Page 27 of My Brother's Forbidden Friend

“Like I said, you’ll know it when you see them.” He chuckles.

My eyes catch a familiar figure walking down from the entrance of the marina, a four-legged companion following. Cam glances in our direction and lowers his head, walking to the new boat. He shakes hands with all four of the Baker Muscle, and they hand him a pouch full of stuff. He climbs aboard his new boat with Gunner hopping on right next to him. That dog has been around boats his entire life.

“Lucky bastard,” Vinny mumbles. “Anyway, see you guys later.” He heads into the warehouse.

“Me too. Gotta hose down, fuel up, and get ready for an early mornin’ excursion.” Rowdy steps away but turns back, looking at the sky. “Get home ‘fore it’s dark, okay?”

I chuckle because it’s Alaska in the summer. It won’t be dark for a long time yet. “Okay, dad.” I salute him and he gives a stern expression. “I will, Rowdy. Promise.”

He nods. “Good.”

Sometimes I think everyone still watches out for me because in their eyes, I’m the little girl who lost her mother.

Cam walks out from the wheelhouse and sits on one of the luxury chairs in the back, staring out at the bay. I try not to watch him as I finish my work, but I can’t take my eyes off of him. Gunner sits next to him, and Cam pets his head, not taking his eyes off the horizon.

I wonder what it must be like to have everything handed to you your entire life only for it to be stripped away so fast. I always envied him for having money and going on trips, but I sense that maybe his life isn’t as easy as I always thought.

I grab two beers from my fridge and walk down the pier to his boat. “May I come aboard?”

He blinks out of his thoughts, and a smile that weakens my knees shines on his face. “Always.”

I try not to read into that and step aboard. Gunner rushes to me, wanting to kiss my face as I hold out a beer to Cam.

“Welcome to the family.” I sit in the chair next to his.

He accepts the beer and cracks it open. “Thanks. Although I thought I was already part of the family.”

We clink bottles. “Now you’re one of us. Instead of a stuffy, uptight executive.”

He chuckles and tips back his bottle. “Guess I need a new wardrobe.”

“Yeah, not a lot of captains in suits and polo shirts.”

He continues to watch the last of the fishing boats returning to the marina. A woman rushes down the pier toward a boat that I know was out for gold crab. Cam smiles as she waves to a man who barely steps off the boat before she attaches herself to him.

“I can’t imagine what that’s like,” Cam says.

“To be gone that long so often? I don’t know how they do it.”

He looks at me, expression serious. “No, I mean, I can’t imagine having someone miss you that much.”

It’s the first time I’ve seen Cam so vulnerable, and I understand what he’s saying.

Gunner comes and lies between us. We watch a few more women walk down the docks, some with kids in tow. Each family reunion makes me wonder what it would be like to have someone permanent in my life.

“But you forget the long nights of wondering if they’re alive… the fear of losing your loved one always in the back of your head and the knowledge of how common it is. Is all that fear worth the love?” I ask.

He looks at me and I swear he frowns. There I go disappointing someone else again.

9

“BYE, SWEETIE.”

Cam

I hurry up and finish getting ready since there’s only one bathroom in this house. How in the hell did four women live here with only one bathroom?

Gunner lies on the back porch while I prepare breakfast, listening to the sounds of Chevelle getting ready upstairs. There’s a lot of cursing and banging, but I ignore it.

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