Page 16 of Always Be My Baby

Cams sipped her soda and met my eyes. “So, where are you from?”

“I’m from New York. Born and raised here. How about you?”

“Same. What high school?”

“John Marshall High.” I took a bite of my sandwich.

“No shit? Your school was our rival.” Her eyes twinkled, appearing more gold than amber in the sunlight.

“Well, what do you know?” I opened the bag of chips for us and offered her to take the first piece. She reached in. “What a small world.”

“Yup. It sure is. Any siblings?” The chip crunched inside her mouth, and then she reached to take more. “These are delicious.”

I tilted the bag toward her. “I have an older brother. He’s happily married with a son. Want to see a picture of my nephew?” Without waiting for a reply, I took the photo out of my wallet and passed it to her.

“Oh, he’s so cute. Look at those dimples.” Cammy set her eyes on mine. “Your brother has them, too, I’m guessing?”

“Grant does, like me.” I shrugged innocently, feeling shy for the first time. Cammy’s eyes on me had me a bit nervous. “He lives in New York, too. He’s a lawyer at a large firm downtown, and my sister-in-law is a pediatrician.” I offered a bit more information than necessary.

“A lawyer and a doctor? Wow. And your parents?”

“My dad is a business lawyer as well. He’s an in-house counsel for a big investment firm. He was so happy when my brother told him he wanted to be a lawyer just like him. My mom was an elementary school teacher. She retired soon after I was born. How about you?” I took a long gulp of my soda.

“I got accepted to NYU’s teaching credential department.”

“You did? That’s awesome. Congratulations. So, you’ll be here as well.” I raised my arms for emphasis. “The universe is telling us we were meant to be friends.”

She smiled and continued. “My parents are divorced. My mom is a nurse and my stepdad is a doctor. I have a younger sister who’s graduating from high school this year.”

I slightly dipped my head. “Congrats are in order for the Connor family. Two daughters graduating.”

Cammy took the last bite of her sandwich and crinkled the wrapper. “Thank you for my lunch. It was very sweet of you.”

“That’s what friends are for.” Idiotic. I could’ve kicked myself. Couldn’t I think of something better to say?

“Friends.” She paused on the words. “I like that.” She glanced at her watch. “I hate to leave my friend alone, but I have to get to work. Gus, my manager, gets all pissy when I’m even a second late.”

I took her trash and mine. “I’ll walk you there.”

She reached for the wrapper, but then she placed her hand down her side. “You don’t have to take my trash. I can do it. And you don’t have to walk me to work. I’m sure you have better things to do.”

“Nothing is better than spending time with you.”

Cammy’s cheeks gleamed slightly pink. “It’s clear across campus.”

“I know. But I’m just a guy hoping maybe one day we can be more than friends.” I should have punched myself, or I should have let her punch me. I was an ass. She was hurting and I sprung my words on her as if she didn’t have anything else to worry about.

I didn’t mean to remind her of that, but it was so easy to talk to her. Turning my back toward her to toss the trash away, I didn’t give her a chance to reply.

Chapter Twelve

At Work

Cammy

Grayson was so sweet, such a gentleman, but his words surprised me. I’m just a guy hoping maybe one day we can be more than friends.

How could I not swoon over those words? But I was not ready to move on or let Lucas completely go. Confused, I did what I did best when I didn’t want to make a decision: I pretended everything was fine.