Coming Home to Seashell Harbor (Seashell Harbor #1) - Miranda Liasson Page 0,20

Dining at the oldest seafood restaurant in town would be a treat.

Nick now wore that middle-child expression over missing his favorite restaurant. “Bring me back some shrimp scampi, okay?”

“If you’re good,” Cam said, raising a brow, “we might even throw in a piece of cheesecake. And a coffee for your cupholder.”

As Nick made a face, his sister entered one last number into her spreadsheet, then closed her file. “Shall we go?” she asked as she grabbed her purse.

Lucy did a great job as the front person for Cammareri Vintage Home Remodeling Inc., and she did it with a smile. She worked some weekends for a local caterer too. But Cam understood, maybe more than Nick or his dad, how much Lucy had given up to do this job, and that made his heart ache.

She’d studied accounting in college, but that Cammareri thirst for risk and adventure had made her apply to the Culinary Institute of America in New York to pursue her dream of becoming a chef. But right after she’d found out she was accepted, she’d also found out she was pregnant, and things hadn’t worked out with her ex.

Cam had offered a million times to finance her tuition. To get her an apartment and a nanny, a car, and whatever else she needed, but she’d always refused. She’d taken the job crunching numbers at the company because it was safe and close to family, but Cam knew she loved spreadsheets about as much as he loved not playing football.

She was a big reason why he’d come back home. Now that he was back, he had a plan to help her fulfill her dream. And he couldn’t wait to tell her about it.

It made him more determined than ever to prove to Maddy that he should be the one to take over her building.

Before they could leave, their dad came in, probably to grab the sack lunch that he ate every single day at his desk.

“Hey, Dad.” Cam slapped him on the back. “Want to come out to lunch?”

“No thanks,” Angelo Cammareri said. With his leonine features and full head of silver hair, he was an imposing presence. Looking up at Cam, he said stoically, “And have my accountant back in twenty minutes.”

“I’ll be back in an hour.” Lucy kissed him on the cheek. “But we’ll bring you back a piece of cheesecake too.”

“Well, fine.” He cracked a little smile at Lucy, the only girl in the family and his clear favorite. Second only to Baby Bernadette, who was an adorable eight-month-old and already showing the discerning Cammareri taste for good pasta. “All right, then. Make it plain. With cherries on top. None of those fancy flavors.” To Cam, he said, “I ran into Mayellen and she told me you’re thinking of buying Maddy Edwards’s property and turning it into a restaurant.”

“Maddy approached me about it,” Cam said.

“But Hadley’s not having it,” Nick butted in.

Cam gave his brother a look. “How do you know that?”

Nick sat back and propped his feet up on his desk. “You can’t argue with your old flame in the middle of the street and not expect people to notice.”

Small towns. He kept forgetting how quickly everyone figured out his business.

“I’ve always liked Hadley,” was all his dad had to say about that. “She back in town?”

“Just for the summer,” Cam said.

“And how does she feel about you being around?” his dad asked.

Cam shifted his weight a little nervously. Something he probably hadn’t done since the age of twelve. “It’s complicated, Dad.”

His dad didn’t say anything for a long moment. “Okay, well, as far as the food, I can give you all the old family recipes.”

“Even Grandpa’s pizza dough?” Lucy asked. His dad kept that sacred recipe on top of his dresser, in a polished wooden box that his grandfather had brought over from Italy.

His dad smiled at him. “If Anthony wants it, yes.”

Whoa. No one saw the famous dough recipe. No one. It was no secret that his dad had been worried about Cam these past few months as he’d struggled through rehab and the fact that he could no longer play the sport he loved. Even though Cam always did his best to show that he was doing just fine.

But then his dad had worried about all of them. He’d raised them as a single father since their mom jumped ship when Cam was eight and Lucy was just a toddler. From what Cam could gather from his dad, she’d followed another guy