Tuesday brought overcast skies and a generally yucky weather. Although that assessment might have had more to do with Mina’s mood than actual meteorological conditions.

Even though she knew she needed to get out of bed and pack, Mina couldn’t seem to manage anything more vigorous than thrusting her arm out every seven minutes to hit the snooze button, each time giving it a slightly harder whack.

After half an hour of that, she turned the alarm off entirely, then fell into a dreamless sleep and didn’t wake up again until a crack of greenish light illuminated the room, followed by a deafening clap of thunder that shook the entire place.

She checked her clock, saw that it was already after six p.m., and tried to work up enough energy to even be frustrated with herself for sleeping through the entire damn day.

But no go. The day was gray, but her mood was grayer.

Usually, she loved Austin’s frequent summer thunderstorms. They’d always seemed cozy before, as if inviting her to curl up on a couch with hot cocoa and a good book. Today, it just seemed depressing.

She didn’t want to think about Cam or about leaving. And so, of course, that was all she was thinking about.

Cam didn’t know a thing about the assistant position she’d taken, of course. So his dire predictions were nonsense. Sure, there’d be coffee and dry-cleaning. But she’d be making important connections in Hollywood, and that was key in the industry.

But even so, she’d called Griffin last night and asked him to make some phone calls to people he knew in Hollywood—just to make certain that her new boss didn’t have a reputation for being an asshole who hit on women or abused his assistants or anything gnarly like that. Not that she was really worried. The job was exactly what she was looking for and she was sure her boss was a good guy.

Which begged the question of why she couldn’t even get out of bed to start packing for the biggest adventure of her life.

The truth was, she didn’t need to take much. She knew her dad would hire someone to pack and ship the rest of her things once she found an apartment in LA. But, of course, she still had to get up and get dressed, because she needed to go give the bad news to her new-and-soon-to-be-former Austin boss.

Except she didn’t, because the day was gone.

She’d have to call tomorrow, after all.

She frowned, knowing that in-person would be better, but also relieved that she wouldn’t see that look of disappointment on the team’s faces—just like the expression she’d seen on Cam’s.

Dammit, she wasn’t supposed to be thinking of him.

That was the promise she’d made to herself last night. Today she had only one goal. Get ready to catch tomorrow morning’s nine o’clock flight. That was it. Simple. Once she was on that plane, she’d have at least four hours to think about everything else before she landed. And Cam was at the top of her agenda.

Naturally, she blew that plan all to hell as thoughts of Cam filled her head when she finally peeled herself out of bed and made it into the shower.

The thing was, she loved him. She was certain of it. But if she stayed because of that, then she was making love a prison, and how could that be good? After all, her mom had loved her father, and when it fell apart, she was left with nothing.

Mina couldn’t risk being like her mom. And if she stayed because Cam wanted her to—or even because she loved him—sooner or later, she’d resent him. And he’d feel the same if she begged him to move to LA, even though yesterday she’d shamelessly begged him to do just that.

So how did they work it out?

Was it even possible?

What she really wanted was to talk to Darryl, but she’d dug her own grave there by not clueing him in from the beginning.

Then again, what did she have to lose now? She’d already lost Cam—or she was in serious danger of it. And she’d sacrifice one hell of a lot more than her pride if she could figure out a way to get him back and make their lives mesh.

Her big brother had always been her savior before—and she’d always resented the hell out of it.

Now, as she thrust her arms in her light summer rain jacket, she desperately hoped that he’d put his arm around her, kiss her forehead, and make all the hurt go away.

---

“Darryl!”

Mina wandered the rooms of her family home, realizing for the first time in her life that the place was ridiculously big for only three people. What had her father been thinking? And how the hell was she supposed to find anyone in these walls?

She scowled at the intercom button mounted near the entrance of every room, and wished that she and Darryl had been a little less rambunctious as kids. But they’d pushed that button with such abandon that her father had ultimately disconnected the entire system, vowing not to restore it until they were both adults.

Either he still considered them both children or he’d forgotten to get the system repaired.

Not that it mattered, the bottom line was that she couldn’t find Darryl.

Since he’d started his clerkship, he’d left work promptly at five and come straight home. He’d told her this was the only law job that supported bankers’ hours, and that his judge actually encouraged an eight-to-five schedule. So she expected him to be in the house.

But maybe he’d gone out for a drink with his co-clerks. Or grocery shopping. Or anywhere.

Which would make sense on any other day. But he knew this was her last night in town. So why wasn’t he home to see her off?

Worried, she pulled her phone out and dialed him—which, actually, she should have thought of before, since calling or texting was a handy way of finding him in the house—but the phone went straight to voice mail all three times she tried.

“Fine,” she muttered. “You want to be overprotective? I can, too.”

Darryl had insisted they share their locations years ago. “You’ll be walking around campus after dark,” he’d said. “Don’t be stupid.”

She trusted him to not track her on a date, and she’d never looked up his location either, except for the one time he showed her how to do it.

Today, however, qualified as an emergency. And not just because he wasn’t there the night before she left. No, a growing knot of worry had taken root in her stomach. She didn’t know if it was paranoia or a twin thing. But she was certain something bad had happened to him, and she stared at the phone screen, waiting for the little dot to place him somewhere.

When it did, she cringed.

Dell Seton Medical Hospital.

And although she couldn’t know for sure, she was desperately afraid that the little red dot that represented Darryl was right smack dab in the emergency room.