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I stood up. “What time?”
As he walked to the front door, locked it, and turned the red and white hanging sign to ‘closed’ he asked, “Seven?”
“Seve…?!” I groaned again. He simply stared at me. I stood. “Sure. That works.”
He headed toward the office. Before he went in, he said, “He really does need your help. He’s not intentionally being difficult.”
I put my hand to my chest in mock shock. “I think I just went into cardiac arrest. It always surprises me when you string full sentences together, but to say something so astute has rendered me dumbfounded.”
He chuckled.
“And I’m a little disappointed you seem to be taking sides. I think he is being difficult. He’s never very nice to me.”
“I like you, Camille. I like Jacob, too.”
I frowned at him and he shrugged as he went into the back office. “See you tomorrow, Camille.”
I went upstairs to the apartment.
I set up my computer and sent emails to everyone I knew that had money. Dear ‘fill in the blank’, send money. No, that’s not what I wrote. I was a little more eloquent in my request. But the sentiment was the same—I needed funds for my calendar project. I could no longer fund it from my own accounts.
A little after 9 p.m., I heard Jacob and a female voice rustling around in the kitchen. Then a giggle. “Oh, jeez,” I thought as I rolled my eyes. I stayed in my room. More noise, and then I heard them leave through the front door. Quiet.
The next morning, I reluctantly dragged myself downstairs to get outfitted by Cody. Water shoes, bandanas, shorts, UV-protected T-shirts, a straw hat, and a waterproof bag. The list of things I needed grew and grew.
I stepped out of the dressing room wearing a skort and sports bra to find Jacob sitting on the counter, drinking coffee from a matte black thermos.
“I’m not paying for any of this.” I informed him.
“Last I heard you were broke.”
Innocently, I looked at Cody, and turned my back to him. “Cody, is the knife in my back deep? Can you help me get it out?”
Cody laughed.
I went back into the dressing room, heavy with sadness that Jacob was still so closed off from me.
I spent the rest of the day responding to emails, running to the grocery store to get food for the trip, and reviewing the agenda, once again, with Jacob.
In the office, I sat on the couch under the window, my hands resting on the throw pillow in my lap.
The nagging feeling I’d missed something about us had been slowly surfacing ever since Mia became involved with John. Over the years, Jacob and I managed to steer clear of one another, acting as if we hadn’t meant something to each other. It had been easy enough since he and Mia were focused only on building their business and I could simply be Mia’s flighty friend. Now that Mia had John, she and I saw less and less of each other. And I don’t blame her. Before, she had been my wing girl at social events, and I was the party ‘yin’ to her tomboy ‘yang’. Now, she was the soon-to-be Mrs.John Barringer. The protective barrier between Jacob and me was now gone, and my feelings for him were creeping back in around the edges of my reality. I missed him.
Jacob scribbled something in the margin of the meal plan, grumbling about needing to pick up more bagels for the trip. His brow furrowed.
Testing the boundaries with him, I said, “Hey, do you remember that Christmas when you first moved here?”
“The one when I was recovering from my injury? That was almost six years ago.”
“Yeah, that one.” I dropped my feet to the floor. “Did you ever imagine that you would never leave? That you and Mia would stay and make this your home?”
He leaned back in his chair, linking his hands over his stomach. “It was kind of hard to say no to Mia. She had big visions of running her snowmobile camps.”
“It’s fun having both of you here. I’m happy you stayed.”
His eyes narrowed. “You’re not getting out of this trip, Camille.”
I grinned. “I wasn’t trying to. I just think it’s great that you could be a part of it too. That it became something for both of you.”
