“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.”

“I was a child.”

She laughed. “And now you’re not?”

He looked at her, not amused, his eyes far more grown-up than she’d ever seen them. “I’m twenty-seven. I might’ve taken the long, slow route to Adultville, but even I had to grow up sometime.”

True, but the last time Piper had seen him had been eight months ago when she’d had to bail him out of a DUI.

Clearly reading her mind, he grimaced. “The really long, slow route.”

She sighed. “None of us knows what we’re doing. We’re all just stumbling through.”

“Huh.” He gave her a half smile. “That’s actually almost comforting.”

“Good. So are you going to tell me why you’re really here?”

He let out a breath and met her gaze straight on, which was terrifying, because he only did that when there was bad news. “Maybe I just needed you.”

She laughed. “You barely even like me.”

“We’re family,” he said simply.

This was true. Gavin and Winnie were all she had in the entire world. And past her gruff exterior, past all those years of being the bad guy while attempting to mold them into decent people, she loved them both madly. “Tell me, Gav.”

“I took some time off. I . . . needed to be home.”

“But you’re okay?” she pressed, worried, always worried.

“I’m okay. But you should probably know, whatever the opposite of having your shit together is? I’m also that.”