Whitney had really been hoping that Didi could tolerate Katherine for another thirty days. Surely it wasn’t that bad with Katherine.

“Why would you do this? Really?” she asked. “Why do you care if Didi is happy with Katherine?”

He took a moment to answer. He took another step closer and tucked his hands into his pockets. The movement drew her attention to his arms. He’d always been muscular and solid, but he definitely had the arms—and shoulders and chest and abs—of a man now. The last time his arms had been around her, making her feel comforted and loved and sexy, he’d been a boy. She couldn’t help but wonder how they would feel around her now.

She shook that off quickly though. That was even more complicated than having him getting along with her grandmother. It was one thing for them to see each other regularly and to have something in common with Hot Cakes. It would be a lot more convoluted between them if he was a part of her personal life as well. But if there was a physical connection too, she wasn’t sure she’d be strong enough not to just fall headfirst in love with him. Again.

“I’ve been really clear about what I want, Whit,” he finally said. “I want a chance to see what, if anything, is between us now. It’s been ten years but I wouldn’t say we had a lot of closure. If we spend time together and decide to be friends, great. If we can only manage to be coworkers at Hot Cakes, then, fine. I guess. But if we can be more, then I absolutely want to know that.”

“So you’re using my grandmother to get closer to me?” she asked, crossing her arms, feeling suddenly raw and jumpy.

Her life had been easier when Cam had lived in another city and only came home occasionally. It had always hurt to see him. She’d always wanted more than the few minutes of interaction. She’d wanted more than acting as if they were just acquaintances, like she did with any of the other guys she’d gone to high school with who were home for the holidays and passed her on the street.

It had never felt right with Cam. It had never been enough.

But then he’d leave and she’d forget about him again. Or at least push him to the back of her mind.

Until she heard a song that reminded her of him. Or passed his family’s bakery. Or passed the house where he’d grown up. Or passed the road to the river where they’d spent lots of time in his back seat. Or… any of the other dozens of places in Appleby that reminded her of him and their past together.

Which was almost every day.

Yeah, it was incredibly difficult to forget about an ex-boyfriend in a tiny town where you’d spent a year in love with him.

Especially when you hadn’t really ever gotten over him.

And you hadn’t found a guy who could replace him in any way.

Him moving into her house and becoming a co-caregiver to her favorite person in the world was really not the way to move past any of that.

“I think she’s using me to get out of doing crosswords with Katherine,” he said, lifting a shoulder. “But I’m not going to turn down a chance to be around you more, Whit.”

“I don’t think this is a good idea.” She pressed her arms into her stomach.

“Why not?”

He knew. He knew why it was a bad idea in her mind. It was because it was going to be hard for her to hold herself back from him. But he wanted her to say it out loud.

“You have a job.”

He gave a short laugh. “I own the company. I’m best friends with—and have dirt on—all of the other owners. I can do a lot of my work from here. And if I need to be in the office, it’s a five-minute drive.”

“So you would leave her alone,” Whitney said. “I can’t have you—”

“I would never do anything that wouldn’t be completely safe for her,” he broke in, looking annoyed that she’d even suggest that. “I will handle this.”

“How?”

“You don’t need to worry about it,” he said. “That’s what’s so great about this. I’m taking this off your plate.”

“To get on my good side.”

“Yes.”

He didn’t even try to hedge.

Now she wanted to hear him admit something. He was trying to get her into bed. And he was willing to use her grandmother to do it. Gross.

Though it didn’t really feel gross. It felt… good. Someone wanting to be with her so badly that he’d pull out all the stops? She honestly wasn’t used to people wanting to be with her as much as Cam seemed to.

And it was Cam. There was just nothing gross about him. Period.

“Why?”

“Because I care about you.”

That made her stomach flip in spite of how tightly she had her arms crossed.

“And because you want to—”

“She cried, Whit.”

Whitney stopped and frowned. “What?”

“She cried.” He sighed. “She regrets so many things that happened with my grandma. With your grandpa. With the business. But she’s so glad that we stayed together. I didn’t have the heart to do anything but agree with her.”

Whitney’s frown deepened. “You told her we stayed together?”

“No. But I didn’t correct her, either.” The way he lifted one brow was almost as if he was daring her to tell him he’d been wrong to placate her.

Whitney pulled in a breath. She wasn’t going to tell him he was wrong. Grandma tears were the worst. If he’d been able to resist feeling bad and doing whatever it took to make Didi feel better, he would be a bad guy.

And Camden McCaffery was definitely not a bad guy.

“She believes it though,” he went on. “She thinks that we stayed together and have kept the relationship hidden all this time.”

Whitney pulled in a deep breath, then nodded. “She also probably thinks it’s only been a year or so since you left town.”

That made her heart ache. She didn’t want to lose Didi. Her grandmother was her only family left here in Appleby. But, in many ways, Didi had always been her only family. At least in the make-her-feel-supported-and-comforted way families were supposed to function. Didi was the one Whitney had her best childhood memories with. Now she was slowly losing the bright, funny, sweet woman who had been her advocate and had always believed in her.

Whitney was going to be on her own soon. Maybe the Alzheimer’s would take a few years to steal Didi completely, but already her grandmother was changing. Their relationship was changing. Eventually Whitney would be alone. And there was nothing she could do about it. She felt like there was a sharp, hot poker jabbing her just below her ribs when she thought about that.

She needed her work. She needed to secure her place at Hot Cakes. She needed to be vital there. That was all she had and she needed to be a part of something. Her family was gone, the family business was gone, her grandmother would be gone. Hot Cakes was the one place she could belong.

Of course, even Hot Cakes had changed on her, but she was still there and she had a better chance now at being truly essential to the business. It was the only thing she could control. She could control her work and her performance. Everything else involved other people, and, as she knew too well, other people were out of her control completely.

“Even if that is what she thinks,” Cam said about Didi’s poor perception of time. “It makes her happy. Really happy. She wants us to be together. She wants to know that someone is loving you and taking care of you.”