Page 8 of Only in Our Dream
“Okay,” she said as she released them to eat. They devoured the egg as Melanie made herself another one.
As she ate her breakfast standing at the kitchen counter, Melanie mindlessly searched her social media accounts for anyone named Janet Doka. Only one woman popped up who had a mutual friend.
Rob Sullivan.
Of course.
Melanie didn’t have to click on the profile to know she had the right woman. Her profile picture showed her on the same mountain as Rob’s lock screen picture. She was smiling ear to ear, looking like she was the happiest woman in the world. It was clear that she and Rob had gone skiing together and taken pictures of each other.
A nauseous feeling settled in Melanie’s stomach. Was Rob cheating on her?
No, he wouldn’t do that.
Melanie shook her head as doubt crept in.
Would he?
But the genuine answer made Melanie’s head spin.
Even if Robwascheating on her, she wasn’t sure she would care. It would give her an easy out, a way to gracefully bow out oftheir marriage without having to proclaim to everyone that she was bisexual and was no longer in love with her husband.
Unable to finish her breakfast, Melanie gave the leftover eggs to Hank and Lucy before taking a shower and crawling into bed. Hank and Lucy snuggled up with her, and she tried to fall asleep.
If only her brain would stop running a million miles an hour about Rob and Janet.
And the way Cameron looked that morning at the hospital in that green dress.
Chapter 3
Cameron
There were three places Cameron felt she spent most of her time: Taylor Memorial Hospital, Moonflower Cove High School, and Moonflower Cove Junior High. From sporting events to plays to parent-teacher conferences, Cameron had made the schools her second home over the last decade. She even had her favorite parking spot at the junior high—the one under the oak tree that kept the sun from her eyes while she waited for Dylan to get done with play practice. Which was exactly what she was waiting for now.
Dylan was in rehearsals for a fall choir concert in which she had a solo. She’d told Cameronmultipletimes that usually only high schoolers got solos, so it was a big deal that she got one still in junior high. Cameron was beyond proud of Dylan. She worked so hard in school, choir, and theater. There was no doubt Dylan could go far in whatever path she pursued.
Jonah was the same way. He was acing his first semester of his sophomore year and practicing with the hockey team. Although he was only on the junior varsity team currently, Cameron had high hopes he’d make it to varsity if he kept practicing and showed up to practice on time.
Cameron sighed. She couldn’t be prouder of her two kids. They were her world; had been since the moment she had them. Deciding to have kidswithouta partner wasn’t a decision Cameron ever thought she’d have to make. She always saw herself as finding the perfect woman andthenhaving babies.
But Cameron was impatient. She didn’t want to wait around to have kids. Cameron wanted to have them when she was young and naïve enough to think that raising a baby and starting a full-time career would be easy. Back then, Cameron took life by the horns, held on, and enjoyed the ride.
And it had been one hell of a ride.
Raising Jonah and Dylan wasn’t always easy, but it was always worth it. She had learned to rely on other people for help, realizing she wasn’t Super Mom, no matter how much she fancied herself that way. Cameron had built an amazing support system with her closest friends—mostly Vera, Isla, and Melanie—so she felt comfortable letting them watch her kids whenever she had to work late or had a case that was occupying more of her time.
Cameron also learned that asking for help wasn’t a bad thing. And neither was having to miss a school recital because she was in the middle of surgery removing a tumor so that a mother could live to see their own child’s recital one day. She liked to believe that the Cameron who first moved to Moonflower Cove for her fellowship would be so proud of the Cameron of today.
The passenger door to her SUV opened, pulling Cameron out of her thoughts. Dylan tossed her backpack into the floorboard and got inside, buckling her seatbelt before turning to Cameron.
“I rocked that.”
“I’m glad to see you have my confidence,” Cameron laughed as she kissed Dylan’s cheek. “So, rehearsal was good?”
“So good. Me and Ellie are still theonlyseventh graders who have solos.” Dylan sank slightly in her seat. “Even if Ellie has a bigger part.”
Ellie Mackenzie was Isla and Vera’s middle child. She and Dylan were the same age, with Ellie only a month older. They had literally grown up together and were best friends, but occasionally, Cameron saw Dylan’s jealousy for Ellie rear up.
“There are no small parts.”
