Chapter 9

Rory

The boat ride was a fiasco. Cammy puked all over the deck. She had never been seasick in her life. My father hid on the bridge the entire time. My mother fled to the cabin to lie down with her headache meds and I was left with my sister and her nurses on the shortest damn trip to the Thimble Islands and back.

She didn't say anything. She didn't want to play cards. She looked scared when she didn't look miserable from throwing up.

"I hope you're happy," my father snarled at me when we disembarked.

I must be hanging around Dawn too much, because I wished I had a baseball bat. "Thanks for all your help," I said through my teeth instead.

As I wheeled Cammy back to my car, she started to cry.

"I'm so sorry, honey. This is all my fault. I thought it would be nice. I'm so sorry."

And then as if my day couldn't get any worse, Dawn was coming out of the Village Wharf with a baguette under one arm and a white bag in the other hand.

Please don't look over here.

"Dawn," my sister said, and I nearly let go of the wheelchair.

Dawn, of course, turned at hearing her name and looked right at me. At us. She saluted with the baguette and came toward us.

"Fuck." I darted a glance over my shoulder. At least my parents were still hiding on the boat.

"Hi," she said when she reached us.

"Dawn, this is Brenda and Catherine, my sister's nurses. I'm not sure if you remember my sister, Cammy." I tried to give her a warning with my eyes and facial expressions.

She knelt down in front of my sister. "How have you been? It's been a long time."

Cammy just grinned.

I didn't know what to do next, so I stood there like an idiot. Thankfully, Brenda had more brain power than I did at the moment. "We should get Cammy out of the sun."

"Right," I said, and gave a thankful smile to Dawn. That wasn't so bad.

Cammy reached out to Dawn. Dawn handed me the white bag and took her hand. "My bookstore is right up the road over there. We can stop by there and I can make us all some tea."

"That won't be necessary," I said. Holy shit, could this day get any worse?

"Yes," Cammy said.

The nurses and I exchanged looks. Or did it just get better? The magnitude hit me. She recognized Dawn. She answered Dawn. I couldn't get my hopes up, but I also couldn't stop my heart from beating fast. "I suppose a few minutes won't hurt."

"Good."

We made an interesting entourage filing into Tantric Books. Cammy let go of Dawn's hand so she could make tea, and I followed Dawn into the back. I put the bag, which looked like a quart of fish stew, on her counter. Dawn cut up slices of the baguette and poured water into an electric tea kettle.

"You don't have to do this," I said, going to look at the new door.

"Well, it would have been easier if you hadn't run off my favorite tea shop. You know instead of sending me panties, why don't you send me a week's worth of her tea sampler?" She pulled down six mismatched mugs and put them on a chipped platter.

"What the hell are you talking about?" I opened the door and checked out the heft. It was solid. It would take more than a screwdriver and a hard kick to open this up. The locks were brand new.

"I mean this bagged tea has got to go." She popped a teabag into each mug and then went to the minifridge and pulled out some spreadable cheese.

The locks on the door were equally sturdy and I flicked them both shut. "The locksmith did a good job."

"I'll say. He was here at eight in the morning. I went to the gym, and by the time I got back he was all done."

"You should keep the dead bolts on at all times."

She rolled her eyes at me.

"You're not zoned for food," I pointed out.

"Blow me," she said.

"I was hoping you would ask." I moved over to her so I could tug on her skirt and nibble on her neck while she worked.

"Would you get off of me?" Dawn said, exasperated.

"You want me to get you off?" I said.

"Rory."

With a last nip, I swatted her on the ass and moved to get a better view into the store so I could check up on my sister, but she seemed happy to look at all the statues. When a customer came in, Cammy lit up when she heard the bells over the door. "I see you hired someone. Has business picked up?"

Dawn frowned at me. "You mean Millie? I don't really pay her, but she works for store credit."

"I don't think that's legal."

"Don't report me." And then she surprised the hell out of me by giving me a deep kiss.

That kind of brightened my day a bit. I backed her away from where we could be seen, pressing her up against the wall.

"Besides, I only need her when I duck out for lunch or go for a nooner with a billionaire."

"Keep her around." I needed more of Dawn, so I returned her kiss. She melted in my arms, and I wondered if I could take her on the counter before anyone came looking for me.

"Have you watched the video again?" the little minx whispered in my ear before biting it.

"Don't think I won't fuck you right here, even with my sister in the other room," I warned her, reaching to pull her thigh up over my hip.

I got swatted again.

"Why don't you make yourself useful and haul that table out into the store. Put it in front of my armchair. You do remember my armchair?"

"With great pleasure," I said. "Why not in front of the couch?"

"It'll block too much traffic in the store. The armchair is located more out of the way."

Folding up the table, I hoisted it up. "Is this sturdy enough?"

"It held when you were fucking me over it last night."

