Page 77 of SALT

He's quiet before he stands to his full height. "Apparently, someone that meant something to him."

"You were his best friend. You're telling me you don't know who Camie was?" I try to keep my voice even when he's holding back. I know seeing that engraving wasn't easy for him. When Orion showed it to me, it felt like I was getting back a piece of my dad. He's gone, but his hand-carved note remains. He anxiously runs his hand through his hair before looking over the lake. "Everett, he was my dad. When he left this land to me, there was a note saying:

‘I'm sure you're wondering why I left you a piece of heavily wooded property with a lake that's barely accessible. The short answer is that I was once happy here, and maybe, if you need it, you'll find happiness here too.'

He was happy here, Everett, and whoever Camie is, she was a part of that happiness. I want to know. If you don't tell me, I'll dig until I figure it out on my own?—"

He holds up his hand. "Can you give me a week?"

"I don't understand. Why can't you tell me now?" His silence only allows my mind to run away with the strange things Stormy said the last time she was here. Everett admitted he knew about her lies, and when I asked for the truth now, he countered for more time. My thoughts instantly spiral as I try to connect the dots. My parents married young. It was the summer between his senior of high school and starting college that my dad knocked up my mother, or so he thought. Was Camie the girl before my mom? Stormy was asking questions about Kelce and my parents, and she admitted she wanted to get close to me. Is this why? Is she a love child too? Camie's daughter. "Is Stormy my sister?"

Stormy mentioned she was adopted, and she never knew her dad. She was surprised when I told her Everett hadn't mentioned anything about it. That has to be why he's asking for time. He said himself he didn't understand why she would choose those lies. His eyes soften, and I see it. I know what he meant now when he said he didn't want to hurt me by sharing his thoughts. Sharing something like that is false hope. False hope that there's another piece of him left besides me. False hope for an instant bestie who's also my blood. False hope for a family I thought was gone.

"Give me a week, sunshine. That's all I'm asking for. One week, and I'll tell you everything. I'll lay out every detail, every thought that was ever etched into my mind, every word that ever made an imprint on my heart, and all of it will be yours. I swear it."

"One week," I repeat. "One week or I'll start digging, and you most certainly will be in the doghouse."

He nods with a smile that doesn't reach his eyes before looping his arm around my shoulder and walking us back toward the RV. I try not to linger on his dispirited reaction to my words. I just showed him a piece of Dad, one he didn't know existed, on the day we lost him five years ago. Grief looks different for everyone. It ebbs and flows. Sometimes, the waters are calm like the lake beside us, and other times, they rage like the sea, but today I'm not alone. Together, we share this loss, and together, we'll learn how to swim because I refuse to drown.

Chapter 27

Everett

"Hey, I'm glad you came, but you probably shouldn't have. How's Cam?" Connor's acutely aware that today is the anniversary of her parents' accident. He was the one that held her in the backseat of the car as we left the charity event the night of the crash.

"She's good," I say. I grab the board to take a look at the lineup. This may be Connor's stadium and his team, but he has yet to be the one coaching it this season. "Have you turned this in yet?"

"No, I was going to have Teague take a look."

I grab the pencil from behind his ear. "McKenna hasn't been hitting for shit this week. We need to sub in a DH and put Dunsmoor behind Reynolds. He's been a beast at cleanup this season," I say as I edit the list before hanging it back up.

"Are you going to trade in that suit and tie and come be a coach permanently or what?"

"No, I'm going to hold out for grandkids that want to take over the firm."

He smirks before nervously adjusting his hat. "Do you want more kids? If things work out for you and Cam, is that on the table?"

"Con, I'm still adjusting to the fact that I'm saying Cameron's name out loud with you like this. Kids are not something I've considered." Other than the times I've come inside her and wished time would have been kinder, that I could have had her years ago.

He nods and pushes his fist into the baseball glove he's fiddling with. "Cam's young, Dad?—"

"What is this, Con? Are you having second thoughts about giving me your blessing?" He's had more time to think through everything since we spoke this morning, and there's Moira. His mother is pregnant, and I'm moving on. Connor might be a man with a family of his own, but I'm sure hearing that his parents are starting over with new significant others and creating new families isn't easy. "If this is about me starting over and where you fit, there's no question you're my son. I want you in my life. It's one of the many reasons I was hesitant to tell you about Cameron. I don't want to lose her, but?—"

"Don't say it." He holds up his hand. "Don't say you'd sacrifice your happiness for me. I already know you would. You've done it my whole life, and that's my point. Don't hold back. If you're all in, then be all in." He tosses the glove on the bench behind him. "So, besides Evan breaking into my house, Mom's pregnancy announcement, and you dating Cameron, did I miss anything else?"

I can't help but laugh when he sums it up like that. This summer has been a shit show. "Ehh, you left out that the girl who works in the team shop is stalking Cameron, and you hired your mom's archnemesis," I say like it's no big deal as I pat him on the shoulder and step around to hang the bats.

"What the hell? We'll come back to the mom thing. Cameron has a stalker, and you're okay with it?"

"Never said I was okay with it. I'm only allowing it because I believe I know why she's doing it."

"Care to elaborate?"

"Yeah, can you ask Aria to pull some favors over at Red Bud Regional? I need a file." Aria Hayes is married to his best friend, Holden, who went pro years ago, but she still works with patients recovering from eating disorders and makes hospital visits when needed.

He leans against the gate and checks his phone. "Holden's games are in town this week, so that shouldn't be an issue. I know Aria tries to schedule her appointments around his work schedule in the summer."

"I need birth records for June 26th, 2002."

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