Semi-Sweet On You (Hot Cakes #4) - Erin Nicholas Page 0,103
breath. “Grant was in love with you and he just wanted to be sure that he was doing the right thing.”
She finally stopped, pressing her lips together.
No one said anything.
She lifted her glass and took a huge gulp, welcoming the feeling of warmth from the vodka spreading down her limbs. And hopefully stopping her runaway tongue.
Finally Zoe spoke. “Wow.”
Yeah. Well, that wasn’t a terrible summary.
“So these cat adoption papers,” Jane said. “Is this why you have Melody, Val, and Alan?”
“Melody, Val, and Alan?” Whitney asked.
“The cats. Two girls and a boy,” Jane said. She grinned. “They’re named after characters from Josie and the Pussycats. Of course.”
Whitney laughed out loud. “Of course. That’s awesome.”
Josie looked pleased. “Grant’s idea, but I think it’s hilarious. Was the cat adoption your idea?”
Whitney shook her head. “Cam. He knew he needed to give you papers for you to both sign, but didn’t want them to be divorce papers.” She looked at Zoe and Jane. “He knew that as soon as Grant and Josie thought they were officially divorced, they’d realize they didn’t want to be. But I agreed. And I helped get them back together by keeping Grant busy at work while Josie planned their romantic dinner.” She looked back to Josie. “And I’ll admit that the three cats might have been me.”
Josie grinned. “Good call.”
“Wait.”
They all looked at Zoe.
“So you’re telling me that my brother, Camden asshole-extraordinaire-never-met-a-fight-he-didn’t-want-to-have-will-argue-with-anyone-about-anything McCaffery recognized that Grant and Josie should be together and worked to keep them married?”
Josie and Whitney both nodded.
“But… asshole extraordinaire is a little harsh isn’t it?” Whitney asked.
Zoe shook her head as if still processing what they’d told her. “Are you trying to tell me that Cam might be… romantic?” She wrinkled her nose as she said it, as if it were just too hard to believe.
But no one answered her. Instead they all looked at Whitney.
She lifted her glass for another drink.
Her last.
There was no lemonade and vodka left when she lowered the glass.
“Well?” Jane asked, lifting a brow. “Is Cam romantic?”
“And why are you assuming I would know?” Whitney asked. Asking a question rather than answering a question turned out to be a great way to avoid lying. She would have to remember that.
The three women snorted.
“Sure, no reason,” Josie said.
“He’s been… sweet. Very supportive. Helpful,” Whitney hedged. Was that romantic? He’d been hot and dirty a couple of times. Sweet and charming several times. But romantic? That she wasn’t so sure of.
“He’s been making you cookies and cake and bars,” Josie pointed out.
“Yeah, Aiden told me about the apron and everything,” Zoe said.
“Oh, Dax told me too,” Jane said. “The housekeeping too. And of course, Didi’s been singing his praises every time we see her.”
Whitney couldn’t help but smile. “Like I said, sweet, and supportive, and helpful.”
“And romantic,” Josie said.
“Dusting my house and sitting up late with my grandmother is very nice,” Whitney said. “He’s been a good friend. That’s what we’ve been working on. But I’m not sure I’d call doing laundry and taking my grandma to yoga romantic.”
But suddenly she wanted these women to tell her it was romantic.
The things Cam had said, the way he’d looked at her, the way he’d kissed her—even tonight when she’d showed up here—the way he wanted her to succeed, the way he wanted her to have girlfriends and feel supported at work… those were all… something. Was that romance?
Hell if she knew. Just like she didn’t know how to do girl talk, she really knew nothing about romance.
“It is,” Zoe said. “It’s how he loves people. He takes care of things. He gets things done. He takes care of their problems so they can do the things they want and need to do. It’s why he’s the company’s attorney. He does the messy legal shit so the other guys can do the creative stuff. Or, in Aiden’s case, the leadership stuff he loves. Or so Grant can just play with his spreadsheets and calculator all day and not worry about the contracts and stuff.”
“He doesn’t like the legal stuff?” Whitney asked, realizing that had never occurred to her.
“He does,” Zoe said. “Because, like I said, he loves confrontations and fights. He likes the legal stuff. But what he loves is being a part of something with his friends. Taking care of stuff for them. Making their jobs and lives a little easier. I’ll bet he loved doing the insurance paperwork and the divorce-slash-cat-adoption-paperwork for Grant and Josie. That way Grant could just concentrate on