Page 91 of Midnight Mooring

She must have seen that in my eyes because she sobered. “The faster I get her off the island, the better.”

“And maybe into some therapy,” Cameron muttered. “Her so-called mischief is dangerous to people.”

I didn’t blame my girlfriend for her attitude. She didn’t know Rina and Caoimhe. She hadn’t worked with them for months and been grateful for how much easier they’d made her life. Or seen the sweeter side to Caoimhe that I had witnessed. Not just to me, but to her mum.

So even though I was hurt and betrayed, I felt for Rina.

I know she’d liked her life here.

Rina scowled but gave a jerky nod.

“You’re welcome to stay,” I had to offer.

Regret darkened her eyes. “I appreciate that. But she’s already had one parent abandon her. I won’t do that to her.”

“She’s an adult,” Cameron replied quietly. “Maybe she needs to be out there on her own.”

“You don’t stop being a parent because your child turns eighteen or twenty-five or fifty.” Rina shook her head. “We’ll leave tomorrow.”

Only ten minutes later, they’d cleared Caoimhe, and she was free to go. She walked out of the police station with her mother, not even looking at me. Not even stopping to offer an apology for the lies she’s spewed in an effort to take away the one person in my life I needed the most.

At a touch to my hand, I turned to find Cameron watching me closely as she slipped her fingers through mine and squeezed.

“Some folks might still believe her,” I warned her.

She shrugged. “Look, they tried to ruin my reputation over the summer. You just have to get through it and turn to the people who have your back. I have your back. They can believe what they want. I know the truth, Forde. I know you. I trust you more than anyone in this world.”

Though the past thirty-six hours had been really shitty, I decided there and then to let it all go.

Because all I’d wanted since Cameron took off last year was for her to come back so I could convince her she could trust me again.

I had that now.

Nothing else mattered.

I pressed a kiss to the back of her hand. “Let’s go home.”

38. Cameron

The last week in September was here before we knew it. Taran was getting closer to her due date and struggling with exhaustion, so she and Quinn stayed home again when Forde and I invited everyone out to the Lantern the following Friday evening. Murray and London had decided to stay home with Kelly, so it was a casual date night for us instead.

As expected, there had been talk and speculation, but my understanding of it was that everyone was angry at Caoimhe for lying about Forde. And suspicious of her. Like me, they weren’t entirely convinced she hadn’t had something to do with the break-in at Forde’s, even if she’d been cleared by the police of having sent the stalkery letters. I hadn’t told anyone my other more disconcerting suspicion.

That Caoimhe was behind everything.

The break-in at my house. The masked attacker with the hunting knife.

I couldn’t at the time be positive about the gender of my attacker because they wore a bulky hoody. But my attacker had been slighter in build. Shorter than me too.

Was it just a coincidence that I was attacked when it was clear to everyone, including Caoimhe, Forde was interested in me?

It was annoying, then, when we walked into the Lantern to find Caoimhe sitting at a table with a young man I recognized as a seasonal waiter here at the restaurant attached to the Lantern’s hotel. He was clearly off duty and the two of them were leaning into each other, laughing and flirting. Caoimhe seemed oblivious to the daggers thrown her way as soon as Forde and I walked in. I noted the young janitor, Kenan, off work but enjoying a quiet pint alone at a table near the bar. He also glowered in Caoimhe’s direction. But was it the bloke she was with that he set his hard gaze on? Aye, it was definitely the bloke she was with.

Ugh, more unrequited crushes? Save me from them.

The people of Leth Sholas were a funny lot. Only a few months ago some of them had avoided walking past me on the street. Now they were all jumping to the defense of our relationship. As hypocritical as that was, I was glad. I didn’t want Forde ever feeling like he was being made out to be a villain. He’d had enough of that in his life. If that meant putting up with bullshit hypocrisy, then so be it.

Rina and Caoimhe, despite Rina’s protests, had not yet left the island. Obviously. Forde had advertised for a new mechanic, and I’d bumped into Rina on Main Street. She’d apologetically informed me that she was trying to convince Caoimhe to leave. Since they’d moved into a rental outside Leth Sholas (according to Harry Weaver), I had hope that soon they’d be forced off the island due to finances. I felt bad for Rina. I did. But I wanted her daughter off my island and out of my life.