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“Shit.” He cringes even though we know my family already thinks of him as one of us. “Am I going to be drilled with questions?”
I sit on the sofa behind him, so his back is between my legs. I massage his shoulders.
He lays his head on my thigh. “I’ll make you proud, girlfriend. I promise.”
“You can stop calling me girlfriend.” I squeeze a little harder to get my point across.
“Why, girlfriend?”
I stop massaging, holding up my hands.
“Okay, girlfriend. I’ll stop.” I move to get up, but he stops me, turning around and somehow getting me on my back. “I’ll stop now. For the rest of the night.”
“Uh-huh.”
He does stop for ten minutes while we have sex on the couch. But after that, he’s back to calling me girlfriend practically every other word. It’s somewhat annoying, but there are worse things, right?
* * *
Sunday comes way too quickly, and Cam disappeared this morning only to return with a bouquet of flowers for Marla and my dad’s favorite barbeque sauce from a store in Greywall.
“Why did you buy this stuff?” I ask as we walk up the hill toward the house, where most of my siblings’ cars are already parked. I had my suspicions but hoped it would just be the four of us.
“I’m coming as your boyfriend tonight.” I stare at him, and he holds up his hands. “I didn’t call you girlfriend.” He lowers his head to mine. “Girlfriend.”
I swat at his arm, and he laughs.
“Seriously, I’m not coming as Fisher’s best friend. I’m coming as your guy.”
“I like that my guy thing.” I step closer and tilt my head toward him. He doesn’t miss the fact I’m looking for another kiss and places his lips on mine. “I apologize ahead of time for their behavior. I know they’re going to do something bizarre or embarrassing, so just roll with it.”
He literally vacations with us and has been part of our family forever. I’m not sure why I’m so worried my family is going to embarrass me. Ha! Yes, I do. It’s because I know them.
I walk in through the garage and the house is eerily quiet when I know there are at least five babies here.
“We’re here,” I announce. “You know, just me and Cam, the guy you’ve known forever.”
We round the corner, and sure enough, my family is all sitting there and staring at us.
Marla gets up from the couch. “Hello, Chevelle and…” She looks at Cam, apparently waiting for me to introduce him.
I scrunch my eyebrows. “Cam.”
“Cam? Does Cam have a last name?” she asks like she’s never met him before.
“Baker,” I say slowly, not understanding why they’re pretending we don’t know him.
She holds out her hand. “Nice to meet you, Cam Baker. May I assume Cam is short for Cameron?”
“You may.” Cam shakes her hand and looks at me.
I shrug and shake my head. Like, just go with it, I guess.
“I brought you some flowers,” he says.
Marla accepts them and turns to the group. “He brought flowers. And they smell great. I’ll go put these in water. Why don’t you introduce Cam to the rest of the family?” She walks into the kitchen.
Now all my siblings are looking at us with serious faces. We step farther into the family room.
