Chasing Love's Wings (16 page)

“I see it now. What he said to me today, about how he was trying. It started the day
I left for college. He could have been long gone from the house, but he wasn’t. He
stayed and waited for me. He told me to be careful, and even then I wanted to forgive
him, run back to him, hug him, tell him things should and would be different. But
I didn’t. I couldn’t make my legs do it because I wanted more, I wanted more than
a morning at home. I wanted explanations that I thought I deserved or was entitled
to, and I’d never gotten them and had finally gotten to the point that I’d accepted
the fact that I was never going to get them when that package showed up.” I lift my
head and start to draw circles along his chest around the outline of his dragon head.
“Now I have them, now I know, and I haven’t the first damn clue what the hell to do
with them.”

He takes my head in his hands and he kisses me. “No one said you have to decide today...or
even tomorrow. This is not something that is going to heal in a matter of minutes,
Cami. It took you a year to accept that he was gone and those answers were never coming
to you. Now that you have them, you need time to process them, no matter what, and
you have all the time you need.” He kisses me again.

NINETEEN

“Will you come with me?” I ask Tristan as we’re both getting dressed.
 

We spent last night heavy on each other and light on the conversation until we fell
asleep. “Where are we going?”
 

“You’ll see.”
 

“Of course.”
 

Tristan has the day off from filming today. He’d expected to lose the day off after
yesterday’s incident with the set and them calling it before anything was filmed.
But when he called to check in, they told him he wasn’t on the call sheet today. So
he shrugged and hung up the phone.
 

We climb into the car and I’m driving. I start heading north and west. It doesn’t
take long for him to figure out where we’re going. “My hand still hurts, Cams, I really
don’t want to have to punch him again,” he says, completely serious, but there is
a hint of a smile in his voice.
 

“You won’t need to. We’re not staying, but there is something I need to do.”

“Oh?”
 

“You’ll see when we get there.”
 

******

Tristan

******

Half an hour later we’re pulling into the driveway of the ranch where Bobby is living,
and before Cami or I can get out of the car, the front door opens and Bobby steps
out onto the patio. I can tell even from here that his nose is jacked up. I feel a
little guilty about it, but it doesn’t seem to be bothering him any. His eyes grow
wide in shock as he takes in the scene before him.

Cami climbs out of the car and I’m a little slower to follow her; she’s not moving
fast, by any means, but I’m not sure what her plan is. Today she is in skinny jeans,
a cute butterfly t-shirt and a pink hoodie, topped off with pink Chucks. She looks
so much like a teenager, but it’s cute and refreshing to see.
 

She climbs up the six steps to the porch, where he stands looking very much like a
rancher and not a CEO.
 

She stops at the top of the steps and waits for me to reach the bottom. “You can thank
Tristan for this later,” she says; her voice is soft and not angry. Then, before Bobby
or I can even register what she’s doing, it’s already started.
 

“Whoa. Where’s this coming from?” he says as he wraps his arms around his daughter,
who’s wrapped him up in her own arms. He has one hand on the back of her head and
the other along her back. He begins to play with her hair as she squeezes him. He
kisses the top of her head. I can see the tears forming in his eyes as he looks over
to me and mouths,
Thank you
.

“Don’t thank him just yet.” I can’t stop the laugh that escapes. “This doesn’t mean
I forgive you or that I’m over what you’ve done.”

“I’d expect nothing less.” Bobby’s voice is heavy with emotion.
 

“It is simply a start. It is the hug I should’ve given you seven years ago.” She looks
up at him, and even I can read the puzzled look on his face. “The day I left for college.
I know now what I was too blind to see then.”
 

“What’s that?”
 

“You were trying and I didn’t see it. But you have to understand that you never gave
me any indication that you were.”

“I was, but you never saw it. Do you guys want to come in?” he asks both of us. I
don’t answer; I let Cami decide.

“Not today. But what do you mean, I never saw it?”
 

“Cami, I mean I was there, at your graduation, both of them.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” she asks, but her voice is hesitant.
 

Bobby gives her a half smile that looks just like the one that she gives me. “Because
I knew you’d be mad and I didn’t want you to have to explain to your friends, and
more importantly, I didn’t want to ruin the most important days of your life by being
there. I knew how much you hated me, I didn’t want your hate for me overshadowing
your biggest days.”

“But I hated you even more for not being there.”
 

“But I was there, and you have all you need in that package to prove it. So maybe
we can start with you not hating me for not being there?”
 

“I will try,” she says. The emotions are still heavy in her voice. She hugs him again
and I see him smile.
 

“Thank you, Cameron,” he says and kisses her head once more.
 

Cami climbs into the passenger seat of the car when we leave, a few minutes after
their last hug. “I have to go to the airport.”
 

“Where are you going?” Panic seeps through me.

“Los Angeles.”
 

“What for?” I say, turning to look at her.
 

“I need to deal with Vincent and my anger about him knowing and never telling me.”

“Are you sure you want to do all of this?”
 

“Tristan, I have to.”
 

“Why?”
 

“Because our talks yesterday made me see that I can’t ever move on to being truly
happy unless I take care of everything I can, and I have to do it quickly or it will
only grow and fester.”
 

“You’re afraid it will come between us.” I look at her, but she looks out the passenger
window.
 

“It already has, and I don’t want it to happen again.”

In that moment, Cami grew up just a little bit more, right in front of my eyes. She’s
not running away from it; she is running headfirst into it, and I have nothing but
respect for her.
 

“Today is my only day off. After this, I am filming for the next thirteen days, and
honestly I really would rather you wait. Calm down a bit?”

She smiles at me. “Depends, what did you have in mind?”

