made his choice and it didn’t look like any amount of arguing would change his mind.
Stubborn, single-minded idiot.
Chapter Twenty-Three
* * *
JACK BROUGHT HER back to George’s almost two weeks ago. She thought it would be the end of seeing Cameron. She would miss Emma, but confusing the child by allowing her to think there was any chance she’d be the mother she wanted was wrong. Shelly was going to be her mother, the end.
If only that was the end of the story, Marti thought sadly. Instead, Cameron found all kinds of ways for her to be with Emma, and therefore with him in most cases. He made it seem like he needed her help with Emma, but he was using it as an excuse to see her. She knew and went along with it anyway because she was as hungry to see him as he was to see her. She saw it in the way he looked at her, in the way his deep voice filled with emotion when he called to ask her for a favor. It’s for Emma, he’d say. Every time, Marti went along with it, only to feel her heart break a little more each time she saw Cameron, so close and always out of her reach.
He’d come to dinner with George almost every other day. She knew he wanted to spend as much time with George as possible.
George’s health steadily deteriorated and his son and daughter came by the house often, though not as much as Cameron and Emma. George’s son made her uncle look like a saint. He constantly made snide comments about her being George’s mistress and using him to get his money. Whenever they were at the house, she usually disappeared upstairs to the room she’d turned into her studio.
Since she couldn’t sleep for thinking about Cameron and Emma, she spent many hours working late into the night fulfilling her publisher’s request for the books she’d promised to finish. Her grandmother would be happy to know she was painting again. She’d completed several canvases and two more books for her publisher. She was ahead in work and had enjoyed the creative outlet.
Her back ached from standing at the easel for several hours when her cell phone rang. Who would call her after two in the morning?
“Hello.”
“You don’t sound like you’re sleeping.”
“Cameron?”
“Yeah, it’s me. Why aren’t you asleep?”
“I’m working.”
“Working?”
“Contrary to the fact that you think I’m at your beck and call, I do have a job.”
“I never really thought about it. You’re always there when I need you.”
“I’ve noticed. Why are you calling me so late?”
“I need your help.”
“Nothing new there,” she said resigned, because she wouldn’t say no. She couldn’t. She wondered what a therapist would say about her sadistic behavior. Self-torture was not a good thing.
“What’s up?”
“Emma is sick, and I’m in Japan. Jimmy has been with her all day, but now he’s not feeling too hot, and he needs someone to relieve him. Emma’s upset and crying. She can’t sleep. She wants me home, but I can’t get there anytime soon. I’m in a bind. If she can’t have me, she wants you.”
“Why don’t you call Shelly and have her go and be with Emma?”
She already knew why. He didn’t trust Shelly with Emma and Emma didn’t want Shelly with her. She wanted him to admit it.
“You know why, and it sucks, and I suck, this whole thing sucks. I’m in Japan until Wednesday afternoon at the earliest. Can you please go and take care of Emma? I’d ask Elizabeth, but she has her daughter, and I don’t want them getting sick. Jack and Jenna went back to Colorado a week ago, so I only have you.”
I only have you. Indeed.
“I’m holding onto my temper, Cameron. Choose your words more carefully.”
He knew what she meant. He had her doing everything he asked for him and he gave her nothing but grief in return.
“One of these days, I’ll figure out a way to make things right with you. I promise you that. Right now, I need you.” I need you in so many ways.
“The only way to make this right is for you to let me go. Let me go, Cameron. I just can’t bear to watch you with her anymore.”
“I can’t. Please don’t ask me to. You’re my every thought, my every hope, and my every dream. Seeing you and watching you with Emma is all I can ever have. It’s the only thing that makes this whole damn mess