“Okay, calm down. What happened?”
“That gigantic, motorcycle-driving maniac happened. He makes me so mad! Ugh!”
Beth bit her lip to keep from laughing. Apparently, Camilla had met Heath. “I take it Heath’s giving you trouble?”
“Heath? Is that what he’s called? I figured his name was Neanderthal, since he’s such a caveman. What a jerk!”
“Come on, Camilla. I’ve met him. He’s a perfectly nice—”
“Are you kidding me? First, he used up all the hot water, so I couldn’t take a shower.” She started ticking items off on her fingers. “Then he drank the whole pot of coffee before I got up, leaving me caffeine deprived. You know I can’t function without at least two cups first thing in the morning. Then he confiscated my laptop, and won’t give it back!” Her voice rose with each infraction, until it reached a shrill screech. Beth barely kept for sticking her fingers in her ears.
“Whoa, calm down. I’m sure there’s more hot water. You’ll be able to take a shower. As for the coffee, come on, let’s go to the kitchen and I’ll make you a fresh pot.”
Camilla sniffled. “You can’t. Apparently, there’s no more until Dane can make a grocery run or his mother drops by with supplies. I mean, seriously, who allows themselves to run out of coffee?! And it’s not even the kind of coffeemaker with pods. You have to actually add the grounds. It’s archaic.”
“No, you’re spoiled.”
“Am not.” Camilla slumped down in a chair and stuck her tongue out at Beth. “I’m sorry. This trip has been an utter fiasco. Every single step, from the moment I got the call about Evan, up until today with Captain Caveman, has been an unmitigated disaster. Except for seeing you and Jamie. You are the bright spot in my nightmare.”
Beth sat across from Camilla, watching her friend’s expression go from frantic to harried to finally calm. Camilla tended to be overly emotional, feeling things strongly and with no problem expressing her opinion. Apparently, she’d met her match in Heath Boudreau.
“Morning, sunshine.” Heath ambled into the room, and tousled Beth’s hair, giving a heated glance to Camilla, before heading to the refrigerator and pulling out a bottle of water. “How’s Brody?”
Beth leaned back against her chair, and crossed her arms over her chest. “I haven’t spoken with him today.”
“He didn’t spend the night?” Heat crept into her cheeks, burning hotter at Heath’s chuckle. “Don’t worry, I’m teasing.” He pulled out another chair at the kitchen table and slid onto the seat. “I talked to him last night. He’s got a lot on his plate right now, dealing with some stuff at the firehouse.”
“I know. He’s been working a lot of hours recently.”
Camilla watched Heath, her expression guarded, but Beth knew her friend could see the spark of interest she did her best to hide. Oh, brother, if these two get together, talk about fireworks.
“Any word on your ex?”
She shook her head. “Nothing. I don’t understand why nobody’s caught him yet. He doesn’t know anything about surviving outside of the city.”
Camilla gave an inelegant snort. “Got that right. Roughing it to Evan is staying any place with less than four stars. No way he’d be able to live off the land. He’s too spoiled.”
Heath arched one brow at Camilla. “Pot, meet kettle.”
“I’ll have you know I can take care of myself.”
“Sure you can, princess. As long as you have a fancy pants boy toy to wait on you hand and foot, I’m sure you’d survive just fine.”
“I’m going to take a shower. Beth, I’ll see you in a few minutes.” She glared at Heath. “You don’t need to be here when I get back. And give me my computer, you big goob.” With that final word, she stormed from the room, her footsteps fading as she climbed the stair.
“You really shouldn’t give her such a hard time.”
Heath grinned. “But she makes it so easy.”
“Be that as it may, she’s still reeling from her brother being sent to prison and having her life thrown into turmoil. She adored him, and it’s hard to find out somebody you care about has feet of clay.”
Heath’s gaze shifted to the hallway where Camilla had disappeared, his expression guarded. “I’ll try.” He stood and tossed his plastic bottle into a bin under the sink. “You wouldn’t happen to have a picture of your ex handy?”
She shook her head, starting to say no, but hesitated. “You have Camilla’s computer?” At his quick nod, she added, “Let’s look on her Facebook page. I’m sure there are lots of them on there.”
“Lemme grab it, just a second.” He returned quickly with the state-of-the-art laptop, and Beth quickly logged in, easily navigating to Camilla’s page.
“This is Evan. Probably taken about a year ago, maybe a little more.” She clicked on the photo, enlarging it. It showed a happy, smiling man, groomed and polished to perfection, the way she remembered him.
“Can you e-mail me a copy of that?” He rattled off his e-mail address, and Beth shot the photo to his phone, wondering why he wanted a copy. She hadn’t realized she’d spoke her question aloud until he answered.
“I’m going to head into town, see if I can spot him. I know some people who might help. At least I’ll feel like I’m doing something instead of simply sitting around, waiting for something to happen.”
“Wish I could go too. I feel useless, being babysat by everybody else.”
“You’re not useless. You are protecting your child, and that’s more important than you wandering around trying to find a needle in a haystack. You’ve got the important job. Let the rest of us find you ex and send him back to Huntsville.”
“I know, I just hate feeling helpless. Before I met Evan, I was strong. I had confidence, knew who I was and what I wanted. Somehow, over the years, I’ve become…less. I feel like I’ve lost a part of me, of who I am.”
Heath surprised her by leaning
