out of the room headed towards the door and her car.
He sat there and pondered his next move. There was a lot to consider. Since it was nearing lunchtime, he kept expecting to hear from Sam any moment. Then he remembered that he no longer had a cell phone to keep up with and smiled. To his surprise, he heard the distant ringing of the house phone. Wandering into the kitchen, he answered it without even glancing at the Caller ID. That was a big mistake.
“Where are you?” Sam growled, the minute the phone connected.
“Well, since you called me in the Hamptons house, I should think that would be obvious,” Adam replied with a chuckle. He knew taking his older brother lightly was only going to inflame the situation, but that was a risk he was willing to take.
“You know what I mean! Why are you there? How did you get there? And when will you be coming back to the city?” Sam’s voice was angry and impatient.
In the background, Adam could hear Haley trying to calm him down. He could tell that it wasn’t working, and finally he heard his brother pass the phone off after saying something that sounded remarkably like you deal with him then!
“Hi, Adam,” Haley began.
“You sound tired. Sam keep you up?” He asked the question fully expecting to embarrass and distract her.
“Nice try,” she said with a weak laugh. “You had us worried.”
“You two were worried? Really? Because you didn’t seem worried when you left me with Kiki. You didn’t seem worried when you two rushed off to enjoy some alone time. And you didn’t seem worried when you left me without money, keys, or a phone!” His frustration was showing and he felt guilty because he doubted that Haley knew any of this. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t yell at you.”
“Wait. What was that last part?” There was an edge to her voice. He imagined she was about to confront Sam. He could certainly play this up.
“My wallet, phone, and keys are gone. Did you know that Sam took them?” He asked his question quietly and waited for her response.
“Sam!” Her voice was muffled. He figured she was either holding it against her chest as he had seen her do so often, or she had her finger over the speaker.
“Adam, let me call you back.” And without waiting for his response, she ended the call. He was left to do something he hadn’t done in a very long time. He hung up a phone. The only place he ever used a landline was the office. Even then it was rare.
Well, Sam knew where he was. Now he was forced to deal with Haley. That should keep Sam busy for a while. There was plenty to keep him busy here. He had an ad campaign to create. He had a week to keep Cammie busy. He had just a matter of days before Sam would no doubt descend upon the Hamptons home. That was the first thought that had made him scowl all day.
The beach outside of the window was his focus at the moment. Soon Cammie came and cleared her throat. He recognized it as a gentle distraction technique.
“Just lost in thought,” he said as he turned to face her. For the first time since he had known her, she looked relaxed. She looked shy. She looked like she might even be happy. He hoped that he had a little something to do with that.
“So when did you want to get to work?” She asked. “Or is there something you need from me first?”
“Well, since we’re already in the kitchen, let’s talk food. More importantly, let’s order food for lunch. Oh, and do you have any plans for Thanksgiving. I only ask because I was thinking it might be a nice opportunity for you to demonstrate your catering abilities and even meet some potential clients…” He had pulled that idea out of nowhere. Huh. At the same time, it wasn’t a bad idea.
“Do you normally entertain for Thanksgiving? I thought it was more of a family holiday.” She was curious more than judgmental. Cammie realized she had a lot to learn about her dream clientele.
“I just thought we might have a special cocktail party on Friday. It’s the official kick off for the holiday season. If we work our butts off, we can have catering menus available for people to pick up, business cards for them to carry home with them, and even a