Beth laughed again. “Let me come up with some ideas, and I’ll call you next week and we can decide which way to go.”
“I already feel better, Beth. You are the best sister ever.”
“Also your only sister...”
“Quality over quantity,” Harley said, and made Beth laugh.
“Go take my nephew for a walk and don’t worry. We’ll fix this.”
“Thanks again. Talk to you next week.”
Beth fired up her car, backed out of her space and lifted one hand in a wave to whoever it was who honked at her in protest. Back on the road toward home, Beth thought about Harley’s problem, already
working out ideas on how to help.
She was beyond grateful for the task. Not only could she help her sister, but this gave her something else to think about besides the WinJet situation. Her entire family was on task with that anyway.
And though she had plenty of foundations to watch over and worry about, Harley’s was personal and enough of a distraction to keep her thoughts from straying to Cam.
A week since she’d seen him. Talked to him. Touched him. She’d lived fifteen years without him, and now it felt as if she couldn’t draw a breath without missing him.
The day of the fire, Cam had been...essential. From the start, he’d held her hand, comforted her and offered support. He hadn’t tried to take over or tell her what to do or how to feel, but he had been a rock when it most mattered to her.
“But since then...” She shook her windblown hair out of her eyes and gritted her teeth. Since that horrible day, she hadn’t seen or heard from Camden Guthrie.
Not a word. Not even a phone call. He’d disappeared, much as he had fifteen years ago. For one day, he’d been there for her and then...poof. Gone. Did he think that the crisis had disappeared? Was he deliberately staying away to let her know that she couldn’t count on him? That nothing had really changed between them? Or was this the universe telling her to forget about him and move on? That nothing between them was ever going to last?
She didn’t know anymore.
* * *
Sebastian was on the phone when Beth got home. She heard him all the way down the hall from their father’s study. He was furious, and though he wasn’t shouting, he was talking so loud the otherwise quiet house echoed with his voice.
Wondering what new crisis had struck while she was out, Beth hurried down the hall, her heels tapping against the red tiled floor. She didn’t pass anyone else in the house and when she turned into the study, she knew why. Everyone was gathered there, watching Sebastian as if they were the audience studying an actor’s every move.
Ava and Piper had the two guest chairs, and the guys were all standing in a semicircle behind them. The study was both familiar and foreign. When Beth’s father was alive, no one had been allowed in. He had liked his “alone” time and ran the many Wingate businesses from this well-appointed massive room.
There were floor-to-ceiling bookcases on three of the walls and an elegantly tiled fireplace, big enough for a tall man to stand up in, on the fourth. The walls were dotted with framed photos of Trent Wingate alongside presidents and moguls, and two of Piper’s oil paintings of the house and grounds.
Sebastian and Sutton shared this space now, though it had always seemed to Beth that Sebastian was the most comfortable in it. At the moment, Sebastian was practically growling into the phone as he paced furiously from one side of the room to the other.
Beth sidled up to Zeke. “What’s going on?”
“We got a report that the arson inspector can’t rule out the possibility that the fire might have been deliberately set.”
“What?” Shock had made her voice a lot louder than she’d planned.
Sebastian fired a hard look at her, silently telling her to be quiet. She waved one hand at him, unmoved by his impatience, then moved close to Piper and leaned down. “Is Zeke serious? There was an arsonist?”
Piper shrugged and said, “No one’s sure yet. Apparently, the inspector said it was ‘unclear.’ They’re going to continue the investigation.”
Sebastian shot her a glowering look now as he paced back and forth behind his desk.
Piper made a face at him and kept talking, though she did lower her voice a little in deference to Sebastian’s blood pressure. “And that means we can’t get into the building yet. That’s driving Baz crazy of course, and Sutton’s right behind him.”
“It’s making us all a little crazy,” Beth said. “Is Miles coming out soon?”
“No word on that yet,” Piper told her. “Apparently he’s got plenty going on right now and can’t get away.”