Page 50 of Unbreakable Love

Lydia Haven was Ava’s best friend and had been here earlier, too, but Isaiah had taken her home long before he’d come back to take Ava home. It was entirely possible she didn’t know anything had happened to her best friend, that was if she slept through the manhunt the police had undertaken to find Jimmy.

For the last several months she’d seemed to get a thrill out of being in Dalton’s space, flirting, teasing. I’d only seen my oldest brother show irritation with her antics.

That he even thought of her made me think it might not only be irritation he felt around her. “She’d probably like to hear it from you,” I told him.

His eyes, narrowed and dark and similar to mine, slid in my direction. “No, thanks. Just sayin’ she’ll need to be told.”

“It might help if she hears it from someone not in Ava’s family first so they don’t have to handle her initial reaction.” Lord knew they were dealing with enough and would be for quite a while.

Dalton rolled his lips together and brought his whiskey to his mouth. After a small sip, he went back to staring at the wall across from him.

I leaned back in the couch and rested my head against the back cushion right as my dad’s phone buzzed in his hand.

“It’s Cam,” he muttered, and all of us went on alert as my dad hit the speaker phone. Dad spoke first, “Cameron?”

A cough came and then a groan. “Hey, Dad.”

Relief hit me hard and fast, relieving some of the tension from my shoulders. It was Cam, scratchy throat and sounding like he was in a shit ton of pain, but it was Cameron. He was out of surgery.

“Hey, son.” Dad’s voice wobbled, and he sniffed. “Damn glad to hear from you. You make it through okay?”

Another groan and a curse came through the line, but Cameron managed a sleepy, “Yeah. I’ll fill you in later. You know where Ava is? Tried calling her and I can’t get a hold of her.”

Dad’s eyes widened and he cringed. “Probably sleeping, Cameron. She’s had a long night.”

“She all right?” There was nothing more than pain and exhaustion in his tone, nothing to set off alarm bells, but no way would Dad tell him anything now.

“She’ll be fine, son. Focus on you right now and we’ll talk tomorrow. All right?”

“Yeah, yeah… Okay. I think my meds are kickin’ in, so I’m gonna go. Tell Mom I’m good, though, okay?”

“We will. Get some rest, Cameron.”

They hung up a few seconds later and Dad sighed. “Damn. How long you think he’ll stay in Buffalo once he hears what happened tonight?”

“Even if he doesn’t, he’ll be home tomorrow,” Dalton said, and I couldn’t argue with him. Cameron wouldn’t want to be anywhere else except here or with Ava while he recovered.

“I’m going to try to head up,” I told them and shoved to my feet with a tired groan. It was the middle of the night. I was exhausted, pissed, and scared, but I still had a daughter to take care of in the morning.

There was no doubt Josie would wake up with a million questions, and I’d need to be alert enough to answer them.

I woke the next morning with my phone full of texts, from friends and coworkers and even former clients telling me they were thinking of and praying for our family, and as I read through all of them, a new text came in.

Just woke up and saw the news. Let me know if your family needs anything.

For the first time, seeing a text from Penny didn’t irritate me, and it didn’t make me want to refuse. I couldn’t. Not any longer. Life had just smacked us all across the head with the reminder that life was too damn short.

Thank you. I will. Right now we’re all still in shock. Josie won’t be in school today, fyi, but I’ll call the school.

I’ll let them know. You do what you have to.

Good. It was one less phone call I’d have to make.

Thanks, Penny.

No problem

FIFTEEN

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