Page 65 of Unexpected You
“You are glowing,” Camille said when I arrived at the house. “Are you doing something new?”
Somehow I held back a hysterical laugh. “Sort of?”
Her eyes lit up. “Ohhh, tell me.” Now that I had an assistant, I’d been hanging out with Camille less during the day and I had missed her so much.
“I’m going on a date this weekend,” I said, and she hugged me so hard that I could barely breathe.
“You met someone! Tell me, tell me. I want to know everything about him,” she said, and I hesitated. It was one thing to not tell Camille who I was dating, but I couldn’t hide that I was dating a woman.
“Where are the kids?” I asked instead of answering her.
“John took them to grab dinner. They’ll be here in a few. Is everything okay?”
“Yes?” I said, and it sounded like a question. “Yes. Everything is okay. I just have to tell you something.”
I couldn’t meet Camille’s eyes as she led me to the living room and sat me down on the couch, taking both my hands in hers. Her concern was palpable and it made me feel a little sick.
“It’s nothing bad, I promise,” I said. “Just something new, I guess?”
“You can tell me anything, El. Anything.” Her grip on my hands was almost painful.
“I’m not going out with a man. It’s a woman.” I braced for a reaction and gasped when Camille hugged me so hard that I couldn’t inhale fully.
“Camille,” I managed to say, “too tight.”
“Sorry!” She let me go and sat back, tears sparkling in her eyes. “I’m just…I’m so happy and proud and I love you and I knew this day was coming, but I feel like I’m saying all the wrong things.”
“What?” I said, surprised at her words. “What are you talking about?”
“El, I know you.” She stared into my eyes and I felt myself blushing.
“You knew I’m…” I trailed off. The word bisexual stuck in my throat. Still too difficult to say out loud.
“Yeah, I knew.” I wasn’t sure what to do with this information.
“And you never said anything?”
Camille gave me one of her warm smiles. “I didn’t want to say anything. I mean, should I have? I guess I just…thought you’d figure it out. Eventually.”
She had the grace to look a little sheepish.
“Cam, I’m literally forty-one. When was I going to figure this out?”
She was about to say something when the door opened and there were the kids and John, and Camille said, “we are talking about this later.”
* * *
It wasn’t until the kids were in bed and Camille had given John a look that he left us in the living room again and said he was going to go do laundry.
“Finally,” Camille said, scooting closer with a glass of wine in her hand. “Tell me how it happened.”
I blew out a long breath. “I met someone. She’s…interesting and funny and gorgeous and I guess I couldn’t hold back those feelings anymore. Everything hit me so hard and most of the time it doesn’t feel real and it’s new and I’m terrified and Cam, I’ve never felt this way before.”
The words tumbled out of my mouth one after the other and I couldn’t stop them. Somehow I managed to shut up before I told her that the woman was my incredible assistant that was also several years younger.
“Oh, El,” she said, hugging me more gently this time. “I love this for you.”
“You do?”