UNSURPRISINGLY, LAURA WASN’T returning Camile’s calls.
“If she thinks that’s going to save her, she’s wrong,” Aubrey said early the next morning after picking up Camile and Nina at Camile’s apartment. Aubrey had not only wanted to come along, she also insisted on driving them in her SUV for the long trip to Portland. They passed most of the time drinking coffee, munching on the healthy breakfast Aubrey had packed, and filling her in on the drama in Camile’s life, including the details of Laura’s betrayal. It seemed pointless to try to keep any of it from her now.
“Yeah, so,” Camile said when she’d finished updating her about Bobby’s lawsuit, “that’s my life. I bet you’re jealous of all my drama, aren’t you?”
Aubrey’s eyes briefly connected with Camile’s in the rearview mirror. “Trust me, little one—it could be worse.” Camile felt a warm glow inside at Aubrey’s use of the childhood nickname she’d bestowed upon her practically at birth. Camile appreciated the show of support, even if she knew in her heart that it couldn’t get much worse than losing Rhys.
A few moments of silence crept by as they neared the outskirts of Portland.
Then Aubrey announced, “Since we’re sharing, Eli and I have an appointment with a fertility specialist next week.” Her tone was all matter-of-fact like she was revealing an upcoming trip to the grocery store and not a traumatic and life-altering event.
“Aubrey...what?” Camile said.
“Yeah, we don’t seem to be able to get pregnant.”
Nina had swiveled in her seat and was gaping at her. “I didn’t even know you were trying.”
“I know. No one does, or did, until now. For me, it would have been an odd thing to announce. What if I didn’t get pregnant right away? Unfortunately, my instinct was spot-on. Thank goodness, I didn’t tell Mom and Dad we’re trying. You know how much they’re looking forward to grandchildren.”
“You don’t know that!” Nina said. “A lot of couples try for years before they get pregnant.”
“True!” Camile chimed in. “A woman I work with at Tabbie’s tried for eight years. She and her husband adopted a baby, and five months later she was pregnant.”
They continued discussing the plans Aubrey and Eli had made, the steps they were about to begin. Camile felt a little twist of guilt as she realized how long it had been since the three of them had enjoyed any quality sister time. Her fault, she knew. At some point during the chaotic descent her life had undergone, she’d begun avoiding her confident, successful middle sister as well as her parents. She’d been too busy for Nina way too often for comfort. Nina just didn’t allow her as much space to retreat.
Funny, how even people you thought you knew well could be struggling with issues and worries only they could see. Poor Aubrey. And here they were, her sisters, when she needed them most. Camile resolved to do the same. It was too late for her and Rhys, but she made a silent vow to be the sister, daughter, friend she used to be before she got stuck on this stupid treadmill of “when.” When she got her life together; when she finished school; when she had a “real” job; when she got caught up on her bills. When her life was...fill in the blank. She’d used a lot of excuses. She was done with that. No more waiting until her life was in some perfect place or she’d accomplished some ambiguous goal so that she’d feel worthy. Life wasn’t ever going to be perfect, and neither was she. And maybe if she quit trying so hard to be all of those things, she’d have more time to enjoy what she did have and to celebrate the accomplishments she’d achieved. These people loved her, and she loved them right back. A longing for Rhys burned at her core; she wished it hadn’t taken losing him for her to see all of this. If only she had grabbed that brass ring when she’d had the chance.
They drove straight to Laura’s condo in Portland. The lights were out, but Camile hopped out and knocked on the door. No answer. A quick peek through the side window into the garage revealed that her car was gone.
“I know she teaches a class at ten. Let’s head to the university and see if we can catch her before class starts.”
Because it was summer, fewer students were on campus, and that meant they easily found a parking space in the huge lot next to the tall steel-and-glass building that housed most of the social sciences department. Traversing the familiar cement and brick walkways, Camile tried to analyze how she felt about the place she’d spent so much time in during the previous seven years of her life, but she quickly discovered that she couldn’t think past somehow fixing this situation for Rhys. And dealing with Laura. She was angry, too.
Setting aside her tangled emotions, she focused on the task at hand. She wondered how long it would be before Harper learned anything about Heather. She briefly considered texting and then decided against it, knowing Harper wouldn’t delay when, if, she had news.
