“You okay?” I asked, watching as she looked up at me.
“I’m hungry. And tired. And sad for Cam,” she told me. “I feel like I should be more freaked out.”
“Sometimes it takes a little bit to process shit. So don’t be surprised if after some sleep, or just a couple days pass, you start freaking out about it. That’s normal. But we can definitely do something about the food thing right now. And I poured the wine. I know you were a little worried about the drugs, but you should be on the downslide of the effects now, so one drink will be fine.”
“I need it,” she agreed, standing with me when I got to my feet.
Cam had bought her some sort of super soft, fuzzy off-white pant and sweatshirt set that must have felt like wearing a cloud.
Hearing us, Cam came out in a similar outfit, but in a light blue.
“I look like an outsider,” I said as I looked between them.
“Your’s is dark green and it’s in the bag,” Cam said, trying to give me a smile, but it didn’t reach his red, swollen eyes.
With that, I got changed, we got food, and we all sat on the couch together, eating, watching a movie, and saying nothing.
Eventually, we all fell asleep there as well.
I woke up with Miranda sprawled all over me.
And I knew in that moment that I wanted to wake up every fucking morning for the rest of my life just like that…
Epilogue
Miranda - 1 week
It felt wrong to be as happy as I was after such a traumatic event.
I mean, I was upset about the whole ordeal. I’d woken up in a cold sweat the second night, but Brock was right there, running his hands over me, quietly whispering to me that I was okay, that I was safe, that he was there for me.
After going pretty much my entire life not having a man to be there for me, I had to admit that it felt good.
Cam was with us every day as well, only leaving to go to therapy, or to grab coffee or lunch, claiming he needed something to do, but I was pretty sure some part of him was still feeling guilty about the whole situation, so he wanted to keep doing for me.
“What do you think about me getting Cam a new apartment?” I asked Brock as we sat in the kitchen drinking our coffee. “He doesn’t seem to want to go back to his place. And who could blame him? I was thinking that I could… get him a different place, so he could start over fresh. Then when he is ready, he can go and get his old stuff. What?” I asked, looking over at him.
“When I was talking to Frank, someone was moving out of the building,” he said. “I mean, I’m sure you weren’t thinking about giving him an apartment here.”
“That would actually be perfect,” I objected. Was it expensive? Sure. But the more I thought about things, about the future, about what I wanted it to look like, the more I had to admit to myself that I finally needed to take some time away from work, stop making my entire life about it.
But to step away, I had to let someone else take more control.
Who better than Cam for that? The only other person who knew the business as inside and out as I did. Hell, maybe even more so since he had the inside track with the other employees there.
And if I was going to give Cam more control over the company, so I could have more freedom, it made sense for him to be close. It also made sense to have him close if I was going to be spending some time with Brock in Navesink Bank. He could keep an eye on my apartment. Take in my dry cleaning and mail and packages. Make sure the maid was getting paid. That sort of thing.
It was really the smartest option.
“That’s actually a great idea,” I told him.
“You’re going to be making Cam your VP or whatever position is below yours, aren’t you?”
“I, ah, I was thinking that it might be nice to, you know, get a chance to enjoy my life a little bit.”
“Maybe you’ll enjoy some of that life in Navesink Bank?” he asked.
“I hear they have some of the best Italian in the tri-state area,” I said, smiling a bit at him.