name’s on the line as far as seeing this through. They believe this is the ideal location. I have to admit I do too. There’s no other like this on the market.”
Yearning, sadness, confusion all flooded her. But sadness won. “Then we’re still on opposite sides.”
The only sound was Jagger’s steady breathing as he slept off his sugar coma. Her heart felt strangely heavy and achy. She wondered if things would be different if they didn’t have this massive barrier—in the form of a century-old building—between them.
“You told them Jagger was our dog,” she said as they sat side by side on a bench under the windows.
“Well, for now he is,” Cam said, maintaining a healthy distance. “That okay?”
She nodded. “Sure. Okay.”
“Friends can share a dog,” he said.
“Friends,” she said, nodding a little. Lying. Because her pulse was pounding and her body was telling her they would never be just friends.
He was simply being nice because of what had happened. A nice friend.
She felt a stab in her chest. A warning to not let his kindness melt her heart. To keep on disliking him and being angry with him and…
Hadley’s phone buzzed with a text from Darla:
WAVING RED FLAG! GRANDMA ON HER WAY!
There was a rap on the door. Cam, still in warrior mode, quickly walked over to see who it was.
“The press again?” she asked hopefully. She must be panicked if she’d take those salivating vultures over her determined grandmother any day. She and Cam had made a scene, and Gran wouldn’t be happy about that. And now the reporters thought they were a couple. Hadley could only imagine what people were saying about that.
“It’s Paul,” he said. “And your grandma.” He turned and grinned, making her heart free-fall again despite herself. “And she looks like she’s on a mission.”
* * *
As Cam opened the door, he was brimming over with frustration.
Had he really just told Hadley that baloney about being friends?
He’d panicked because…because of Cooper. Because of the heartbroken look on her face when she found out Maeve was pregnant.
And then the building, always the building. Standing between them, preventing them from talking about other things.
Important things.
In the doorway, Paul was standing behind Maddy’s wheelchair, an apologetic expression on his face.
“Thanks, Paul,” Maddy called cheerfully over her shoulder as she muscled her way over the threshold, surprisingly adept. “I can take it from here.”
Cam caught Paul’s eye. The older man shrugged and lowered his voice, patting Cam on the back in sympathy. “I couldn’t stop her. She’s on a mission. And she wanted to walk all the way over here but I insisted on taking the chair.”
Cam walked over to where Hadley now sat on Bowie’s favorite window seat and dropped down beside her. Whatever Maddy was about to say, Cam couldn’t work up much worry over it. He had something else on his mind entirely. And it wasn’t friendship.
“I’m so glad you two are getting along,” she said, looking them both over. “I heard the reporters saying you two are a couple.”
“We’re not a couple,” they both said in unison.
“Okay. But you also created quite a scene at the festival. Mrs. Doyle hasn’t stopped talking about it. Neither has anyone else. They’re all taking sides.”
“Taking sides?” Hadley asked.
“Yes. Some are saying a restaurant is just what Seashell Harbor needs. And others are wanting a pet rescue. You’ve created quite a stir.” They’d been so into their argument, he hadn’t really noticed much of anything else.
“We can explain,” Hadley rushed to say.
Cam chimed in. “Things got a little out of hand but…”
“But nothing,” Gran said adamantly. “The trouble is, you were both working to prove your point to the other instead of working at your point. Do you get what I’m saying? Now the pie ladies are angry and everyone is all worked up. I’m afraid you’ve made your story more about each other than the good of our town.”
“I can have my team issue a statement,” Cam offered.
Gran shot him a look, but Hadley sent him a little smile, like she knew exactly what he was thinking. Her grandmother was not someone to be messed with. Or brushed aside by his team.
The last time he’d seen Maddy so fired up was long ago. He and Hadley had gone out one night when she was spending the weekend with her grandma. They’d fallen asleep on the beach and returned to the house at 4:00 a.m. to find her grandmother was waiting up, frantically pacing, the police chief sitting