Page 49 of Three Little Wishes

“I know, Sage. We’ve gone over this already, and I’ve apologized.”

“Willow’s right, Sage. Let it go. Cami’s here, and now we just have to figure out a way to reunite her with the family without making things worse,” the other woman said.

“Easy for you to say, Lila. You and Zia Eva won’t be here.”

Cami decided Sage was a pain in the ass. She’d inherited that particular gene from her grandmother, not her mother, that was for sure. Her grandmother and mother who, from the sounds of it, no longer loved Cami. She squeezed her eyes closed to keep the tears at bay, wondering what she could’ve done that was so bad they’d cut her off from the family. It had to be her mother and sisters who’d cut her out of their lives because Cami loved her family too much to be separated from them for weeks, let alone decades.

“Really, Sage? You’re not being helpful at all. Did you have a bad day in court or what?” Willow asked.

Cami wondered if Sage was a lawyer. It wouldn’t surprise her if she was. She had a tough, know-it-all voice. But maybe she was a judge. She sounded judge-y.

“Sorry, Lila. It’s been a stressful week.”

Cami peeked around the wall. Sage was pushing her fingers through her hair. She looked stressed, and Cami felt a little bad for judging her. She knew only too well what it felt like to have a tough week.

Well, she felt bad until Sage continued talking. “Look, I know that you don’t want to hear this, Will, but if we don’t want to have World War Three on our hands, and you don’t want Cami to get hurt, you have to help her regain her memory. Stop tiptoeing around. Give it to her straight. Ask the hard questions.”

“The doctor said not to pressure her, Sage. I don’t want to upset her. I did that yesterday when I had to explain to her that the boy she was chasing down Main Street wasn’t Flynn, and she wasn’t seventeen.”

Cami winced at the memory.

“Poor kid. She must have terrified him,” Sage said.

Seriously? Cami knew who had inherited her sister Gia’s compassionate nature, and it sure as heck wasn’t Sage.

“But Will, if we’re going to break the news to the family on Monday, you’re going to have to toughen up. I reached out to a former client. She specializes in traumatic brain injuries and amnesia, and she thinks it’s possible Cami has a painful memory that she’s blocking. So start asking her questions about what was going on that summer. There’s a reason she’s stuck at seventeen.”

“I think it’s because she broke her arm that summer too,” Willow said. “And broke up with Flynn.”

“Or maybe she’s stuck at seventeen because those are some of her happiest memories,” Lila suggested.

Okay, Lila sounded nice, but if Cami breaking her arm and breaking up with her boyfriend were her happiest memories, her life must really suck.

“You might be right. She has every reason to want to forget this past year, what with her husband cheating on her and then ending up having to pay him alimony, not to mention her career has tanked,” Willow said.

Cami covered her ears, chanting,Yadda, yadda, yaddain her head. She had to get out of there. Why had she listened, anyway? She lowered her hands from her ears, slowly backing away from the wall before turning and tiptoeing to the powder room. She had her hand on the knob when the door to the beach house opened and Noah and Riley walked inside.

Noah glanced her way and frowned. She had to pretend she was coming out of the bathroom, not going in. She walked over to them with a smile and whispered, “I thought we were playing beach volleyball.”

“Okay. That sounds like a plan,” they heard Willow say. “Send pics of the wedding, Lila. Give our love to everyone. And Sage, I’ll see you tomorrow, right?”

Oh no, they’d made a plan. Cami didn’t like the sound of that, especially if Sage was involved with said plan.

“We were worried about you,” Riley said to Cami. “Are you okay?”

“Better now, thanks.” She nodded, thinking that was as good an excuse as any for why she’d been MIA.

Willow walked out of the kitchen, and her eyes shot to Cami. “Uh, is everything okay?”

“Yeah.” Cami nodded. She didn’t want Willow to guessshe’d overheard her. “Come on, we’re going to play beach volleyball. Let’s go.” She sounded manic. Like she had something to hide. And the way Noah’s narrowed eyes moved over her face, she worried he’d figured it out.

“It’s almost four. I should probably get organized for my broadcast,” Willow said.

“Okay, but first come upstairs. I want to show you guys something. I found a box of pictures. Wait until you see Uncle Will.”

Cami’s heart began to race. Will. Will… Bennett. She knew that name.

“You won’t believe how much he looks like Noah, Willow. Well, except he has fair hair, not dark,” Riley said as she ran upstairs.

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