Catching Cameron: A Love and Football Novel (28 page)

He stabbed at the button with one finger. “Anderson,” he said.

“Good morning, Anderson. Preston Ondine. Do you have a minute?”

Zach pulled the phone away from his ear and stared at it. What the fuck? He resisted the impulse to hang up. He strolled over to a large, flat-topped rock engraved with the Sharks’ logo and set into the landscaping at the entry of the facility. He sat down on it.

“Not especially, but what’s on your mind?”

Mr. Ondine cleared his throat.

“My wife is unhappy about my behavior toward you the last time we saw each other, Anderson.”

“Is that so?”

“Mrs. Ondine and I would like to thank you for what you did the other day for our daughter. You saved her life, and we are grateful. We’d also like to let you know that we are in your debt for your heroic actions on her behalf.”

The guy sounded like a dictionary fell out of his mouth. Even more, it was somewhat comical that Mrs. Ondine had obviously told her husband off, or he wouldn’t be making a phone call.

Zach was silent for a minute or so. There were so many things he wished he could say at this moment, but he seized on the most obvious one. “I appreciate it, Ondine. Please tell your wife I care about your daughter, and I would do whatever I needed to do to keep her safe.” He let that one sink in for a moment. “In the meantime, since you’re in my
debt
, there’s something I’d like to talk with you about.”

“Okay, then. Let’s hear it.” Cameron’s dad sounded a little nervous.

“I think life’s too short to hold a grudge, so we’re not going to talk right now about your actions toward me and my family ten years ago. That’s a discussion that needs to happen in person.”

“You had a golden opportunity a couple of weeks ago, Anderson.”

“I did, but I was at work. I’m sure you understand that.” Zach attempted to rein in the sarcasm. He couldn’t stand the guy, but he was still Cameron’s father. In the meantime, he had a point to make. “What I
would
like to discuss, however, is the fact you don’t support your daughter’s career. Why is that? Do you have any idea how hard she’s worked to get to where she is today?”

“Her mother and I would prefer she didn’t work in the entertainment industry at all—”

Playtime was over, and practice was in an hour and a half. His teammates were driving by on their way into the facility parking lot. Of course, that didn’t prevent Derrick from half-hanging out of his car window and yelling, “Hey, asswipe, get back to work.”

Zach pulled the phone away from his ear and shouted back, “Kiss your mother with that mouth?”

Derrick’s response was to flip him off. He burned rubber into the Sharks’ parking lot.

“Excuse me?” Preston Ondine said. “Were you talking to me?”

Zach stifled a sigh. “No. It was one of my teammates.” Hopefully, he could mute the background noise before another of his teammates decided to drive by. “Your daughter isn’t in the ‘entertainment industry.’ She’s a sports reporter. She works hard at what she does, and I know it hurts her that you don’t seem to care about her achievements.”

“That’s not true—”

“She thinks so. Maybe you need to do something about this, Ondine. I’m feeling generous today, so I’ll give you a hint. Your golf buddy Ben, program director of PSN, is making her life intolerable right now. Perhaps you could give him a call and tell him to treat your daughter like the other professionals he has working for him.”

Zach heard some incoherent sputtering at the other end of the phone. Mr. Ondine had evidently forgotten those fancy Ivy League manners and was good and pissed off, like any other father would be if someone was mistreating his daughter. “Is he
sexually harassing
her? I’ll sue.”

“No, the scumbag is using her private life to increase ratings.” Zach saw cars in the distance. He had about thirty seconds to get his ass back into the building before more of his teammates arrived. “I know you think I’m going to hurt Cameron, and I’m not good enough for her. While you’re focused on me, though, you’re missing the opportunity to protect her from someone who’s doing real damage—her boss.” Zach wasn’t going to wait around for Cameron’s dad to give him some bullshit answer. “I’m glad we had this talk. Please give my best to your family, and thanks for calling.” He hit “end,” and strolled toward the front doors of the facility.

Cameron was going to be pissed, but he’d just served notice on her dad.

L
ATER THAT AFTERNOON,
Cameron packed up her mic and headphones and sagged in her chair. She was happy with the voiceovers she’d just recorded for the latest episode of
Third and Long
. It had been several hours of work without a break, but there were few things that made her happier than to know she’d done a great job. She felt her phone vibrating in her pocket. Those who had her cell phone number were on her VIP list, so she pulled the phone out of her pocket to answer.

