Almost Just Friends (Wildstone #4)(56)

He nodded. “Yeah. You’re an island and an army of one, believe me, I get it. But do you realize we’ve never even grieved together for all we’ve lost?”

Her biggest fear. If she let out the grief, it’d consume her. So she shook her head, her mind dark with memories. “I can’t.”

“I know,” Gavin said. “Because you never could. Not even when I needed you to.”

She opened her mouth, to say what, she had no idea, but Winnie started shoving them out the bathroom door, face green. “Oh God, hurry. Get out. Get out, get out! Save yourselves!” she yelled, and slammed the door on their noses to throw up again.





Chapter 19


“You mean other than your sweet, sunny nature?”

Midmorning, Cam sat in the tiny marina business office, staring at the ancient metal filing cabinet. Up until today, it’d been filled to the brim with paperwork shoved into each drawer so tightly, he’d had to pry them open one at a time.

His dad’s filing system.

Rowan had been going through it all and leaving notes, but paperwork hadn’t been his strong suit. Hiring Gavin had been one of Cam’s smartest ideas ever. Piper’s brother had gone painstakingly through each bill and receipt, slowly making progress and some sense of the bookkeeping.

Or lack of it.

It gave Cam relief knowing that when he got called to head back to work, he could go with the confidence that Gavin would be able to keep things up to date. What didn’t give Cam a sense of relief? Everything he’d be leaving behind.

Or whom.

Scrubbing a hand over his face, he leaned back in the chair, closing his eyes for a second as he remembered the feel of Piper’s body against him, how she’d responded to his touch like he was the very breath in her lungs.

Being with her had been magic. And addictive. And yet he would still have to leave, no matter what he wanted. It was inevitable.

But his return would be as well. He was no longer surprised by that realization. What he had been surprised by was all he’d found here in Wildstone. Last night, something in particular had driven him to swim the lake, needing both mental and physical exhaustion.

Turned out that being with Piper was all he’d needed.

But in the light of day, what he’d found yesterday in Rowan’s things was still shocking him. It’d been hidden in the old metal filing cabinet.

The chair Cam sat in was also metal and far too small, which meant his knees were jammed up too close to his chest. He felt like a giant playing in a dollhouse. Not the best place for an epiphany.

When a knock sounded on the door, it was a welcome diversion. It opened before he could even get up, and there stood Winnie, hair in two ponytails, the ends dipped in blue, wearing jean shorts and an oversized T-shirt, looking fourteen years old, tops.

“I told her,” she said, leaning dramatically against the doorjamb. “Piper.” She came into the office, filling it with the level of angst only a twenty-year-old woman-child could. She plopped into the metal chair across the desk from him.

He stood. “Is she okay?”

“Well, I’m fine, thanks for asking.”

Cam shook his head at her. “You know what I mean.”

“She’s . . . shocked.” Winnie rubbed her stomach. “She can join my damn club.”

Suddenly suspicious, Cam sat. “When you say you told her, you mean you told her all of it, right?”

“You make it sound like there’s so much to tell.”

He leveled a look at her. “For nearly two decades, she raised you and Gavin with hopes and dreams for you both. I’m pretty sure those hopes and dreams didn’t include you quitting college, returning to Wildstone, or getting pregnant so young.”

Winnie sighed. “I know. And yeah, I told her everything. Well, except the Rowan being the daddy part. I mean, why drag a dead guy into it, right?”

“Why wouldn’t you tell her?” he asked, boggled by the mysterious workings of the female mind.

Winnie tipped her head back and stared up at the ceiling. “You knew your brother. He was . . . awesome, but he marched to his own beat, you know? He wasn’t exactly the most responsible guy around. I know this because I’m not either. And Piper knew it too. But what she doesn’t know is that I’m changing, for the Bean.” She cupped her belly. “But I have to show her, Cam. Show, not tell. I’m going to prove myself to her, for me and Rowan. I just need time to do it.”

Cam opened his mouth, but telling her she was making a stupid choice was what he’d have done to Rowan. And look where that’d gotten them. So he bit his tongue. Hard. Because Piper wasn’t wrong about Rowan. The kid had been slow to grow up, really slow. And living here on the lake with his dad, who wasn’t exactly Mr. Responsible himself, hadn’t helped. But in the end, Rowan had at least been trying. Hell, Cam had the proof of that sitting in his pocket.

Winnie was growing up too, getting a crash course in adulting while she was at it. By all counts, she was doing her best. It’d be of no use to tell her how stupid it was not to tell Piper, that it’d only blow up on her in the end. Chances were that she already knew. Or, more likely, she just didn’t care, because in Winnie’s world, it was still all about Winnie.

That would change too, soon enough, but she’d have to figure that out on her own. He was here for her, no matter what. He’d made a promise, and he took those incredibly seriously. But first and foremost, his responsibility was to the baby she was carrying. “Rowan had definitely started to grow up,” he said. “For you both.”