Page 64 of Building Romance
“You kids got here quickly,” an older woman says as she emerges from the building, followed by Al and another older man. She eyes me up and smiles broadly. “This must be Camryn.”
And just like that, I’m pretty sure I have met Fletcher’s entire family. Dear God, I don’t know if I can survive this brunch.
“Blink twice if you are not dying of a stroke,” Fletcher whispers in my ear.
“I don’t think I can,” I reply.
He wraps an arm around me. “Well, this is one way to rip off a bandage,” he says as we assess the large group of our family members and friends.
“Not funny,” I hiss.
He chuckles. “It’s a little funny.”
I glare at him, and he smirks. “Come on, it can’t be that bad.”
I hope he’s right.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Fletch
“Why are they all getting along?” Cam whispers as she looks around the room. Al somehow talked Joe into letting us use his party room at the tavern down the street. And all our parents, brothers, Drew, and Al are here eating brunch with us. Hutch would have joined us but he was too keen to see what he caught on his motion-sensor camera. Everyone is talking and enjoying each other’s company like old friends. My grandmother has been asking Cam a thousand questions, and Cam has politely answered each one. I can tell they like each other and that gives me some deep feelings that I’m not sure I’m ready to think about yet.
“I haven’t the foggiest,” I agree.
“Do you think we can sneak out of here and they won’t notice?” she asks.
I give her a raised eyebrow.
“I really do have things I should get done today. Hugh told me he fixed my cooling rack, but I want to check, and Amber was able to pop in this morning and do some prep work on dough for this week. I really need to hire a second part-time person to help when Adriana is off,” she rattles on with her to-do list.
“I have an idea,” I say in a low voice as I look around the table. Everyone has finished eating for the most part.
“Hey, sorry to cut this short, but Cam and I have some interviews to do before the show releases,” I say as I stand and pull Cam’s chair back. She joins me to a chorus of people asking if we can stay for a little while longer.
“No. So sorry. We really do need to get on this call. This was lovely. It was so nice meeting you all,” Cam says to my family.
“Everyone is welcome back at the apartment. I can crank the heaters on the rooftop,” Al offers.
“We’ll leave you all to it,” I say as I give my mother and grandmother a hug and cheek kiss. Cam says goodbye to her family. They aren’t at all what I had pictured. They look like the stereotypical suburban family. The fact that Winston and Dalton knew each other in college amuses me. Apparently, Dalton went by D Mac and the freshmen never learned his real name, so Winston didn’t realize he had known a McDowell, and I guarantee my oldest brother was too consumed by partying to have remembered some senior’s’s name.
But seeing Cam’s parents gush over her café and her win in the competition that made it very clear how proud they are of her. I’m not sure why she feels so much pressure to impress them.
We walk back to Cam’s apartment in silence. When we reach the front door, Cam looks up at me.
“That was…” She trails off and tilts her head to the side as if considering her words.
“Fun?” I ask.
She laughs. “Traumatic?” she corrects.
I nudge her arm with mine. “Come on, it wasn’t that bad.”
She shakes her head. “It was that bad. We haven’t even had a real date and our entire families just met. It’s like…Alice in Wonderland. Everything is backwards and strange and…” She pauses. “Don’t you feel like we’re doing this all wrong?”
Now it’s me shaking my head. “No. We’re doing this just right. We are building something between us. There’s not a playbook or directions. We’re building our own romance, Camryn. As long as it works for us, fuck everything else,” I say as I pull her to me and lean down, ghosting my lips over hers. “I like our backwards, down-the-rabbit-hole relationship.” I kiss her and she smiles against my lips.
“Why do grown-ups always kiss in front of the building?” Ava’s voice rings out from above us.
