The landscaping had overgrown the sprawling single-story home, and the roof was missing so many shingles, it looked more like a suggestion than a reality. Uncle Cal had added rooms as he’d wanted, giving the house an unsymmetrical, eclectic feel that I’d always loved as a kid. Now that I was an adult, it just meant that there was a shit ton of roof to repair. I could only hope that the solar panels had fared better.

Yeah, it was going to be a massive amount of work, but at least I wouldn’t have to sleep in body armor. The same couldn’t be said for the house I’d grown up in.

I got out of the Jeep and headed for the front door, pausing at the porch. My thumb dusted off the markings Uncle Cal had carved into the upright stone he’d jokingly called his address.

“Elba,” I repeated, shaking my head with a little laugh at the joke no one in our family ever remarked on. Napoleon’s island.

Guess I was well and truly exiled now.

How the hell was I supposed to accomplish the one thing Dad had asked of me if he wouldn’t even talk to me?

Chapter Four

Chapter Four

Willow

My cell phone flashed an alert for a front-door entry, and a video clip automatically started playing. I tugged my headphones down to rest around my neck, effectively silencing the BANNERS album I’d been listening to, and saw my best friend on the screen, juggling a carrier tray of coffee and my house key.

Another hour and this project for Vaughn Holdings would be finished, but something told me I was about to hit a major delay. Thea never popped in without a reason, and I had a sneaking suspicion that reason was Cam.

“Willow?” Thea called out.

“In the office!” I mentally kissed my productivity goodbye and set my headphones on the glass desk.

“There you are!” She gave me a smile brighter than the morning sun and a cup of coffee from Alba Perks.

I thanked her for the coffee, then took a sip of the chocolaty mocha and waited to hear why she’d dropped by so early. She liked to get to her yoga studio before nine, even in the off-season.

“I was hoping you’d be home.” Her eyebrows rose over light-blue eyes.

“Ha! It’s eight thirty a.m. on a Tuesday, so I’m working. Where else did you think I might be?” I took a sip and savored the mocha, wondering how long it would take for her to bring him up.

“Oh, I don’t know…over at the Danielses’ place?” she asked in mock innocence, blowing the steam across the lid of her cup.

Not long at all.