Finally Found (29 page)

Cammie watched for his reaction as he entered the newly decorated executive café. It was her masterpiece, not that she had many to choose from yet. He stood in the doorway taking it all in. He looked…in awe. She liked it. This would be a great night. She wasn’t so sure that the same could be said for the engagement party. Though she had tried desperately to avoid it, Cin would be there. She needed the help, Cin needed the cash, and there was no way her sister would ever make a scene or do anything to harm Cammie’s business. Just to be certain, they would have that discussion at dinner tomorrow. She would lay the ground rules, and cover them once more. It was logical. If she was completely honest, she’d admit that she wanted to see Adam’s reaction to her sister. Cammie was dangerously close to having her heart involved in this. That could never be allowed if there would be problems with Cin.

For tonight, she would enjoy every minute. In the morning she would talk to Sam and Haley over brunch about the new changes to the wedding that she and Adam had made. In one short week, they would be celebrating the engagement with a party at Adam’s loft. She had no doubt that he would want her to stay over, and dammit, she really wanted to. She would be done with finals. She would have completed her final project and given her last presentation. Soon enough, she would have that pretty paper with her degree to display. She considered for a moment where she could possibly hang it, realized there was nowhere, and decided to simply be thrilled to have earned it.

“You are amazing,” he said, breaking her reverie. “I am so proud of you.” With that he squeezed her just a bit tighter. The night was off to the best of starts.

Still flying high from his weekend, Adam walked into work on Monday morning with a spring in his step. He was determined to have a productive week. He had learned the week before that if he simply kept busy, he could pass the time away from Cammie almost painlessly. The problem, as far as he could imagine, was that he would now be working at a desk that when seated, gave him the perfect view of the couch they had sex on. That could pose a serious distraction.

Yet Adam powered through. The workweek passed with only one moment of note. It was the call from Jake. As focused as he was in other areas, he hadn’t even considered that he hadn’t heard back from Jake. So when he saw Jake’s number appear on his screen, he racked his brain for a moment trying to understand why he would be calling. Then it came to him. He still needed to know Cammie’s sister. Things were good, but this was hanging over their heads, potentially preventing their future. He grabbed at the phone and answered it. “Jake! Jake what’s going on?”

“Well, for starters, I have the answer to that question…the one you wanted me to answer for you…” He said, trying to be as vague as possible. Obviously he was trying to be discreet.

“Thank you. Want me to come down to talk to you?” Adam asked, suddenly feeling very nervous. He was, after all, about to discover whether or not he was the worst kind of man whore who couldn’t even remember the names of all the girls he slept with.

“Yeah, why don’t you do that. We can even grab lunch after if you have time,” Jake said.

“That sounds great. I’ve been eating alone all week.” Adam hung up the phone and all but raced to Jake’s office.

When he arrived, he knocked and leaned in, as he was accustomed to doing. This time, since Jake was expecting him, he smiled and chuckled. “Well, you made it here in record time. Hungry?” He joked.

“Yeah. That’s it. So, enough pleasantries. Who is Cammie’s sister?” He leaned forward in interest.

“I would have been able to give you an answer much faster, but since you gave me so much to go on…it took a while.” He raised an eyebrow and gave Adam an annoyed look. “This is New York City. It was a needle in a haystack, trying to find a family owned party company. Then…did you know that Cammie’s real name is Chamomile?”

Adam tilted his head. “I think she may have mentioned it. I like that. It’s different, unusual in a good way.”

“Well, then you should love that her sister’s name…is Cinnamon. And apparently the family calls her Cin.” Jake smirked. “Since you slept with her, the nickname seems even more fitting.”

Adam leaned back in the chair. He reached into his inside jacket pocket and pulled out the dreaded list. He stared at it for a moment. There was no way that he had left anyone out. That name still meant nothing to him. Frowning, he finally looked at Jake. “I don’t suppose you have a picture?” He asked weakly.

Shaking his head, Jake said, “As a matter of fact, I do.” He pulled a paper from the folder in front of him and pushed it across the desk towards Adam.

Picking it up, Adam studied it for a moment. “She looks familiar.” He looked at her picture again with his one eye closed. Then he tilted his head and squeezed his eyes until everything looked blurry. Still nothing. Of course, he hadn’t even remembered Cammie. They had undoubtedly worked all the same parties. It would only make sense.

He studied his list again. Had he ever left a party without a girl? Maybe that was the direction to go. He thought and thought. There was only one that came to mind. It was his buddy, Devon’s 21
st
birthday party. The guys had all vowed it would be a guy’s night, since every one of them was now over 21. They had planned to leave the party and hit a few strip clubs. It was a strictly male after party.

It was all coming back to him. They had just walked over to the limo and were starting to get in when she came over. She brought them some cupcakes or cake or something. All he remembered for certain was that they were in a hurry. Suddenly, she started to cry. They paused and asked what troubled her. She had missed her ride. Would they bring her home? The guys took pity on her. She was younger, just barely 18 and they could tell she was feeling pretty grown up. As they started driving away, she started cozying up to him. He had been nice about it, pushed her away, again and again until it was obvious to her that she wasn’t coming home with him. She refused to give him an address, so when they arrived at the strip club, he gave her money for a cab.

That was when she made her last ditch effort. The rest of the guys had already left him to deal with her. They were alone, but for the driver, when she lifted her shirt to expose her breasts. She had said something about…not having to pay for hers and he could touch them, too. Adam pulled her shirt down, covered her, and told her to go home and stay out of trouble. He had the driver see her into a cab. That was it. Only now it turns out that she had been wrong in one respect. He was paying for it. Obviously he had hurt her pride and she was hurting his chances at something real with Cammie.

“Cin,” he said. Then he looked up at Jake. “I didn’t forget her. I didn’t sleep with her.” Then he smiled and repeated what he said, happily this time. “I
didn’t
forget her. And I
didn’t
sleep with her!”

He stood up and reached out to shake Jake’s hand. “Give me a minute and then, we’ll grab lunch…wherever you want…my treat!”

Adam yanked out his phone. This could very well be the most important text of his life. He hoped that he could convince Cammie to spend the night. They really had to talk.

Call me! I have great news. I’d love to talk over dinner.

That seemed perfect. His world seemed brighter and full of hope. They could fix this. They could be together.

Cammie was just about to give her final presentation of the semester when the text came in. Adam wanted to talk over dinner. She smiled. She did have to eat. She’d call him after.

Feeling happy and relieved, she walked to the podium in the auditorium. This was her business plan. This was her future. And maybe, just maybe, Adam could be a part of it.

When Cammie made it to her cupboard, Cin was waiting in the hall, sitting on the floor outside her door. “What brings you here?” Cammie asked.

“I need to talk to you about tomorrow. I think it will be really uncomfortable. I think I shouldn’t be there. I don’t want to do anything to ruin your future opportunities.” Cin stood and was pacing around outside the door.

Cammie studied her for a moment. “Okay,” she began slowly, “let’s go inside to talk.” She opened the door wide and let her sister walk in first. She knew Cin. This could take a while. She sighed. So much for dinner. Maybe she could surprise him later. Well, she at least owed him a text.

Can’t do dinner. Talking my sister off the ledge. I’ll call later.

She smiled at that last part. Secretly, she hoped to surprise him at the loft later. She would be at the loft all day the next day working on preparations for the big party anyway. This was going to be the event of the holiday season. This one event could make her entire career. After all those discussions with Sam and Haley, even with Adam, she knew what she was doing. She just needed to do it.