The Paid Bridesmaid(26)

I didn’t want to lie to him, but I had to.

When they finished singing Sadie told me, “Make a wish!”

I wish things were different and that Camden would really like me and that I could be honest with him.

I blew out the candles in one shot and everyone cheered. I decided to shove those guilty feelings out of my mind and do my best to be present and enjoy myself.

Krista grabbed her gift. “Open mine first!”

It still seemed a little silly to be getting presents for this non-event, but I was surprised at how relaxed I currently felt. It probably helped that this wasn’t my actual birthday. There was no pressure on me, no phone call from my mother to remind me that with every year that passed my eggs were edging ever closer to their Best if Used By date. There was no feeling like I hadn’t met all the goals I’d set for myself that year. It probably helped that I didn’t know half the people in this room. Being surrounded by mostly strangers made this strangely freeing.

I tore open the wrapping paper and saw that Krista had bought me a nice set of highlighters that would be perfect for my organizer. “Thank you,” I told her. “This was really thoughtful. I will definitely get a lot of use out of these!”

She grinned back at me, pleased with my reaction.

“Us next!” Sadie said, handing me a small gift bag. There was a ton of red tissue paper on top and I found a small black box at the bottom. If I didn’t know any better, I would have guessed that it was jewelry.

When I opened the box I let out a small gasp. There were a set of beautiful pale-pink pearl earrings. “This is too much,” I protested.

Sadie waved off my protest. “You can’t come to Hawaii and leave without pearls. We insist.”

“They’re so beautiful,” I said. “Thank you so much.” I’d had many brides give me gifts, but nothing like this.

“My turn,” Camden said, reaching for the last present on the table. It was oddly wrapped, and he placed it in my lap.

“This isn’t a flip phone, right? Because I don’t need to chat with Ulysses S. Grant.”

That made him laugh. “I’m not telling you what it is. You’re going to have to open it up and see.”





CHAPTER NINE


There was an outer layer of wrapping paper and inside were two items wrapped in tissue. I opened one and saw that it was a ceramic, four-inch-long potato.

“What?” I asked.

“Open the other one.”

When I unwound the second item, it turned out to be a ceramic tomato, about the same size as the potato.

It took me a second to understand what he had done, and then it hit me like a tsunami. If I’d been standing, I might have fallen over.

Oh . . . how did he . . . I couldn’t finish my thoughts, let alone say actual out-loud words.

Somewhere off to my right Krista said in a delighted tone, “Aww. So sweet!”

“They’re salt and pepper shakers,” he said and I could feel tears forming at the edges of my eyes.

“But why a potato and tomato?” Sadie asked.

Krista piped up with, “It’s something Rachel says,” at the same moment Camden said, “It’s an inside joke.”

An inside joke. We had an inside joke.

Something happened inside me. A break or a tear, where there had once been a firm commitment to a path I’d chosen for myself and my employees. Light was shining through, filling me up. It suddenly seemed stupid that I was staying away from Camden when he so obviously got me.

His present made me feel seen, and it had been a very long time since a man had done that.

“Do you like them?” he asked.

Like them? There weren’t words strong enough to express how very much I adored his gift. It was so thoughtful and just . . . amazing. “I thought the no-interrogation thing was my present.”

He nodded, looking very pleased with himself. “I figured this was better.”

“How did you even get it?”

“Dan and I went out for a bike ride this afternoon and we stopped at this store that only sells salt and pepper shakers. It was easy enough to find a tomato set and a potato set. I bought both and mixed them up. Which means I have the only other potato/tomato set of salt and pepper shakers in the world.”

“It’s perfect. Absolutely perfect,” I told him. “I kind of want to name my firstborn child Potato Tomato, now.”

“I think we just got upstaged by produce,” Dan told Sadie, who nodded and gave me a knowing smile.

There was a part of me that didn’t ever want me to be happy. Maybe it was the same bit that sounded like my mother, always reminding me of all the ways I’d fallen short. Whenever things seemed good, there was always a way to mess up my potential happiness.

“Why did you do this?” I asked him.

“What? The present?”

“Yes.” I needed to understand. Would Camden really take things this far? Was he so dedicated to unmasking me that he was willing to completely mess with my head and my heart?

Because he had definitely affected me. I wanted to show him what this meant to me, how my heart had been touched. And there was only one way I could think of to properly convey what I was feeling.

To kiss him.

Which could not happen.

He shrugged. “Like I said, I thought you’d like it.”