Love At Last (Lily's Story, Book 3) (9 page)

“Really? That’s cool.”

“Yeah. I like it a lot. And I love that I can work when it’s convenient for me.” Natalie started fussing, so I took her out of the high chair and held her on my lap.

Cameron looked at her. “How old is she?”

“Eight months.”

His lips quirked into a smile. “I don’t know much about babies.”

“Well, I’m lucky that Natalie is a particularly easy baby.”

A look of guilt washed over his face. “I have to admit, when I got on the plane and saw that the only empty seat was next to a baby, I was kind of worried.” He frowned. “No, I was really worried. I’ve been on flights before where babies scream the whole time, so I wasn’t very happy that I had to sit next to you.”

I frowned. “I know.”

Alarm spread across his face. “Don’t misunderstand me. It turned out okay. I was wrong about your baby. She hardly made any noise at all and I was able to get my work done.”

I laughed at his obvious concern that he had offended me. “Don’t worry about it. I know how it is. I’d feel the same way, but I already knew—at least I’d hoped—that Natalie would be fine. It was actually kind of entertaining to watch everyone get on board, take one look at me and Natalie, and then move on. I have to admit, I kind of felt sorry for you when you got on and no seats were left.” I pursed my lips at him. “I guess if you’d gotten there earlier, it wouldn’t have been an issue.” I paused. “Like tonight. You got stuck sitting next to me again.”

He grinned. “Turns out it was okay, just like on the flight.” A look of chagrin filled his face. “I have to apologize, Lily.”

Confused, I asked, “What for?”

“For kind of blowing you off earlier.”

I recalled the way I had felt a little hurt when Cameron had seemed to lose interest in me the moment he’d discovered I had a child. I shook my head. “It’s okay.”

He shook his head too. “No, it’s not.” He sighed. “Ty told me a little about what you’ve been through and I feel like a jerk for blowing you off just because you have a baby.”

Now I felt awkward. “You don’t have to pay attention to me out of pity, Cameron.” I paused. “I’m a big girl. I can take care of myself.”

He looked sort of stunned. “There’s no pity involved, Lily. Just an initial moment of panic when I found out you had a baby.” He gazed at me a moment and his blue eyes seemed to darken. “I
want
to get to know you better. Not only are you a beautiful woman, but your story kind of intrigues me.” His face reddened a little, and his dimple showed as he smiled. “That is, if you want to get to know me.”

I gazed at the sincerity in his face, and remembered Alyssa’s comment that he was a nice guy, and thought about how I’d failed to listen to her before regarding both Trevor and Justin. Maybe I should listen to her this time, I thought. A smile slowly lifted the corners of my mouth. “I’d like that.”

He grinned. “Now, are you ready to try some of the melting cake I was telling you about?”

My smile widened. “Absolutely.”

A short time later the waiters brought out the desserts we’d ordered. Balancing Natalie on my lap, I scooped out a small spoonful of the melting cake and added a bit of ice cream to the spoon, then put it in my mouth.

“Well?” Cameron asked, watching me. “What do you think? Does it satisfy your chocolate cravings?”

“Wow. You were right. It’s delicious. So rich. I’m glad they only give you a small serving of it.”

“I wouldn’t mind a larger serving,” he said, smiling. “But I have to watch my figure.”

I laughed. From what I could see, he was in fantastic shape. “Have you signed up for any excursions?” I asked.

“A couple. How about you?”

“Not yet. But it sounds like the whale watching in Juneau is a must, so I was going to do that one.”

“I haven’t signed up for that one. I hear it’s cheaper to do some of the excursions if you wait until we dock and then sign up with people on shore.”

“Really? How does that work?”

“When you get off the ship, there are booths where you can sign up to do excursions with local companies. I’ve been on one other cruise and it was definitely cheaper to use the local companies.”

“Oh. I didn’t know about that.”

“Stick with me, Lily. I’ll show you how it works.”

I smiled at the implied invitation. “With the baby, I won’t be able to do very many excursions. But Alyssa’s mom offered to watch her while I do the whale watching, so I do want to do that one at least.”

“There’s some stuff you can do with her. Like the train ride in Skagway.”

“That would be nice.” I tilted my head to one side. “How do you know so much?”

He grinned. “I just did a little research.”

