“Only small actors,” Dylan completed with a laugh. “I know. I know. What’s for dinner?”
Cameron snorted a laugh as she pulled out of the parking lot. “Great transition there. Aunt Mel is bringing a pizza over for movie night.”
“Can we watchAnnabelle, please?” Dylan begged dramatically. “I know you said last year I was still too young, but Mom, come on. I wasn’t. And I’m twelve now.”
“I still think that’s too young to be watching those movies.”
“Just becauseyou’rescared of them doesn’t meanIwill be scared of them.”
“I’m not scared,” Cameron nervously laughed, doing little to prove the movies didn’t keep her up at night. “I just don’t know if Aunt Mel will want to watch that.”
“She watched it with Ellie last year.In the theater.” Dylan added as if it was the ultimate selling point. She quickly typed out a message on her phone, and she kept pleading with Cameron. “Please, Mom? I promise I won’t be scared.”
Cameron sighed. She knew, eventually, she’d have to let her baby grow up and watch her scary movie. Truthfully, Cameron hated them, which was why they were never watched at the house. But clearly Dylan didn’t have the same thoughts. At least not yet.
“We’ll see what Aunt Mel says.”
Dylan turned her phone screen toward Cameron. “She says it’s okay with her if it’s okay with you.”
“Wow, way to gang up on me there.”
“It’s what Aunt Mel and I are known for,” Dylan chuckled, putting her phone in the cup holder as she turned toward Cameron. “Ya know, Mom, you really fumbled the ball with her.”
Cameron nearly ran off the road at Dylan’s words. Had she heard her correctly? She couldn’t have. What on earth did Dylan mean by that? Sure, almost all of Cameron’s friends had commented that she and Melanie acted like a couple, but her kids had never said that. At least not to her face. So, what did Dylan mean? There was only one way to find out.
“What do you mean?” Cameron nervously asked.
“Mom,” Dylan’s face grew more serious as Cameron approached a stop sign, “come on. I’m not a kid anymore. I can see how you look at her.”
“How I look at who?” Despite trying to remain chill, Cameron felt her face blushing as she tried not to laugh. “Aunt Mel?”
“Melanie,” Dylan’s voice was sweet and innocent, and Cameron rolled her eyes. “Comeon, Mom. Just admit it.”
“Admit what?”
Going through the intersection, Cameron tried to focus on the road instead of how her twelve-year-old daughter was calling her out.
“YouloveAunt Mel.”
“Of course I do. She’s my best friend.”
“Mother.”
“Daughter.”
“Why can’t you just admit it?”
“Honey,” Cameron tightened the grip on the steering wheel, “there’s nothing to admit. Melanie has been my best friend for years. Decades. I love her, yes. But she’s married to Uncle Rob.”
Cameron wasn’t sure why she added the last bit in. Pulling the car into the driveway, Cameron parked it and looked over at Dylan.
“But if she wasn’t married to Rob,” Dylan looked down at her hands in her lap, “would you love her as more than a friend?”
The air seemed to be sucked out of the SUV as Cameron tried to figure out not only how to answer the question but alsowhyDylan was asking it in the first place. Had someone said something to her? Had she noticed something between them?
How could she? There’s nothing there.
Cameron internally snorted a laugh. She would be lying to herself if she believed that. Truthfully, things would probably be different if Melanie hadn’t been married to Rob. But Cameron couldn’t tell Dylan that.
