Her hands are on her hips, but I get the sense that it’s more a nervous gesture, like she doesn’t know where to put them. I allow my eyes to scan her waist, but it’s just as slim as the last time I saw her.
I clear my throat, feeling certain everyone is uncomfortable and not sure how to start. I decide to do us all a favor and get to the matter at hand. “It’s wonderful to see you again, Cami.”
She flushes guiltily and looks away without saying anything.
“I could say I wish it was under better circumstances, but to be quite honest, I would be lying.”
Thisgets her attention. I can see by the way her eyes flash back to me, wide and startled. But her lips are parted and curvedin a half-smile, so I don’t think my comment, though surprising, is unwelcome.
“Does he know?” I nod toward the boyfriend.
Again, Cami glances away, her cheeks growing pink in what I can only assume is shame.
“No.” The word is practically a whisper.
“Know what?” Boyfriend demands, looking alarmed.
I can’t blame him. I would too, in his shoes.
“Cami?” he asks.
Cami stays silent. But, of course, she has no other choice in this instance. This is my story to tell.
“The first time I met Cami was about a year ago.”
Boyfriend looks to her but says nothing as he waits for me to continue.
“I was her patient, for a brief time.”
He shifts his gaze between the two of us, then nods. “Go on.”
“Obviously, nothing happened between us while she was my nurse.”
Boyfriend’s expression doesn’t ease in the slightest, but that’s not really my concern. I know what I have to say next won’t change that, so I shift my focus and give her my full attention.
“Cami, running into you at Smoke and Cellar was one of the happiest nights of my life. You didn’t know this, but I was at a really low point, and you helped lift my spirits.”
She smiles softly at my words.
“What you didn’t know is that I was moping. I was moping because the very next morning, I started radiation.”
