Her heart started pounding. There’d been many, many years where she’d truly doubted she could get him to adulthood alive. If there was trouble to be found, he found it, and shockingly easily too. But she’d thought after he’d gone to IT trade school and gotten a solid job, that he was in the home stretch. “Are you in trouble?”

“Not at the moment.”

Okay, that was something, then. She let out a relieved breath. Maybe he and Winnie really were back for just a visit. “How long are you staying?”

“Couple of weeks.”

Couple of weeks was no big deal. And it wasn’t as if they were coming back to stay. She could do anything for two weeks. She was pretty sure anyway.

CAM SHUT THE front door of Piper’s house and stood on the covered porch a moment, surveying the crazy destruction of the storm. It was still raining, though very lightly now, while at the same time a good part of the sky had cleared. Branches, leaves, and debris littered the wild grass acreage between the house and the lake, as well as the distance to the marina and his father’s place.

He’d been to a lot of places in a whole bunch of countries, but even with the mess, this view was one of the most breathtaking he’d ever seen. From where he stood at the top of the slope looking down at the water, he could see miles and miles of green rolling hills dotted with sprawling oaks, and a very weak sun trying to rise above them all, leaving the land cast in a golden glow tipped with orange flames. The sky was awash in mingled shades from the entire family of blues, light to dark, and tumultuous gray.

After the night before, it all seemed . . . quiet. Just the sounds of the light rain hitting the already oversaturated ground and a couple of squirrels having a tiff in the trees.

Not all that unlike the one in the house behind him.

He’d watched the reunion between siblings with great curiosity. He’d been surprised at the dynamic between Piper and Winnie. They hadn’t greeted each other like siblings. More like irritated parent and wayward child. There was clearly a lot of resentment built up there, both in the way they spoke to each other and in body language.

Same with Piper and Gavin.

Having not grown up in the same house as his brother, it felt oddly familiar. Cam was thirty-two now, and Rowan had been twenty when he died. That twelve-year age gap had seemed huge for most of their lives, putting an almost-parental spin on their relationship.

So, though Piper didn’t know it, he felt connected to her on a core level.