“You never peeked again, did you?”
“No ma’am. I learned my lesson. Still hate surprises, though. Unless they’re related to dessert.” Cam looked hopefully at Grammy.
“There might be pecan pie and ice cream. But clean up, first.”
“The boys have dish duty,” Miranda declared. “I’m stealing Norah.”
Nothing in her tone suggested she was angry, but Norah felt the anxiety creep back up her spine. Of everyone, Miranda’s was the reaction she was most worried about. As they pushed back from the table, Cam skimmed a hand down her shoulder. No matter what, he’d be waiting for her on the other side. Bolstered, she followed Miranda out to the sun porch.
They sat on the glider swing, toeing it into motion in tandem. When the strain of silence became too much, Norah said, “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.”
“I’m guessing you don’t mean tonight. How long has this thing with you and Cam been going on?”
“That’s a little complicated to answer.”
“Before this GrandGoods campaign?”
Better to bring out the truth now than never. “Pretty much since the moment we met.”
“New Year’s?”
Norah nodded.
“Really? Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Initially, because I was blind-sided. I certainly didn’t come down here looking for a relationship. Everybody knew I was fresh off a break up with Pierce, and I didn’t want anyone to think I was using Cam for some kind of rebound.”
Miranda was quiet for a moment. “I wasn’t so much worried about that, but I wouldn’t have pegged you as being in a good place for a relationship. Which I told Cam flat out.”
Norah’s heart gave a sick lurch. “You warned him off me?”
“Not because I think you’re bad for him or vise versa but just…I saw how he looked at you, and I could see a lot of potential for hurt on both sides.”
Norah absorbed that as the glider continued to rock. “Well, you aren’t wrong. Things got really serious, really fast, and I didn’t know what to do about it. I was still trying to work out what to do about my career, and, frankly, I didn’t think the family would approve of the idea of me with Cam. So when he asked me to stay for this war against GrandGoods, I broke things off.”
“You ended things because of me. Because of everything we said that night about Melody. You thought we’d compare you to her.”
“On the surface, it isn’t an inappropriate comparison.”
“God, Norah, I’m sorry. I’d never in a million years think you’d do to him what she did. You’re nothing like her.”
“That’s what Cam said. But even without that, I thought stopping things before they went any further was best for both of us. It’s an impossible relationship. He’s small town and I’m big city. I know perfectly well he’s part of the fabric of this place. I’d never dream of asking him to leave it. And Wishful doesn’t exactly have need of a high-powered marketing executive under normal circumstances. I’d never be cruel about it, but my leaving at some point seemed pretty inevitable, and I didn’t want to hurt him.”
“So what changed?”
“Nothing. And everything.” Norah sighed and laughed a little. “Breaking things off didn’t
make me any less crazy about him. With all the time we’ve spent together, I didn’t do anything but make us both miserable by holding us apart. And then yesterday…Do you know what he did?”
“Does this have something to do with that whole dragon slaying thing you mentioned?”
“He got in touch with the City Council of Morton and got copies of all the paperwork related to their consideration and approval of Hugo’s, and he dug through all of it until he found proof that it wasn’t me who convinced them to change the terms. It was my boss. He not only found hard-core exculpatory evidence—Miranda, he had the whole thing highlighted and sticky tabbed as thoroughly as I would.”
Miranda’s lips twitched. “It’s a wise man who recognizes the key to your heart lies in color-coded organization.”
“How can I not fall for a man like that?”
“I’d say you’d be pretty hard pressed. Are you in love with him?”