Chapter 4

FOUR

Cameron

“Grams!” I call as I jog outside to greet her.

“There’s my favorite granddaughter,” she answers, and I laugh.

“I’m your only granddaughter,” I say, and we share a smile.

We’ve been greeting each other the same way since I was a little kid. My mom is my grandma’s youngest daughter, and we were close growing up. She practically raised me since my parents were both always working.

When I graduated high school, she left town and went down south. She comes back every few months for a visit, but I don’t get to see her nearly as much as I’d like to.

“I like your new place,” she says as we head to the house. “It’s cute.”

“It’s tiny, basically a closet,” I correct, and she laughs.

“It’s the perfect size,” she tells me, patting my hand as I support her up the front porch steps.

I open the door for us and lead her into the living room. My house really is tiny, and you can see the kitchen, both bedrooms, and the bathroom from the living room.

“I like how you decorated it, but where are all of your paintings?” My grandma asks.

“They’re in the spare bedroom right now. I set it up as my art room after Ruby moved out.”

“I’d love to see it.”

“Let me get your bags and then I’ll show you around.”

I jog out to her car and grab her suitcase out of the back of her car. She’s still driving the same old maroon Buick LeSabre that she’s had for as long as I can remember. My grandpa bought her the car before he passed, and I know that’s why she’s still so attached to it.

I’m closing her trunk and I jump when I realize that Ford is standing on the other side of the car. We haven’t really talked since my shift yesterday.

Things are so weird right now. He spent the second half of my shift at the diner using every excuse he could to touch me. Every time he brushed his hand against my lower back as he scooted past me or tucked some hair behind my ear, a shiver would run down my spine.

I was so turned on by the time I clocked out that I had to run home and grab one of my toys to take the edge off. I ended up imaging it was Ford and screaming his name as I came.

The problem is that I don’t know how to act around him today. I mean, I know that I should be treating him like my boyfriend, especially because my grandma is here, but part of me is holding back. I know that it would be all too easy to fall into that pattern, and it’s going to be hard to stop once our pretend relationship is over.

That’s my greatest fear. That I’m going to fall even more in love with Ford while we’re pretending and it’s going to crush me when it’s over.

“Hey, what are you doing here?” I ask him.

“I wanted to stop by and give you these and say hi to your grandma,” he says, pulling out a gorgeous bouquet of roses from behind his back.

“Oh, thanks. She just got here, actually,” I say as he passes me the bouquet and takes the suitcase from me.

We head up to the house, and I take a deep breath before we walk into the house.

“Well, who is this? Ford Miller, is that you?” Grams asks as he steps inside.

“It sure is, ma’am,” he says, bending down to hug her.

“Oh, I haven’t seen you since I left town! What have you been up to?” She asks.

He sets her suitcase down next to the front door, and then we all sit on the couch.

“Dear, you should put those in some water,” my grandma tells me and I stand, going in search of a vase for my flowers.

I can hear Ford telling my grandma about buying the diner and a place here in town. I fill up the vase and arrange the roses, smiling as I set them on the kitchen counter.

“Cameron was just about to show me her artwork,” Grams says as Ford helps her off the couch.

My stomach drops as I realize what’s about to happen.

“Oh, Ford probably has to be getting to the diner,” I say, but he just smiles.

“Nope. That’s the perk of being the boss. I’ll head in later.”

“Um…” I scramble to come up with a way to stop this, but I’ve got nothing.

“I’d love to see your artwork. It’s been a while,” Ford adds, and I nod.

“Let me just go clean up really quick,” I say, darting back to the art room.

It’s no use though. They’re both right behind me, and as soon as I open the door, they see it.

“Oh! You two really are dating!” My grandma says as she sees all of the paintings of Ford scattered around the room. “I thought you were just faking it to get me off your back.”

“Uh-huh,” I gulp, my face on fire.

I look everywhere but at Ford as they walk around the small room and look at all the paintings. I can feel Ford’s eyes on me, but I keep mine on the floor.

“They’re all so good, Cameron. I love this one,” my grandma says, pointing to a newer painting of the mountains that border this town.

“Thanks.”

“The ones of your beau are great too,” she adds, and my face flames even hotter.

“Why don’t we go out to lunch?” Ford asks, and my grandma agrees before I can come up with an excuse to say no.

“We can go to your diner!” Grams says, and I force a smile.

“Sure,” I agree.

“I can drive,” Ford offers, but I shake my head.

“No, I have to run to the store for some groceries. We’ll just follow you there,” I tell him.

“Alright,” he agrees, and we all head for the front door.

I lock up and Ford helps my grandma down the front porch steps. He opens my car door for me and I force myself to look up as I thank him.

“We’ll see you in a minute,” I tell him and he nods, leaning in as I go to slide past him and into the driver’s seat.

“You know,” he whispers. “If I could paint, I would have painted you at least a million times over the years.”

My heart lodges in my throat and I can only stare at him as he drops a kiss on my lips and heads over to his truck.

Shit.

I’m screwed here because there’s no way that I’m going to be able to let Ford go when this is over.