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In my mind, I can see the exact moment today that the dimple on her left cheek popped. The moment our eyes caught, and it didn’t feel like we were putting on a show for anyone else. It felt like we were alone in the world, just the two of us. Like we were doing what made us happy and not acting.

Did Cami feel that way, too? Did she feel that way in those moments, rather than feeling like an actor playing a part in them?

Who would we have been acting for, anyway? It was just us out there in the snow until the others caught up.

In the bathroom, the shower turns off and I make out the sound of Cami stepping out of the shower, a towel sliding off the bar. I continue pacing to try and keep myself from thinking about her, wrapping herself in a warm towel, her feet padding across the fluffy rugs on the floor.

A moment later, I hear the gentle whir of a hairdryer, then the vibration of her humming underneath. For too long a moment, I stand at the bathroom door, listening to her.

She’s humming “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus.”

I pull back away from the door because I don’t want to seem like a creep. My heart is beating too fast, too hard, just at the fact that a woman is in the room over. It’s ridiculous.

When I step back, I bump into the bed and accidentally send Cami’s phone sliding off the side, near the wall. Without thinking, I turn and walk over to it, following the charger that tethers it to her leather work bag, which is open.

Pulling out her phone to set it back on the bed, a paper comes with it.

Typed on the official Dunne Tech letterhead. It takes me a few times of reading it over to fully comprehend what this is saying.

To Whom It May Concern:

Please consider this letter as an official notice of my resignation. I plan to remain with the company for as long as it takes to train a suitable replacement for my role. My time at Dunne Tech has been informative and inspiring, and I am ready to move on to the next stage of my professional and personal development.

If there is anything at all that the human resources or hiring teams need from me, please don’t hesitate to ask. Again, the Dunne Tech family is still my family, and I am more than willing to do whatever it takes to ensure the company’s success in my absence.

Best,

Cami Aaronson

I lower the letter down in my shaking hands just as the bathroom door opens. The moment Cami meets my eyes, it’s obvious she knows exactly what I just read.

CHAPTER 20

CAMI

“Patrick.” I choke out his name, my eyes locked on the paper that shakes slightly in his hand. It’s my resignation. From this angle, I can only see the back, but I know that’s what it is from the look on his face.

Betrayal.

He’s just my employer, and I’m just an employee, deciding to go in another direction for my personal life. I could talk to him, explain that I’ve sunk too much time and energy into work. That if I want to have kids of my own, the clock has already been ticking for some time.

God, I hate that phrase. I hate even more that it applies to me now.

Just before getting in the shower, before hearing Patrick come in earlier, I was on the phone with Poppy. Filling her in on the details of the trip.

Filling her in on the details of this…strange thing between Patrick and me. This wanting to be near him. How every time I glance in his direction, he’s already looking at me.

“The only way to know if he feels it too is to ask him!” Poppy said, laughing and clearly enjoying my suffering.

“You don’t understand,” I protested, as I poked around through the luxury soap options in the cabinet. “Patrick isn’t like that.”

“What are you afraid of? It can be so liberating to admit how you feel about someone.”

“I’m afraid the second I say it, he’ll run.”

Poppy tutted. “Well, then he’s not the one for you.”

It was easy for her to say, easy to give that advice when she wasn’t the one with the sweaty palms and the beating-too-fast heart. Not the one who would have to stand in front of a man known for being cold and tell him about her feelings.