Cam wondered why Dakota hadn’t called him back. He’d left her a voice mail earlier that morning telling her he’d forgotten his phone at home and that he was going to make due without it. He’d thought about having her FedEx it to him, but decided it might actually be nice to cut the umbilical for a few days.
The only item of business he needed to conduct was to let his lawyer know he wasn’t going to pursue the prenup. He realized that some decisions you made with your head, like when making investments. Sometimes you had to go with what your heart said, and for the past few days, all of his instincts told him it would be a bad idea.
If he made her sign it, what would he really be promising during the ceremony before God and all their friends and family? Nothing. The promise would be empty. They would both know the loophole existed, an exit strategy, as it were. That document would represent a crack in the foundation of their marriage—a crack he put there on purpose—and he wasn’t willing to risk their future for the sake of money.
He was supposed to be down in the lobby in half an hour to go out to dinner with some of the guys, so after leaving a message for the lawyer who was out of the office, he tried calling Dakota again.
She picked up.
“Hey, gorgeous,” he said. “I was getting worried.”
“About what?” she asked.
He turned the volume down on the TV. “Babe, I can barely hear you. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” she said.
“Did you get my message? Well, it doesn’t matter, I guess. I just said that I left my phone at home and not to worry about it. I’m just going to live without until I get home. If there’s an emergency, call Paul. You have his number?”
“I can get it from Natalie,” she said, still sounding like she was speaking into the phone from a distance.
“Are you okay?” he asked. “You sound…funny.”
“I’m fine,” she said. “Just tired.”
“Are you sure?” She definitely sounded off. “Maybe you’re coming down with something.”
“I’m sure. I’ll see you when you get back.”
Then she hung up.
When he mentioned it at dinner, Ian said, “She misses you,” and the other guys at the table started sighing dramatically, clasping their hands to their hearts, and saying “Aw, she misses him” in ridiculous falsettos. Cam laughed because there was nothing else he could do. To protest just made them tease him more. Also, he was still enjoying a buoyant “not doing the prenup” mood boost.
They played credit card lottery to see who paid and when the waiter chose a credit card out of the pile, it turned out to be Gilliam’s, which was hilarious because the man was a penny pincher of the first order. He was always pulling coupons out from his wallet, or ordering from the happy hour menu.
Later in his room, Cam called Dakota again, using the hotel phone, but it went to voice mail. Again, it was odd. Usually she answered, eager to touch base with him, especially when he was away. Sometimes they even had phone sex. But that didn’t seem to be on the menu tonight.
A knock sounded on his door. It was Paul.
“Hey. Got a minute?” Paul asked.
“Sure.” Cam stepped back and let him in. “What’s up?”
Cam sat on the bed while Paul pulled up the chair.
“I was just wondering if you’d talked with your lawyer yet,” Paul said.
Cam smiled. “I actually called her today. She wasn’t in but I told her assistant I wasn’t going through with the prenup.”
Paul’s eyebrows rose. “Oh yeah?”
“Yeah. I decided I’m not going down that road. It’s dangerous either way, right? If I don’t have her sign a prenup, I risk losing some money. If I have her sign one, I risk losing her. As hard as I work to make the money I do, I’d choose Dakota over all of it in a New York minute. She and Zinny are everything, man. They’re everything.”
Paul reached out and clapped Cam on the shoulder. “I know exactly what you mean and I think you made the right choice. Speaking from experience, the love of a good woman…it makes you feel like a success in a way that money never could. If you lined up all the people who have love on one side and all the people who have money on the other, the people with the money? A lot of them will be looking for more money and they’ll probably never think they have enough. The people with love, on the other hand, will probably be happy with what they have, because that’s how love works. It’s all you really need to be happy.”
“But the money helps,” Cam said with a laugh.
“Yeah, the money helps,” Paul said, standing up and putting the chair back. “So, putting on my captain’s hat, I’m hoping now that your situation is cleared up and back on track, your performance tomorrow night is going to rise to our expectations.”
Cam chuckled. “No one wants that more than I do. But yeah, that’s the plan. Ever since I made the decision to screw the prenup, it feels like a fog has lifted from my brain. I’ll be good to go come game time.”