“You know, the Inn could sponsor something like this. Serve as the homebase for a beach cleanup day. We could have everyone meet there and pass out the supplies. I’m sure Morgan would be willing to donate some pastries, and I could talk with the hospital to see if they might be willing to supply things like trash bags and gloves. I’m sure between the two of us and our connections, we could easily pull something like that off.”
Camille bent at the waist to collect an old two-liter bottle with the label completely gone. “Or I could just take care of it on my own. It’s not that much work.”
“Seascape Shores stretches over five miles of coastline. That’s a lot of beach to cover.”
Her sister just shrugged. “I don’t want to put anyone out.”
Cinching up the top of the second trash bag and setting it aside, Tabitha gave her sister a long look. “What’s really going on, Cam? I’m all for being out here to help you clean up the post-storm mess, but is this the mess you really need help with?”
Something flashed across Camille’s face. She pushed back her hair and took a deep breath of ocean air. Angled her gaze out at the sea that still whipped and whirled despite the calmer skies overhead. “I’m worried about Foster.”
“How so?”
Camille peeled off her gloves and jammed them into her pocket before pacing toward the Inn just a few yards away. She sat on the last step of the back deck where the wood transitioned to sand, in between two terracotta pots filled with succulents. Tabitha joined her.
“I’m worried about all of this drama with his brother,” Camille said softly. “What it’s doing to him mentally.”
“How’s he handling it?”
“Quietly, which is what bothers me the most. I would feel better about things if he just blew up. Shouted that his brother doesn’t deserve anything of his and that he should rot in hell.”
“That would make you feel better?”
Camille tipped her cheek to one shoulder in a half shrug. “Yeah, as weird as it sounds, it would. Because then I would at least have an idea how he feels. Right now, it’s like he’s just processing it all alone. Like he doesn’t want to bother me with any of it.”
“He probably doesn’t. He knows how you can spiral.”
“That’s not fair.” Camille cut Tabitha a look. “I understand that I tend to blow things out of proportion, but that doesn’t mean he can’t share with me.”
“I think he’s trying to protect you from yourself. Trying to sort through this on his own so you don’t have to.”
“But I’m his wife. This is my role. It’s what I signed up for, and it’s what Iwant.”
“Have you tried telling him that?”
“I’ve told him that I’m here for him however he may need me.”
“So maybe right now he just needs your silent support,” Tabitha suggested. “Youdohave the tendency to go straight to the worst-case scenario, Cami. I would understand how Foster might want to avoid that in this particular situation.”
“I go to the worst-case scenario because we’vehadthe worst-case scenario happen to us, Tab. And I hadn’t been prepared for that at the time with Mom and Dad. Not even a little bit.”
Tabitha understood. Goodness knows she had her own way of dealing with her demons. For heaven’s sake, she’d been the one acting fearful about a pathetic storm earlier that week.
“I wasn’t prepared when they died, and maybe if I had been, it wouldn’t have been so traumatizing.”
“I doubt that. I think when tragedy strikes—evenif you are prepared—it still changes you. But that’s just life, Camille. Learning to expect, and even accept, the unexpected.”
Maybe Tabitha had an easier time with that. Her job definitely trained her well in that area. But she could still empathize with Camille’s anxiety in all of this. And she wished she could take that worry from her by letting her know that Foster might not even need to be a match anymore.
“Mark texted me again.”
Camille’s eyes sprung open. “What? Why does he keep reaching out to you? What now?”
“I think the media is going to cover this sooner than later, so I don’t think it’s a huge problem if I tell you first.”
“I don’t want you to compromise anything—”
“I’m not going to share any more than I feel comfortable,” Tabitha assured. “All I will say is that even if Foster is a match, there might be other options.”
