“For someone like her, love isn’t always enough.”
His mother frowned. “I don’t think that’s fair to either of you.”
“Maybe not. But it’s been a possibility from the beginning. I’m just trying to be a realist.”
“How about focusing less on realism and more on having some faith.”
It was such a Norah thing to say, Cam felt a stab beneath his breastbone. Because he couldn’t take any more of this, he said what he knew she wanted to hear. “I’m sure you’re right. I’m just out of sorts.”
“You’ll feel better once she’s home. Meanwhile, why don’t you put off that paperwork until tomorrow and head on home. You can call her up on FaceView.”
“FaceTime, Mom.”
Sandra waved a hand. “Whatever. Call her.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Cam walked her out, locking the door behind her and waiting until she’d driven away before pulling out his phone. His thumb hovered over contacts before moving to open the friend finder app. Her name was at the top of the list. He selected it, watching the screen flip to a U.S. map. But instead of zooming in to Chicago, the view shifted west.
To Denver.
~*~
“Welcome back.” Tucker didn’t come around his desk to hug her as she expected.
Norah shrugged it off as a product of him being in lawyer mode. “Thanks.”
She’d never been so glad to see Wishful. Between the lawsuit and the trip out to Colorado, then the second round powwow with the attorney handling her case against Helios, she’d been away for nearly two weeks. It felt like a year.
“Hav
e you seen Cam yet?”
Norah shook her head. She’d wanted to go straight to him and assure herself that things were all right between them, but there was business to tend to. “I came here to sign the paperwork first.” Something in Tucker’s expression set her on edge. “Is he okay? We haven’t really talked since I left.” Or at all. When he hadn’t returned any of her calls in the first week, she’d stopped trying. And she’d avoided the rest of the family as well.
“He hasn’t exactly dealt well with your absence.”
Yeah. Got that.
Looking back, riding her wave of fury halfway back to Chicago without seeing him first hadn’t been the best way to handle things. But he knew what her professional reputation meant to her. She could hardly open her own firm with that in tatters. Now, more than ever, she needed to be able to rely on a job and income.
“Then let’s get this done so I can go find him.”
“You should also know that there’s been a development with the whole GrandGoods thing.”
“What kind of development? Is there some kind of problem with this?” Dear God, if this fell through after everything she’d done…
“No, nothing to do with this. Cam will fill you in. But we’ve got a chance at a Hail Mary.”
A Hail Mary in conjunction with what she already had planned? Maybe things were finally turning around. “I like the sound of that.” She picked up a pen. “Now, where do I sign?”
The paperwork was minimal, given the nature of the transaction. As she left Tucker’s office twenty minutes later, Norah almost felt like clicking her heels together. Now that the deal was finalized, she was excited to find Cam and tell him what she’d done, what she planned. God knew she needed some good to balance out all the bad of Chicago.
This time of day, she figured he’d be at the nursery, so she drove out to the edge of town, mentally rehearsing what she might say.
Listen, I know I handled things badly, but I missed you, and I love you, and oh, by the way, I liquidated every asset I had to buy the land you love to keep the Big Bad Box Store from ruining it.
Surely he’d get over whatever his issue was after that.