She saw Zach’s smiling face on the screen, and her heart soared. She hit “answer” and smiled. “Hi there,” she said.

“Hi there, yourself. I’m going to need to reschedule dinner tonight. Coach is on the warpath. Let’s get together later on, okay?”

“Let’s do that,” she agreed.

She’d spent the past couple of days freaking out about spending time with Zach’s family, but now she felt oddly disappointed. She was nervous about meeting his sisters, but an evening with his family meant a little more time with him. Any time away from cameras and prying PSN production staff members and Sharks teammates was treasured.

“I’ll meet you on the basketball court at ten p.m. Let’s see what kind of game you’ve got, darlin’.”

“You know I played intramural basketball in college, right?”

“Oooh. I think I’m scared now.” She heard the bark of his laugh, and he said, “I’ll look forward to that. See you later.” He disconnected his call.

Cameron gathered up her things to leave. She grabbed her phone one more time and scrolled through “calls received.” She found the number she was looking for and hit “dial.”

“I must be out of my mind,” she muttered to herself. She originally wanted Zach with her at dinner with his family so he could act as a buffer, but if it went any further between them, she was going to have to face his sisters on her own. Maybe it was time she did that.

She said, “Hello, Shelby, it’s Cameron Ondine. Is this a good time to talk?”

Shelby’s voice was brisk, but not unfriendly. “It’s fine. How are you doing, Cameron? Zach just called a few minutes ago to cancel tonight’s dinner.”

“I’m fine. I hope things are going well for you, too.” Cameron pulled in a breath to steady her nerves. “I was wondering if you all wouldn’t mind if I came over tonight anyway. I’d be happy to order pizza or get some take-out so nobody has to cook.”

Shelby let out a laugh. “My sisters would love that. We were planning on making something easy like spaghetti or stir-fry, but if you’d like to bring dinner, we won’t say no. Thanks for the offer.”

“If you have a favorite pizza place, I can go there. I also have a security guy that will be joining us. I hope this will not be a problem for all of you. He’s friendly, but mostly stays out of the way,” Cameron said.

“Zach told us about him, too. Of course he’s welcome.”

Cameron scribbled notes on her iPad of the sisters’ favorite pizza place and toppings, which beverages they preferred, and how much pizza Shelby thought they might eat. By the end of the call, she was smiling.

Maybe this would go better than she thought.

A couple of hours later, Earphone One picked her up in the black SUV with tinted windows. She’d learned a couple of weeks ago his name was Chuck, and he had a wickedly dry sense of humor.

“Where are we going, Ms. Ondine?”

She’d spent almost three weeks being followed around by these guys now. They should be on a first-name basis.

“Please, call me Cameron.”

She pulled the phone out of her bag and located both the pizza place and Zach’s address. She glanced up to see a huge grin spread over his face.

“Will do, Cameron.”

“Chuck, I have an address, but I’m also wondering if we could stop to pick up some pizza on the way.”

“Absolutely.” He cleared his throat. “They know to expect me, too, right?”

“Yes. They do.”

She worked on show research while he drove. They managed to get three pizzas, a big garden salad and multiple beverages without too much trouble, and loaded them into the back of the SUV. Zach’s house wasn’t far from the pizza place. The car slowed, and Chuck turned onto a long driveway framed by a manicured, rolling lawn.

Zach’s house was a huge, gorgeously maintained, window-filled one-story featuring a carriage house over the two-car garage. A winding path to the front door was framed by carefully-pruned shrubs. A small sign hung over the door:
Home is where the heart is.
She rang the doorbell once, and heard excited barking, hurrying footsteps, and “Butter, shhh!” from someone behind the door.

A tall, slender young woman with Zach’s dark blonde hair and sparkling hazel eyes pulled the door open. She crouched down to pick up a barking, bright-eyed, wriggling bundle of yellow fur.

“You must be Cameron. Come in. I’m Shelby.” She indicated the dog with her head. “This is Butter.” The dog squirmed until he could lick her face. “Okay, Butter. I love you, too.” Cameron had to smile at the irresistible puppy.

“I hope you like dogs,” Shelby said. She shook her head at Butter.

