The Ex Wife

chapter thirty: dreams

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LINDY'S POV

Suddenly startled, I woke up from a loud bang, relieving me of my crazy dream. Rubbing my eyes, I huff. "Ugh, what was that?" I mumble to myself, getting out of bed.

I noticed Cameron wasn't next to me, either. He has trouble sleeping sometimes, so I figured he was probably in the kitchen having something cold to drink. I went downstairs, but all lights were switched off. I still checked the kitchen and living room, but he wasn't there.

When I went back upstairs, I saw a door slightly open, with light shining into the hallway through the cracks. He's been studying. Again. He overworks himself.

I open the door, and he's sitting on the floor crying. I scanned the room and saw that he had his books and pens out, but maybe it was there from last night.

"Cameron," I gasped, rushing to his side. "Baby, whats wrong? Have you been studying... Because you really need to take a break."

"W-Why are you up?" He mumbles, wiping his face.

"I heard something. Did you fall?"

He nods. "I've just had- I got some bad news and I didn't wanna wake you up, so I thought I'd just come in here-"

"What happened? You should have woke me."

"It's just that you were so tired when we got in last night, so I didn't want to disturb you."

"It doesn't matter. Thankfully you managed to wake me from some crazy dream," I say, trying to ease his distress, but that didn't really work. "Um, so, will you tell me?"

"My foster mum. She's... gone."

"What?" I say, in shock. "How..?"

"She's been sick for so long- she didn't tell any of us? I just don't..." He explains, but starts sobbing. My eyes begin to water, so I hold him as he slowly fell onto my chest and caress his cheek in sympathy. "Tegan called and she told me."

They told her first? I can't imagine how she must be feeling. She's Cameron's foster sister. The two were eldest of all six kids, closest in age while growing up in their group home and expectedly, they kept in contact after they both moved out to do their thing. Cameron started university, Tegan started medical school across the country.

"I lose everyone." He sobbed. "I have no family whatsoever."

"Hey, Cam. Look at me," I tell him softly, "You do have family. You do. There's Tegan, Isaac, Alex, Elliot... you have my parents. You have me, and you always will. You're never alone, because you have us."

He smiles at me through the tears rolling down his cheek, which I wiped with my thumb. "I love you, Mel."

"I love you too. More than you can imagine. And I'm so, so sorry for your loss. I know how much of a role model Elody was to you. She was an amazing woman."

He sniffles as I wiped his cheeks. He nodded. "Yeah. She really was."

That morning, I walked him back up to bed. I urged him to get some sleep - he had apparently been sitting in that room for an hour, and it was four in the morning. I made him tea and he eventually fell asleep on my chest. I didn't really know how to comfort a grieving person and I was scared that doing the wrong thing would trigger him.

I hated to see him in pain.

We had just moved into a beautiful house, with just months of university left to go and we were in the process of renovating our home. Cameron was in preparation to become CEO of his biological father's company and he was under a tremendous amount of stress. He didn't really know what he was doing running a company, but he was slowly getting there. He also had his upcoming finals, and then our graduation was this summer. So much was dished onto his plate and I knew it was too much for him, so I did the best I could to help him.