Page 81 of The Sweetest Mistake

“I bet. It’s amazing how much stuff babies need.”

After a brief pause, they both started talking at once.

“I…”

“Look…”

“You go ahead,” Julia said.

“I just wanted to say that I appreciate you helping out with Ava.”

“It’s my pleasure.”

“And I’m…sorry. For the way I treated you before.”

Julia tried not to let her mouth fall open, but Cam obviously read her look of shock.

“This has been really tough on me, and I guess I was hoping…well, I thought…”

“That you, Connor, and Ava would become a family,” Julia finished for her.

Cam nodded. “But now that I know that’s not going to happen, I need to move on.”

“Just to clarify, that doesn’t mean moving away, right?”

“I considered moving back to Denver, but I don’t think that would be best for Ava.”

Thank God.

“Besides Connor, she has a lot of other people here who love her.”

Julia nodded. “Myself included.”

Just then, Connor swept back into the room, loaded down with various straps. He looked between the two women, and not noticing any signs of discord, he smiled. “We should get going,” he said to Cam.

Cam started to follow him, but then she turned back around and said to Julia, “I should give you my phone number, just in case.”

“She can just call me,” Connor said, but then he clamped his mouth shut when Julia frowned at him. “Never mind. Julia should have your number too. I’ll just wait outside.” With that, he took turns kissing Julia and Ava on the cheek and then sauntered out the door.

“Men can be so oblivious sometimes,” Cam said, her mouth turning up into a semblance of a smile.

Julia laughed. “Yet they think they know everything.”

“Exactly.”

Julia set Ava down in the middle of the carpet while she and Cam exchanged phone numbers. Then Cam bent down to give Ava a squeeze.

At least she’s not wearing a V-neck today.

When she stood back up, Cam said, “I’m not completely over feeling jealous of you and Connor.”

It sounded like a warning, but her expression didn’t contain the malice that it had before.

“Same here,” Julia said, surprising herself with her bluntness.

Her admission seemed to take Cam aback too. “Really? You’re jealous of me?”

“You were the first woman he loved, and you gave him a child. I’d say that gives me two valid reasons to be jealous.”