One thing she absolutely couldn’t take—Cameron and Paul both in Virgin River for the weekend—Cameron trying to seduce her, Paul shyly and clumsily trying to find a way to tell her he had a girlfriend. Chinese water torture would be sweeter.
She went back to the great room and sat beside the phone for a few minutes, thinking. She picked up the receiver and dialed. “Cameron? Yes, I’ve been thinking about it and a little trip to the coast might be just what I need. Mattie and I would love to go. But it’ll have to be two rooms. And only if you’re sure you want to do this with no expectations. I don’t want to disappoint you.”
“I understand your position, Vanessa,” he said. “Let’s just have a good time.”
“That sounds so nice. Can we make it early on Saturday and home Sunday?”
“Perfect.”
“Good, I’ll be ready.” And she hung up.
She looked at Walt, whose newspaper was folded into his lap. He stared at her over the top of his reading glasses. “Vanessa, just what the hell’s going on?”
“I’m…ah…I’m going on a little weekend trip with Cameron. I’ll be taking the baby, of course.”
He had heard her side of all three conversations and she knew it. “There seems to be a lot more to the story here…” he said. “Fighting with Paul? Making a date with this doctor?”
“It’s really nothing, Dad,” she answered. “You don’t have a problem with me going away for a weekend, do you?”
“You’re a grown woman,” he said.
“Paul will be coming down for the weekend.”
“And you’re not going to be here to see him?”
She stood up. “He’s not coming to see me. I think I’ll just go for a quick ride, if you don’t mind listening for the baby.”
“Not at all,” he said. “Don’t hurt the horse.”
If Cameron had hoped to impress and charm Vanessa, he certainly was on the right track. First of all, he borrowed his brother’s SUV so that the car seat and stroller would fit. She had some misgivings about going away with him for the weekend, especially when her motivation was mostly to avoid Paul. But he entertained her with stories on their drive to the coast—growing up with a brother and sister close to his age, fraternity pranks, med school horror stories that made her laugh in spite of herself. She was immediately comfortable, enjoying herself, and decided there were some perks involved in avoiding Paul.
He took her to a motel that resembled a country inn; they entered rooms on the parking lot side while the back of each room opened up onto a quaint, sheltered and private patio with table and chairs that faced the ocean cliffs. Lush pots full of geraniums sat around full green ferns and daisy beds that bordered the patios. In Vanessa’s room, which was joined to Cam’s, were fresh flowers and fruit.
After lunch at a sweet little seaside restaurant, they put the baby in the stroller and walked along the cliffs above the ocean, finally spreading a blanket under a full, leafy tree. They talked about their youth, their pasts, their experiences, their likes and dislikes. “You have a real way about you,” Vanni said. “I bet the mothers who bring their children to you fall in love with you all the time.”
“I’m just waiting for the right one to fall in love with me,” he said.
“You were never even tempted to get married?” she asked.
“There were a couple of close calls.”
“I bet you’ve had a million girlfriends,” she said.
He laughed. “That might be giving me too much credit,” he said. “Or not enough, I don’t know which. I’ve had some girlfriends. And many more attempts that didn’t work out.”
“Ah. You’re picky.”
He lifted an amused eyebrow. “Maybe they were.”
“Come on. Haven’t you been in love a hundred times?”
“Not quite. Not counting high school and college when I was in love with a different girl every week, the first one hit me in med school. I had it bad for another med student. It was very hot, very intense, very brief. Very painful. Took me off the market for a while.”
“Really? I’d take you for the heartbreaker.”
“No, sir,” he said, shaking his head. “I realized that up to that point I’d been attracted, but not in love. I had my share of flings, but this woman I went to pieces over. I was all of twenty-four and I could’ve made the promises—all of them. She was with another guy before I knew what hit me. Then another and another. I lost track of her during internship when I heard she was with the senior resident in her program. My pride suffered a major blow, not to mention my perspective.”