with is perfect.”
A couple. Ollie had said a couple. That meant someone other than Didi.
Whitney did not ask him who else he meant.
12
The doorbell rang and Cam jogged to the front door. His mom was bringing some of her homemade cleaning solutions over. He needed something to get the upstairs tubs clean and he hadn’t been able to find anything good in the closets and cupboards at Whitney’s. He suspected she had a cleaning service come in or that Katherine had done the cleaning and had taken the supplies with her.
He hoped Maggie included some furniture polish too.
He pulled the door open with a big smile.
But it wasn’t Maggie.
He sighed.
Dax, Aiden, and Grant were on the front step. Grinning like dumbasses.
Aiden held up a plastic grocery bag. “Special delivery from Maggie.”
“She asked you to bring it over?” Cam asked.
“No. We totally volunteered when we heard where she was going,” Dax said. He took in Cam’s appearance from head to toe, including the yellow Buttered Up apron Maggie had dropped off to him yesterday and the rubber spatula he held in his left hand. “You have a little something…” Dax pointed at his right cheek.
Cam wiped at his cheek, his hand coming away with powdered sugar. He sighed.
Dax grinned. He turned to Grant. “Yes. This was definitely a good idea.”
Grant nodded. “Oh, yeah, this makes me very happy.”
“You’re all jerks,” Cam told them, turning on his heel and heading back into the house. “Come on. I’ve got cookies in the oven. I don’t want them to burn.”
His friends followed with laughter.
“Hey, Henry!” Aiden called as they all stepped into the kitchen.
Henry waved absently over his shoulder. He and Didi were on the couch in the family room playing Warriors of Easton.
“Maggie said to bring him home if he’s bored or driving you nuts,” Aiden said.
“He’s fine.” Cam grinned at the back of his little brother’s head. “He’s been kicking her ass, of course, for two hours, but he’s telling her she’s winning and she’s delighted.”
Aiden grinned as he set the plastic bag of bottles and jars on the counter. “Henry would probably let her win but I’m not sure he knows how to lose at Warriors.”
Cam chuckled. “Exactly.”
He pulled on an oven mitt and crossed to the oven, taking a dozen perfectly browned lemon cookies from the rack. He set them to the side and slid another pan in, setting the timer, then pulling the mitt off and tossing it to the side.
He turned to find his friends watching him, clearly amused.
“This is very… domestic,” Dax said.
Cam lifted an eyebrow and planted his hands on his hips. “And?”
Dax nodded. “I would never have guessed you’d be house-husband material.”
Cam shrugged. That didn’t bother him at all. “I’m good at everything I do.”
Dax laughed. “Touché.”
“I asked Maggie if we should bring some food over. Or dessert,” Grant said. “But she said you and Didi have been over for dinner every night and that you leave before dessert because you’ve been making stuff here.”
“I have.” Cam gave him a challenging look. “My stuff is better than my mom’s.”
Dax’s eyes grew wide. “That better not be true, McCaffery.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because that means you’ve been depriving me of your goods for ten years? I might never forgive you.”
“I’ve been giving you plenty of my goods,” Cam told him. “Just not the baked kind.”
“You’re a bastard,” Dax said.
Cam grinned. “Wow, news flash.”
“I don’t know.” Aiden had come around the breakfast bar and was now lifting a cookie from the cooling rack. “Zoe thinks all of this”—he gestured, encompassing the kitchen and Didi and Henry and everything—“is really sweet.” He lifted the cookie to his mouth.
Cam plucked it from his fingers before he could bite into it. “It is really sweet,” he said, putting the cookie back with the rest.
“Hey.”
“What? You don’t need those cookies. You’re living with and practically married to someone who owns a bakery. Those are for Didi and Henry.”
“And Whitney?” Dax asked, wiggling his eyebrows.
Cam grinned. Whitney never ate the desserts he made in front of him, but there were always at least a couple missing by the time he checked on them the next day. He already knew that she especially liked anything with chocolate and caramel. But he’d bet there would be some lemon cookies missing tomorrow too.
“Whitney too,” he said with a nod.
“And is the toilet bowl cleaner and dusting solution for Didi or Whitney?” Aiden asked. He swiped another cookie and quickly got it to his mouth before Cam could grab