Almost Just Friends (Wildstone #4)(66)

CJ was looking as impressed by Gavin as Cam felt. But Piper looked . . . dizzy. She turned to Winnie. “What about your still-unnamed baby daddy? How’s he going to feel about you sticking around here instead of going back to Santa Barbara? Is he going to relocate to help you? Is he even interested in being part of the baby’s life?”

Tell her, Cam willed. Because the longer Winnie waited, the bigger the feeling of betrayal would be, and Winnie would be taking Cam right down with her.

“All that matters is that I’m staying here,” Winnie said, disappointing Cam along with Piper, if her expression was anything to go by. “I’ll figure out everything else later.”

“Me too,” Gavin said.

Emmitt looked at Cam. “Any interest in making like these two, and sticking around for your old man? I’d love that.”

Cam grabbed two plates and held them out to Gavin to fill. “Thinking about it,” he said, unwilling to hide a damn thing from Piper—that he could control, anyway.

His dad beamed.

Piper whipped her head around so fast to stare at him that Cam was surprised it didn’t just fall off.

“I put in a transfer to be DEA West Coast,” he said. “San Luis Obispo office. It’s a long shot. I’ve got no idea if I’ll get it. But yeah.” He shrugged. “It’d be nice.”

“When did you do that?” Piper asked.

“Last week.” He didn’t want to be two thousand miles away, worrying about his dad, about Winnie. Piper . . . He’d known what he needed, wanted to do, almost from the moment he’d set foot in Wildstone.

Piper came closer, and with her back to the room, asked softly, “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Haven’t had much time alone.”

She shifted even closer and whispered, “We had plenty last night.”

“After you freaked out about me extending my leave, I thought I’d wait and break it to you gently if it happened. Besides, we were . . . busy last night.”

“No really,” Gavin said. “Ew.”

Piper didn’t take her eyes off Cam.

“Do we have a problem?” he asked.

The look on her face told him they did indeed have a problem, a big one. And he knew why. She’d been comfortable with this thing between them when it’d been temporary. But if he stayed, it suddenly made their no-strings fling complicated.

And she hated complicated.

Emmitt went to the fridge to pour some more OJ. He turned to Piper. “Need anything?”

“Actually, yes. I need my sister to be realistic about what she’s facing. And I need my brother to understand that putting too much pressure on himself right now is a bad idea. And I need them both to be honest with me when shit happens, because how can we be a family if we’re not honest with each other?”

“I feel like he was just offering you a refill, not counseling,” Gavin stage-whispered.

“Food’s getting cold,” Emmitt said, and everyone started eating.

Cam was impressed. He had no idea his dad could command a room without trying.

Halfway through eating, Gavin cleared his throat and looked at Piper. “I know you think I’m in trouble and shouldn’t overextend myself, but I do better when I’m productive. I’ve decided I’m going to hire myself out to build websites on the side.”

“You’ll have to schmooze and wine and dine people,” Winnie said. “Not exactly a smart idea for a recovering druggie.”

“Says the teenager who’s pregnant,” Gavin retorted. “And when exactly did that seem like a stellar idea to you, huh? I mean, it’s right up there with that time you tried to trap a pile of ants with peanut butter, and then thought you could still eat the peanut butter.”

“Hey, I was four,” Winnie said. “Don’t even get me started on the stupid things you’ve done.”

“She’s got you there,” CJ said into his mug of coffee.

Gavin rolled his eyes. “Thanks.”

“Anytime.”

“And also,” Winnie said to the room, “I’m not a teenager anymore. I’m twenty.”

“Pass the syrup,” Piper said.

CJ tossed her the squeeze bottle. “Nice refereeing.”

“Not my first time.”

They ate. They laughed over Gavin’s recounting of his adventure to the grocery store via Uber, with a driver who wanted fashion advice since everyone knew gay men were “fashionistas.”

“Did you tell him that your gay fashion sense was broken?” CJ asked with a straight face, as they all eyed Gavin’s Hawaiian board shorts and surf-shop T-shirt that had seen better days a decade ago.

Winnie then told everyone she’d fixed the downstairs bathroom’s plumbing with Gorilla Tape, and had submitted a video of it to the people who made the tape because she was convinced she belonged in a commercial.

Emmitt just seemed happy to be included. Cam looked around the table, watching the heckling, the laughter—even the bickering all felt . . . good. He knew there were huge problems lurking just beneath the surface, but for now it felt like a happy family moment, and he made eye contact with Piper. And while he knew his expression probably said he was enjoying this, hers was Oh, shit, I’m enjoying this.