Concealed

Holy shit. Holy shit. Holy shit.

Cameron walked me back to the house an hour later. We spent most of the hour on the couch, holding hands and leaning into each other. I had no clue what to say but he didn’t seem to want me to speak. Instead, he just played with my fingers some more. I liked it. I’ve only had the one boyfriend and that was a disaster.

“Good night,” he said, stopping at my door. “I’ll let you know when my brother gets in.”

“Okay,” I said.

He smiled and I took a bold move. I kissed him a little then quickly went inside.

I took a few deep breaths, leaning against the door. I heard him whistling as he walked away and I shut my eyes. Minnie was pulling on the leash and I opened my eyes. Her food bowl was full so I let her go to eat. When I did stumble into the kitchen, my mom was flipping through a cookbook and drinking wine.

“Are you all right?” she asked in panic as I leaned into the counter.

“Where’s Jim?” I mumbled.

“At the restaurant,” she said. “What happened?”

“He asked me to be his girlfriend,” I gasped and she blinked then grinned. “And I said yes.”

“Oh, that’s great!” she said and hugged me.

“Is it, though?” I asked. “What if I fuck up, Mom? He’s seen me have a seizure already! And I’m going to have to tell him about Nick.”

“Calm down,” she said. “Don’t focus on all that. Just focus on right now. If you think about the future too much, you’ll forget about the present. Sit with me.”

She took us into our living room and I cuddled up right next to her. She put her arm around me.

“We had steak,” I said and launched into the whole evening. “He was really clever about it.”

“How so?”

I stole a sip of her wine. “We had a ‘hypothetical’ conversation about his brother coming to visit,” I said. “By the end of it, he asked me if he could introduce his brother to his girlfriend when he came.”

“Aww!” she said. “That’s so sweet!”

“But I’m so nervous,” I murmured.

“I know you are, baby. But you deserve this.” She kissed the top of my head. “I’m glad you’re getting some happiness now, sweetheart.”

“Thanks,” I whispered then my phone buzzed.

Trent will be here on Thursday. Dinner on Thursday?

Sure. Want me to bring anything?

Some of your brownies, duh. I giggled and showed my Mom. Good night, babe. And good night, Kari.

We both laughed.

Good night. Sleep well.

“Aww, he called you babe,” she said, nudging me teasingly.

“Shut up,” I said, blushing. “Wait. Should I have called him babe, too?”

“Nope,” she said. “You did just fine. You should get some sleep too, though.”

“Don’t tell Jim,” I said when I heard the garage door open. “Please.”

“Of course not,” she said and we both sighed. “I wish that wasn’t necessary.”

“Me, too,” I whispered. “Maybe someday….”

“Can I tell your father?”

I nodded and stood up.

“You ready for bed, Minnie?”

She wagged her tail and licked my mom before leading the way upstairs. Jim watched me go upstairs, his eyes narrowed, but I ignored him. I didn’t want to think what would happen if he found out I was dating Cameron now. The fact that Cameron and I were friends had pissed him off though I couldn’t figure out why.

I turned my light on, forgetting momentarily that it faced Cameron’s. I took my shirt off and my phone buzzed again. I frowned.

I *love* the purple bra.

I squealed and shut the light off. I looked out my window to see Cameron in front of his, laughing.

Asshole.

He waved cheerfully then closed his curtains. I smiled and finished getting into my pajamas.

-

“First family member meeting,” I groaned and Rhonda laughed. “Oh jeez.”

“It’ll be fine!” she said, handing me my yoga pants. “Just remember: the guy is already crazy about you.”

“But what if his brother hates me?” I asked in a high pitched voice. “That would be awful!”

Rhonda rolled her eyes. “Stop freaking out. Come on. We have to go see Olivia then I’ll drop you off.”

“Right,” I said and we went downstairs.

I grabbed the brownies I had made. In green icing, I put Welcome Home Trent, hoping it was okay. I put them in the back seat by Minnie who yawned and sat obediently. I smiled at her while Rhonda drove. My heart always swelled with joy, pride, and love whenever I looked at her. True blessings were rare these days and I recognized one when I saw it.

When we got to the office, Olivia didn’t look as frazzled as she did before. Rhonda had confirmed her story that she had just moved and wasn’t given much time to prepare.