“That was smart. I guess I just assumed I wouldn’t be able to do much since I had Natalie with me. Which is fine—I’m here for Alyssa’s wedding, after all. But I don’t know if I’ll ever get back to Alaska, so it would be nice to do a few things.”

“Hey,” Cameron said. “I just thought of something. Maybe Ty’s younger sister can babysit for you if you want to do something on the ship. You know, there’s lots to do at night.”

I glanced at Ty’s sister, who was sitting on the other side of the table. She looked like she was about fourteen, which seemed old enough to babysit, but I’d never left Natalie with a sitter. “I’m not sure.” I glanced at Natalie, then back at Cameron. “I’ve never left her with a sitter before.”

His eyebrows went up. “You’ve never been away from her?”

I thought about the hours she’d been away from me when Trevor had kidnapped her with the plan of keeping her, and felt my heart pound. “Just once, but it wasn’t my choice.”

He looked confused, and I wondered how much detail he really knew about me.

“It’s a long story,” I said.
 

“Well, it’s up to you, obviously. But if you change your mind…”

“Thanks for the suggestion. I’ll think about it.”

Chapter Ten

When Natalie and I got back to our room, I was pleasantly surprised by the cute towel animal our room steward had placed on the bed. It looked like a walrus.
 

“Look at that, Natalie,” I said as I placed her next to it. She reached out and touched it, then giggled. I picked up the schedule for the next day, which the steward had set beside the towel animal, and looked over the activities that would be available on the ship the next day—we would be at sea all day as we traveled north toward Alaska. I set the schedule on the desk, and got Natalie ready for bed.

After I tucked her in, I thought about Cameron. He really was a nice guy, just like Alyssa had said, and I wouldn’t mind getting to know him better, but I knew my time with him would be minimal. I was sure he wouldn’t want to be stuck with me as I was limited in what I could do. Then I thought about Marcus and how much he enjoyed Natalie, and wished that he wanted our relationship to move beyond friendship.
 

He’d been such a good friend to me—he’d even been there when Natalie had been born. But he was stuck in the friendship mode. Then I thought of his new girlfriend, Chelsea. He certainly wasn’t stuck in the friendship mode with her.
 

Jealousy that she had something that I didn’t bloomed inside me, but I tamped it down, not liking the way it made me feel. I had no claim over Marcus—he could do what he wanted. I’d told him how I felt about him and he’d turned me down. Clearly, he wasn’t interested in anything beyond friendship.

The night I’d told him I really liked him, he’d told me he didn’t think I was ready for anything more than friendship either. He’d said he thought it was too soon after all that had happened. Maybe he was right. Maybe I wasn’t ready for more than friendship. Even so, I would enjoy my time with Cameron. At least he didn’t have any pre-conceived ideas about what I was or wasn’t ready for. He was just interested in getting to know me better. He’d even come right out and said that. I smiled in remembrance at the man who had already been vetted by Alyssa and Ty. He was Ty’s best friend, after all. I felt safe spending time with him. I knew Alyssa would never lead me astray.

As I got ready for bed and climbed between the covers, I pushed all thoughts of Marcus out of my mind, and instead focused on Cameron—the man who actually had an interest in me. I smiled as I drifted off, excited for what the next day might bring.

The next morning when I was about to go to the dining room and have breakfast, Alyssa called my room phone.

“Are you up yet?” she asked.

I laughed. “I’ve been up for a while. That’s what babies do to you—they make you get up early.”

“That’s kind of what I figured. Some of us are going to breakfast now and I wanted to know if you wanted to meet us in the dining room.”

“Sure, that would be great.”

“I want to hear about the conversation you had with Cameron at dinner.” She laughed. “I couldn’t hear what you were saying, but you seemed like you got along.”

“Won’t he be at breakfast? I don’t want to talk about him if he’s right there.”

“No. Ty called his room, but he wasn’t ready to get up yet. He’ll meet up with us later.”

“Okay. I’ll see you in the dining room in a few minutes.”

We hung up and I carried Natalie out of our room and to the dining room. Alyssa, Ty, and a few other people I hadn’t talked to yet were just arriving. Someone led us to a table and brought a high chair for Natalie.

“So?” Alyssa said as she sat next to me.

I smiled, remembering how much I enjoyed talking to Cameron. “Well, I have to admit, you were right. He’s a nice guy.”