"Good point." I brought the table out and set it up.

I hurried back to Dawn for more kisses, but we were barely getting started when the electric kettle whistled. She handed me the cheese and baguette platter. "Go make yourself useful."

She followed soon after with the tea. I was worried that Cammy wouldn't be able to hold the mug on her own, but she did fine. I was blown away by the coordination she was showing.

"I would have had some iced tea, but I haven't been able to get away to get a stash of my favorite lemon and fruit tea." Dawn glared at me like it was my fault.

"You work too hard," I said.

"That's what I tell her," Millie piped in, and then blushed when we all looked at her.

"I like what I do." Dawn shrugged and then put her tea down to help a customer.

I caught up with her a few minutes later as she was washing the platter in the back. "I'm sorry to have interrupted your lunch."

"It's fine." Her smile warmed me up inside and I couldn't resist stealing another kiss.

"Hey, are you sure you don't remember Cammy? She seems to remember you." I asked Dawn the question that had been bothering me since we walked in.

Dawn handed me the platter and a clean towel. I guess I was drying. She put the soup into the fridge. "I'm not sure. High school was a long time ago."

"Maybe from when she pregnant? It would have been five or six years ago."

"I didn't have the shop six years ago. I had a lot of customers my first year. I would have remembered a girl in a wheelchair."

Shaking my head, I put the platter in the cabinet above us. "She wasn't sick then. Or maybe she was. She had just had the baby, and we think now she was suffering from postpartum depression."

"That's awful," Dawn said, hugging herself. "I couldn't bear it if I could have helped and I didn't."

"No, no that's not what I want you to think. We should have paid more attention. She had a history of drug abuse in high school, I mentioned. It was opiates."

Dawn made a face.

"She overdosed on Xanax and heroin five years ago and has been in and out of a coma ever since. There was brain damage. To this day we don't know the full extent. She has been improving, but she doesn't talk much, and the only person she's called by name is you."

"I'm honored," she said.

"You must have made a big impression on her."

"I pitched a no-hitter during the softball finals." She flexed her arm at me.

I thought it had more to do with knifing that quarterback, and I had an awful thought that maybe he had hurt Cammy as well. It galled me that even back then I couldn't protect my sister. Couldn't stop a burglar from coming into Dawn's business either. What was the use of all this money if I couldn't fix things? I forced my hands to unclench.

"Sometimes I think she has the mind of a five-year-old, and sometimes I think she's still in there, looking at us through a thick plate of glass, not knowing how to get through. Today is the first big adventure she's had, and up to the moment she saw you, it was pure shit."

"I'm glad I could help." She rubbed my arm.

"You did. Thanks." I kissed her again. She tasted like mint tea. "Are you still going out tonight?"

She groaned. "Yes, you pain in the ass."

"Where are you going?"

"None of your business."

"All right, but no dancing with other guys. We're exclusive. Got me?"

"Just for the summer."

I got in her face. "Until I fucking say so."

She narrowed her eyes at me. I loved pushing her buttons. "You're going to want to back the hell right off or I'll put the kibosh on this faster than you can undo your fly."

"I'm pretty fast with whipping my dick out."

"I've noticed," Dawn said dryly. "Get out of my back room."

"As you wish." I bowed to her.

I helped her take the table back, and since Cammy didn't seem in the least bit ready to leave, I even helped wash and dry the mugs while Dawn waited on customers. I told Brenda and Catherine to take a walk around the town green if they wanted, and they took me up on the suggestion.

I had to admit, Dawn ran a nice shop. She had a steady stream of customers and engaged with them. Her prices were too low and her product quality was low end. I fiddled around on my phone seeing if I could find some better merchandise for her. Maybe I could rearrange her store to fit the needs of the new development. It would be a challenge, but I had to consider all options.

After about an hour, Cammy's eyes started drooping and her nurses wandered back in.

"What did you think of the new buildings?" Dawn asked before I could say anything.

"They're nice to look at," Brenda said.

"But who could afford any of that?" Catherine giggled.

I answered the triumphant look Dawn shot me over her shoulder with a patronizing smile. "We should get going," I said.

"Before you do . . ." Dawn took a box off a shelf and knelt down in front of Cammy's wheelchair.

Cammy smiled at her.

Dawn opened the box and pulled out a set of bells, just like the ones over the door. "I think you were one of my first customers, so I wanted to give you a gift for coming back."

"That's not necessary," I started to say, but then I caught the look of wonder on Cammy's face as she shook the string and the pretty little music came out. "Thank you," I finished, and because it seemed second nature, I kissed Dawn on the mouth when she stood up.

The nurses looked away, but Cammy was staring at me with her jaw wide open in shock.

"I'll see you tomorrow," I said to Dawn, and wheeled Cammy out of the shop. She jingled her bells back at the door.