Mommy Loves The Military Man

“Yeah, Mom?” Lizzie yelled from somewhere inside the house.

“Mr. Sanchez is here. With Mariana. For dinner.” Cameron turned back to them

. “I’m sorry, Alex. Come on in.”

Now that he was ninety-nine percent sure Cameron had no idea they were coming over, he leaned down so his mouth was right next to Mariana’s ear. “Just wait until we get home, young lady.”

He stepped into Cameron’s house and shut the door behind him. The entryway led to a living room with comfortable furniture that faced a fireplace. Clothes littered the room like a laundry parade.

Yep. Cameron definitely hadn’t been expecting company. How in the heck was he going to escape this situation without embarrassing anybody?

“Mariana!” Lizzie appeared beside her mother, and his daughter threw her arms around her friend. The girls hurried out of the room before he could stop them.

He shoved his hands in his pockets. Right now, he wanted to be anywhere but here.

A huge, white dog ambled into the room, sniffed at his shoes, and then meandered over to the kitchen doorway and laid down.

“That’s Boomer. I hope you’re not allergic to dogs. Um, give me a minute.” Cameron rushed around the room, grabbed clothes off the floor, and flung them into a basket that she furiously shoved into a closet on the back wall. The door started to fall open and she leaned her back against it and rammed it closed. She sighed when the latch finally clicked.

“No allergies here.” The best thing to do would be to ignore everything that had happened since he’d walked in the door. That was what he would want if someone had showed up unannounced at his house. And his house definitely resembled Cameron’s on any given day. “I think I owe you an apology. Mariana told me that we were invited for dinner. It appears that we’ve been hoodwinked by a couple of ten-year-olds.”

Cameron shook her head and fought a smile. “Lizzie texted me when she got home from school and told me Grandma would take care of dinner. I was in a meeting and was happy I didn’t have to cook. But then I got home and dinner hadn’t been started and my mom ran out the door so fast, I didn’t have a chance to get an update. And then you were ringing the bell.”

Evidently the girls had an accomplice in Lizzie’s grandma. “It seems our girls have cooked this up. Get it? Cooked?”

She laughed at his lame attempt at a joke. What else could he do but make light of the situation when he was standing in another person’s living room, clutching a bottle of wine and wishing he was anywhere but here?

“The problem is,” She glanced over her shoulder. “I don’t have anything to offer you.”

“I have something to start with.” He extended the bottle. “This is for you.”

She grinned and grabbed the bottle. “Well, this takes care of us. What about the girls?”

“I believe they’ve earned cold cereal for dinner.”

“Works for me.” Cameron was being a good sport about this. Right now, he was cataloging a list of chores to give to Mariana for putting him and Cameron in this situation. What was she thinking, having him ambush Cameron like this? He knew she wanted to hang out with Lizzie after school, but this was not how to go about it.

A huge canine rumble sounded behind Cameron. Boomer lurched out of the kitchen doorway with his face scrunched up.

“Is something wrong with your dog?”

“Boomer, no!” Cameron lurched forward and shoved him, just in time to keep the dog from puking on his shoes. “What in the heck have you eaten now? Lizzie, come throw this dog in the backyard. He got into something again.”

Cameron inched the closet door open and stretched her arm in, coming out with a shirt. She slammed the door closed again and threw the garment on the floor, covering up God knows what the dog had managed to eat and regurgitate. “That should at least mask the smell until it dries and I can clean the carpet. It makes a much bigger mess to clean it up wet.”

“You sound like you’ve done this a time or two?”

“Or a couple dozen.” She ran her hand through her hair.

He laughed. This scene was so absurd it was funny.

Cameron’s eyebrows arched and that pink crept up her cheeks … and then she joined him. Practically doubled-over. She laughed until tears ran down her cheeks.

Alex sucked in a few deep breaths. “I’m so sorry. I don’t know why I’m laughing. There is nothing funny about my daughter inviting you over under false pretenses and then my dog almost puking on your shoes.”

“Well, the dog thing is kinda funny.”

“I can see that. The first ten times. But still…”