“Oh, I don’t know. A little of this, a little of that.... A whole lot of something
else.”
 

“Tristan Michaels, you’re a pervert.”
 

I snort. “Look who’s talking.”
 

She busts out laughing. “It’s all your fault, I can’t get enough of you.”
 

And just like that, all of our fighting washes away and we’re right back to the Tristan
and Cami we were before this whole mess started.

TWENTY

Two weeks later…

******

Cami

******

With a few days left to go in Montana, Beau and Naomi show up to hang out with me
and Jo. Tristan told me that the last few days of filming are always the worst because
they will try to cram in everything that’s left to film, plus reshooting and redoing
scenes that need changes done. He told me last night that this is the easier part
of filming this movie because all the stunt work is done; they just have to film the
in-between stuff.
 

The girls and I spend our days shopping, sitting around the house and even horseback
riding. We’re now several days into September, and Tristan’s birthday is coming up.
“Tristan’s birthday is the twenty-first.”
 

“What?” Naomi says to me as we’re heading back to the house.
 

“Yup, next week. We need to plan an epic party for him. Something he won’t expect.”
 

“Take him back to Tarah,” Jolene says from the back seat.
 

“I thought about it. Might not be a half-bad idea, actually. But you guys have to
come too. Naomi, can you take the time off of work?”
 

“Work? Oh hell, Cams, I’ve barely worked since I met Trav, I’m not sure I have a job
anymore.”

“What?” I turn to look at her. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
 

“What? Why would I do that?” she says back to me.
 

Beau cuts in. “Oh, I don’t know, Cami only owns a company more than capable of taking
you on her payroll.”
 

“Thanks, Beau.”
 

“No problem. At least since you moved me over to Mick’s payroll, it frees you up to
replace me.”
 

I shoot her a look over my shoulder since she is sitting behind Naomi. “Yeah, because
I need three assistants.”
 

“Well, Cami, you know Trav’s agent contract ends at the end of November. Maybe you
can get him over to Bold and he can hire me to be his assistant,” Naomi says rather
calmly.

“What? You didn’t tell me that,” I say to her.

I reach for my phone and realize that in order to make this happen I need to call
Vincent, and it turns my stomach. So I call Trinity instead.
 

The phone rings twice and she answers. “Hi, Cami.”

“Trin, are you aware that Travis Jackson’s agent contract is up at the end of November?”
 

“No, but shouldn’t you talk to Vinnie about this?”
 

“Probably, but he didn’t pick up.” No need to tell her that he and I are not talking
at the moment. “Get him on it. We need that contract.”
 

“This doesn’t have anything to do with the fact that he’s Tristan’s best friend, does
it?”

“No, it has everything to do with the fact that we need that contract. It’s a good,
consistent one to have. I don’t care what it costs, but get him away from that jackhole
of an agent he has now and bring him to us.”
 

“All right, Cami, I’ll get Vinnie on it. Is this really going to be a fight to get
him here?”
 

“I doubt it. I’ll get Tristan to talk to him, or at least find out what I can about
Travis’s standing agent, then we can go from there.”
 

“Good, call Vinnie next time.” I roll my eyes at Trinity.
 

“Thanks, Trin.”

We both hang up.
 

“There, problem solved.” I also make a mental note to discuss Naomi’s financial situation
with her later, in private.

“You’re fanatical when you want something, you know that?” Jolene says and laughs.
 

“Yeah, I guess I am.” The rest of us join in.
 

“All right, so Tarah it is then?”
 

“Huh?” Beau says.
 

“Tristan’s birthday?”

“Oh, yeah, of course.” I look at her again and she’s pre-occupied with her phone.
 

“Woman, put that crap away.”
 

“Bitch, please. You should watch yourself when you’re not driving. You’re the same
way.” Beau is referring to the fact that I always seem to have my phone in my face,
which really isn’t true, but I am not going to argue.
 

After we get back to the house, I call the hotel in Tarah, only to find out that our
penthouse suite is booked for two weeks starting next Wednesday. I try quickly to
think of something else to talk about with the girls before the guys come home and
I draw a blank.

I head out to the kitchen, where the girls are waiting on me. I hope that maybe with
their help we can come up with something new.
 

“Tarah is out.”
 

“What? Why?” Beau says, but I see a smirk on Jolene’s face.
 

“The penthouse is booked starting next Wednesday for two weeks.”

“So why can’t we just get rooms and still hang out for the weekend?” Beau says back.
 

She’s trying to convince me. “The penthouse is easiest for Travis and Tristan. We
can all hang out, have a good time and not have to worry about him being seen.”

“But sweetie, he’s not hiding this time. He’s not trying to get away from everyone
who might recognize him,” Naomi says. “It just means that we’d all have to hang out
in Blu or on the beach, nothing wrong with that.”
 

“I hadn’t thought about that,” I say to them.
 

“See, there you go. So what if he’s seen in Tarah? You know the hotel will keep out
the riffraff, and you don’t have to make the reservations in either one of your names.
You can do it under your aliases. Or use our names.” Beau gives me a reassuring smile.
“Or we could just go back to Bora Bora.”
 

“All right, I’ll call them back tomorrow.” The girls clap, but something about Jolene’s
smirk bugs me.
 

“Why don’t I take care of the reservations and the flights? This way you don’t have
to worry about it.”
 

The alarm on the door chimes. “Hello,” Tristan calls out.
 

“Shh,” I hush the girls. “In the kitchen.” But all the girls bust into a fit of giggles
and Tristan is quick to hear us. He comes around the corner.
 

“What is going on here?” None of the girls can stop laughing.