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Chapter Four
Abby
Three days had passed since seeing Joel again and I still felt like I’d been knocked off-kilter—a planet toppled from the steady, regular rhythm of its orbit, now cast into the wide, empty expanse of space, drifting mindlessly.
Cam sat at the breakfast table, crunching away at her cereal, hunched over her bowl like a starved animal. I was aware of her gaze on my back, watchful, discerning. She was too damn smart for her own good.
“So,” she finally ventured. “How long do you plan to stay mad?”
“I’m not mad,” I replied evenly without turning away from the sink.
Cam gave a hum of disagreement.
“Then why have you been scrubbing two dishes and a mug for over thirty minutes? You look like you’re going to scour a hole through them with sheer willpower alone.”
I sighed and let the sponge and mug drop into the soapy water.
“You already grounded me,” Cam pointed out.
“I know,” I admitted.
“And washing dishes is my chore.”
“I know that, too.”
Cam paused. She slurped down the last of her cereal and pushed her bowl away, folding her arms atop the table.
“I mean, I’m not complaining. But that kind of defeats the purpose of teaching me a lesson, doesn’t it?”
Finally, I turned around to face Cam and leaned back against the sink, wiping my wet hands on a dish towel.
“I get the feeling you don’t regret anything you’ve done in this situation. So, attempting to teach you a lesson is probably a fruitless effort on my part. You didn’t tell me where you were going. You met up with a strange man you didn’t know. And you didn’t respond to any of my calls or texts.” I paused and crossed my arms. “You’re not stupid, Cam. You know that was a huge risk. I don’t need to spell it out for you. But you did break my trust. There are consequences you have to live with now because of that.”
Cam twisted her mouth to one side then glanced away. She tugged at the sleeve of her shirt, fiddling with the button at the cuff.
I stifled a groan. Cam was trying so hard to hide how hurt she felt. My heart ached for her. She was just a kid, hoping to connect with the father she never knew. And I really wished I could give her that, but it wasn’t safe.
“I’m sorry, Cam,” I said softly. “If I thought it was a good idea to meet your father, I would have introduced the two of you a long time ago.”
She shrugged. “He seemed fine to me.”
I narrowed my eyes.
“You just liked his motorcycle.”
A small smile teased at the corner of Cam’s mouth.
“It was a cool bike.”
I came to stand behind her chair, wrapping my arms around her.
“This is why I should ground you until you’re thirty years old,” I said, kissing the top of her head. “You’re going to fall madly in love with some tattooed biker and I’m going to have a heart attack when he takes you for a ride on his Harley.”
Cam chuckled.
“Maybe I’ll get a Harley of my own. No boyfriend required.”
“Keep talking like that, sweetie. You’ll find yourself grounded for life.” I patted her shoulder. “Come on. Go grab your backpack. We’re leaving for the hospital in five minutes.”
