Second Chance Pass (Virgin River #5)(62)

Cameron put his hands in his pockets, rocked back on his heels and laughed ruefully. “It was pretty ugly,” he agreed. “Maybe more terrible for you and Vanni than for me.”

“I don’t know what Carol told you, and I don’t know why she brought you out to dinner, but I’ve been in love with Vanni forever. I couldn’t tell her that, of course—she married my best friend. God, I’d never have done anything that wrong to Matt. But since…Well, we’ve been through so much together and it just got stronger. It took a long time to iron it out. Man, I’m really sorry if you were misled.”

“I’ve only known her a few weeks, Paul. We’re not exactly confidants.”

“We’re getting married,” Paul said.

Cameron stiffened slightly, but he smiled. He nodded. “Congratulations. I’m sure you’ll be very happy.”

“Look,” Paul said. “It isn’t hard for me to understand you have a thing for her. What man wouldn’t? I want you to know something—this is my fault, Cameron. I should have spoken up sooner. Before Carol set up that first meeting with you. There’s no excuse. I knew how I felt. But Matt hadn’t been gone long and I—” He hung his head, shaking it briefly. “I just didn’t want to upset her.”

“She could have spoken up,” Cameron said.

“Well, it turns out there’s an explanation for that, too. I was real scarce for a while after the baby was born, trying to give her time and to get my head together. It was real hard for me to get into Matt’s territory, even after he was gone. I gave her the impression I wasn’t interested in her in that way.” He shook his head. “I’m not good with women. I’m real clumsy, in fact. But at least it’s finally out—how we feel about each other. Now we move ahead. I’m sorry, man,” he said, sticking out his hand. “You’re a good guy. You have everything. There’s no reason I should win this one.”

Cameron gave a huff of laughter. He took the hand. “Maybe there’s lots of reasons. No hard feelings.”

“Thanks. This, between us—it shouldn’t be hard for her. She’s so sensitive. She’d hate for anyone to be hurt. I happen to know—she thinks highly of you.”

“I know,” Cameron said. “Don’t worry about it, okay?”

“I don’t deserve her, I know that. But I’m going to do everything I can to make her happy. I hope you’re going to be okay.”

“You could gloat, you know,” Cameron said. “You got the girl.”

“Yeah,” he said. “Crazy woman.” He laughed. “A guy like you—you won’t have any trouble. The right one will come along.”

“Paul. I didn’t close the deal, all right? It barely got going. I might be a little disappointed, but that’s all. Vanni and I—we were just friends. In case you think I’m going to be a problem for you.”

“Nah, I know better than that. Didn’t take me long to figure you for a class act.”

Cameron smiled. “Yeah? Well, maybe I’m not the only one.”

Vanessa sat in the chair that had recently been Cameron’s. The baby was out of sight with Lance and so was Carol for the moment. Vanni was seething. Beyond furious. She picked up Cameron’s drink and took a long, deep swallow of liquid courage and grimaced at the taste of scotch. It was another minute before Carol showed herself.

“Well,” Carol said. “That was a bit uncomfortable. I didn’t realize you’d invited Paul.”

“You didn’t? And why didn’t you insist he be invited? He was Matt’s best friend. And you know how much he means to me!”

Carol stiffened indignantly. “I’m not sure I do,” she said.

Vanni stood to meet Carol at eye level. “Then let me be very clear about this. He means the absolute world to me. Paul was in Virgin River when Matt was killed and I asked him to stay on until the baby was born. I asked him to be with me for the birth. I’ve known him for years. I’ve always felt comfortable with him, I trust him—he’s wonderful. We’ve always been close, closer still when we lost Matt. For God’s sake, Matt asked him to take care of us if anything happened to him. How can it be so impossible for you to understand that I would come to love him?”

“I couldn’t imagine it,” Carol said, anger barely reined in. “Matt’s hardly gone…”

“He’s gone enough for you to try to set me up with a doctor.”

Carol lifted her chin. Her mouth took on a strained line. “That’s uncalled for!”

“How dare you treat Paul as if he’s inferior! Shame on you!”

“I never meant that. I never meant to—” Carol swallowed. “I thought Cameron was perfect for you.…”

“Cameron knew about me and Paul. What in the world did you tell him to get him here for dinner?”

“I…ah…I told him Paul was dropping you off and you’d love to see him. I didn’t think I was making it up—you said Paul coming back here from Virgin River was a perfect opportunity to visit us and—”

Vanni was shaking her head. “Why don’t you just ask if I’d like Cameron to join us for dinner? More to the point, why don’t you listen?”