“It’s good to see you again,” Olivia said, shaking our hands. “How are you?”

“Nervous,” I said honestly.

“No need to be,” Olivia assured me. “Let’s sit down and look at this contract, shall we?”

We sat at her desk and she went through each section. The only thing I didn’t agree with was the clause about subsidiary rights. Olivia said we couldn’t budge on it, though.

“We always let our authors know before we do it anyway,” she said. “That’s just common courtesy.”

I looked at Rhonda who was smiling at me. She passed me her pen and I looked at the line where I was supposed to put my signature. Over the last two days, Cameron had sent me encouraging texts about today and I felt a little better about it. Now, though, as I sat in front of this piece of paper, I wished he was here.

Finally, I held my breath and clicked the pen open. I looked at Minnie who licked my arm as if to tell me she was for it, too. I let the breath out and signed and dated the piece of paper.

“Great!” Olivia said. “Now the next step is editing and buffing up a couple of these chapters if you want.”

I could only nod, the immensity of what just happened rendering me mute. Olivia looked at me expectantly so I glanced to Rhonda.

“Sometimes she goes mute,” Rhonda said quickly and Olivia smiled sympathetically at me. “It’ll pass; don’t worry.”

“Okay,” she said. “Here are the suggestions I’ve made. Remember: you do not have to do this and I cannot go in and change your book.”

She passed me a paper and the three of us leaned over it.

-

“I did it,” I said into the phone, my head in between my knees. “I did it.”

“Deep breath,” Cameron said. “Where are you?”

I laughed. “Your driveway.”

He laughed, too. “Did Rhonda drive you?”

“Yeah,” I said.

“Okay. Hold on.”

He hung up then came out a couple minutes later. Rhonda had been rubbing my back then smiled a little at him as he opened the door. Minnie licked his arm a couple times but got out to put her head on my lap.

“Look at me,” he said and I did so. “Do you regret it?”

“No,” I said after thinking about it. “It’s just….”

“Just what?” he asked when I didn’t finish.

“A huge ass step,” I said.

They both laughed.

“Yeah, it is,” he said. “Trent wants to hear about it and so do I. What do you say we go in and meet him?”

“Okay,” I breathed and showed him the message on the brownies. “I hope that’s okay.”

He kissed my forehead. “It’s perfect. Thanks for bringing her,” he added to Rhonda.

“Not a problem,” she said, starting her car again. “I’ll be by tomorrow to go over those changes.”

I nodded and got out, taking Minnie’s leash. We waved and he held my hand as we walked into his house. It smelled like rosemary chicken and I heard a man singing off key with Taylor Swift in the kitchen.

“Taylor Swift?” Cameron asked and the man turned.

I was shocked. He looked exactly like Cameron except he was tanner.

“I thought he was three years older than you,” I said and Cameron laughed.

“Trent, this is my girlfriend, Amanda. Amanda, my older brother, Trent.”

We shook hands and he grinned at me.

“Wow. Cameron hit gold.” I blushed and he laughed when he saw the message on the brownies. “Why, thank you. It feels great to be home again.”

“Trent has made his famous rosemary chicken for us,” Cameron said, directing me to the table. “Don’t look so nervous,” he whispered in my ear.

“Easy for you to say,” I whispered back. “My family loves you.”

“Most of them,” he said with a wink and scratched Minnie behind the ears. “Come here, Trent, and meet Minnie.”

He smiled but Minnie looked intimidated. I frowned. That was uncommon. I looked up.

“Oh,” I said. “Could you take your hat off?” I asked. “She’s got a thing about hats.”

“Shit,” he said. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” I said.

When he put it on the counter, he held his hand out to Minnie. She sniffed it then bumped it with her nose. He chuckled and scratched under her chin a couple times, making her tail thump on the floor.

I smiled and Cameron brought her bone over as we sat down.

“So, Cameron tells me you’re going to be a published author,” Trent said and I grinned.

“Yeah, I am,” I said. “I just signed the contract today.”

“Well, in that case.” He poured out three glasses of white wine and held his in the air. “To Amanda.”

I blushed as we clinked glasses and Cameron held my hand under the table.