“Well, that’s good. And Cam? He must be beside himself.”
“I don’t really know. He’s with Xander.”
“You mean you haven’t seen him today?” She sounded surprised.
“Well, no. My mom thought he should stay away until I knew it was only a twenty-four-hour thing.”
“Makes sense, I guess. But you’ve spoken to him, right?”
“I...”
“Hailee?”
“He needs to be with his family right now,” I said, unable to keep the sadness out of my voice.
“But you’re his family.”
I’d thought so too, once upon a time. But I wasn’t so sure about anything anymore.
“Has Jason spoken to him?”
“Yeah, they talked earlier.”
I sucked in a harsh breath.
“Shit, Hails, I didn’t mean to—”
“It’s okay. I’m glad he has Jason to talk to.”
If he wasn’t going to turn to me, he needed to turn to someone.
“I just don’t understand it. You’ve always been so good together.”
Her words made the knot in my stomach tighten. “He doesn’t want to choose,” I said quietly.
“But there doesn’t have to be a choice, does there?”
There did though. Or at least, I knew Cameron enough to know that’s what he thought. He was an all or nothing guy. I’d seen how much it had affected him not being able to be there for Xander. He’d persisted for me. He’d continued our life in Michigan... for me.
But I realized now, his heart wasn’t in it.
“He needs to be here with his family.”
“You really think he’ll quit the team? Leave college?”
I didn’t want to believe it when we’d first talked about it, but Karen’s diagnosis changed everything. And I knew…in my heart of hearts, I knew I’d already lost him.
Silent tears clung to my lashes.
“I’m so sorry,” Felicity said as if she’d worked it out too.
“It’s okay,” I choked out. “He needs to be here for them.”
Even though I knew the words to be true, it didn't make them hurt any less.
“Hailee,” Mom yelled. “Cameron is here. I’m going to meet Kent for dinner. We’ll be back later.”
“Listen, I’ve got to go.”