Page 109 of I Loved You First

She stroked her fingers through Brady’s hair as he clung to her. “You can. We can. I have a spare room at the condo.”

Cam shook his head. “I already reserved a room a couple of blocks from here. I don’t want to put you out.”

“You’re not.” She awkwardly moved to her desk while Brady held on to her. “We can order something in before Brady goes to bed. I know it’s getting late on the East Coast.”

Cam shook his head again. “We grabbed something at the airport, but you’re welcome to get yourself whatever you want.”

Brady let Fiona go to study the liquid motion sand art in a frame on the corner of her desk. “I had grilled chicken nuggets, French fries that looked like waffles, and applesauce. Plus, Dad and me shared a chocolate milkshake.”

She put her laptop in her bag, shouldering the strap. “That sounds tasty.”

Brady nodded as he held out his hand to her. “We can hold hands so you don’t go away again.”

She sighed as she glanced at Cam, taking hold of Brady’s little hand. Then she smiled at the sweet boy whom she’d been desperate to see for the past ten days. “Should we go to my house in the sky?”

Brady beamed. “Yeah!”

twenty-nine

Cam glanced at Brady as he read one of the books they’d brought along for the trip, realizing that his son was asleep as he lay sandwiched between himself and Fiona in the queen-size guest bed.

Reading one more page for good measure, he closed the book when it was clear that Brady’s long day had finally caught up with him.

“He’s exhausted,” Fi said as she continued to stroke Brady’s hair back from his forehead.

Cam nodded as he set the book on the side table. “We’ve been up since five thirty. He was too excited to nap on the plane.”

“You must be tired, too.”

He shook his head. Because sitting just inches from Fi, breathing in the familiar hints of her shampoo and perfume, worked just fine for him. “I’m good.”

She focused on Brady again. “He’s clingy.”

“He’s missed you. I’ve missed you.”

She exhaled a quiet breath as she rested her head against the headboard, staring out at the city. “I didn’t mean to make him sad, Cam. That was never my intention.”

“I know that.”

Blinking as her eyes grew teary, she met his gaze. “Sometimes I think it would’ve been better if I had never gone back to Vermont.”

He frowned as he shook his head. “Don’t say that.”

“It’s true. Everything’s such a mess.”

Needing to touch her, he reached for her hand, gently squeezing her fingers as he held them. “Come out to the living room and talk to me.”

She nodded. “Give me a minute to change out of my work clothes.”

“Sure.”

He waited for Fi to carefully inch her way off the bed and leave before he covered Brady with the rest of the blankets and tidied up the mess his son had made when he’d searched through the suitcase for his pajamas.

Closing the bedroom door halfway, he walked down the short hall, stopping by the biscuit-colored couch in Fi’s smaller but pretty living room.

A patterned blue-gray area rug, a couple of leafy plants, candles, and colorful coffee table books decorated the space, allowing her spectacular view to dominate.

But he wasn’t interested in the sunset-painted sky or the glow of city lights surrounding him. Instead, he stared at Fiona as she stood by one of her massive windows with her arms crossed, wearing pale-pink sweat shorts and a fitted white spaghetti-strap top.