Piper looked down and saw that around their mid-body area, the blanket was moving rather suggestively. She lifted the blanket and Sweet Cheeks crawled out. “It’s the cat.”
“Sure it is,” Winnie said, her hands still over her eyes. “You know, I wanted you to get a life, but next time put a sock on the door—leave me a sign!”
“It’s not what you think!” Impervious to the drama, Sweet Cheeks was head-bumping Piper, demanding food, which got her booted to the floor, where, with narrowed feline eyes, she meowed her annoyance and stalked off, tail twitching.
“Hey,” Winnie called after her. “Where’s the love?”
Piper stood up and the blanket fell away, revealing she was fully dressed.
Cam sat up, also dressed. Well, mostly. He was still shirtless, and his cargoes seemed dangerously low on those sexy hips. And then there was the shaggy bedhead, which looked good on him.
As he moved, Piper’s journal hit the floor, and Winnie burst out laughing. “Okay, now I know nothing happened. Seriously, Piper, for your sex life’s sake, join the twenty-first century and switch to the note app on your damn phone. Or better yet, figure out how to use the iPad that Gavin and I gave you for your last birthday.”
Piper slid a look at Cam, who appeared to be holding back a smile.
Winnie wasn’t holding back anything; it wasn’t in her DNA. She was almost a mirror image of Piper, with the same shoulder-length light-brown hair—although Winnie’s tips had been dyed blue—the same green eyes, and the same curvy build that never seemed to respond to exercise or diet.
But only Winnie had black circles under her eyes.
“Hey,” Piper said. “You okay?”
“Peachy. Just wanted to wish you happy birthday, but you never answer your phone.”
“There was no electricity last night. And we’d agreed you weren’t coming home.”
“No,” Winnie said. “You agreed. But then I heard about the storm and you’d gone dark, so I got worried.” She smiled at Cam. “Hi. And obviously, I’m the nice, considerate Manning sister.”
With a sigh, Piper gestured to Winnie by way of introduction. “Cam, this is—”
“Winnie,” he said.
Winnie smiled. “Hey, Camden.”
Piper paused. Blinked. “You two know each other?”
“I met him at Rowan’s funeral,” Winnie said quietly.
Surprised, Piper glanced at Cam, who was giving nothing away, so she turned back to her sister. “You went to Rowan’s funeral?”
Winnie’s eyes filled, but didn’t spill as she nodded. “He was my best friend.”
“I know.” Ignoring the ache in her own chest, she moved to Winnie and hugged her. “If you’d told me, I’d have tried to find a way to go with you.”
“We talked about it at the time, remember? We couldn’t afford for all of us to go, and I didn’t want you to feel bad. Plus, I wanted to do it alone.”
Then she and Cam exchanged a look that Piper couldn’t translate. There was tension there. Not sexual, or at least she didn’t think so, but that might’ve been wishful thinking on her part. Telling herself it didn’t matter, she strode to the wood stove and stoked the fire back to life, adding wood, taking a moment to hold her hands out to the flames. Not that she was cold. Nope, Cam had been her own personal heater. She was just sorry she’d actually slept and slept hard, and hadn’t taken a moment to enjoy being in someone’s arms again.
“You shouldn’t have come home just because of me,” Piper said. “The flights are too expensive.”
“I didn’t fly.”
Piper craned her neck to stare at her. “What do you mean you didn’t fly?”
“I drove.”
This took Piper aback. “You drove the POS we bought you in Santa Barbara, the one that was only for getting you around town?”
“And it got me around.” Winnie smiled. “It got me all the way here. Well, to the gas station anyway. From there I had to walk in. Too many downed trees on the road.”
“Are you kidding me? Do you know how dangerous that was, especially in the storm?”
“The storm’s over. And think of it this way, if someone’s stupid enough to steal the car, they deserve it.”
Piper had a lot more to say about this, but she could feel Cam watching them curiously. “We’ll finish talking about this later.”
“Oh, goodie,” Winnie said. “Because talking always works out so well for us.”
She didn’t know how her sister did it, how she managed to step on Piper’s one sore nerve every single time. Step on it, stomp on it, kick it . . . “I didn’t want you missing any classes.”
“It’s teacher conference week, or something like that,” Winnie said with a shrug. “I’m not missing anything.”
“You should be studying—”
“Piper, I’m twenty, not twelve. I think I know how to handle my life.”
“Gee, I must be home,” came a new voice. “Because there’s fighting. Also, I didn’t fly either. I took a bus. Because when you’re alive, Piper, you answer your damn phone.”
Gavin . . . ? Piper whirled toward the door. Yep, her brother stood there with that always-present easygoing smile he gave the world.
Winnie made a happy sound and flew at him for a hug.
Gavin sighed dramatically, but hugged her back. “Win, you look like shit. You okay?”
“Wow.” Winnie pulled back. “If you ever want to be humbled, ask your brother how you look.”
“Happy to help.” Gavin looked just like Piper and Winnie, except to Piper’s ever-loving annoyance, he was lean to the point of looking underfed.
She’d never looked underfed a day in her life. “My phone died,” she said, and hugged him too.
“There’s a bunch of mud and downed trees blocking the street. Took me forever to walk in.” Gavin looked at Cam. “Who are you?”
“This is Cam Hayes,” Winnie told him. “Emmitt’s son.”
Gavin immediately lost his smile. “Hey, man. I’m sorry about Rowan.”
Cam gave a short nod and rose to his feet. “How bad’s the road?”
“Mud slid down the creek and into the lake. Missed your dad’s house and the entire marina, and this place too, thankfully. But yards are decimated and the street isn’t going to be operational until the county gets out here with a crew.”
Cam nodded. “I’m going to go check on my dad.”
“Let me know how he’s doing. And . . .” She grimaced. “Sorry about both the cat and me trying to kill you.”
He met her gaze, and she felt herself blush. He smiled, then headed to the front door.
“I’m going to go get some stuff from my car,” Winnie said, and followed Cam out.
“Didn’t she just say she’d left her car at the gas station?” Gavin asked.
Piper rubbed her forehead. “Yes, which means she’s lying to us about something, but hey, what’s new.”
Gavin nodded with a low laugh. “Like I said, home sweet home.”
Piper shook her head. “You hate it here. You couldn’t wait to leave.”