The three sisters settled on a bench with a clear view of the building’s main entrance. Class time crept closer with no sign of Laura. Camile was nearly ready to give up when a different familiar figure approached the building: medium height, stocky build, close-cropped black hair with pretty gray-blue eyes. Camile thought Rob Bretz looked more like a hot collegiate athlete than the brainy sociology adjunct professor he was.
“There’s Rob,” Camile told her sisters. “A mutual friend of mine and Laura’s. He might know where she is. I’ll be right back.” She jogged toward him, and she could tell the instant he recognized her.
Dazzling smile in place, arms up and out, he hurried toward her as if thrilled to see her. “Camile!” She stepped into his arms. Hugging her tightly, he said, “How are you? You look amazing.”
Camile patted his back and stepped away. “Thanks, Rob. You are a very sweet liar. But look at you, you’re looking pretty smart yourself there, Professor Bretz.” She added a wink.
He laughed, gray-blue eyes sparkly and warm. She’d always liked how thoroughly his smile seeped into his eyes. “Congratulations, again, on a thesis job well done.” Camile had sent him a text after she’d learned the news. His response had been immediate, enthusiastic and heartfelt. Like she’d expected from Laura.
“Thank you. I’ll admit I was pretty thrilled to learn that I did pass after all.” She added a little bow. “I wish I had time to take you out for coffee or lunch or something, but I’m looking for Laura. I know she has a class soon. Have you seen her?”
Rob cringed, his face twisting with distress. “Oh, wow... I guess you haven’t heard, huh?”
“Heard what?”
“Camile, I don’t know how to tell you this because I’m not sure exactly what happened, but Laura got arrested.”
“Arrested for what?” Even though she thought she knew. Rhys’s professor friend had said that because the violation fell under computer hacking laws, the matter had been turned over to law enforcement.
“There are rumors,” Rob answered carefully. “No one seems to know for certain. But I can tell you that the cops arrested her here on campus early this morning. I saw them handcuff her and escort her from the building.”
“Have you seen her since then? Did you go to the police station?”
“Me? No.” He looked so startled by the question that Camile felt compelled to ask, “Aren’t you two together?”
“Did she tell you that?”
“Yes. Right after I moved back to Pacific Cove, she said you guys had been spending a lot of time together and, uh, getting close.”
“Ugh.” Rob tipped his head and looked briefly at the sky. He sighed and focused back on Camile. “We did a small project together for Professor Vaughn. That’s it. She wanted us to be more, but I wasn’t interested. I thought it was strange when she told me because she knew how I felt about you. She’s known since last year.”
“Last year?” Camile thought about how hard she’d crushed on Rob. At one point, it had seemed like he’d returned her feelings. She’d been gearing up to ask him out when the chemistry between them suddenly cooled. Assuming she’d read the signals wrong, she’d been grateful she’d never ruined their friendship by making a move.
Rob peered at her. “Yes. I mentioned that I...liked you. I knew you guys were friends and I thought maybe you’d talked to her about me or whatever. But when I told her I was thinking about asking you out, she said you were involved with someone else. That you had a serious man in your life, but that you didn’t like to talk about it.”
“Unbelievable,” Camile said with a shake of her head. No wonder Laura had seemed interested in Rhys. There was no romance between her and Rob. Camile felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. Pulling it out, she saw it was a text from Dr. Slater. “I’m sorry, Rob. I’ve got some unfortunate drama going on in my life, and I need to check this text.” Camile read the message, confirming Laura’s arrest. It also contained a heads-up letting her know the authorities would likely be contacting her soon. They had some questions.
Rob had been staring at the ground. When Camile slid the phone back into her pocket, he looked up and blurted, “She did it, didn’t she? The rumor is true. She somehow made you fail your thesis.”
“It’s looking that way.”
“I knew it. She’s...off, Camile. The way she talks about you is weird. It’s like she loves you and hates you at the same time.”
Camile thought about how Rhys had Laura figured out in roughly five minutes while she’d spent years being her friend and hadn’t seen it. Some psychology major I am, she thought wryly. Rhys was so much more insightful than he gave himself credit for.
