Shadows in the Dark

The future is also the past

A/N This chapter bridges the gap between the past and the present.  It takes place in between but closer to the present.

As I was writing Shadows in The Dark, I didn't have a clear plan for Mason and Melissa's future. I knew I needed to give my readers an ending for our secret lovers.  I also figured out Melissa and Jeremy's marriage as I went along. Some of you may have as well. 

If you have read any of the Point stories then you know about some of the characters in this story. Bethany and Rose, we learned about in Cold Outside. Drew and Maddie who were caught by Judy we know about, especially from Resolutions (the oldest Harris boy, Jack too). We even know about Lorraine Blake from Designs of Love.

The next books 4 and 5 in The Point Series feature Heidi Pendergast's best friends and although she will be a character in the stories, I felt she deserved some words in her own POV. Look for Lana Drake in The Players  and Maribelle Hughes in Daughters. Because one Harris brother is not enough we will get to know Ryan better too. 

Heidi Pendergast woke with a smile. She couldn't help but smile because she was the luckiest girl in the world. Cameron was sleeping beside her, sputtering a little. Well, maybe not the luckiest she shrugged because Cam managed to take up most of the bed. That problem would be solved with a king-sized bed once they bought a new place together.

She looked at the diamond on her finger. She moved it to catch the morning light streaming in from the edge of the blinds. It made a golden dot dance around the eggshell walls. Not wanting to disturb Cam, she slid out of bed and went into the kitchen. She and Cam spent more nights than not together and most were spent at her condo. His condo was a longer commute to his office, so he didn't mind. He wouldn't be commuting today; it was Sunday. She began to make her tea. She never took to coffee even when she and her friends at the beach made it a goal to develop a taste for Rick's coffee the summer before they started college. The other three succeeded with her best friend Lana, becoming addicted to the putrid brown liquid. Heidi had headed to Boston to Emerson College to study communications. Lana had stayed in Maine to go to college with Erik. Bethany stayed as well and had become a physical therapist. Always ambitious, Mari went to Georgia Tech for engineering.

Cam didn't drink coffee either which made them a perfect match. They were perfect for so many reasons. He was calm and sweet and put up with her dramatics without getting flustered himself. It was common knowledge she was high maintenance, but the people who loved her had long since accepted it. She was more like her father than her mother in that respect. Her father cared more about his looks and clothes than she did. Part of it was because he was on television. He was on the news almost every evening as a White House correspondent and had been for years. He also was the host of a Sunday morning talk show where people in politics came on and lied to the American people. It had always been like that but was worse than ever. She was the only one of her friends to be able to say her father had been insulted by the president in a tweet and to his face.

Cam checked all her boxes, but he was so much more. He and his best friend had a wealth management firm which meant they made money investing rich people's money. He wore a suit every day and was really smart about finances. She could listen to him talk to her stepfather who was in banking for hours even though she had no idea what they were talking about. She loved his assuredness and how handsome it made him look.

Heidi worked in production at the local news affiliate and she wasn't ashamed to admit her father got her in the door. Opportunity was about who you know. She had been out with some co-workers the night she met Cam. Truthfully, it was his best friend Ryan the girls were attracted to, Heidi included but there was only one Ryan and four girls. She might not have been a math major, but she knew her odds weren't great. Instead, she talked to Ryan's wingman who was pretty cute too. He could carry on a conversation and when he grabbed her hand to stop her from paying for her drink, she felt a connection. He must have too, because it took what felt like forever for him to release her hand, so he could offer his own credit card. Platinum she noticed, because she was a self describe high maintenance girl and needed a man who could afford her. Her father couldn't continue to supplement her income forever.