Alyssa grinned. “I told you.” With mock-sternness, she said, “When it comes to men, you should always listen to me, Lily.”

I nodded. “I know that
now
.”

“Good. Better late than never.” She paused. “I was a little worried though, with the way he reacted yesterday when you pointed out Natalie.”

I nodded. “My guess is that he’s not comfortable around babies, and seeing her scared him.”

“Yeah, that makes sense. I guess he got over it though. You guys seemed to talk a lot at dinner. Did you guys make any plans to do stuff together?”

“Not exactly. But he did suggest that Ty’s sister could watch Natalie so I could do something with him on the ship.”

“And?”

I bit my lip. “I’ve never left her with anybody before, so I’m a little nervous about it.”

“Haley’s great with kids. I’d highly recommend her.”

“But doesn’t she want to do stuff at night herself? They have a place for kids her age to hang out, right?”

“That’s true. I guess the only way to find out is to ask her. I think she’s coming for breakfast in a little bit.”

“I’ll think about it.” We ordered our food and my stomach rumbled in anticipation. “How are you feeling, Alyssa? Your wedding’s in two days. Are you ready?”

“Yes, I’m so ready. And it’s nice that the staff here are taking care of everything so I can just enjoy myself.” She paused. “I would have liked to have you as one of my bridesmaids, but we hadn’t really spoken much recently.”

“That’s totally fine. I’m just glad I can be here.”

A few minutes later Ty’s sister, Haley, joined us.
 

“Come sit by Lily,” Alyssa said, and Haley sat in the empty chair on the other side of me, which was next to Natalie’s high chair.

“You’re the one with the cute baby,” she said as she touched Natalie’s hand. “Hi, baby,” she murmured to Natalie.

“Her name’s Natalie,” I said, pleased to see her interest.

“Hi, Natalie.”

Natalie smiled at her, then banged on the tray of her high chair.

“I think she wants me to hold her,” Haley said, smiling.

“I think that’s a great idea.” I glanced at Alyssa, a smile on my face, then took Natalie out of her high chair and gave her to Haley, who seemed very comfortable with her. Seeing them together, I warmed to the idea of asking her to babysit once or twice. It would be nice for me to be able to hang out with the grown-ups.

Our breakfast came a few minutes later, and Haley ordered her breakfast. When Haley’s food arrived, I took Natalie back. “Haley, would you be willing to babysit Natalie for me once or twice at night while we’re on the cruise?”

Her face lit up. “Really?”

I smiled at her enthusiasm. “Yes.”

“I’d love to.”

“I don’t want to keep you from doing any activities that you want to do, though.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that. It would be fun to babysit.”

“If it’s at night, she might be sleeping most of the time you’re babysitting.”

Her smile dimmed. “Oh.” She paused. “But that’s okay. I still want to.”

“Okay. I’ll let you know when I need you.” Happy that I’d been able to make arrangements for Natalie that I felt good about, I enjoyed the rest of my breakfast. “What are you going to do today,” I asked Alyssa.

“I’m not sure. I think Ty wants to hit the slot machines for a little while, but that’s not really my thing.” She paused. “What about a massage in the spa?”

“I can babysit,” Haley quickly said.

I smiled at her, thinking this would be a good chance for me to see how she did when Natalie was awake. “Okay.”

“Great,” Alyssa said. “I’ll see when they have openings today and I’ll let you know.”

Later that morning Alyssa brought Haley to my room so she could babysit while we went to the spa.

“I just fed her,” I told Haley, “so she should be fine as far as that goes. There are toys in the diaper bag.” I looked around the room, wondering what else I needed to tell her. “You can call the number for the spa if you need me.” I was glad that I knew exactly where I’d be, as otherwise it could be hard for her to track me down.

Haley held out her arms for Natalie. “We’ll have fun together.”

I handed her over, suddenly nervous about leaving my baby, but knew it would be fine. “We’ll be an hour or so.”

“Thanks, Haley,” Alyssa said, hooking her arm through mine and tugging me toward the door.

“Yes, thanks,” I added.

A short time later we were getting massages, and I felt myself finally beginning to relax. “This was a great idea,” I murmured.

“I know,” Alyssa said.

After the massage, I went to my room to see how Natalie and Haley were doing, and Alyssa went to check on Ty at the slot machines. When I opened the door to my room, I was relieved to see the two of them getting along fine.