“Well, that’s comforting,” I mumbled, noting that he was right. The skin was intact. “Why didn’t you hit him back? No one could have faulted you for it.” Okay, that was a lie. If there was fault to be found, Hall would have found it with Cam. Didn’t matter that Oscar hit first.

“I’m not giving Tim Hall a reason to run me out of town. It’s going to take a hell of a lot more than Oscar throwing a punch to provoke me into a physical fight, especially because I’m not feeling up to manslaughter charges.”

I searched his face for any hint that he was kidding and came up empty. “You think you could kill a man with your bare hands?”

His eyebrows rose slightly. “Don’t think. I know. I’m not the same kid I was when I left here a decade ago, Willow.” There was a wealth of experience in his eyes that I both longed to understand and desperately wanted to ignore. While I’d been away at art school learning about beauty, Cam had been at war.

“That’s obvious. The Cam I knew would have thrown the first punch and never looked back.” Leaving the rest of us to pick up the inevitable mess.

He brushed his hand over where mine lingered at the unicorn. “I’m still the Cam you knew, just not the one everyone else did. Same Cam, with better decision-making.”

The touch had happened so fast, I wondered if I’d imagined it.

Cam cocked his head to the side. “Rose is up.”

“What? How do you—” Sure enough, before I could finish my question about his freaky ninja skills, my nine-year-old niece popped her head into the kitchen, sporting a Taylor Swift pajama set.

“Aunt Willow?” she asked, her big brown eyes way too alert for just waking up. Her chestnut curls were still braided in perfect, smooth piggies, too.

“Hey, Rosie. Sorry we were so loud.” I glanced at the clock and read eight thirty. Charity must have just put her to bed before checking on the bar.

Rosie’s eyes swung to Cam, a little note of shock widening them. “Oh! Hi! Who are you?” she asked.

“Camden Daniels. Nice to meet you, Rosie.” His voice softened, which softened me.

“You too,” she replied, looking to me for reassurance.

“Cam has been a friend since we were kids. He grew up next door to your mom and me.”

“Like Mayor Daniels?” She snuck another peek at Cam.

“Yep, he’s my older brother,” Cam replied.

“Oh. I like him!”

“Everyone does.”

“We just needed to borrow your unicorn really quick,” I told Rose, opening my arms. She walked straight into them, hugging me tight. “Need anything?” I asked before dropping a kiss on the top of her head.

“Nope. Just heard the door beep and thought it was Mom.”