“And you weren’t involved with anyone else, were you?” Rob asked.
“Nope. I wasn’t.”
“So... If I asked you out now, what would you say?” It was endearing the way his cheeks tinged pink.
“Oh, Rob, I wish...” But she didn’t wish because if Rob had asked her out, she probably wouldn’t have moved back to Pacific Cove and she would never have met Rhys. “I would say that unfortunately, it’s too late for us. I’m in love with someone.” Even if Rhys didn’t want her, even if he couldn’t forgive her, Camile couldn’t imagine being with anyone else. She had no idea how long it took a heart to heal, but she knew in her case, it would be a while. And Rob deserved to be with someone who could give him her whole heart.
Rob’s smile was a mix of sadness and regret. Camile hated being the cause, but she wasn’t, was she? Laura had done this.
“He’s a very, very lucky guy. I hope he knows that.”
“Thank you, Rob.” Reaching out, she gave his hand a quick squeeze before releasing it. She turned to go.
“Camile, wait.”
She faced him again.
“Be careful with Laura.”
“Thanks, Rob. I will.”
THERE WERE BENEFITS, Camile decided, to having a sister in the Coast Guard. Aubrey knew people in law enforcement. A few phone calls and she discovered that Laura had already been released on bail. They drove back to her house to wait. And it paid off when, in less than an hour, a car pulled up next to the curb adjacent to her building. Laura climbed out.
“That’s her,” Camile said, and, as they’d already planned, she called Aubrey’s number. Aubrey accepted the call and left the line open so Aubrey and Nina could listen to the conversation from the car. Camile slipped her phone into her jacket pocket. Aubrey would be ready to intercede if needed, and Nina could call law enforcement if it came to that. Feeling like her heart was about to beat out of her chest, Camile exited the SUV and approached her.
“Laura.”
She whirled around, and Camile could see the flash of emotion in her eyes, even though she couldn’t quite identify it. “I don’t have anything to say. My attorney has advised me not to speak with anyone, including you.”
“You can’t even tell me why? Laura, why would you do this to me? I thought we were friends.”
“Friends? How can you even say that to me right now? I hate this! I hate women like you. But I don’t hate you. I wish I could, but I can’t...” Shockingly, tears welled in her eyes. Removing a tissue from her pocket, she dabbed at her lashes.
Camile told herself not to feel bad but sympathy must have been evident on her face because Laura said, “Jeez, Camile, you’re so nice. No one could hate you.”
“But Laura—”
“All I’m going to say is that I didn’t mean for all this to happen. Not like this.”
“What did you mean—women like me?”
“You have everything! For three years, I’ve watched you get every single thing you want—everything I wanted—while barely even trying. And acting like you don’t even care or that you even want it. While I worked and studied and played nice and batted my eyelashes like some kind of pathetic sycophant and got nothing!”
“Laura, what in the world are you talking about?”
Laura sniffled and glanced away for a few seconds. “See? This is exactly what I’m talking about. You don’t even know how good you have it—how smart and funny and pretty you are. Everyone loves you, Camile! Including Rob, the guy I’ve been in love with since my freshman year.” Laura paused to wave a hand up and down Camile’s length. “Don’t even get me started on that perfect little body of yours—how can you eat French fries with country gravy and four slices of pizza in one sitting and still look like a personal trainer? It’s not fair.
“When I came to St. Killian’s, I had one goal—to graduate at the top of my class, to be first in the psychology department. And I was there, a virtual shoo-in until you decided to transfer over from premed and steal my thunder. Who does that? If you’re smart enough to become a doctor, you become a darn doctor!”
“Laura, I—”
“I’m not finished. Because then you hemmed and hawed around and finally decided to go on and get your master’s degree like you were deciding which car to buy and not committing to your lifelong profession. Fine, I thought. Camile has to work and pay her own way through school—including dressing up and dancing around in those ridiculous costumes every weekend. She won’t have time to be the best student in our master’s program. I will. I’ll have nothing but time to study. And I’ll study harder and do more and be better, and the professors will see it. They’ll read my papers out loud to the class, single me out, pick me to be their TA. They’ll choose me to work on their research projects. And at the end of it all, I will get the grand prize—the adjunct professor job! But no, even with your crazy work schedule and your constant, pointless...dancing, you somehow managed to excel. We were neck and neck right up until the end. But when I read your thesis, I knew I didn’t stand a chance. It was absolutely...brilliant. And I just... I snapped.”
