Finally Found (21 page)

Sam eyed her. “You’ve never been married. You have no family to object. Why would you want to elope?”

Adam shook his head. “You just answered your own question.”

It was too late; Haley had already excused herself and fled the room. Adam was certain he saw tears in her eyes. He knew he heard a sniffle.

“Thank God they broke the mold when they made you,” he snapped at Sam.

“Oh, and when did you become Mr. Sensitive?” Sam asked. “You can’t even keep track of who you’ve slept with.”

“Well, you don’t know when to shut your mouth in order to keep the wonderful woman you’re lucky enough to have. Damn, you’re an idiot.” He shook his head. “Haley is planning a wedding where, if it stays traditional, it will be blatantly obvious she has no one in this world, but you. Why would you put her through that? There will be no father-daughter dance. There will be no first dance for you and your mother-in-law.” He watched to see that Sam was following along. “Everything about the ceremony and tradition of weddings is supposed to symbolize the uniting of the families. And all your wedding will do is remind Haley that she has no friends or family, no mother, no father. Let her be happy. If she wants to elope, do it.”

“What about Cammie? We were going to have her cater the event.” Sam leaned forward. It was obvious he was considering it.

“Let Cammie cater the engagement party or the celebration of your marriage. I’m thinking…engagement party. Those after parties suck. I mean, if you didn’t want me there to celebrate your wedding, don’t invite me to come eat and give you a present after. Are you with me?” Adam asked passionately.

Sam smiled. “We could go away, welcome in the New Year somewhere warm and exotic. You could come. You’d have to come. You’re my best man. And…Ellen and Ryan could come. We could rent a house just for us. Cammie could come…she could cater there. It would be…really nice. What do you think?”

“I think you are finally on to something. Talk to your bride. I’m going to mention it all to Cammie before she goes crazy. And the two of you need to set a date in the next few weeks for an engagement party. We could even do it out here, in the Hamptons house, or, at a nice hotel in the city. Of course, chances are if we do that, they will have their own caterers. And your house isn’t open enough…”

Cocking his head to the side, Sam looked at him intensely. “Yes, but your loft is. Your loft would be…perfect.”

Adam pondered the idea for a moment. “Oh, why the hell not? It’s for two of my favorite people. Yeah. Let’s do it.”

Sam hurried from the room heading to the master bedroom where Haley, Adam imagined, might just be a puddle. He had his own woman to deal with. He wasn’t sure how Cammie was going to take this. He smirked. Hell, he was born into an advertising family. If he couldn’t sell her on this idea, then he didn’t deserve to work there.

As he stood to find Cammie, she actually entered the great room. After she had glanced about and realized that he was the only one there, he saw that she had started to turn on her heels and return to the kitchen. “Are you still hiding from me?” He asked with a smile.

“What makes you think I’m hiding from you? I just…have nothing to say to you, so I might just as well stay away from you.” She turned again while drying her hands with a paper towel.

“Come here. Change of plans.” He sat calmly, waiting for her to give in.

Stiffening, she asked, “Are we canceling the cocktail party? Because if we are, you really should have mentioned that before I spent the last hour boiling and shelling shrimp. Or maybe the hour before that when I was making all the hors d’oeuvres. Or hey, maybe even when I was baking the desserts starting around 6am. That would have been nice.” Her hands were on her hips as her frustration mounted.

He chuckled. “No, Cammie, the cocktail party is still on. We’re changing the wedding plans.”

“Oh, that,” she sighed and walked over and collapsed in the love seat across from him while she stretched out and collected herself.

“We’re going to do an engagement party here. Well, by here, I mean at my loft. It has the best set up. And then the wedding will be a very intimate destination wedding. We’ll have you come with us to cater it. Somewhere exotic. That’s all I know. Either way, we’ll probably plan the food here as much as possible, while recognizing that it could be impossible to transport food…huh. Customs.” He leaned back while he thought for a moment. Then he beamed. “Hawaii. Or The Keys.” He rubbed his hands together as he considered the possibilities.

“Do Sam and Haley know that you have changed their wedding?” She asked seriously. “No, I mean it.”

“Yeah.” He clapped his hands together. He was torn. He felt this intimacy with her that maybe he shouldn’t because she was so quick to push him away, but he felt so…comfortable with her that he couldn’t help himself. Once again, he found himself speaking to her in confidence. “You’ve been to weddings, right?” He asked seriously.

“Yes. Sometimes…even as a
guest
with other people waiting on
me
.” She nodded and looked at him with wide serious eyes.

He scowled. “Haley lost her family in an accident a few years back. She has no one, no other family. While Sam and I have no family left, we have a huge support system in place. The big traditional wedding could be really painful. In fact, Haley’s reaction has suggested already that it might be. So, Sam and I talked and think that a nice intimate destination wedding would be perfect. And we’d still like to have you cater. What do you think?” He stared at her and met her gorgeous eyes with his own pleading look.

