Melanie nodded. “I do. I guess I should go so we don’t have to throw down right here in your office then, hmm?”
“Don’t tempt me,” Cameron whined. “I respect the shit out of you, Mel, but I also can’t stop thinking about taking your clothes off.”
“Then I guess we need to finally go on that first date.”
Chapter 21
Cameron
Never in her nearly fifty years had Cameron been nervous to go on a date. None of the women she’d dated before had ever meant anything to her. And after the kids, no date was ever worth spending a night away from her kids. Cameron knew she was overthinking it, but how could she not?
Melanie was the most beautiful woman Cameron had ever seen. She’d thought that since long before there was ever anything between them. From her striking blue eyes to her sweet smile, it was easy to see why anyone would be captivated by Melanie. How she’d ended up with Rob was beyond Cameron. Even before they were best friends Cameron thought that. She vaguely remembered telling her as much during a drunken girls’ night.
But that was in the past now. Rob was history and Cameron didn’t want to ever think of him again. Especially not when her date with Melanie was due to start in under an hour.
Cameron had offered to plan it. Why, she didn’t know. She wasn’t a date planner. Thankfully, she had entrusted Isla and Vera, who suggested dinner at the Moonflower Cove Inn. It was a place they often had date nights and assured Cameronit hosted more tourists than locals, which would decrease the chance of nosy eyes watching them on their first date. But Cameron knew in a town as small as Moonflower Cove that the odds of them knowing someone at the restaurant were fairly high.
She tried not to overthink that or the fact she’d booked a room at the inn for the night. Cameron had let Isla and Vera talk her into it. They had told her they didn’thaveto use it but it was better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it. And with that logic, how could Cameron disagree?
Her brain had been filled with thoughts of making love to Melanie for days. Cameron desperately wanted to know what it would be like to touch her and love her in ways Melanie deserved. And she was equally as excited to have Melanie touch her. Every time she thought about it, her entire body went hot.
Which wasn’t helpful when Vera already had the blow dryer going full force on Cameron’s hair.
“Too hot?” Vera asked loudly over the whirl of the blow dryer.
“No.”
“Your face says otherwise.” Turning off the machine, Vera put her hand on her hip as she looked at Cameron in the bathroom mirror. “You okay?”
“Just nervous.”
“About your date?”
Cameron nodded.
“Why are you so nervous? It’s just Mel.”
“That’swhyI’m so nervous, Vera.” Cameron spun around in the swivel chair to face Vera. “It’s Mel. I’ve loved her longer than my kids have been alive and now I’m going on my first date with her. Like is this even real life?”
“It is.”
“And what if I mess it up? I mean, my track record with dating isn’t great.”
“That doesn’t matter.”
“How can you say that?”
“Because if you recall, we were having a similar conversation twenty-three years ago when you were helping me get ready for my first date with Isla.”
Cameron chuckled, remembering that day well. Vera had been a nervous wreck before her date with Isla, although anyone could see how madly in love the two of them were. But Cameron and Melanie weren’t Isla and Vera. Those two were major couple goals and Cameron didn’t know if anyone could ever reach their status.
“But you two are perfect for each other.”
“And so are you and Melanie.” Vera had on her Mom Face, which meant business. Cameron knew it well after seeing it for decades. “You have to stop thinking you don’t deserve this. You deserve to be happy, Cam, and it’s obvious to everyone that Mel makes you happy. And if she didn’t feel the same way, there’s no way she’d be across town with Isla driving her crazy over what to wear.”
“Really?” Cameron laughed.
“Isla has been texting me commentary since she got there. Melanie is nervous too, which is why Iknowthis is going to be great.”
