Chapter 48 - Life

Caroline Thomas didn’t answer the door when Cam rang the doorbell. A tall, dark-haired woman wearing cut-off jeans and a white tank top did.

“Oh, hello, is…I’m here to see Caroline,” Cam asserted, standing tall. This woman was her height, but the way she looked at Cam unnerved her. She felt like she was being appraised and sized up.

“And you are?” The English accent was unmistakable to Cam. Slightly northern.

Taking a step forward, Cam held her hand out. “Cam, Camryn Thomas, Caroline’s sister…and you?”

The woman glanced down at the outstretched arm and then back at Cam’s face, before deciding to shake the hand on offer.

“Ren, who is it?” Came another voice Cam didn’t recognize, but as the owner of it stepped around the door, she realized who it was. Andrea Parker, former foreign secretary of the UK government. Cam remembered reading about her in the papers. A terrorist attack had left her bodyguard injured. Now, as Cam looked more closely, she assumed this was the bodyguard because not long after the attack, Andrea Parker had resigned from government to be with her lover – the bodyguard.

“Caroline’s sister,” replied the woman Cam now knew was called Ren. Ren stepped aside and allowed Cam the space to come inside. “Camryn.”

“Hello, lovely to meet you,” Andrea Parker said, reaching out a hand for Cam to shake. “Goodness, you do look alike, don’t you?”

“Apparently, there is a resemblance, yeah.” Cam smiled. “Is she here?”

“Yes, yes…out by the pool,” Andrea continued. Ren didn’t utter another word, just watched the scene play out. When Cam stared at her for the second time in confusion, Andrea imparted, “Don’t mind Ren, she’s still stuck in bodyguard mode.”

Ren’s eyes narrowed, but she said nothing. Something unspoken went between the pair and Cam almost felt like a voyeur.

“Right,” she said, breaking the sexually charged atmosphere that had suddenly appeared around these two.

“Come on, did you want a drink?” Andrea smiled, aware that their behavior was making their guest a little uncomfortable.

Cam checked her watch. It was just gone seven p.m., and she wasn’t driving. “Sure, I’ll have whatever everyone else is drinking.”

“I’ll get it,” Ren finally said, seeming to relax a little, but not much. “You go through.”

It was not so much a request, but an order, and Cam followed it, eager to see her sister and find out what was going on.

Exiting the house through the wide-open patio doors, Cam spotted her sister sitting in a wicker chair by the pool, drink in hand, sunglasses on, and her face upturned towards the waning sun. Not a care in the world, thought Cam.

“Caroline, Camryn is here to see you,” Andrea called out, gaining Caroline’s attention.

Cam leaned in. “You can just call me Cam. Only my mother and my wife call me Camryn, and it’s usually when I’m in trouble.”

Andrea laughed, her dark hair swaying in the light breeze. “Fair dos,” she said as they watched Caroline stand and start moving towards them.

“Cam, what’s going on?” Caroline asked with all the authority of someone used to getting answers when she asked.

“Blimey! ‘Hello Cam, how are you?’ I’m fine, thanks for asking…” Cam snarked back but with a grin. She was used to her sister’s straightforward nature.

“Sorry, yes, you’re okay?” Caroline turned to Andrea. “My sister, Cam. Cam this is…”

“Andrea Parker. Yep, my eyes still work,” Cam joked, turning to Andrea herself. “Nice to meet you, and…Ren?” she asked, looking over her shoulder at the woman approaching them with wine glasses and a bottle on a tray.

“Yes, my girlfriend, Ren Dyer,” Andrea explained. “We’re in LA for a holiday, and Caroline very generously offered to put us up.”

“And how are you enjoying it?” Cam asked, aware that her sister was waiting for the answer to her question.

“It’s a nightmare,” said Ren, her face passive, but then she grinned. “We were supposed to be enjoying a rest, but Andi seems to think we should do everything. I haven’t stopped since we got here.”

“What? I’m letting you have this evening by the pool, what nonsense are you talking about?” Andrea, or Andi, teased.

“Yes, and I’m going to enjoy it. Anyone mind if I dive in?”

Cam began to see Ren in a new light and saw a lot of herself in her as she casually stripped down into a swimsuit Cam herself would have picked.

“I think I could live here too,” Andrea said, as much to herself as to Cam and Caroline. “Do you think they’d let us stay?”

“Probably if you were, I don’t know, an ex-government minister who could do a little freelance work here and there, maybe the after-dinner circuit?” Caroline chipped in.

“Good point.” She smiled before turning her attention back to the pool. Lowering her sunglasses, Andrea stared. “Would be a shame not to watch, wouldn’t it?” She winked at Cam and sauntered away.

Cam and Caroline observed as she casually sat down on the edge of the pool and dangled her legs in the water while Ren powerfully swam the length of the pool towards her.

“So, enough with the small talk. Mother said you and Michelle are staying by the lake?”

“Jesus, does that woman tell all my secrets?”

“Not all, but remember, I do have some expertise in interrogation and well, she is an easy target.” Caroline smiled. “So… the lake?”

Cam explained her well-rehearsed response. “Yes, we’re going to stay there. Michelle is happy there. It’s a great place to raise the kids.”

Caroline picked up a glass and began filling it with wine. The chilled bottle’s condensation dripped down onto the stone floor and left a small splash mark.

“And you, what do you want?” she asked, passing the now-full glass to Cam. She reached down and picked up another glass and poured some for herself.

“I wasn’t sure at first. It’s a big move, but I’ve spent a lot of time considering it and looking at all of the options, and I think Michelle could be right. I’ve never been one to be enamored with all this Hollywood malarky. If it wasn’t for Michelle, I’d have very little to do with it, and I want the kids to have a normal childhood. Climb trees and get messy, like I did.”

Caroline nodded at the memory of a young Camryn. “You certainly did that.”

“And Michelle is happy; that alone makes it worth it to me. Seeing her so miserable recently, it worried me. And I know that in time, she might change her mind and want to come back, but right now, I have to do what’s best for my wife and kids…and that’s to stay at the lake.”