Amie
Another night, another phonecall. Maisy’s nightly chats with Cam have become the highlight of her day; she spends her time gathering stories to tell him and she giggles delightedly when she hears my phone ring. I let her choose a special ringtone for him, so we’d know who’s calling, and she chose her favourite song from The Little Mermaid. Now, whenever Cam calls, she makes me wait while she dances and wiggles along to Under The Sea before I’m allowed to answer the call.
“Goodnight, Maisy Girl,” Cam murmurs through the phone. “Have big dreams, sweetheart.”
Maisy’s lower lip wobbles, and her bright green eyes fill with tears. She looks from my phone to me and back again. I squeeze her tiny body closer to me, dipping my head to press repeated kisses into her hair.
“Time to sleep now, angel girl,” I whisper into her curls. “We’ll talk to Daddy again tomorrow.”
“Mama,” she whimpers. Her arms clench around her Daddy Bear, making his head and legs jerk awkwardly. “Daddy hug.”
“Soon, baby girl,” I promise. I swallow hard, my throat thick with emotion. I knew this was coming—the emotional impact of knowing Cam, of loving him, and having him be so faraway. I knew I’d be in for plenty of tears, and probably some tantrums too. But the sadness in her eyes is enough to steal my breath. “Sleep now, okay?”
Maisy nods, turning her face into Roger’s flank and twisting her tiny body beneath the sheets. I glance at the screen to see Cam watching helplessly, his own eyes glassy with emotion. Within minutes, Maisy’s breathing evens out and I carefully stand from her low bed, stretching as I flick off the light and leave the room.
“You, uh—you got any plans for the rest of the evening?” His voice is hoarse, eyes sad, still shaken from Maisy’s tears. I swallow down my own emotions as I flick on the kitchen light and boil some water for another cup of tea.
“You mean, other than this? Talking to you?” I offer a dry laugh with a raised eyebrow. My favourite yellow mug in hand, I return to the sofa, just like the previous night, and throw the same blanket over my legs. This time, my tea is a rooibos and honey blend, and its scent calms my frayed nerves as it rises in the steam and washes over my face. I blow gently across the surface of the hot liquid before taking a sip.
“Yeah, why not,” Cam offers. “The night is young. Live a little.”
“Okay, sure… maybe I’ll go out, meet a generous billionaire and convince him to fall wildly in love with me.” I roll my eyes with a grin. Cam’s eyes darken and his jaw twitches almost imperceptibly. His expression turns to stone for a split second before he schools it into something more impassive.
“I don’t think he’d take much convincing, pretty girl.”
“Oh, so my plan is a good one?” I retort cheekily. I’m goading him now. I want to believe that he doesn’t like the idea of me shacking up with a billionaire because he’d rather it were him, but he doesn’t see methat way. To him, I’m just Amie, a one-night-fling from four years ago. I’m Maisy’s mum. I’m his friend. I think.
He hasn’t called mepretty girlsince Singapore, and when he did it then, I almost combusted on the spot. I practically dropped my panties and gave it all up to him right there and then, with one deep rumble of his voice and that perfect, boyish grin that still makes me weak in the knees. I feel the same rush of warmth in my belly, and my mind flickers to the vibrator in my bedside drawer. The one that’s seen more use than ever over the last month. The one I’m desperate to spend some time with, reliving the last time he called mepretty girl.
Cam clears his throat quietly and brings me back to the present To real life, not the imaginary one where I can let myself want him. Because I know he doesn’t feel the same. I know that if I shack up with anyone—if I ever date again—his concern is for Maisy. Not for me.
“No,” he murmurs. “Try again.”
“Maybe I’ll just watch a movie, then,” I sigh, stretching my legs out and rotating my ankles beneath the blanket.
“Better,” he says. “What are we watching?”
“We?”
“Sure, why not? Have you eaten yet?”
“Nope, not yet,” I admit. "I was just gonna pour myself some cereal or something.”
“Cereal for dinner, huh?”
“Perks of being an adult.”
Cam laughs, then says, “my room service lunch should be here any moment.” As luck would have it, I hear a dull thump, and his eyes flare just slightly. "Or right now. Be right back.” He hops off the bed, andI hear the quiet rumble of his voice as he thanks the delivery person, before he returns to my screen with a tray of food in his arms.
“Grab your cereal. Let’s find something on Netflix, we can do dinner and a movie together.”
I swallow hard. “Dinner and a movie. Sure. A little friend-date—what's a few thousand miles between friends?”
It's Cam's turn to swallow hard, and I watch his Adam's apple bob and his shoulders rise and fall as he takes a slow, deep breath before digging into his food. I just friend-zoned him pretty hard. It's not exactly the zone I want him to be in, but it's probably for the best.
“Come on. Get your cereal. We’ll buddy-watch, or whatever the kids call it.”
“God, you’re so fucking old,” I laugh as I unfold myself from the sofa and head for the kitchen. A minute later, bowl of cheerios in hand, I return to my seat and reach for the remote. I navigate to the streaming service and scroll through the latest additions. I pause on each one to read the one-line synopsis before moving on. “It’s all pretty shit, isn’t it?”
