Evers & Afters (Dare With Me #2) - J.H. Croix Page 0,65

know where to find me if you need to get your cheek swabbed or some blood drawn.”

“I sure do. You take care, Violet. Give Sawyer my best,” I said, referring to her husband.

“You got it. I gotta go ‘cause I’m getting paged. See ya.”

I hung up my phone and slid it in my pocket. Another second later, I pulled it back out. I typed out a quick text to Cammi.

Just wanted you to know the results came back, only confirming what I already knew. I’m not a surprise father. I hope you’re doing okay. Miss you.

I’d gone by reliably to get my coffee at Red Truck Coffee. Although I was giving her space, I thought it would be weird for me not to do what I’d done for years. Out of those mornings, I’d only seen her twice. According to Amy, Cammi was busy over at Misty Mountain Café most days.

As I flew into the blue sky a few minutes later, I pondered Diego’s and Flynn’s pointed comments last night. I suppose I did play my cards close. It felt fucking monumental to tell Cammi I knew we had something. Yet, after what she’d been through, she had her own reasons for being doubtful about that.

I was unloading the delivery for a small village onto the pallets set up when Stan, whose last name I didn’t even know, rolled up on his four-wheeler, a common form of transportation in the smaller villages in Alaska. He ran the grocery store and cast me a quick smile. “What do we have today?”

“A shit ton of food,” I replied with a wry grin.

Stan chuckled and cut the engine on his four-wheeler, climbing off and quickly helping me unload. Stan used to be the chief of the small tribe for this village. He was older now and told me he enjoyed running the store because he could keep up on all the gossip. I usually expected to see him and had remembered to get him a coffee from Red Truck Coffee because it was his favorite. “Hang on,” I said, lifting a finger after we put the last box on a pallet, which was ready to be driven by forklift the short distance to the small store.

I leaned in between the plane seats and pulled out the untouched coffee. “Here you go,” I said handing it over.

Stan put his palm over his heart in a gesture reminiscent of Diego. “Oh, man. I swear, that Cammi, she’s an angel. Her coffee is straight from heaven, and I’m not even sure I believe in God.”

I chuckled. “Not gonna argue with you on that. She just bought Misty Mountain Café too.”

“Whoa,” he said with a grin after he took a long swallow of his coffee. “She’s going to be a monopoly. I wonder if her food is as good as her coffee.”

I shrugged. “Not sure about that, but she told me she wanted to have breakfast leftover pizza, so I took that as a really good sign.”

“That’s freaking brilliant,” Stan said. “Don’t you know if she’s a good cook? I thought you were seeing her.”

Did I mention Stan was up on the gossip? Lord knows how this guy knew about me and Cammi. Although, Diamond Creek was a hub town in this part of Alaska. If anybody from this village was flying out, they went through Diamond Creek on the way. It was the main place for them to travel for any errands beyond the small offerings here in the village at the general store.

“How the hell do you know anything about who I’m dating?” I countered.

“I’m high-society, dude. Saw you at that fundraiser with her. Remember?”

“Oh shit, we did see you there. I meant to track you down to chat some more, but the night got away from me.”

“Sure, the night got away from you. Better explanation was your eyes were stuck on Cammi. Now you listen,” he said, his eyes lasering me as his gaze went somber. “She is a nice girl, and you better not screw her over. I heard about that bullshit that last guy pulled with her. Good thing I’m over here most of the time and not around to make a stink over there.”

Of course, Stan would practically adopt Cammi. He was also that kind of guy. He loved people far and wide, which was how we became friends so quick when I took the job with Flynn. Stan had actually volunteered to fly with me and introduce me at some