I'll Be Right Beside You

“Hey! Thanks for coming!” Marc was so excited to see his family arrive he was nearly bouncing off the walls – it was adorable to see him and Mike doing the exact same thing. Jordan said hello to his brother before scooping up Carter, who immediately clung to Jordan’s shirt and began taking at him with his baby words, Jordan attentively listening and nodding and talking back to the little boy.

“Easy there sweetheart, you might start drooling,” I jumped and turned bright red when Lindsay spoke in my ear, making her laugh as she went into the kitchen, and making me glad that Henry and Linda had gone upstairs to put their bags in their room.

“Jesus Linds,” I grumbled, mostly to myself. I couldn’t deny that seeing Jordan with his nephews was incredible, just as it always had been.

“Get over there… go on,” Marc all but shoved me in his direction, and Mike looked confused as hell. I gave him a smile and ruffled his strawberry blonde hair before moving toward the living room, knowing Marc would give me a second push if he thought it was necessary.

“Hey,” Jordan looked up and smiled, his blue eyes bright as I sat down on the carpet beside him.
“Hey yourself,” he chuckled, trying to keep Carter’s fingers away from his eyes. We were quiet for a few minutes, sitting side by side. He let out a sigh after a while, and I turned, waiting for an explanation.

“I just… I want this, you know?” he whispered, and I swallowed hard before nodding. “The family, the whole thing… and after all this I’m scared I’m never gonna find that.”

“Jordan don’t be ridiculous, of course you will,”

“No, and don’t come in with something ridiculous like ‘girls will be all over you’ or something like that,” he warned me, mimicking my voice and making both of us laugh.

“It’s true Jord, you’re an incredible guy,” I insisted, but he shook his head.

“Not really. And I’m about as close to a hermit as a guy living in Raleigh can get – I mean, I go to the gym, the rink, and Park’s practices and games. That’s really it, I don’t even have friends outside of my family down there…” he shook his head, his shoulders slumped slightly. I leaned in and put my head on his shoulder, wishing I knew what to say to ease his fears.

“It’ll get better Jord, you’ve always been incredible at meeting people and making friends. You just need to start trusting yourself and stop feeling like you need to hold back because of the accident. You’re going to make some girl the happiest girl on earth,” I told him, trying to keep the emotion out of my voice as I did so. It was true, he would, but I didn’t want him to feel like I was giving him a biased opinion or anything like that.

“Could I make you the happiest girl on earth?” he whispered, and my throat all but closed up. I looked up at him, and in an instant his lips were on mine.

“I… you do Jord, I just don’t know how…” I started stumbling over my words when he pulled away, making him laugh and kiss my cheek.

“Easy there Cam, I’m not saying we should take off to the court house and get married tonight or anything,” he teased, and for what seemed like the hundredth time today my face started turning red. “What I’m saying is I want this, I want us. I want to have a real chance at having everything I know we wanted.”

I kept quiet, not sure of what to say. Jordan seemed to understand, and kissed my temple, letting his lips linger for a moment before he pulled away and leaned his head against mine.

“There’s a lot we need to figure out and talk about Cam, I know that, but I think… I think that this can work. I mean, look at us; it seems like no matter what we always seem to end up at the same place. That means something to me, Cam, and maybe it’s crazy but I think this is what we’re supposed to be. And I want that with you, I just don’t want to scare you off, which I probably just did,” he started laughing, which had me and Carter joining in, even if the little boy hadn’t been paying attention to a word we said, and probably wouldn’t have understood any of it anyway. So we spent a few more minutes companionably, playing with him and Mike who came running into the room as well. I knew without looking that Marc and Lindsay would be subtly watching us from the kitchen, and that Henry and Linda would probably do the same. Jared had went up to the room he was staying in and had stayed there, whether he was sleeping or what I wasn’t sure though.

“Cam, Cam can we go skating?” Mike asked, and I laughed before picking him up and starting to go toward the kitchen. Jordan brought Carter and followed, a similar smile on his face.

“Better ask mom and dad,” I told him, and soon he’d squirmed out of my arms and was tugging at his parents’ hands, begging to be allowed to go. There was a small indoor rink at the public school just a few blocks away, and Lindsay, Marc and I had taken him skating once in the time I’d been here.

“Well, we can go for a little,” Marc allowed, and soon the little boy was running upstairs to go find his skates and everything else.

“This should be fun,” Jordan grinned, and Marc nodded.

“You should see the little guy go – he’s not afraid of anything out there,” he laughed, and Lindsay nodded.

“Reminds me of someone else I know,” she mussed up Marc’s hair before taking Carter from Jordan to get him all bundled up. The look on Marc’s face was obvious, and Jordan beat me to the punch.

“Hey, just leave us be, all right? This is all confusing enough as it is without you sticking your nose in it,” Jordan told him, and I groaned, wishing I’d spoke up first. Subtlety was a trait completely unknown to him, and thankfully Marc was the same or he’d have no doubt been a little offended.

“Jeez, sorry for wanting to know what’s going on with you two,” he rolled his eyes at his younger brother before looking to me. “You sure you want this one? I mean, you can just stay here with us.”

“That’s not fair!” Jordan whined, and I had to laugh, not giving either of them an answer or any ammunition for their arguments. Once the boys were all bundled up and ready to go we quickly got our jackets, toques and mittens and piled into the two vehicles to head to the rink. Jordan wrapped his mitten-covered hand around mine as we walked down to the SUV, and while we didn’t look at each other I knew we were wearing matching smiles.