Frowning, Cammie nodded. He wondered why she reacted the way she did, but he didn’t have to think about it for long. Suddenly, it all just came gushing out of her. “My heart breaks for her. She’s so…sweet, so special. I hate that anything bad has ever happened to her.”

“I know,” Adam agreed. “Believe me, I know.”

Hours later when everyone was dressed and the house was ready, the food prepared and set out according to Cammie’s instructions, Sam pulled them together to talk before the rest of the guests arrived. “I’m so glad that you have all been here this weekend,” he began.

“Here he goes, trying to take credit again when
I invited him
.” He nudged Cammie as he smirked at Sam.

“As I was saying, before my brother so rudely interrupted…as usual…was that Haley and I have decided to have an engagement party in two weeks…and then invite you all to go with us to get married in Key West.” He studied them all for a reaction.

Cammie smiled. “Sounds lovely. I can make it super special, the wedding of your dreams. I promise.”

Haley beamed at her. “Oh, I don’t doubt that, which is why I wanted to make sure that you were there. Thank you, Cammie. I think this will be more…manageable for us with everything going on in the coming weeks…” She frowned. “Especially since we have to be in Philly in just a couple of days.” She sighed.

They hugged, like sisters should. For some reason, that warmed Adam more than anything else had all day. Seeing both of them get something that they clearly so desperately needed. It was wonderful. Then the doorbell rang. The cocktail party was about to officially begin.

Even by the most stringent standards, the cocktail party was a success. It was a comfortable evening. The food was plentiful, flavorful, and the right temperature. The cold food was cold. The hot food was hot. Cammie was the picture of experience and professionalism. Adam watched her work the room with pride. She managed to make it look like she was the hostess without breaking a sweat as the caterer. She was simply amazing. He felt a warm rush of emotion every time he looked at her. As it stood now, he could look forward to seeing her
at least two more times. It wasn’t enough, but he had high hopes that she would then have a difficult time staying away. All he had to do was create a bond. Normally, the sex would have done that, but she had yet to succumb to his charms. There had to be something he was missing, something else he could try.

Then it came to him. He had to make things right with her sister. It was because he had hurt her sister that she hesitated when he wanted nothing more than to be close to her. Fix things with the mystery sister and then maybe, just maybe Cammie would come around. The only problem with that was he couldn’t ask her. He couldn’t question who this sister was. It would only plant some horrible seed. There had to be another way.

He was still lost in thought sitting by the fire when she came over and sat across from him. He glanced over at her, flushed with excitement, and completely luminous. “Thank you. The party was better than I could have hoped. How did you make out?” He asked with a smile.

“Well…I booked three parties and an intimate dinner. I would call that a success.” She smiled happily.

“An intimate dinner?” Adam questioned. “You mean, like a date.” He could feel his face growing hotter at the thought of her having a date with someone else.

“Yup,” she beamed.

His fist clenched and unclenched, which was strange, since he was not the fighting kind. No, he had always joked that he was too pretty to risk marring his face for anyone. Only, now he was reconsidering that stance. “Who?” He sputtered.

She grabbed her phone and started looking through it. “Ah, his name is Joel Markham. Do you know him well?” She was looking at him, waiting for a response.

“I know Joel. He’s the worst kind of guy. He will use you and abuse you and spit you out. You should stay away from him.” He scowled.

Cammie frowned. “But he wants to offer me an obscene amount of money to make dinner at his place so he can pop the question!” She looked bothered.

Of course, her explanation calmed him down immediately. “Proposing? Good for him.” He said enthusiastically. “I always knew that he just needed the right woman in his life to give him the guidance he needs.” He rubbed his hands together happily.

“Oh, I forgot to tell you, I’m going to head out first thing in the morning.” She started to get up.

“Wait!” He yelped. “How am I getting home?”

She laughed. “Your brother is here. I have to get ready. The question popping dinner is tomorrow night. I have to prepare for it.” She shrugged and headed out of the room.

Adam was left to stare at the fire once more alone. Sure, Sam and Haley could bring him back to the city, but he wanted to go with her. He wanted an hour and a half of forced togetherness. He wanted to talk. He wanted to know when he was going to see her again.

He felt so…weak. Somehow, no matter what he did, she was running this relationship. It felt like Adam the player was constantly getting played.

Walking briskly down the hall, determined to speak to her once more, they nearly collided when she rushed from her room, too. Her phone dropped to the floor and bounced in its protective case. Without thinking, the both squatted to picked it up, fumbling hands, and
while laughing at the ridiculousness of it all, bumped heads.

“Ow, you brute,” she joked while laying her hand on her forehead. “That hurt! If I get an egg because of you and my business is ruined, then what will I do?” She rubbed the spot around her hairline where their heads had met.

Reaching out, Adam tried to feel for any indication of swelling. Finding nothing he decided to proclaim his findings. “You’re fine! And if your business is ruined, you can come live with me. I have a spare room.”

“I thought Kiki was in your spare room.” She smirked.