Page 27 of My Brother’s Best Friend

“A compliment from the master?” I brought my hand to my chest. “I’m flattered.”

“Oh, you should be.” He grinned. “I hold gold-level certification in rambling. I’m on the Olympic judging panel.”

“The woman who stood you up has no idea what she’s missing out on,” I said, laughing, but I winced when that look of pain flashed through Cam’s eyes again. Dammit, why did I have to keep putting my foot in my mouth?

“Honestly, I’m probably better off not meeting, um, her,” Cam said, his smile growing sad.

“Oh, don’t say that. I mean it. She’s an idiot if she doesn’t see how great you are.”

I cringed, because seriously, could I make my crush any more obvious? But Cam was looking down at his empty glass again, and I wasn’t even sure if he heard me, much less saw my face.

“I wouldn’t even know what to do,” he said, so softly that I almost didn’t hear him.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

He still wasn’t looking at me, but I could see his grimace. “Let’s just say I’m a little out of practice.”

“With dating?”

Cam was silent for a long moment before finally looking up. “Yeah. With dating.”

Something felt different about our conversation all of a sudden, and I couldn’t figure out what. Maybe I’d offended him with my joke, and he didn’t want to admit it? But he didn’t seem mad, exactly.

It was more like one of those summer afternoons when a thunderstorm gathers, clouds rolling in from the west. It gets windy, and then eerily calm, as blue-gray ink spreads across the sky. Even the gulls stop swooping, and the whole island waits for that first crack of lightning to set the rain free.

What was Cam holding back?

And why wouldn’t he tell me?

Don’t be stupid, I reminded myself. You don’t know him. You have no idea if he’s holding anything back at all. And even if he is, why would he tell you?

But thirty seconds ago, I could have sworn it felt different. Like something was growing between us. The kind of new life that comes after rain, fresh and full of possibility.

This evening should have been terrible. I’d fucked up my date. I’d fucked up my future. I was wearing waders, for God’s sake. But it was the best night I’d had in months. Possibly years.

“I’d say you’re doing just fine,” I whispered.

Cam’s eyes were so intense, I wanted to look away. The black of his pupils almost eclipsed the blue, and I wondered if he could see the things that I was holding back.

“This isn’t exactly a date,” he said.

“It’s not that different. Drinks. Conversation.” I waved to the string lights woven through the trees. “Romantic setting.”

I was pushing it. I knew that. But I couldn’t seem to stop. It was like some secret, hidden part of me that had been starving for so long was suddenly in charge of my body, and all I could do was watch.

“Yeah, but I’m not—that is, we’re not—” Cam swallowed. “That is, you’re not actually interested in me.”

I knew I should drop it.

I knew it.

But I didn’t want to.

“You sure about that?” I said.

His eyes went wide—but he didn’t look away. He didn’t look anywhere else but at me, and I knew, then, that this was my chance. If he was ever going to see me as anything more than Levi’s kid brother, I had to show him that I was more than that.

“I’m pretty sure if you liked me, you wouldn’t be—I mean, obviously I don’t think you do.” Cam smiled, but it was a tremulous thing, a fawn on wobbly legs.