“I love dogs. He must be so much fun to play with.”

She saw Shelby smile. “He’ll play with you as long as you want him to.” She backed up so Cameron and Chuck could get inside the house and then put Butter down on the floor after the front door had closed behind Chuck.

She reached out for the salad and grocery bag of sodas Cameron carried. “I’ll take that if you’d like.”

“That would be great. Thanks.” Cameron turned toward Chuck. “Shelby, this is Chuck. He—he provides security.”

Even with the little dog trying to jump into her arms, juggling dinner for seven, and wanting to observe and mentally catalog every inch of Zach’s house from sheer curiosity, she didn’t miss the “Hi there. Who are you?” look that passed between Shelby and Chuck or the color rising in Shelby’s face.

Chuck balanced the pizzas on one hand and stuck the other out to Shelby.

“It’s nice to meet you, Ms. Anderson—is that right?”

“Call me Shelby,” she said. “It’s nice to meet you, too.”

The two of them could stand in the front hallway of Zach’s house for the rest of the night staring at each other. Zach’s other sisters must have wondered what the holdup was. They streamed out of what must have been the kitchen.

Three of them looked a lot like Zach—dark blond hair, hazel or green eyes, big smiles, and somewhat tall. Whitney was dark haired, petite, and not smiling. She regarded Cameron warily.

Her two older sisters glanced between Chuck and Shelby and nudged each other. One stepped toward him and stretched out her hands. “I’m Ashley,” she told him. “I’ll take the pizza into the kitchen, if you’d like.”

“I’m Chuck. Just point me there,” he said. He managed to tear his eyes away from Shelby for a moment. She trailed behind him with the salad and the bag of drinks.

Ashley and Courtney nudged each other again.

“We never even got a chance,” Courtney joked.

“He’s gorgeous,” Ashley agreed. She turned toward Cameron. “I bet it’s awful having that guy following you around all day.” The sisters grinned at her. The corners of Whitney’s mouth even turned up a little.

“He typically keeps to himself, but there’s usually two of them. They’re both pretty nice to look at.”

“Is the other one single?” Ashley asked.

“I think they both are,” Cameron said. “I’ll find out for you.”

To her surprise, Courtney reached out for her hand. “Come on, Cameron. Let’s go introduce you to our grandma.”

A few minutes later, the group sat around a well-worn kitchen table that had been hastily set by Whitney. Butter was shown to his crate for a nap. Chuck made sure he was sitting next to Shelby. They tried to pretend like they were interested in the conversations swirling around them, but Cameron noticed they half-turned toward each other and the food really wasn’t disappearing off of their plates.

Whitney chose the chair farthest away from Cameron’s. Zach’s grandma sat down next to her, though.

Zach’s grandma was probably in her mid-seventies. Her gray hair was twisted into a loose bun on top of her head, and she wore reading glasses on a brightly-colored beaded chain around her neck. The joints of her hands were swollen and misshapen with what Cameron imagined was arthritis. She didn’t move quickly, either. At the same time, her smile was bright. Cameron was willing to bet that Francesca made the pitcher full of iced sweet tea that graced the middle of the table.

“I’m Francesca. It’s nice to meet you.”

“I’m happy to meet you, too, Francesca. Would you like some pizza, or would you like me to get you some more sweet tea?”

“I think I’d like some more pizza, please. How about some of that vegetarian kind, unless the girls have eaten it all?” She leaned closer to Cameron. “Maybe we can have a talk later.”

“I would like that.”

Francesca’s pale blue eyes locked onto Cameron’s. “My grandson is still in love with you.”

All she could do was nod.

“I think you’re still in love with him, too, or you wouldn’t have braved coming here by yourself. What’s the holdup?” Francesca said.

Cameron could tell Francesca that it was none of her business, or she could make up something that would placate a nice older woman who wanted her grandson to be happy. She couldn’t do it. She pushed the salad around on her plate with her fork.

“We have a geographical problem, among others,” she said. “Also, my father owes Zach a huge and heartfelt apology. I’m not sure he’ll ever give him one.”

Francesca picked up her slice of pizza and nibbled on one end. She dabbed the napkin to her mouth. “Your dad will butt out when he sees you’re happy.”

“You’ve never met my father. He doesn’t know the meaning of the words ‘butt out.’”