Mike paused as he went to take another bite of his burger, and his eyes met Noah’s. “Sorry, buddy. She’ll be in our wedding because she’s family and a friend of Vivian’s.”
“It won’t matter. While it’s over between us, we can be civil to each other. I’ll see her at your wedding and then it’s goodbye and we probably won’t cross paths again.”
“She’s a good artist and highly successful, which made her instant friends with Vivian. Vivian shows Camilla’s art in her galleries. Camilla is good at what she does. Her art is bringing in higher returns and it’s selling better than ever.”
Noah was glad for her. She’d always been talented. But enough talk about Camilla. He changed the subject quickly, before Mike could go on about the woman. “Speaking of a wedding, too bad Jake won’t be out of the military and back for your wedding.”
“We waited for you. I’m not waiting another month for Jake to get back, even though I count him as a close friend,” Mike said.
“I’m sure he’ll understand.”
“He won’t care if he isn’t in a wedding except that he’ll miss a party. Jake loves a party.”
After reminiscing a bit about their good friend and Ranger buddy Jake Ralston, Mike asked after Noah’s plans now that he was home.
“I’ll stay in Dallas for the next month to get business taken care of, see my family some, and I have Thane’s gift to Camilla to deliver. Eventually, I’ll go back to my West Texas Bar G Ranch.”
“That’s the best possible plan,” Mike said, smiling. “If you want to buy a really fine horse, come by our place.”
“I’ll do that. When is a good time?”
Mike shrugged. “With our wedding coming up this weekend, either come out today or tomorrow or wait a couple of weeks until we return from our honeymoon.”
“Thanks, Mike. I’ll give you a call or text when I’m ready.”
“Great. You know where the ranch is. Stay for dinner and get to know Vivian if you can.”
“Thanks,” he said and Mike nodded.
As the hour passed, they finished lunch and finally said goodbye. Noah left, thinking again about delivering the gifts from Thane. When he sat in his car, he called a phone number he still could remember easily and drew a deep breath as he waited to hear Thane’s sister, Camilla Warren, answer.
Camilla
Camilla’s heart skipped a beat when she looked at the name on the caller ID. Noah. She hadn’t talked to him since the two weeks he’d been home on a furlough. Since they’d made a baby together. Sex with Noah had always been fabulous. In bed, they were compatible, in sync. Not so much out of the bedroom. A relationship between them never would have lasted. And now he would never forgive her deception.
She stared at the caller ID while the music on her phone continued to play, indicating an incoming call. She didn’t want to answer. She and Noah had nothing to talk about and he should know that she would not go out with him. She couldn’t imagine he would want to ask her out after the harsh words they’d had when they last parted. She didn’t want to see him and she didn’t want to talk to him.
His call kicked over to voice mail and minutes later her heart skipped another beat when she listened to Noah’s familiar voice.
“Camilla, your brother has a gift for you. It’s important because he went through hell—” Noah paused and tears stung her eyes because she loved her older brother and she knew Noah and Thane had been close friends since they had been in middle school.
She could hear Noah take a deep breath. “Thane went through hell to make sure I knew what he wanted. I promised him I would give a package to you. He was insistent I put it in your hand myself. Sorry Mike could have given it to you, but that wasn’t what your brother wanted. This was a final request of a dying buddy, a man whose memory I will always honor, and I’m going to keep my promise to him and put his gift into your hand as he asked. Also, he gave me a present for your baby, his first nephew. I’m to give that present to him. I’ll call again for a time.” There was a brief pause, and then he added, “It’s Noah, by the way.”
She heard the click and dropped her phone to cover her face with her hands and sob for the big brother who had been killed, a brother who had been a friend and a second dad. He wasn’t coming home. And she knew she was also crying over Noah, the man she had once loved with all her heart. The man she had to keep out of her life at all costs. Yet now there was a reason she had to see him, because she could not refuse her brother’s dying request, either.
Thane had known she couldn’t refuse to see Noah. Too easily, she could imagine her brother’s motive in getting Noah to deliver the present to her. Even from the grave, he was taking charge of someone else’s life. This time, hers. Thane was determined that Noah learn about Ethan. After the baby was born, Thane had written her and asked if Ethan was Noah’s. He was the only person who had come up with the truth. She couldn’t write back and admit it, though. Just the fact that she’d stalled had given him an answer. And then he’d gotten a call through to her and they had argued about it.
Thane tried almost as much as her dad to take charge of everything in his life. But he couldn’t convince Camilla to tell Noah the truth.
She sighed as she wiped her eyes and tried to regain her composure. She would have to see Noah and accept her brother’s present. To do so, they should make arrangements to meet as soon as possible and get it over and done. But she was not going to let him see Ethan. Noah could give her Ethan’s present. Her son wouldn’t know what was going on, anyway.
She picked up the phone to send a text to invite Noah to come by. She had no intention of telling Noah ahead of time that Ethan would not be home. Noah would simply come another time. In minutes she received an answer and a time, which she accepted. She sighed as she wondered how she would get through seeing Noah tomorrow. Not only then, but at Vivian’s wedding.
Vivian would marry Mike Moretti, another Ranger buddy and rancher who had been in Thane’s outfit. Thane had hired Mike to replace their retiring foreman. Vivian knew about Camilla’s breakup with Noah, so she had been sympathetic when she’d asked Camilla to be in her wedding, telling Camilla if she was uncomfortable accepting, she would understand. Camilla wanted to say no and stay far away, but she couldn’t. For Thane’s sake—and she truly liked Vivian—she would be in the wedding, which Vivian had originally said would be small with just family members and very close friends. That had changed because there were so many family members. Mike and Vivian both had brothers and close friends. One of Vivian’s brothers would be best man. Noah would be a groomsman. Noah’s sister, Stefanie, would be a bridesmaid.
Camilla hoped she could get through seeing Noah, talking to him, being in the wedding with him, without any tears. She was the one who had broken up the relationship and she thought by now she was over him, but hearing his voice not only made her cry, it made her weak in the knees and swamped her with longing to have his arms around her and to kiss him again—something she didn’t want to feel. She had no future with Noah. Her feelings hadn’t changed one tiny degree regarding his alpha-male ways. She just had to get through tomorrow’s meeting and get through the wedding, and then Noah would be out of her life.
After the wedding, she didn’t ever have to see Noah again. She would cling to that thought like a lifeline.
But first she had to make it through tomorrow.
* * *
The next day at noon her heart fluttered as she changed clothes for the third time. She shouldn’t care how she looked or what she wore. She and Noah were finished forever and she would take the package and baby present her brother had sent and say goodbye and Noah would