The Thing About Trouble (Crystal Lake 1)

“I got mad and called Lissa a liar, and she got mad at me and said I was the liar. She said she couldn’t be friends with me anymore, and then she told Silas and Hazel they couldn’t be my friends either.” Tawny looked up then, those big eyes shimmering with tears. The monster inside him grabbed him hard.

She looked so small and defeated, and the anger inside Cam bloomed. How had this little girl come to this? He thought of the phone call he’d had just the day before with his lawyer. She advised they track down the father and get him to sign off on any parental rights in order to avoid problems in the future. It was a complicated situation, and up until now, he wasn’t sure what that future would be exactly. Should he keep Tawny? Was she better off with an adoptive family? Her father?

“Everybody has a daddy except me.” Her voice was small, and it seemed like she folded in on herself.

He had to clear his throat in order to speak. “You’re not alone, kiddo. You’ve got me.”

She sniffled and shook her head. “You’re not my daddy.”

In that moment, Cam’s heart expanded. It got bigger. Fiercer. Stronger. If he was confused about where this was going before, the confusion was gone. There was no more doubt. This girl had claimed something inside him the moment she walked through his door all those weeks ago. There was no way she was leaving and he would do whatever it took to make sure she stayed. This was where she belonged. He thought of something he’d never bothered to ask before, and then took his time doing it.

“Do you like living here with me and Rufus?”

She nodded and swiped at her nose, getting sauce on the tip. Cam grabbed a napkin and gently cleaned it.

“And you want to stay forever?”

Again, she nodded, her eyes downcast, her little hands fisted on the table. He knelt beside her so that his face was even with hers. She slowly met his gaze, and his heart broke wide open.

“I might not have been there the day you were born or even the first couple years of your life. But your mom wanted you with me, so that stuff doesn’t matter. You’re my family.” He paused. “Do you understand?”

She shrugged, clearly not getting what he was so badly trying to get across.

“I’m your daddy now,” he said quietly. “I will always look after you.”

Her eyes widened, and she stopped what she was doing, the pizza forgotten. “I can call you Daddy?”

Her words were like a punch to the gut, and he had to take a moment to answer. “Yeah.” He reached for her and kissed the top of her head as her thin little arms wrapped themselves around him. “You can call me Daddy or Cam. Whatever makes you happy. They’re just names. Labels, really. What matters is what we feel in here.” He pressed her little hand to his heart. “What matters is that you know I’m here for you and I always will be.” He gave her one last hug. “Now, let’s forget about L

issa and all that stuff and get to work on what really matters.”

“Our tummies?”

“Yeah. Our tummies.”

They got their personalized pizzas ready and into the oven. By the time they were cooling on the counter, he’d changed out of his work clothes and Tawny was bouncing in her seat, excited to try her pizza. Cam let her have a soda and he grabbed a beer and pulled up his chair beside hers, and they got down to business.

She was a completely different person from the little girl he’d brought home, and it made him feel good to know he was the reason. When they were done, Tawny volunteered to take Rufus out back while Cam cleaned up the mess. She pulled her boots on and grabbed the leash from the hook beside the back door.

“Cam,” she said shyly, a big grin on her face as she looked across the room at him.

“Yes?”

“Silas and Hazel are going to the movie thing tomorrow night in the park. I think they’re showing a princess movie. Can we go?”

Cameron Booker was pretty sure half of Crystal Lake would be amazed at the thought of him taking a little girl to a movie in the park on a Saturday evening instead of a big girl home to his bed. He thought of Blue and hid a smile. He was done taking things slow.

“Sure we can,” he replied. “What do you say about asking Blue to come with us?”

But Tawny was already out the door with Rufus, skipping and singing as she went. Cam tossed his tea towel and reached for his cellphone.

Tawny wouldn’t mind.

16

Bluebell Barnes, formerly known as Bluebell Liza Bodine, had been named after her grandmother as a way to piss off her father. He’d disliked his mother-in-law more than he disliked peas—and everyone knew he’d rather eat a live cockroach than let even one green pea pass his lips. Her grandmother, Bluebell Jane Jeffers, was from the Deep South, where the old ways were the only ways.

And the Bodines, well, they were Yankees.