Coming Home to Seashell Harbor (Seashell Harbor #1) - Miranda Liasson Page 0,43

do push-ups and pull-ups until he was exhausted. He drove himself hard. I’m not saying that was necessarily healthy, but I think that’s what he might be doing now.”

Hadley knew exactly the kind of drive Cam had. And Lucy was right—Hadley had never known him not to be in motion. “You mean rehabbing from his injury?”

“This restaurant scheme. He’s more determined than ever to make it work.” Lucy blew out a sigh. “And there’s something else, but it’s a little personal.”

“Lucy, it’s okay.” Hadley held out her hands. “You don’t have to say anything else. I get that Cam is driven and focused and throws his whole self into anything until he succeeds and that failure isn’t an option.” All that made him a formidable opponent. Except none of that scared her. She was capable of giving him a run for his money.

“I have to,” Lucy insisted. “I have to tell you for his sake.”

“For his sake?” Was Cam in trouble?

“Cam’s pushing to open that restaurant because of me.”

Opening the restaurant because he was a star and it fit with his big personality, yes, she could see that. Because he loved crowds and joking and entertaining people—yes, that too. But because of Lucy?

“I used to talk about going to cooking school.” Lucy glanced down at Bernie, now snoozing again. “I actually got into the Culinary Institute of America when I applied last year. But life had…other plans.” She kissed Bernie lovingly on the head. “Cam’s trying to make it easier for me to get my life going again.”

Cooking school. A memory pierced Hadley’s consciousness. Lucy at thirteen baking endless creations, always looking for taste testers. She and Cam had gotten a lot of free—and tasty—cookies that way.

“Is that what you want?” she asked.

Lucy’s watery eyes gave Hadley the answer. “Sometimes I get so angry at him for interfering.” Lucy swiped away her tears. “He makes it sound like it’s easy to pick up and start a new life with an eight-month-old.” She shook her head in an exasperated way. “Imagine! I mean, I’m not complaining—I love being a mom. But cooking school would take my life to a whole new level. It would require me to cash in every single favor. It would mean leaning on my family, on Cam—and on myself—in ways that would be really scary.”

Lucy looked up, and in that flash of her eyes, Hadley saw…a lot. A fiercely independent woman, for one. And a giant unrealized dream, for another.

“You agree, don’t you? It would be crazy.”

That was a loaded question. “Maybe not so crazy,” Hadley finally said. “I’m sort of up to my ears in what to do about my grandmother’s business. And the whole world knows about my giant romantic failure. So, I might not be the best person to ask.”

“My brother’s a real pain in the rear,” Lucy said, wiping her eyes.

“We can definitely agree on that.” Hadley couldn’t help smiling just a little. One thing she could say about Cam was that he certainly hadn’t left his family behind as his fame had skyrocketed.

Lucy stood up then, straightening her baby sling and gathering her diaper bag. “Well, anyway, I…I just thought you should know. It might make you dislike him a little less.”

“Lucy, I don’t hate him,” Hadley said. “I’ve just accepted that he’s not going to back down. We’re going to have to duke it out until one of us wins.”

That sounded awful. She didn’t want to do that. But what choice did she have but to fight for what she believed was right?

“My brother can be difficult, but don’t give up on him.” Lucy smiled at her. “You two were kind of wonderful together. Maybe it’s not too late.”

Kind of wonderful. What did that even mean? Lucy had been just a kid when Hadley and Cam had dated, and she’d looked up to both of them. But her words made Hadley admit that what she’d had with Cam…it was the best first love anyone could have ever dreamed of. It had been wonderful. Until it wasn’t.

She wished she hadn’t known about Lucy. The fact that this whole restaurant scheme involved helping his sister was one more reason to like Cam. And she could not afford to like him. Too much was at stake.

Chapter 11

Cam awakened around midnight to Bowie climbing into his bed. A flash of lightning and a clap of thunder sent the dog burrowing under his covers.

“It’s okay, Bowsers.” Cam got up to close some windows just as the