When she hadn’t immediately answered Max’s text message, wanting to calm down first, he’d sent her another message asking when they could reschedule their date. Again. In response, she’d sent a message saying that she would check her calendar for the month of Probably Never, Buddy and get back to him. Then, thinking Max might have a thing or two to text in response to that, she’d turned down the ringer on her phone, not wanting to disturb the other restaurant guests with further incoming message beeps. Frankly, at that point, she didn’t want Max bothering her, either.
As Cameron finished her wine, she looked out the window, taking in the view of the lake and reflecting upon those things a single woman in her thirties tended to think about when sitting alone in a restaurant. Her best friend was getting married, and she had no one to take to the wedding. No one to share the moment with, other than Collin, but that was different. It wasn’t the biggest deal, she knew—particularly with the much more serious issues she’d faced lately—but she certainly wouldn’t kick up too much of a fuss if Fate wanted to throw her a bone or two in the man department.
“What happened to Max?”
Surprised to hear the voice, Cameron looked over and saw Jack standing at her table.
Fate was so clearly mocking her.
Cameron frowned. “What are you doing here?” Perfect. Just the man she wanted to run into right then.
“You haven’t been answering your phone. Are you having problems with it?” Jack looked displeased. Big surprise there.
“It seems to be working fine.” Cameron reached into her purse and pulled it out to check. She realized what she’d done. “Oh . . . I turned the ringer down. I must not have heard the calls over the noise of the restaurant.” She peered up at him. “Were you trying to call me? Is something wrong?”
“Collin called. He couldn’t reach you, got nervous, and called me. Then we couldn’t reach you or get through to the restaurant, so here I am,” Jack said.
Cameron ran her hands through her hair, feeling very tired. It had been a long day—she’d gone one round with her opposing counsel in court, another round with Silas, and then had been ditched by her date. From the look on Jack’s face, he was gearing up for another sparring match and she wasn’t sure she had it in her right then.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I wasn’t thinking when I turned down my phone. I apologize that you had to run all the way over here for nothing. Glower at me all you want—you’ve earned it this time.”
Jack took a seat in the chair across from her.
“That being said,” Cameron continued, “I would like to point out that Officer Zuckerman has been over there at the bar, watching me all night, so it’s not as though I had any reason to believe I was in danger. And I’d also like to state, for the record, that there was never any discussion about me keeping my cell phone on at all times. If that was something you expected as part of this surveillance, you should have stated it clearly up front to avoid exactly this type of scenario.”
Okay, so maybe she had just a tiny bit left for one last round.
Jack rested his arms on the table. “That has to be the worst apology I’ve ever heard.”
“I’ve had a chance to think things through. Seeing how I was only about thirty percent at fault here, you get thirty percent of an apology.”
“I see.”
Cameron waited for him to say something further. “That’s it? I expected there to be a lot more. You know, with the growling and scowling.”
“I could add a few curse words to that, if you like.”
Cameron checked her grin just in time. “Not necessary, but thanks for the offer.”
They sat in silence for a moment, each one studying the other warily.
“So you never said what happened to your date,” Jack led in.
“He had a last-minute conflict with work. For the third time in three weeks.” Cameron had no idea why she’d added that last piece of information.
Jack’s dark eyes studied her. “I hope you had better luck picking out shoes that day.”
He never ceased to amaze her. “How do you know how I met Max?” Cameron asked.
“Kamin and Phelps are a wealth of information. They seem to be having a blast being assigned to your detail.”
“Shockingly, some people actually find me charming.”
“I once found you charming, too,” Jack said quietly.
It was as though the proverbial record had skipped to a stop, silencing the room.
For the last week, she and Jack had danced around this very issue, never actually discussing the past. But now that he had launched the first salvo, she could either retreat or face him head-on. And she wasn’t a retreating kind of girl.
“The feeling was once mutual.”
Jack mulled this over for a moment. “Now that we’re working together, maybe we should talk about what happened three years ago.”
Cameron took a sip of her wine, trying to look casual. She chose her words carefully. “I don’t think there’s anything that could be said that would do us any good.”
Jack surprised her with his response. “I was wrong to say those things to that reporter. I knew it right after I said it. That was . . . a rough time for me. I was going to apologize to you. Of course, I never got the chance.”
It was as she’d expected. He blamed her for his transfer, never realizing how close he’d come to being dismissed from the FBI. Part of her was tempted to tell him the truth and just get it all out there. But he was so angry with her about the Martino case—about everything—that she didn’t know how he’d react. Logically, there was no good reason why she should trust Jack. So she continued dodging the issue. “I appreciate your apology,” she said matter-of-factly, hoping that would end the conversation.