Page 53 of Camilla & Dallas
With a wave of a dismissive hand, Cheyenne laughed. It wasn’t her usual laugh. It was strained. What was going on?
Then it hit her. Like a freight train.
Camilla sucked in a breath and shrank back in her chair. Had Dallas talked to Cheyenne about them? She hadn’t told Dallas the details of how his sister felt about their romance. He didn’t know how much Cheyenne hated the idea of them together. If he told her, then what would that mean for the two of them?
She couldn’t help it. Despite the air conditioning circulating in their booth, her face flushed hot and obvious. She looked down at her plate, wondering if she should bring it up.
Like ripping off a Band-Aid.
Duct tape, more like.
She winced at that visual but couldn’t deny she would have far preferred the physical discomfort that would cause than have the conversation she knew she needed to have with her friend.
Nothing would change.
It couldn’t.
Camilla needed Cheyenne in her life. In fact, she couldn’t think of a better person for her up to this time. If she were to marry Dallas, it would mean she would be her sister-in-law. They could all be a close family. She loved the new additions to her own family and this would only make that grow.
Being with Dallas felt right on so many levels.
Slowly, she lifted her head and noticed that Cheyenne was looking at her phone. There was a deep scowl marring her pretty features, but when she noticed Camilla looking at her, she flipped the phone over and plastered on that fake smile.
Camilla knew it well. Usually, Cheyenne only shared it with people she disliked or those she was going to deceive with false pretenses.
What reason did she have to be directing it toward Camilla?
“Anyway, anything exciting happen this summer? I know we talked as much as we could, but you can’t tell me that nothing happened.”
The question felt like a trap—like Cheyenne was fishing for the information that Camilla wasn’t ready to share. It felt wrong to tell Cheyenne all of a sudden—at least not without Dallas at her side to hold her hand.
Lately there had been some growing tension between them. And her thoughts immediately went to the worry that Dallas was holding something back. Maybe it was a confession that he’d told Cheyenne about them.
A twinge of pain in her chest tugged at her like ripping off a hangnail.
She picked a grape tomato from her salad and tossed it in her mouth despite her appetite having already disappeared. “No, nothing exciting. Your brother was researching the wolf issue, though. He took me out to where they were sighted. Showed me the prints. That was cool.”
Cheyenne’s eyes drilled into her, and Camilla couldn’t bear to meet them.
“What about you?”
Her best friend sighed. “Nothing. It was a lot of work and very little play. I got to do some sightseeing, but for the most part I stayed in the apartment with my roommate.”
They sat in silence as the noise of the restaurant guests floated around them. Tension like Camilla had never experienced seemed to press in on her. Talking had usually been so easy between them. She couldn’t remember a time in their friendship when words didn’t flow.
Cheyenne was a chatterbox, and Camilla was happy to listen. The roles were reversed only whenever Camilla started a new relationship. She picked at the tablecloth that hovered just above her thighs and sighed.
This couldn’t go on much longer. She needed to tell Cheyenne that she’d gone against her wishes and done the improbable.
She’d fallen in love with Dallas.
Again.
Forgiveness had come too easy, and she wanted a future with the guy who had broken her heart.
Cheyenne, while protective, would have to learn to be happy for Camilla and support her decision. That was what best friends were for.
Come to think of it, if Cheyenne had fallen in love with one of Camilla’s brothers, she would have supported them. It might have been strange at first, but Camilla would have loved to welcome Cheyenne into the Palmer fold.
