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“Did you put any money in that thing yet?”
Before I could answer, Cam came closer, fishing a handful of coins from her pocket. She shoved them into the machine and a minute later, she cradled a cup of hot chocolate as she passed a cup of coffee toward me with her eyebrows raised, waiting for me to accept it.
I hesitated. Abby warned me to keep my distance. I would give anything in the world for a chance to get to know Cam better. But if Abby believed it was better for Cam that I stayed away, I had to respect her wishes.
“I’m sorry, Cam,” I said. “You shouldn’t be speaking to me.”
The cup of coffee in her hand began to tremble. Her hazel eyes darkened and she glanced away, setting the cup atop the vending machine with a thump of finality.
“Mom told you that, didn’t she?”
I clenched my jaw tight, willing myself to remain as neutral as possible. I had to be careful what I said. I didn’t want to make it sound like I was calling Abby unreasonable. She was a mother concerned for her daughter’s well-being and she had every right to be.
“I haven’t been in your life for sixteen years,” I said, every word burning my throat as I forced it out. “Don’t you think there might be a reason for that?”
Cam flinched as if I’d slapped her. She swallowed hard and rocked back on her heels, reeling. She looked crushed. Disappointed. The father she had longed for was rejecting her. Making her believe she was unwanted.
Then Cam shook her head resolutely.
“I know Mom still likes you.”
I opened my mouth to protest but no words came out. Cam plowed on, determined, like a dog with a bone.
“She kept that junky old picture of you. She had the paternity test done before I was born and she kept the paperwork in a box in the garage. Yeah, sure, she dated a few guys now and then but…like…they were really stale dudes. Stiff as a board with no personality–doctors, dentists, salesmen. She neverfeltanything with them.”
Cam shoved her hand in her pocket and pulled out that photo again with Abby’s blissful smile and my arm around her shoulder, tucking her against my side as if we were two puzzle pieces who were always meant to fit together.
“No one else ever made Mom this happy,” she said, pressing it into my hand with insistence.
“Cam,” I said. “You need to stop.”
Allowing her to go on like this would only hurt everyone in the end. Cam frowned, angry tears glistening in her red-rimmed eyes.
“So, you’re just going to roll over and not do a damn thing to get Mom back? You’re just going to…let me go because it’s too hard to fight for us?”
“That’s not true, Cam, I swear,” I replied. “It’s just—”
Cam’s gaze shifted past my shoulder. I knew without turning around that Abby had found us. Barely five minutes after she’d told me to stay away.
“Go back to the pediatrics ward, Cam,” Abby said with steel in her voice.
“But—” she started.
“Now.”
Cam closed her mouth and cast me an apologetic glance before she trudged off around the corner. I held my breath, waiting for Abby to chew me out for going against her orders so soon. But I spoke before she got the chance to.
“She has your eyes.”
The silence that settled over the hallway was deafening. A faint murmur of voices echoed from somewhere nearby. Slowly, I took a risk and turned around to see that Abby was looking at me. Despite her warning, she hadn’t walked away.
“She has your smile, too,” I added.
“Don’t,” Abby whispered with a pleading look.
No one else ever made Mom this happy.
Cam’s words replayed in my mind. I could hear it in Abby’s voice now. She didn’t want to push me away. Somewhere deep down, whether she was ready to admit it or not, she still had feelings for me.
