“Is that what the kids are calling it these days?”

The next afternoon, Cam stood in the alcohol aisle at the grocery store, picking out his poison. He’d driven his dad here, because, for one thing, the man drove like a menace.

“You going to follow me through the whole store?” his dad asked.

Which brought Cam to the second reason he was here. If left to his own devices, Emmitt would stock the kitchen with junk food, which was apparently killing him. “Unless you think you can behave.”

“I’ve told you, son, there’s no fun in behaving.”

Cam pinched the bridge of his nose. “Dad.”

“Fine. For you, I’ll try.”

“Not for me. For—”

“My grandkid. I know.” His dad nodded. “Don’t worry, I plan to be around long enough to drive him crazy in the way I wish I could’ve driven you crazy.”

“Don’t underestimate yourself,” Cam said dryly. “And maybe the baby’s a girl. You ever think of that?”

His dad looked horrified. “What will we do with a girl?”

Cam laughed and shook his head. “I haven’t the foggiest. Just go get what you need from Piper’s list.”

“You ever going to tell me what’s going on with you two?”

“How do you know something’s going on?”

“I got eyes in my head, don’t I?”

Cam gave him a look, and his dad laughed and ambled off with the cart. He knew his dad thought Cam was being a hard-ass, and he was. He didn’t care. He was done letting down the people who mattered to him. First his mom, whom he hadn’t been able to save. Then Rowan.

But not his dad too, dammit. Or Winnie and the baby. Or their future livelihood—which was the marina.

And that brought him to the third thing. He’d put in a request at the DEA for a West Coast transfer. They had an office in San Luis Obispo, only thirty minutes from here. He’d still have to travel back East once a month for a weekend of Coast Guard training, and then there’d be the occasional activation and deployment, but the idea of being based near his dad was shockingly appealing.

For many reasons.

But there was no guarantee he’d get the transfer anyway, so he had no plans to tell anyone about it unless it came through, but he was surprised by how much he wanted it to.

And if he was being honest, it wasn’t just about the baby, or his dad, though both those things were huge factors. It was also about Piper.

He hadn’t seen her coming. At all.

And then, as if he’d conjured her up by wishes alone, she came around the corner, head down, eyes on something in her hands. A list, no doubt.