“I know Whitney felt she had to choose us or you.”

Cam swallowed hard. He hadn’t realized that anyone knew about that. He didn’t know how the conversation had gone with Whitney and her family. He didn’t know who she’d said what to. He didn’t know if she’d announced she was running off with him and they’d forbid it or if they’d somehow found out she’d been seeing him and they’d told her she had to break it off or if she’d asked for a job for him and they’d refused. All of those scenarios and a few others had gone through his mind over the years when he’d let himself think and wonder about it—usually after he’d been to Appleby for a visit and gotten incredibly drunk.

But mostly he’d told himself that it didn’t matter and he didn’t care.

It didn’t matter. The end result was the same no matter who had said what to who.

He still wondered.

“That was a long time ago,” he finally said.

“I’m so glad you stayed together anyway,” she said.

He blinked at her. “Um—”

“The company was so important to Whitney. But I’m just so, so glad that you stayed together even if you had to keep it a secret. Love—true love—is worth whatever it takes.” Didi was staring off into the distance. “You don’t want to get to be seventy-two years old and realize that you completely missed it.”

Cam felt his chest tighten. Didi hadn’t been in love with Dean. She’d missed out on true love and she was realizing it now, late in life. That was incredibly sad.

But she thought that he and Whitney had stayed together.

“The way you look at her is the way every woman should be looked at by the man she’s sharing her life with,” Didi told him. She sat forward and took the last bite of pie from her plate.

Cam didn’t know what to think. Didi seemed so resolute about so many things, but she was clearly confused about a few things. A few important things. Like how long ago her husband had died. And Cam and Whitney’s entire relationship.

“I’m not sure Whitney is convinced this is forever,” he finally said. That was true enough.

Didi looked shocked. “Why not?”

“The business is still very important to her,” he said. “She thinks us working together could make that complicated.”

“No.” Didi frowned and leaned in, grabbing Cam’s hand. “No. You have to show her that’s not true. That business… it’s done some good things. It’s important to Appleby. But it can not be the reason that another couple spends their life without love.”

Whoa. That was intense. Cam squeezed her hand. “I want to convince her we belong together.”

That was his mission even before this.

Didi’s eyes filled with tears and she squeezed him back. “You must. Whitney deserves love. She hasn’t had nearly enough of that. Her father was also completely involved in that company. I think he loves his wife, but he did not show that little girl enough love when she was growing up and he hasn’t respected her since she’s been a part of the company.”

Cam’s chest got tighter. He’d suspected that Whitney had been working to gain her father’s approval and that Eric had been a workaholic at best and a neglectful father at worst. But hearing Didi say it, about her own son, made Cam want to punch Eric Lancaster. And made him want to go straight to Whitney, wrap her up in his arms, and convince her—however he had to—that she could have it all. She did not have to choose between Hot Cakes and love.

“I will do whatever I can to show Whitney that this can work,” he said.

Didi drew in a long breath and let him go, sitting back. “What are you doing each day between one and four p.m.?” she asked.

“I’m… at work.”

“But you’re one of the bosses, right?” she said.

“Yes.”

“And I’ll bet that you work until nine at night or on Sundays if needed.”

He nodded. “Yes.”

“So you can take a few hours off each day.”

He could. Of course. His work wasn’t really eight-to-five work. Sometimes it was twenty-hours a day for several days in a row. Sometimes it was just a couple of intense days. Some days were very routine. Others, he had almost nothing to do.

“What do you have in mind?” he asked.

“Whitney has a woman come over each day. She makes our dinner, does some light housekeeping, runs errands for us.”

“Okay.”

“I want you to do all of that.”

He waited for her to go on, but she didn’t. She simply finished her coffee.

“You want me to come make dinner for you?” He could do that. It would give him a reason to see Whitney outside of the office. And he was a great cook.

“I want you to come babysit me each afternoon.”

Okay, that wasn’t what he’d been expecting. “Babysit you?”

She nodded. “Whitney feels like I shouldn’t be alone for more than an hour or so at a time.”

“Why’s that?”

“I set the kitchen on fire.”

That was a good reason. He lifted a brow. “On accident or on purpose?”

Didi laughed at that. “I accidentally set a kitchen towel on fire by setting it on the stove. But to hear Whitney tell it, it was a five-alarm blaze.”

“It could have turned into a five-alarm blaze,” Cam said. A fire, of any kind, wasn’t nothing.

“That’s what she said,” Didi agreed. “She was especially mad that I called her instead of the fire department.”

Cam’s eyes got wider. “Yeah. 9-1-1 is always first.”

Didi nodded. “I remembered that after Whitney told me.”

After the fire was started and she’d wasted time calling Whitney. Yeah, that wasn’t good.

“Maybe you shouldn’t use the stove when you’re there alone,” Cam suggested.

“She reminded me of that rule after the fire too,” Didi said. “And then she had Katherine start coming over.”

“That doesn’t seem like a bad idea. If it’s hard for you to remember things,” Cam said carefully.

“I suppose. But she’s annoying.”

“Katherine is annoying?”

Didi nodded. “She wants me to exercise and she always wants to watch me do things like make my coffee and start the washing machine. She treats me like a child.”

“Have you talked to Whitney about it?”

“It makes her anxious. She wants it to all be good. She wants me to be safe and happy. That’s why I’m moving into Sunny Orchard,” Didi said. “It will be easier for Whitney to relax and concentrate at work once I’m living there.”

Cam frowned. “You’re moving into the nursing home to make things easier on Whitney?”

“Of course.” Didi dabbed at her mouth with her napkin. “But it’s fine. It’s a lovely place. I’ll have a new suite. And I know a lot of people who live there. I like to play cards and things.” She gave Cam a smile. “It’s a great solution. But my new apartment won’t be ready for another month. I can’t tolerate Katherine for another week not to mention a month. And this is the perfect chance for you to show Whitney what it would be like to live together and make a real life together. You can show her what being married to you will be like.”