Page 72 of See You Again
Cami glanced at the half-bare trees out the window. “Call me if you change your mind.”
For the rest of the morning, Cami did chores around the house, determined not to think about James or what his posting the nostalgic photo meant. Maybe it was just his way of holding up his end of their deal. Making sure everyone knew he was taken.
Now that she’d had time to think, he’d done the right thing by pulling back last night. She certainly didn’t need a gym sex tape floating around on the internet. It wasn’t even that he’d made the comment about amending the contract. She could understand that from James’s point of view.
It was the fact that when he was touching her, Cami didn’t think she would have cared if the whole world was watching. She was obsessed with him. But his stopping mid make-out proved she was way more invested than he was. And the last time that happened…
No doubt, Madison’s advice about talking to James was the healthy, mature thing to do. Her heart clenched as she was suddenly flooded with the memory of James nonchalantly suggesting they could change their contract if she wanted to have sex, while her body still pulsed with unsatisfied lust. Cami threw a pillow across the room. Screw maturity.
Cami was stretched out on her couch contemplating a nap, when her phone rang. It only took one glance for her to groan.
Her mother.
Was there any chance her mom hadn’t seen Cami tagged in the photo? Cami had blocked her mom on the photos of James she’d put up because she hadn’t wanted to explain them.
Now that she rarely left the house, her mother had become obsessed with social media. Cami tried to talk to her several times about how unhealthy it was to only view the world that way. The longer her mother spent glued to the internet, the more she believed every conspiracy theory she came across, in turn making it even harder for Irene to leave the house.
Cami rubbed her temples. She wasn’t up to this today. Her mother was going to have questions and opinions that Cami wasn’t going to be able to answer. She let the phone go to voicemail, but when a text flashed on the screen, she knew she couldn’t ignore it.
Mama: You have a boyfriend. Call me.
Cami debated putting off her mother’s call until tomorrow. Pretend she hadn’t seen it…
“Hey, mama,” she said, when her mother picked up on the first ring.
“Since when do you have a boyfriend? I have to learn about it on the internet?”
“It’s new,” Cami hedged. She had to choose her words carefully. Her mother’s mental state was fragile, and Cami needed her mother to believe she hadn’t intentionally been left out—even if she had. “We were friends in college and ran into each other last week.”
For a multitude of reasons, Cami hadn’t shared her heartbreak over James with her mother. In fact, her mother didn’t even know James existed.
“I Googled him. There are blogs that make it sound like you’re in a serious relationship,” her mother accused.
“I’ve told you a million times, you can’t believe everything you see on the internet, Mama.”
And this was a perfect example of why. However, Cami couldn’t tell her mother that. Not only was her mother a voracious consumer of social media, Irene left comments everywhere with her opinion on what she saw. Cami couldn’t risk her mother making a comment under one of the articles about her and James and blowing up the whole charade.
“People are looking for a good story. If there was something important to share, you would be my first call.”
“He’s very handsome… and rich.” Cami sighed at her mother’s tone.
“James is very attractive, and he works very hard. He’s a lawyer who helps people when they are in trouble.”
“That’s not what the blogs say,” her mother argued. “They say he’s a trust fund baby. A billionaire. You can’t trust men like that. He’s not from the same world as us. He’s going to use you and throw you away. You’ll never be good enough for him.”
Cami closed her eyes. She understood the emotion behind her mother’s bitter words, but they still stung. Particularly when that was almost exactly what happened with James before?
“He’s not like that.” Cami had no idea if that was true, or if she simply wanted to believe it was true. Either way, her mother didn’t need to worry. It’s not like she and James were in a real relationship. This time, she would guard her heart better.
“Do you think you could come by this afternoon? I miss you,” her mother whined.
Cami’s heart sank. “I could bring you dinner, if you’d like,” she said, with forced cheer, and then said the words her mother was waiting for, “Do you need me to bring you anything else?”
She shoved down the self-loathing at her resentment. Her mother needed her. Irene didn’t have anyone else. But Cami wasn’t up to being her mother’s emotional crutch today when her own feelings were in turmoil.
“Don’t go to any trouble. Just dinner is fine.” Cami held her tongue, forcing the extended silence to stretch between them. It was petty, but the endless dance between them was exhausting. “But if you’re going to the store…”
Her mother rattled off her weekly shopping list as Cami did her best to keep up. It wasn’t the money. Her mother always insisted on reimbursing her each weekend when Cami brought her groceries. Cami knew she wasn’t helping her mother’s condition by enabling her, but it was one thing to know something intellectually, and another to tell the mother who raised her that she was on her own.