I shook my head.
Sweaty men were something that I usually had to make myself tolerate. Live with and try to avoid. That was why I never set foot inside the changing rooms after games or practice unless extremely necessary.
“How’s the renovation coming along?”
Glad for the distraction, I thought back to the mess I left behind. “It’s going great,” I lied. I caught Cameron giving me an inquisitive look over his shoulder and I looked away. Was I flushed? My face felt warm. “How do you know I’m renovating?”
“The constant screeching coming from your cottage,” he explained, and I didn’t miss the way he said the word cottage. “Then there’s the dust you’re completely covered in.”
I fought the urge to touch my hair. Brush my hands over my top. I swallowed. “You really love to continuously complain about me, huh?”
I glanced at him in time to see him shrug. “It’s hard to focus on anything else.”
The warmth covering my cheeks intensified.
“You seem to be everywhere I turn.”
Right. “Well,” I said, willing my expression to remain as indifferent as possible. “Luckily for you and your very delicate eardrums, I’m done with the renovation until further notice.”
Cameron’s eyes roamed around my face, making me… self-conscious, exposed, for a lot of reasons I wasn’t ready to pick apart at that moment. I brought my knees up, hugging them to my chest.
“What are you doing in Green Oak, Adalyn?”
I clasped my hands over my knees. “We’ve already discussed that.”
“Besides that,” he said, and his voice sounded so… earnest, so unlike any of the other times he’d huffed something at me, that I shifted on the step. Away from him. As if I needed the physical distance to properly think. “What are you trying to prove?”
I stared at the man sitting nothing but a handful of inches away from me, surprised by his choice of words. That was… a loaded question. One that I didn’t know how to answer without giving myself completely away. Because for some bizarre reason, Cameron didn’t know what had brought me to Green Oak. He hadn’t seen the video half the country was mocking. I remembered him asking if I’d had a reason for whatever I’d done and being content with my answer. He didn’t want the whole story. And perhaps I was fine with that.
“I have a life, if that’s what you’re asking,” I told him.
Cameron shook his head, as if that wasn’t the answer he was expecting.
“I have a job and hobbies,” I insisted, even though I was quickly realizing I didn’t have either. “I do home renovation.”
“Darling,” he drawled, a chuckle following that word. The sound made me think of his laughter. My stomach tumbled. I didn’t like it. “You can’t renovate shit clad in a pantsuit and armed with a hammer.”
“I also have a screwdriver,” I countered. “And I’m not wearing a suit.”
“Believe me, I know. I have eyes.”
I frowned. What did that even mean? “I’m not a lonely, sad workaholic,” I felt the need to say. “I have a life,” I repeated. “I listen to podcasts. True crime. I have an impressive memory, too. I can recite the complete roster of the Green Warriors to you right now. Or Green Oak’s activity brochure, point by point. I could even enumerate every—”
Every single thing you’ve accomplished. Award and trophy you’ve won. Championship you’ve played. I can even recite the number of saves you made in the last World Cup you played. That was how good my memory was.
That was also how much I’d read about Cameron by now.
God. I really needed a hobby.
“So that’s what you’re listening to while brandishing that hammer,” Cameron muttered. “Bloody murder.” Another chuckle left him and I—I really hated how distracting that sound was. “Still not a hobby, though.”
“I didn’t know I was talking to the hobby police.”
“Darling—”
“I’d rather you didn’t call me that.”
Amusement entered his expression. “Listening to podcasts is something you do while doing something else, like home renovation—if you were really into that.” He glanced at my hair and gave me an unimpressed look. “And having good memory is a skill, not a hobby.”
“Fine.” I clicked my tongue. “What about you, then? What is a retired pro soccer player doing with all this free time on his hands?”