Page 33 of Landry

“Are you okay?” he whispered, his breath stirring tendrils of her hair against her ear.

Camille nodded, reached deep inside and pulled herself together. When she leaned back, she gave him a shaky grimace. “Sorry. That was clumsy of me.”

His smile and the feel of his arms around her waist sent warm shivers throughout her body. “It’s okay.” He stepped back, releasing his arms from around her body. He turned to Ava. “Are you okay?”

She nodded. “I didn’t move at all.”

“Good girl,” he said and ruffled her hair. He took her hand in his and walked with her along the short dock to the shack. Camille followed, willing her pulse to slow and her breathing to return to normal. She shouldn’t be having such intense reactions to a man helping her onto a dock.

Landry let go of Ava’s hand, twisted the doorknob, pushed the door inward and shined the flashlight into the small room.

“Billy Ray?” Ava called out. “Are you in there?”

No one answered.

Camille reached for Ava’s hand.

“Stay here,” Landry said and stepped inside the shack.

From where Camille stood, she couldn’t see much of what the beam of light revealed.

“It’s okay, you can come in,” Landry said and set the flashlight on the table, pointing upward. As small as the room was, the light reflecting off the ceiling provided enough illumination for Camille to see what she needed to see.

The shack contained a small table, a wooden chair and a narrow bed in the corner with a thin mattress. On the bed was a pillow and a pink fleece blanket with a pattern of unicorns and rainbows.

Camille frowned. “That blanket looks like...”

Ava ran to the bed, lifted the blanket and held it to her cheeks. “It’s mine. I gave it to Billy Ray.”

Landry stood by the table. He lifted an empty can. “If this is where Billy Ray is living, he’s been living on canned food.” He set the can down among others, some of which were still unopened. Then he lifted a hammer and held it to the light.

“That’s my hammer.” Camille reached for it. “I bought a small tool kit that had powder-blue handles on the screwdrivers and hammer.”

“I let Billy Ray borrow it to fix the roof,” Ava said.

Camille turned to Ava. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“You weren’t using it. Billy Ray needed one. He said he would bring it back when he was done.” Ava looked around the shack and sighed. “He’s not here.”

“No, he’s not,” Camille said. “And we need to get you home and to bed.”

Ava’s eyes filled. “But what about Billy Ray? He could be lost in the bayou.”

“If he’s been living out here for a while, I doubt that he’s lost,” Landry said. “He might be hiding.”

Ava’s brow pinched into a serious expression for such a small child. “He doesn’t like to be around grown-ups.”

Camille knelt beside Ava. “Why?”

“They will take him away and make him live with people he doesn’t like.” Ava looked up at her mother, tears welling in her eyes. “I told him he would like you, but he won’t listen. I’m his only friend. What if he’s afraid to come back?”

“Oh, sweetie.” Camille pulled her daughter into her arms. “We’ll do what we can to find him and make sure he doesn’t go to people he doesn’t like. But if he’s afraid of grown-ups, I don’t think he’ll come here tonight. Not with us here.”

“I could stay,” Ava offered. “He’s not afraid of me.”

Camille shook her head. “I can’t leave you alone in the bayou. Billy Ray wouldn’t want us to. He’s your friend, which means he cares about you. He’d want you to be safe at your home. And that’s where he’d expect to find you.”

Landry dropped to his haunches beside Camille. “You need to be where he can find you, in your house.”

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