Camile stared at the woman she’d believed to be her friend and tried to decide how to handle this. She wasn’t afraid of her, but she needed some serious counseling.
“Laura, I am so sorry. I’m sorry that you feel this way about me. I never meant to hurt you. I think I was too concerned with my own issues and trying to be my own version of successful to see that you were struggling, too.”
With the heel of her hand, Laura swiped at an errant tear. “There were rumors about how you could hack into the university’s cloud. I found a guy who would do it for two hundred dollars. He helped me, and it was so easy. I didn’t know that it was illegal. It felt more like a prank. I thought you’d just have to fix it, redo it at the very worst. I made it easy to fix, too! I thought by the time it was all sorted, I’d already have the job, and I’d be dating Rob. And you could go on to be amazing at whatever you decided to pursue.”
“You told Heather Dupres that I was working for Rhys, didn’t you?”
“I did you a favor there. That guy might look like a Greek god, but he’s a rude jerk, Camile. You are better off without him.”
“Why would you do that? It’s one thing to sabotage me, but why would you try to ruin his life? You don’t even know him.”
“Because I know he’s the one who asked for your thesis to be reevaluated. My office is right next to Dr. Youngworth’s. When I met him at the bowling alley, he gave me a weird vibe. That’s why I left. The next day, I heard Dr. Youngworth talking to Dr. Sawyer from the English department. I heard his name and what he wanted, and I knew it was only a matter of time. If it weren’t for Rhys McGrath and his feelings for you, I never would have gotten caught! We’d had lunch by then where you told me about your arrangement with his sister and the custody fight. It wasn’t difficult to track Heather down.”
Camile felt a fresh wave of frustration. “But why?”
“He ruined my life, Camile. It’s only fair that I ruin his.”
“WOW,” AUBREY SAID when Camile finally climbed back inside the car. “That girl needs help. I mean serious, serious help.”
Agreeing, Nina twisted in her seat to look at Camile. “That was intense. Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. I think. For now, anyway. I’m glad it’s over. I’m sure I’ll be pondering all of that for a while, but right now, I need to call Anne and let her know what we found out.” Camile couldn’t help but wonder what exactly Rhys had said to Laura at the bowling alley.
“No need,” Nina said. “Harper called. She tried to call your phone, but you were on your trip to Scarytown back there, so she called mine. We’re meeting her and Anne back at your place. She says she is very optimistic and has lots to share.”
“HEATHER AND TROY are deeply in debt,” Harper announced to the assembled cast of Camile, Anne, Nina and Aubrey. “Discovering the state of their finances was just as easy as I’d hoped. And don’t worry, Camile, completely aboveboard. I even consulted my attorney to make sure Rhys can use what we found.”
“How deep?” Camile asked.
“A few million dollars, not including their home, in which they are upside down and all tangled up.”
Camile nodded. “This explains so much, but how can Rhys use it in the custody battle? The more I think about it, the more I realize that the court probably doesn’t care that much about her financial situation. How could we ever prove her motive? Heather appears to love Willow. She would never admit that she wants custody of her sister’s child for the money.”
Harper handed her a file folder and added, “You could start by using this affidavit that a contact of mine—a good guy on my father’s legal staff—got from Heather’s BFF, Stacey. In her sworn statement, Stacey says that Heather regularly refers to Willow as her ‘gravy train’ and her ‘golden goose.’ And talks about how she’ll spend ‘Willow’s money’ once she gets it. Stacey also says that their friend McKinley has heard Heather use these terms numerous times, as well. My guy hasn’t gotten McKinley’s statement yet because she’s been at a yoga retreat in Canada. She’s willing to talk and she’ll be back tonight. He’ll be waiting.”
Silence ensued for a long moment as they all stared in awe at Harper.
Finally, Anne said, “Harper, I love your guy so much. Who is he? I want to marry him.”